Civic Enterprise Research Articles

Rich Town, Poor Town: The Distribution of Rate-Borne Spending Levels in the Edwardian City System

A significant feature of the development of modem urban-industrial society in Britain has been the vast expansion of government intervention. During the Victorian-Edwardian era, this was effected mainly through the institutions of local government, which were accorded a large measure of administrative and financial autonomy. The local rate was a very important tax and the principal source of public revenue. Accordingly, the provision of public services depended, in large part, on the financial capacity and civic enterprise of local communities. This comparative study examines the distribution of rate-bome spending levels, assessed property wealth and local tax rates in the Edwardian city system comprising 730 urban communities in England and Wales. The study reveals that there were both large differences between urban communities, and important regional contrasts, in their levels of spending, the dominant control being the distribution of assessed wealth in the city system. A typology of rich towns and poor towns with high rates and low rates is used to highlight regional patterns of financial behaviour.

Fundamental Purposes of General Education

S INCE you have been charged with the responsibility for organizing a survey course in the program of general education I would suggest that you should first become thoroughly familiar with the fundamental purposes of this type of education. There are many different programs of general education, and their goals vary considerably from one institution to another; but certain purposes are basic to all such programs, consequently they merit careful consideration. Let us examine, therefore, three of these purposes. The first purpose of a program of general education is to contribute, at an appropriate level, to the student's preparation for the needs of everyday life. This is frequently spoken of as the functional approach. The terms needs and functional, however, are not used in any narrow sense. They refer not only to needs which the student sees, but also to those which le should be made to see; they refer not only to life as it is actually lived, but also to life as it might better be lived; they refer not to some narrow and highly specialized segment of life, but to life in its manifold aspects. A brief enumeration of some of these needs is given by A. J. Brumbaugh: There can be little doubt that certain basic educational needs are common to all students. [First,] the relation of individuals to the issues of government is growing more and more complex; through the ballot they express their judgments concerning governmental policy, concerning the qualifications of candidates for public office, and concerning issues local or national in scope-peace and war, capital and labor, freedom and control. [Second,] as private citizens they will or should become interested in civic enterprises, aiding, for example, in promoting musical organizations, community forums, little theatres, church federations, public clinics and health centers. [Third,] they will engage in a home life in which social adjustments may be simplified through the application of biological and psychological knowledge both in personal relationships and in the care and training of children. Of no little importance in this area is the application of the principles of elementary economics in budgeting and spending the family income. [Fourth,] they will have available some leisure time the proper use of which will call for skill in sports, taste for good reading, and the ability to enjoy music, art, and other forms of recreational activity. There is a real danger in creating leisure without educating people to use it wisely. [Fifth,] they will need to maintain a high level of physical and mental efficiency involving a wide range

Some Chemical Aspects of Life: Presidential Address Devlivered at Leicester on September 6, 1933

I THE British Association returns to Leicester with assurance of a welcome as warm as that received twenty-six years ago, and of hospitality as generous. The renewed invitation and the ready acceptance speak of mutual appreciation born of the earlier experience. Hosts and guests have to-day reasons for mutual congratulations. The Association on its second visit finds Leicester altered in important ways. It comes now to a city duly chartered and the seat of a bishopric. It finds there a centre of learning, many fine buildings which did not exist on the occasion of the first visit, and many other evidences of civic enterprise. The citizens of Leicester on the other hand will know that since they last entertained it the Association has celebrated its centenary, has four times visited distant parts of the Empire, and has maintained unabated through the years its. useful and important activities.

Hourly Nursing—A Civic Enterprise

AS you already know, there have been requests for hourly nursing service for the past fifteen years. Visiting nurse associations early adopted a policy of caring for their sickest patients first and were unable to state a definite hour when they would arrive at a patient's home. Private duty nurses were loath to engage themselves for hourly cases fearing they would lose opportunities to earn a full day's pay. As time went on the demands for nursing care at definite hours became more insistent with the result that the matter was brought to the attention of the national professional bodies. Apparently here was a need that must be met successfully if the profession were to fulfil the function of nursing the sick. The experience of the visiting nurse associations showed that the demands came from persons who were accustomed to the amenities of life and were in a position to pay for them. The experience of the registries showed too that their demands were from persons who could afford continuous service but who did not require it. The result was that both groups

The new home of the chicago civic opera

AbstractAlthough the municipal governmetnal had nothing to do with it, Chicago's new opera house is truly a civic enterprise. Mr. Clayton's article should be read as an antidote to Mr. Martin's story last month of the city's financial prostration

Joint Civic Enterprises

Joint Civic Enterprises