, 1875-08-15

the case before the Mayor adopted the practice
of enecting temporary loans. and must be tne
case again, when that system iB abandoned, d,-naa
had not q little to do with the cheapnesa OF cats
work.
With respect to the Wisconsin street pave
ment, regarding which so much has oeen sa1a ps
disappointed contractors, the tact 1s taas t'le
plan adopted il that generally followed ID Cni-
cago, and there found most durable OF ~ W..
traffic g1ea:er than ours. Ihere II NJ ~ -
to pay on this pavement 1t is taln on 1san n iaid
gravel and will not rot so quloklJ "a "neu 'a1u
On lumber. which holds tho water, the p1essuio ~
ia more equally borne and in case OF repair tno
work ia more cheaply and rapidly done: 10 se.-
tIe the pavement, it has been rolled "lta soi.u4s
three times IS heavy as any ordlnaty ., .Ga hasrv
soil being previously prepared by equai1y Ao~''
railing and tho result Is most 6at1alactoi5'
REPAy1Sd STREETS IT,
is another item OF considefao'o 9Apo ."n,;1ad
estimate OF last sprirg has been aoou1 aea1e sHe
the cheapness in material ano apv. . s1,nnnt of
work affected. In raising tue R1aoe y. Wso'
water street creat difficulty, delay, ana e3 1ense;
wera caused By the street-car tracS' HnieI nssa
tn be raised to grade inches- 1ns "oiA7 uo*
ever, has been excallentlg oonn. a - eH cau,a
has only been 925, 900, OF an average III oo s7a'0
mar yard for about 81, 000 yAtda'
GraveInr. curbing, grading and Rnttefine
h.ve been soiug Oh more this year than ever pc
fora. and s6ere is no class OF public "orks 1or
which the Is e,aas u1S of
has been mure particularly carried out in the out
wing wards III the inner wards, however, there
ie a good deal Of repairing and reh1lnR golug
on, owing to the arrangement OF the street sur
face By sewerage gas OF %ateialns Ina a.;ai. nasl "
the va,ds themselves. Tue total amount OK
nended for reralrs of street this gear will be
quite 500, ,000, ali OF which is chargeabe to the
ward funds.
THE SEWERAGE WORK OF 1875
will cost about 500, 900. One-half OF this
amount is raised BY taxes on property fronting
on the sewers, and one-half is paid ont Of the
general tax funds ........
There we're about II miles Of sewerage laid
out to be built, of which about are already
under CONTRACT and nearly completed The ar
raDgements Tor onlldlng too 1eua4nue1 MILL oooA
be completed.
The whole OF our city improvements will be
completed much earlier Ibis year than last. Inc
contracts we're let more rapidly, and thanks 70
the Temporary loan system, the necessary 1nnos
ware available a. the right momen1 and no
hitch occurred, until the late legal rumpus, to
prevent the work bsing carried to a prompt and
satisfactory conclusion. Ihe contracts nave
been let, all through, cheaper than ever, owing
to the competition aad other cause5 as RELAXED
above.
Dredging will cost, this year. about 100000.
CASH ys. "suAvED" ORDERS.
Apropos o. the furry as to tie hitch IN the
way of the city borrowing money Tor temporary
purposes, in leu Of issuing city ORDERS lew
words may be in order By way OF making clear
what must be quite uuintelheio'e to man, people
both in this city and elsewhere, who are inter-
ested in tho problem of economic municipal
government. The taxes arc not collected u
anything like large suus, TILL december. IN
January the collections become large ana IN
February Of each year they reach their highest
y, has
bulk has been received
During the whole Of the preceding summer
let ia say for the sake Ut i4lustratlon,-pu
works Of necessity, Lave been constructed aod
the aggregate - say S20U.00O - ls to be
paid out OF these taxes for such
xo,ts, Each contractor, as lie finishes lis
contract, has to be paid OF, in order that he may
pay his men. As there ia no money, and will
not be, for months, III the treasury, he Is given
city orde1, payable, say, II February. w this
he raises money; and his men are PAID on.
The raising of moueY necessitates heavy shave,
from Is 70 Is per cent.-an average of 20 Fer
ceut,-and this is of Course added to the regular
price Of work i'll the estimates on which the COLI
tracts are let. Thus, every Sl0o,0oo worth OF
work costs $120. 900, under this RTstem4 besides
introducing everywhere habits Of sh1t;iossness'
extravaganza, and recklessness that af~ays dis
t1rguish business transacted by discounted
paper. as compa1ed with cash. When Mayor
Lud;ngton was elected, ne quickly perceived the
rulnous character OF the Jobs that were spring
ing like mushrooms out Of this rotten system.
CITY orders were lying around, unpaid, depre-
ciatcd, and in bad odor, everywhere woraing
men we're obliged to contract debts, and encoui-
aged in 3 mean hand-.o-mouth way Of living,
aud the whole business Of cont acting Was Kept in
a few hands. The first Milwaukee ''rog gre"
out of those fat days Of jobbery and corruption.
The Ludington administration eooa changed Ill
that by adopting the simple expedieut Of
BORROWING MONEY FROM THE BANKS