Excerpt from A Municipal Program

The powers granted to cities, however, in Colonial times and for many years after the Revolution, were few in num ber. The public afl'airs of cities were on the whole matters of petty housekeeping, not calculated to arouse great public interest. A very small proportion of the population of the whole country lived in cities. As late as 1810 the public expenditures of New York City, with a population of were only In 1820 there were but thirteen towns in the United States with population, and their combined population was less than five per cent of the entire population of the country. There was little, if anything, to create local political parties, z'. E. Parties divided upon local questions. The active political interests of the citizens were centred in national questions, and con tests for local ofiice were a part of the strife in national poli tics, local appointive ofice early becoming the spoils of partisan politics. New York's mayor, for instance, at that time appointive, was changed nine times between 1801 and 182 3, as often, that is, as the Council of Appointment changed its political complexion; in the Colonial period, although the mayor's nominal term was one year, he frequently retained the ofice for ten years.

By 1 850 there were eighty-five towns in the United States with populations of and upwards, and their com bined population was approximately about 1 2% per cent of the population of the country. New York City then had a population of Philadelphia Boston and Baltimore each. During this period of growth the cities were of necessity undertaking additional functions and, since the state legislatures were the source of municipal powers and legislative statutes were the means of granting them and regulating their exercise, special and local acts of state legislatures became increasingly frequent. The Ohio Legislature, in its session of 1849-50, passed 545 such acts.

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