Edward C. Banfield, Urban Government: A Reader in Politics and Administration

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Urban GovernmentA Readerin Administration and Politics

Revised Edition

EDITED BY Edward C. BanfieldHARVARD UNIVERSITY

9 ,to

The Free Press, N~w YorkCollier-Macmillan Limited, London


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Edward C. Banfield, ed. Urban Government: A Reader inAdministration and Politics rev. edition, (London:Collier-Macmillan Limited, 1969).

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Urban GovernmentA Readerin Administration and Politics

Revised Edition

EDITED BY Edward C. BanfieldHARVARD UNIVERSITY

9 ,to

The Free Press, N~w YorkCollier-Macmillan Limited, London


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ContentsAn Overview

PREF:AE to the Revised EditionPREFACE to the First EditionSECTION ISECTION II

SECTION III

SECTION IV

SECTION VSECTION VISECTION VII

viiUrban Government as a Subject for StudyUrban Government in the Federal SystemThe System of Shared Functions'The Place of the City in the System.Metropolitan Organization' 129The Machine and Its Reform 165The Nature and Functions of the Machine. 169Theories of Reform. 237Good Government

Nonpartisanship . 271The City Manager. 286The Theory of "Good Government . 322 267The Trend of Urban Politics 365Influence and Leadership 427Problems of Management 501

SECTION VIII The Formation of Policy, GLOSSARY

BIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX

619689707713


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Analytical Contents

I. Urban Government as a Subject for StudyIntroductory Note

Aristotle and the Study of Local GovernmentNORTON E. LONGWe Need to Shift FocusJAMES Q. WILSON

The Management of Metropolitan ConflictEDWARD C. BANFIELD

II. Urban Government in the Federal System~OductOry NoteTHE SYSTEM OF SHARED FUNCTIONS

Intergovernmental Relations in New York CityWALLACE S. SAYRE and HERBERT KAUFMAN

Federal and State Impacts MORTON GRODZINSTHE PLACE OF THE CITY IN THE SYSTEM

The Historical Development of the City s PositionFRANK J. GOODNOW

A Reappraisal of Constitutional Home RuleTHE CHICAGO HOME RULE COMMISSIONCity Government in the State CourtsA NOTE from the HARVARD LAW AEVIEW

51

Contents xiiiOne Man , One Vote" Applies to Local Government I I I

THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATESThe Effect of State Reapportionment on the Cities 123

WILLIAM J. D. BOYD

METROPOLITAN ORGANIZATIONMetropolitan Districts 129

JOHN C. BOLLENSWhat Is a "Metropolitan Problem 137

OLIVER P. WILLIAMS, HAROLD HERMANCHARLES S. LIEBMAN, and THOMAS R. DYE

THe Desirable and the PossibleEDWARD C. BANFIELD and MORTON GRODZINS 143

Needed: A New Layer of Local Self-Government ISOLUTHER GULICK

A Proper Role for the Federal Government 161ROBERT H. CONNERY and RICHARD H. LEACH

III. The Machine and Its Reform165ntroductory Note

THE NATURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THEMACHINEA Machine at Work 169MARTIN MEYERSON and EDWARD C. BANFIELD

Rings and Bosses 180JAMES BRYCEHow to Get a Political Following 190GEORGE WASHINGTON PLUNKlTT

The Attachment of the Immigrant to the Boss 195OSCAR HANDLINHow the Boss Runs the Organization 200

FRANK R. KENT


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xiv CONTENTSThe Nature of Political Obligations WILLIAM FOOTE WHYTEThe New-Fashioned Machine

EDWARD N. COSTIKYAN

The Latent Functions of the Machine ROBERT K. MERTONMr. Dooley on Why Rayformers Fail

F. P. DUNNE

THEORIES OF REFORMSeparation of Powers Necessitates Corruption 237

HENRY JONES FORDWho, or What, Started the Evil? LINCOLN STEFFENSThe Class Basis of the Reform Ideal JANE ADDAMSThe Locus of Corruption Has Changed 257

EDWARD N. COSTIKY

IV. Good Government"Introductory NoteNONP ARTISANS HIP

Municipal Affairs Are Not Political ANDREW D. WHITE

209

214

223234

248252

271The Absurdity of Partisanship 275

BRAND WHITLOCKThe Unorganized Politics of Minneapolis 279

ROBERT L. MORLAN

TH~ CITY MANAGERThe Promotion of the City Manager PlanDON K~ PRICE

286

The Role of the ~ity ManagerThe City Manager as a LeaderThe Resignation of Elgin Crull

Contents xv299

LEONARD D. WHITE306

CHARLES R. ADRIAN316

BRUCE KOVNERTHE THEORY OF GOOD GOVERNMENT

Three Fundamental Principles 322HAROLD A. STONE, DON K. PRICE, and KATHRYN H. STONE

