CITY COUNCILS, American. Organ City councils in the United States are usually of the single-chamber type although many cities, including a few of the larger ones, have councils with the bicameral or double chamber organization. In colonial times the single chamber prevailed in all the chartered boroughs, but after the Revolution the double chamber was introduced, largely through the application to city government of the so-termed Federal analogy. Congress was bicameral, so were the State legislatures. Following their example the cities provided themselves with two local legislative bodies, commonly known as the board of aldermen and the common council, respectively. But in the course of time there came a reaction against the cumbrousness of this system and it was in many communities abandoned. Eventually it will disappear alto gether. No American city which has changed from the double to the single-chamber plan has ever retraced its steps in this regard.
The The number of mem bers in American city councils varies greatly. Some small communities have only seven or nine councillors; more commonly the number is IS or 21; in a few of the largest cities it rises much higher. In Chicago it is 70; in New York the city's single legislative chamber (known as the board of aldermen) has 79 members; in Philadelphia the total membership of the two chambers is 132. But the drift has been every where in the direction of reduced membership. By charter amendments in recent years the number of councillors has been reduced in Bos ton to 9, in Saint Louis to 13 and Cleveland to 26.
Councillors are elected by popular vote; their term of service varies from one to four years in different cities; they are usually paid a stated salary per annum. As a general rule any
voter is eligible to be a candidate for election; but in a few cities there are additional qualifica tions as to age or length of residence in the city.
There are three methods of electing mem bers of city councils, namely, election by wards, election by the city at large and election by a combination of these two plans. In the smaller cities election at large is the usual method. In the larger cities the ward system of election is common. Both plans have their defects; the ward system too often re sults in the election of mediocre men, while under the scheme of election at large the entire slate of the dominant political party is frequently chosen and the minority party is left without representation entirely. The effort has been made to lessen these objections by a combination of the two plans, providing for the choice of some councillors by wards and others by the voters of the city as a whole.
The council elections are almost everywhere contested upon a partisan basis. From time to time non-partisan organizations put for ward their candidates but rarely with con tinued success. Nominations are made by party conventions, or more commonly, by some form of primary, closed or open (see PRIMARY). The election is everywhere by•secret ballot and ordi narily a plurality of the votes actually cast is sufficient to elect. In a few cities, however, the preferential form of ballot is used (see