ABSTRACT
The tendency toward centralization, developing slowly at the outset, swept forward as the end of the century approached with increasing momentum. In city, state and nation, and in the industrial world as well, the trend was toward closer integration of the institutions of control, economic and political. The development of nationalism in the nation as a whole, the growth of 'bosses' and organizations within the political party, and the appearance of the 'trust' in the commercial world, the consolidation of powers in the form of the commission government in the city, the development of central control in the state, were all evidences of the same general drift toward more compact organization. With reference to the various powers of government, popular practice and theory underwent important changes. Both the institutional and the theoretical developments regarding the area or unit of government were notable. The institutional development of the political party was one of the striking features of the period under discussion.
