In 1929, the University of Chicago Press published the first intensive study of the prestige rating of municipal employment, the results of an experiment enlisting the cooperation of over 5,000 residents of Chicago and yielding over 90,000 separate expressions of opinion on the relative status of municipal and private employment. The results of this inquiry were disturbing. The prestige of municipal employment in Chicago appeared to be less than that of corresponding private employment, and special inquiries into the integrity, courtesy, and competence of city employees revealed serious lack of public confidence.
Since the English Revolution of 1688, it has been a part of the Anglo-American tradition that elected representative assemblies control the policies and acts of the executive branch of the government. This doctrine was firmly embedded in the American state and federal constitutions. With some wartime reservations, it has been universally accepted throughout our country. At the present time, however, there is an uneasy feeling that practice does not square with theory. There is even a suspicion that practice contradicts theory—that a vast body of officials has in fact escaped the possibility of control by the people's representatives.The trends of the last half-century have certainly complicated the problem of congressional authority over administration. This has occurred in part because administration has made impressive gains in effective organization and operation, while relatively Congress has stood still. Within the administrative system there has developed a capacity for self-direction which might well challenge the dominance of Congress, if Congress continues to be the laggard partner in the governmental team.
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