To childs's credit, however, he recognized earfy that to mobilzie support for the idea it must be condensed to a catch-phrase first, even if such a reduction means lopping off many of its vital ramifications and making it false in many of its natural applications." Childs had an undeniable knack at simplification and promotion, yet as a Progressive reformer, Childs also had a genuine and vital concern about the need for better local govemment by means of widening popular participation in community affairs through structural change. The manager plan was his prime vehicle of structural reform that, as Don Price rightly observed," rested on the manipulation symbols then dominant (and still I would venture to argue popular today) in American culture- the business corporation, neutral expertise, and pragmatic reform. operate simultaneously on These three fundamental values behind the plan I would argue three levels: at the first level in en popular support and public acceptance for the plan and hence creating the very occupational role a manager performs in a community; at a second