Suggested Activities.

1. Talk with anyone connected with transportation—the flagman, the conductor, the motorman, and learn what difficulties he meets in his work—and what the good citizen may do to assist him.

2. Select a committee of three to investigate the ways in which the water supply of the community is provided. The more detailed and definite information which the report contains, the more valuable it will be.

4. Appoint two pupils to interview your local police officials, constable or sheriff. Have them study the work of this particular branch of the government, how it is done-and most important of all, how the citizens of the community may co-operate with these officials in their work. Discuss this report, other pupils making suggestions.

5. Write a plan for the improvement of the community in which you live. Make suggestions as to how money could be raised for carrying out these plans.

6. List all community or city activities which are supported by taxation, and find out from your local officers the three items which cost the most in your community.

7. Choose sides and debate one or more of the following questions: (a) Resolved, that too many people are living in cities.

(b) Resolved, that in spite of stricter law enforcement in cities than in the country, crime and vice are freer from interference in the city.

(c) Resolved, that the price good people pay for not being interested in city politics is to be ruled by bad people.

(d) Resolved, that city regulation of street railways is preferable to city ownership.

(e) Resolved, that provision for an abundance of playgrounds and parks would reduce the number of policemen needed.

(f) Resolved, that city people have better opportunity for good health than country people have.

Study Questions.

1. What is meant by calling this a city age?

2. How are cities classified by the United States Census Bureau? 3. What has been the effect of the growth of factories upon the number and size of cities? How have city factories affected industry in the country? In what sense may it he said that many people who live in the city are working at farming?

4. The old time shoemaker made shoes; it may take fifty or more shoe factory operatives to make a pair. What are the advantages of each plan?

5. Make a list of all occupations you can think of which are not directly connected with producing, manufacturing, or selling goods. Mark with a "c" all those which are found only in the city.

6. How does the impossibility of personal acquaintance of each with all in a city affect the solution of its problems?

7. From the paragraph upon crime and vice select two reasons for their greater prevalence in the city than in the country.

8. What do you think should be done

(a) If a street railway is losing money?

(b) If a street railway is making its stockholders rich?

(c) If street cars and track are not kept in repair according

to franchise requirements?

9. Why not allow street railways to cease operation when they are not paying expenses?

10. Passengers are usually ready to find fault with "the company" when street cars are late, cold, or crowded. What effect upon such useless complaints would city ownership have?

11. "The country can afford clean-up day; the city cannot." Explain. 12. In most American cities house numbers are counted one hundred to the block regardless of the number of houses or lots. In New York City and in most European cities, lots are numbered without omitting numbers when going from one block to the next. What are the merits of each plan?

Look up these expressions on the pages indicated and explain each.

Our government operates

Units of Our Government. through a number of units each of which is recognized by custom and law. These divisions are more or less related and vary greatly in different parts of the country. Each exercises authority in its field through some person or persons recognized by law as acting in an official way. Those in authority have the right to make rules or laws, interpret them, and put them into operation. Each division has its special work to which it is best adapted or for which it has been created. The methods are constantly undergoing changes, and in many cases what has been done for years by one unit of government gradually passes under another. For example, road work in many sections of the country was formerly done through the township unit, but because of the use of the automobile, road work is passing from the township to the county and is often supervised by the state and nation. Another example is the regulation of railroads which is rapidly passing from the state to the nation.

Every person is a member of several divisions of government. The best interest of each individual is bound up with

the successful operation of every one of these divisions. The good citizen takes his part in the work of every unit of which he is a member.

The Family. The family as has been explained is the simplest organized unit of government. Persons other than the husband, wife and children are sometimes attached to it, but they always observe the rules and customs of the household. The old English adage, “a man's house is his castle" is still recognized in America. Certain privileges and duties not found elsewhere accompany membership in the family group; but much of the work that was once done in the home under family supervision is now carried on under supervision of other units of government. For example,

bread-baking, which was once a home activity, is now done by a bakery which is operated under a city license, inspected by state officials and is subject to state and national pure food laws.

The School District. The school district is a special unit created to do a specific work. The instruction of children is better and more economically done by persons who make teaching their business than by parents already too busy with other things.

Americans have agreed that all should have opportunity to secure free an elementary and high school education. Special boards of school trustees or directors whose only official duty is the general direction of the schools which the community supports, have been provided in every state. They employ teachers, provide buildings and equipment, and make all necessary regulations for the management of the schools. The success of our schools is often dependent upon the unselfish service of school trustees; they must devote many hours to school problems, usually without compensation.

The Town or Township. The town or township is a unit of government in most states. In New England it is of great importance since it is the unit for carrying on the local government. Property is assessed, taxes collected, roads constructed and schools maintained by township officials. In the South the township as a unit of government is of little importance; a constable and justice of the peace usually being the only officials elected. The work which the middle and western states do through the township unit of government varies greatly, and there is a strong tendency for much of it to pass to the county. Most of the territory of the United States is laid off in congressional townships six miles square. These are in no sense units of government, but are used for the purpose of locating and describing land boundaries.

The County. The important local unit of government is the county. It was established largely as a judicial district and a convenient unit for assessing property and collecting state taxes. In general, the county is still the agent of the state for these purposes. Much that was formerly done by smaller units has been and is being transferred to the county. For example, in pioneer days the school district was usually a small unit from two to four miles square. A number of states have made the county the unit for administering schools. Another example is the building and maintenance of roads which has usually been the work of the township. In states where the county was the unit of administration, county officials usually made a number of small road districts and appointed an overseer for each. This plan did very well when roads were worked by the farmers who lived in the district; they used their teams and the few tools which the road district could buy. In these days of automobile travel when road grading is done with large machines, the township