sms for the
growing cities went a rapidly increasing expenditure of public funds.
Streets had to be laid out, paved, and lighted; sewers extended;
firefighting facilities increased; schools built; parks, boulevards,
and playgrounds acquired, and scores of new activities undertaken by the
municipality. All these brought grist to the politician's mill. So did
his control of the police force and the police courts. And finally, with
the city reaching its eager streets far out into the country, came the
necessity for rapid transportation, which opened up for the municipal
politician a new El Dorado.

Under our laws the right of a public service corporation to occupy the
public streets is based upon a franchise from the city. Before the days
of the referendum the franchise was granted by the city council, usually
as a monopoly, sometimes in perpetuity; and, until comparatively recent
years, the corporation paid nothing to the city for the rights it
acquired.

When we reflect that within a few decades of the discovery of
electric power, every city, large and small, had its street-car and
electric-light service, and that most of these cities, through their
councils, gave away these monopoly rights for long periods of time, we
can imagine the princely aggregate of the gifts which public service
corporations have received at the hands of our municipal governments,
and the nature of the temptations these corporations were able to spread
before the greedy gaze of those whose gesture would seal the grant.

But it was not only at the granting of the franchise that the boss
and his machine sought for spoils. A public service corporation,
being constantly asked for favors, is a continuing opportunity for the
political manipulator. Public service corporations could share their
patronage with the politician in exchange for favors. Through their
control of many jobs, and through their influence with banks, they could
show a wide assortment of favors to the politician in return for
his influence; for instance, in the matter of traffic regulations,
permission to tear up the streets, inspection laws, rate schedules, tax
assessments, coroners' reports, or juries.

When the politician went to the voters, he adroitly concealed his
designs under the name of one of the national parties. Voters were asked
to vote for a Republican or a Democrat, not for a policy of municipal
administration or other local policies. The system of committees,
cau