New-York tribune., 1885-07-09

pal body corporate Civil Service, especially as ap-
pied to cties is in its infancy. and every citizen
of every city in the State should, from motives OF
self-interest as well as patriotism, give 1T his
heartest support.
LEGISLATION FOR CITIES.
ii. Another much-needed reform Is in the manner
of legislating for cities Undoubtedly each OF the
cities Of the State has such distinctive character
isics as to population location and business inter-
ests sometimes but not oftenl to require special
legislation But our system of granting separate
charters for each city and of tinkerng and amend
ing these every year at the whim of few
men who happen to be the clty's
officials is great mistake. New-YOrk City
furnishes the most glaring illustration OF this n
1884 sixteen amendments to the Consolidation act
became laws Others were vetoed by the Governor;
still others were defeated the other OF the
two branches of the Legislature and still larger
number were killed IN committee. Besides these,
thirty -four acts of general nature and a large
number of private acts applicable to New-fork City
alone were placed upon the statute books. 80
this same process goes On from year TO year-not
only,as to New-York but as to almost every other
city.
At every session Of the Legislature frequent dele
cations from every large city in the State visit AL
bany for the purpose of procuring amendments to
the charters of their respective cities 1t is safe to
say that One-half of these proposed amendments
are utterly bad and that large majority of the
other half entirely unnecessary. In the city OF
Rochester, the Board of Aldermen has standing
Committee on Amendments to the Charter, and
special committees on particular proposed amend
ments not uncommon. / presume the same IS
true of other cities. The result is that whenever
problem that seems at all diicuf OF solution TO pre-
| thought and endeavor is Ito got bill passed py
| the Legislature" Worse than this. under the
tba ottt fnnH
patronage. city officials can readily procure the
| passage of amendments which unite for them or
their friends the cties purse-strngs or place dan
gerous and lucrative patronage at their disposal
1t would be much better to shut out an occaslOnai
| good amendment, and with it score OF bad ones.
| rather than to throw the doors wide open for
| good nd bad alike as Is now DONE BY a con-
sttutional amendment passed in 1874 the granting
of local bills for the incorporation OF villages was
prohibited and the Legislature was directed TO pass
| q general act for such incorporatons. whloh was
| subsequently done. The change thus made was
undoubtedly good one. Would not similar rnaa
especially If all cities then incorporated were also
| required to conform their charters to the pro-
| vsionsf
There are certainly grave objections to this plan;
but II is feasible general incorporation act @ ior
cities containing population OF over ZuOoUo
might be passed. another for cities between
10000 and 100000. and another for those con-
tanning less than 10000; or the three classes
might be included in one act Inc result would De
general principles which were found TO be the best
and safest in the conduct of city affairs; and when
| the representatives of one city asked the
Legislature 10 amend the act for especial benefit
the representatives of all the other cities would be
upon the alert to guard themselves agan vicious or
useless changes. II would certainly lessen the op-
portunity for corruption by cutting oil one oi the
most prolific sources OF corruption.
A RESPONSIBLE CITY GOVERNMENT
III. Responsibility in city government should, as
a rule, be centred IN individual officials and TO
accomplish this official power must likewise be con-
al Ruraa boar1s ar
and afford splendid opportunities for shifting indi-
vidua responsibility, and money which may legally
pass through the hands of either of three or more
officials is more easily lost IN the passage than If
the entire fund is in the hands OF one man,
who Is held accountable for every dollar.
And the average taxpayer soon learns
10 fix responsibility where 1t belongs unless con-
fused and coDfounded by multiplicity of "respon-
sible authoriies" Syracuse has for years been
nearer to this ideal than most of the cities OF the
State and to-day the city debt of Syracuse is only
ST. g4 900 and its rate OF taxation only 81 32 on the
hundred. Brooklyn awoke 10 lts importance some
years ago. and it now has the best city government
in the State. Buffalo has prepared through its
leading citizens charter embOdying this idea
and Rochester is fast following suit, and little
effort on the part of those who favorit will fan the
embers into flame that Will soon sweep over the
entire State.
IV. Another great drawback to the progress of
our cities is the Inequality of taxation: Too large
share of city taxes is borne by real estate. and
cheaper classes of real estate Disseminated |
against In favor of more valuable. The city |
Of Rochester furnishes fair Illustration OF
both of these evils. As late as 1881 the c1tlrc |
assessed valuation Of personal property in that city
only $129320. while one small town in the |
same county, Wheat land. with population OF only
$500 was assessed for $224. 900 OF personally. |
Since 1881 there has been gradual Improvement,
until in the year the assessed valuation OF
personal property has reached $3.50, ,05D But the |
amount ~ still rldicuousy small. ana the result ~
that a large tax which should be borne by accnmu-
lated personal estate IS loaded upon the already |
overburdened real estate. Our law permits a tax |
payer to reduce the valuation Of his personal estate [
by deducting therefrom his outstanding obhga- |
tfons While the nature of the two kinds OF prop |
erty necesstates some what different methods OF |
assessment yet why could not substantially the
equitable rule be applied to real as to personal
property
A CHANGE ~ TAXATION.
The limits of this article will not permit dis
cussion of a subject intricate and perpexing as
that of taxation but il is plain that somo change
IS imperativey demanded. The owner Of bus-
ness block assessed at $4,000 who pays the state
and county tax of about mills on the dollar.
the city tax of three cents each dollar Of the en-
tire assessed valuation Iwho pays per cent
possibly 81 on the mortgage he has eiveni besides
paying insurance, assessments for local improve
ments and water rates, and then must rent the
premises for enough to pay hITl a good percentage
on the amount no has invested in the block, can
not compete with the owner OF real estate IN an
other city which has no floating debt and in which
the rate of taxation is twothirds less Naturally
the latter attracts capital and the former repels It,
The other evil spoken of above is in the fact that |
the most valuable property is not assessed nearly
as high in proportion as the outlying cheaper |
GLASSES of real estate 1t is notorious fact In most
oties that the little homes and small stores tar
from the centres of business are assessed more
nearly M TO their va no than the immense blocks