The daily gazette., 1878-01-15
ONE CAUSE or HARD .TrMEss

Sratisticlans Are not the most ister-
| estlng people In the world. bnt they
are undeniably useful, and once In q
while they bring out an array Of ny
uree that commands attention. Such
an army Ia that which Mr.. Rob,rt p.
Porter, Of Chicago, drew up before the
recent $ .cisl Science Oongresr a. Bos-
ton. Mr. Porter has been studying the
subject of municipal Indebtedness,
and has col ated the 6nsncisl ttate>
meuts Of one hundred and thirty AMER
lean cities, from which IL appears that
the debt OF these cities amount TO more
than $644, 100000, two-lhirds Of which
has been addeded during the past ten
years. The property Of these one hun
dred ana thirty cities was valued In
the official reporIs at about six thou
sand millions, and II we allow for the
general shrInkage it will be seen that
the property OF the taxpayers has
been already mortesged for fifteen per
Q nj Of lie value, and II the debt coL-
.inuo TO increase In the ratio of the
pa 81 len years, which 10 about one per
cent. annually, another decade will
bring this mortgage TO the enormous
sum of twenty-five per cent. npon the
assessed valuation, A municipal debt,
ss well said by President Smith, Of
the select Council, IN his inaugural
address, is the frs: and heaviest mort
gags that encumbers every mans
home. and with such a load Resting
upon lhem II is not difficult TO undei-
stand why our merchants and manu-
fscturers. workiDgmen aud tradespeo-
Pile of every kind flnd it so hard TO re-
gain prosperity: We hear . great deal
about the downtrodden and tax-ridden
people of Europe, but there Is not -
foreign State In which the taxes will
compare with those Of our leading
cities. Ireland, for example, pays tax
es To the amount OF about $2l.O0O, 900
annually, or $3.50 head, while the
municipal taxes ~ New York city
amount to $50, ,0C0, 900, or .y27 so, n
head. In Switzerland, where the gov
ernment does everytLing-builds
roads, iuns rail ways. mai tains mil
itary Organization and what not-the
annual taxation is but $S.009,0 900, or
~ 96 for each inhabitant, while PHIL
adelphia pays for municipal purposes
$l2, ,O00, 600 u year .or $i5 ,25, per capita,
besides what is each year added 10 the
debt. The kIngdC ID OF Portugal is NOT
remarkable we'll governed, but It's
revenues from taxation are only about
twice those of Pbilad.lpbia, while lie
population is FIVE times AZ great. This
com parison could be prolonged 10 je-
tinitely. but the figures alr-sdy given
will furnish enough for tax payers to
thing about. 1t IL the municipal and
local Indebtedness, with uncheck ed
extrsvagsncs in local expenditure. that
has placed the heaviest of their bur
dens upon the people Of this country.
1t amounts to nearly huff the sum Of
the national debt and il lar exceeds
the sum Of the State debts, even with
all the load which IeconstrurtiOn
placed upon the South. Mr.. Porter
gives the aggregate debt of The States
at less than S311 ,000 900, of which
nearly $lS0,000,0C0 belongs to the
nine Southern States, making a debt
of $22 for each inbabitant OF those
S ates while IL o debt pr capita 10
the Easteia States is but So anu In tue
Western States only $3.50. II was
precisely the same kind of ignorance,
extravagance and corruption that
created the debts of the Southern
States and those OF the Northern cities
and unless some means can be devised
TO remove these forces from the con
trol OF affairs and substitute INTEL
gence and honesty In their stead We
shall look for the return OF prosperous
tunes in vain and all the panacess OF
the currency quacks will profit moth
ing 500 s4-.