Gr~up Conflict Is Inevitable in a Major City 328CHARLES A. BEARD

The Effects of the Reform Ideal on Policy 333ROBERT L. LINEBERRY and EDMUND FOWLER

Philadelphia : "Good Government" Leads toMoral Frustration

v. The Trend of Urban PoliticsL-

Introductory NoteThe New Middle ClassThe Silent Revolution in Patronage

357JAMES REICHLEY

365368SAMUEL LUBELL376

FRANK J. SORAUF

The Dilemmas of a Metropolitan Machine 387EDWARD C. BANFIELDThe No-Party Politics of Suburbia ROBERT C. WOODThe New Hurrah

394398

JOSEPH LYFORDThe Negro and Philadelphia Politics 408

JOHN HADLEY STRANGEThe "Black Beater" 422LEE SLOAN

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xvi CONTENTS

VI. Influence and LeadershipIntroductory Note

The Power Structure of Regional CityThe Economic Notables of New HavenHow to Study Community Power

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429FLOYD HUNTER435

ROBERT A. DAHL444

NELSON W. POLSBY

Power as Non-Decision-Making 454PETER BACHRACH and MORTON S. BARATZThe Local Community as an Ecology of Games 465NORTON E. LONGHard" Reporting on The New ork T~mes 480PAUL H. WEAVEROrganized Labor in City Politics 487

EDWARD C. BANFIELD and JAMES Q. WILSON

VII. Problems of ManagementIntroductory Note

An Interview with Mayor Lindsay 504N AT HE NT OFF

Recent Concepts in Large City Administration \ 512CHARLES R. ADRIANThe Mayor and the Planning Agency 525v. O. KEYComprehensive Planning, an Impossible Ideal 530ALAN ALTSHULERThe Plan~er as AdvocateReflections of an Advocate Planner

544PAUL DAVIDOFF

) 556LISA P1!ATTIE

ContentsCapital Programing jn Philadelphia 568

WILLIAM H. BROWN, JR. and CHARLES E. GILBERTFive Functions for Planning 585MARTIN MEYERSONThe Coming Revolution in City Planning ),-/ 596ANTHONY DOWNSThree Concepts for Planners

EDWARD C. BANFIELD

VIII. The Formation of Policy 61~Introductory NoteMetro Toronto: Forming a Policy-Formation Process 621HAROLD KAPLANAutonomy vs. "Political Control" of the Schools 628

ROBERT H. SALISBURYSome Alternatives for the Public Library 645

EDWARD C. BANFIELDThe Police Administrator as a Policymaker 655

JAMES Q. WILSONWelfare for Whom? 666RICHARD A. CLOWARD and FRANCES FOX PIVEN

Milwaukee s National Media Riot 682H. R. WILDE

GlossaryBibliography

689707

Index 713


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Urban Governmentas a Su bJect for Study

GOVERNMENT serves two very different functions. One is that of pro-viding goods and services that cannot be , or at any rate are not , providedunder other, private, auspices. With respect to this service function, gov-ernment is in many ways like a private enterprise. Private enterpriseprovides certain kinds of goods and services to' people called " cus-tomers ; public enterprise provides either kinds of goods and servicesto people called "taxpayers. " Both types of enterprise are judged by howwell and how cheaply they supply the goods - and services that ' arewanted.

The other function of government is to deal with conflict. Whereverthere are people , there are bound to be differences of opinion andinterest. Politics is any kind of activity-reasonable discussion, heatedargument, bribery, fighting, balloting, and so on----:by which conflict inmatters of public importance is carried on. Government deals with thisconflict by regulating the manner in which it is carried on, by arrangingcompromises and balancing ' interests, and by imposing settlementswhich the parties to the disputes have to accept.

Whereas the service function is of necessity performed consciouslyand deliberately, the political function is often but not always, per-formed as a more or less accidental by-product of a politician s effort toget office or of a bureaucracy s effort to maintain and expand itself.


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Urban Governmentin the Federal System

In a country as vast as the United States, a central government cannotvery well carryon all public affairs. Some functions must be performedon a local basis and some on a more-than-Iocal-but-Iess-than-nationalone, But although some such division of labor may be an evidentnecessity, the principles of it-and still less the concrete application ofthe principles-have never been easy to decide upon, Where theboundaries of the local and of the more-than-Iocal-but-Iess-than-nationaljurisdictions should be drawn and what activities should be carriedon within each of them are questions that have had to be agitateddiscussed, and settled anew by each generation, The rate of socialchange, as well as the nature of the charige , has made impossible anypermanent or generally satisfactory answers,Everyone agrees that local questions should be decided locally,And everyone agrees that when the two interests conflict, the interestof a local public should be subordinate to that of a larger one, Butin their practical application these two principles have continuallyclashed, and efforts to formulate a workable compromise in abstractterms have again and again come to nothing, Part of the difficultyderives frpm the fact that it is impossible to define abstractly what islocal" and what is not, Moreover, the accidents of history-above allthe great compromises by which the federal system was created in


