7. “A city’s affairs are of the nature of business, not of government.” Is this statement absolutely correct? Why or why not? 8. “The commission plan embodied both a protest and a policy.” Against what was it a protest? To what extent does it avoid the defects of the mayor-and-council plan? 9. What are the practical difficulties connected with the city-manager plan? Do you believe that preference should be given to a “local man” in choosing the manager? The salary of the mayor in a medium-sized city is usually not more than $5000. Should a city manager be paid more? 10. Explain what training and personal qualities a city manager ought to have. Topics for Debate 1. The head of the police department in large cities (over 100,000 population) should be appointed by the governor. 2. The city-manager plan is better than the mayor-and-council or commission form of government for cities under 100,000 population. 3. Home rule should be granted to cities in every state. 4. The members of the city council should be chosen from the city at large rather than from wards. CHAPTER XI MUNICIPAL PROBLEMS OF TODAY _The purpose of this chapter is to point out some of the difficult things which our cities have to do and to discuss the various ways of doing them._ [Sidenote: The city’s annual report.] =Government or Business: Which is it?=—At the close of each year the city authorities issue a printed volume, its pages well packed with figures of all sorts and interspersed with a good deal of very dry reading matter. This is called the annual report; it contains a statement of revenues and expenditures compiled by the auditor, a summary of what each department has done during the year, and a great many other facts about the work of the city officials. Very few people ever read these annual reports, and not many would understand them if they did. But any thoughtful man or woman who takes the trouble to look through one of these publications from cover to cover would be tempted to ask the question: Why do they call such things _government_? They are not government in any sense, nothing but _business_. Here is an account of how streets have been paved, water purified and distributed to the people, school buildings constructed, supplies purchased, contracts awarded, labor employed, money collected and money paid out—why do they call these things government when they are simply business operations and nothing else? The problems that arise in connection with them are business problems; the methods needed are business methods; the organization best fitted to do the work is a business organization. [Sidenote: Most of the city’s work is _business_.]