19. Participation of Citizens in Municipal Government.—As cities grow and their func tions become complex and technical it is more and more necessary that there should be per manency in the municipal service. At the same time the city government requires more and more the co-operation of all the citizens. To secure efficiency in municipal administration and to encourage intelligent young men and women to enter the public service, the merit system has been devised by which the appoint ments to subordinate positions are made as a result of competitive examinations and city em ployees are protected from arbitrary removal for political or personal reasons. Where the merit system is in vogue a special commission is established to administer the civil service laws and regulations. This is one of the most difficult tasks of municipal administration and its difficulty increases as the functions of city government increase and the number of city employees multiplies. The administrative and civic importance of the merit system becomes evident the moment we think of the vast num ber of men and women engaged in the city service as policemen, firemen, school teachers, clerks, inspectors and laborers. It is not suffi cient, however, that the city government should be able to draw freely upon the business re sources of the community for the permanent work of administration. The activities of the
city touch all of its citizens in an infinite va riety of ways and the success of municipal gov ernment depends upon the loyal interest and support of the community at large. Without civic intelligence and civic spirit a great city with a democratic political organization cannot maintain efficient government. Often citizens feel that the city government is a distant, un responsive power over which they have no con trol. It is for the purpose of developing and maintaining active interest among the citizens themselves and of giving them the complete control over the policies of their government which democracy demands, that such devices as the direct primary, the preferential ballot, nomination by petition, the recall, the referen dum and the initiative have been made use of in many American cities. The problem of how to facilitate the intelligent participation of all the citizens in municipal government remains the crucial problem of American democracy. See CITY MANAGER PLAN OF GOVERNMENT; EXECUTIVE.