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~C,-- -

Good Government"

GOOD government" is put in quotation marks because for more than ahundred years it has been part of the jargon ' of the municipal reformmovement, (In Lincoln Steffens ' day reformers were called " goo-goosby unregenerate boodlers because they used the words so much. ) In thejargon , good government meant government that was honest , impartialand efficient- the kind of government that would exist (so the reform-ers thought) once the machines were destroyed petty politiciansdriven out, and public-spirited citizens like themselv~s elected to office,Good government in this sense was neither very democratic nor verymuch concerned with the needs and wishes of the low-income and low-status elements of the community, But whereas to the reformers themachine represented evil, good government represented virtue.The ideal of "good government" was a class ideal, of course, AsJane Addams explained in a reading in the previous section , there iswide difference in the moral perspective of middle- and of lower- classvoters, The lower class thinks of "goodness" in terms of some advantagefor the individual or the family, whereas the middle class thinks of itin terms of the community or some larger abstract public, From thestandpoint of the middle-class ethic, characteristically that of nativeYankee-Protestants and Jews, the task of government is to serve thecommunity as a whole." Implicit ill this idea is the notion that thecommunity is an entity that has ends or purposes different from thoseof the individuals who comprise it. In this view, the ends of individuals,

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ation in The Dilemmas of a Metropolitan


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and partyIcum of partyis something al t quaint in thes , ys of big partiesgove ent, and adver agency politics " ut a political ins ./c~njures up . of Boss Tweed .. chligh~ para~es ward

~lers, As the t day of patron recedes mto hIStempted to sa at the advancing t systems will nobefore it rs and dies of its infirmity and old

T=="=~~

MachineEdward C. Banfield

TO UNDERSTAND how the political heads evaluate their oppor-tunities, i.e" how they decide the terms on which they will use infI.uenceor allow it to be used upon them, it is necessary to look at some salientfacts of political geography.Downstate (all of Illinois outside of Cook County) is whiteProtestant, Anglo-Saxon, rural, and normally Republican, It elects thegovernor (a Democrat has held the office in only 16 of the last 58years), and it controls the General Assembly, Under a recent reappor-tionment, the Senate is safely downstate and Republican; ' a narrowmajority of the House may be from Cook County, but some of the CookCounty representatives are sure to be Republicans , and some downstateDemocrats are almost sure to vote with the Republicans, Downstatehates and fears Chicago , which it regards as an alien land,Chicago is heavily Democratic, The, Democratic heartland is theslums and semi-slums of the inner city; here , in wards which are pre-dominantly Negro, Italian , Polish , Lithuanian, or Irish , and (except forthe Negroes) almost entirely Catholic , the machine gets the hard coreof its support. The lower the average income and the less average ed-ucation, the more reliably Democratic is the ward.The vote is less Democratic as one ~ves outward from the centerof the city, Some of the outlying wards ark usually Republican. So are

most of the "country towns (that part 01 Cook County which lies out-side Chicago); for the most p~t~ the lsuburbanites of the "countrytowns" are white, Protestant, and middle-class, Their affinity is withdownstate rather than the inner city,The inner city wards are so populous and so heavily Democraticthat they can usually offset the Republican vote of the outlying wards,In the future , the ascendancy of the inner city wards is likely to beeven more complete, White, middle-class families are moving to thesuburbs, and their places are being taken by Negroes and poor whites

Reprinted from Political Influence (New York: The Free Pre~' , Z96z), pp. 244-253.387


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InfJuenceand Leadership

IT is characteristic of the American political system that persons whohave no office nevertheless participate actively in the conduct of affairsand sometimes exercise more influence than elected and appointed offi-cials. In part, this is no doubt a consequence of the extreme decentral-ization of the system, Officials must collaborate with private interestsorder to bring together the scattered pieces of power that are needed toget anything done, In part , too , it is a consequence of our conception ofdemocracy, according to which everyone must be allowed, and indeedencouraged, to take an , active part in the business of governing, Thefact remains that by looking only at the activities of people who holdoffice, one can get an impression of the American political system soincomplete and distorted as to be downright wrong,The first six readings in this Section are , descriptive accounts ofinterests that figure largely in urban government, Floyd Hunter, a so-ciologist, asserts that in Regional City (Atlanta), decisions in com-munity affairs are made by a few "power leaders" who are at the apexof a stable , hierarchical "power structure," These leaders , most of whomare heads of large corporations, pass ' directions on to second , third , andfourth rate personnel (the "under-structure" of power); public officialsit is interesting to note , are among the second and third rate personnel.The first two ratings are said to "set the line of policy ; the other two

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Documents

Edward C. Banfield, Urban Government: A Reader in Politics and Administration