Mayor James A. Curley of Boston is in Washington begging, arguing with his fellow Democrats for federal assistance to pull a fast sinking Boston from the muck of bankruptcy; New York Tammany grows wary since the city-budget does not balance; the loaning bankers demand security in the form of better government at a lower cost; and, of course, Chicago had seen nothing but deep red since 1928. Heavy fixed debts, relics of the anterior period of over-expansion plus the increasing tax delinquency problem, and the burden of welfare work and relief have all combined to effect this unhealthy financial distress.

Meanwhile, various factors seem to be crystallizing out of this murky financial atmosphere. The day for planned economy in city government appears not too distant, with business interests dictating the financial policies. Naturally this will on tail a circumspection of the activities of the political boss with his mucking crows since their very substance, money, will be out of their reach. In the times when the business man was apathetic to political problems, reform was supreme idealism. As in the case of New York, every one knew Tammany was the wayward child, but there were always favors of the business man so no change could be demanded. Now the wayward child has grown to a big, big, burly youth. This machine bureaucracy of Tammany has proved vulnerable in only one spot, the financial spot, and if any control can be exercised it will be through this avenue.

There appears only one possible flaw in this evolution of business hegemony over politics. City politicians, already tired of the moral dictates of the banking groups, have looked to the federal government for aid on more be lenient terms. But such a policy would be disastrous for good government. The cash reserves of the R.F.C. would answer the dreams of the most exacting political pilferers. Furthermore, a system of federal control on how and where the money should be spent would be virtually impossible. Whatever the immediate stakes of the current crisis may be, the burdening of the federal government with the problems of local affairs will never solve the question practically.