New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-03-01
THE MUNICIPAL INTESTIG ATOM

The Senate Committee which is charged with
the important duty of investigating the munic-
ipal governments Of this State has gone to work
in manner which cannot fail to commend If
to the public confidence. The letter and the
interrogatories addressed by the committee to
the Mayors of all the cities of NewYork are
certain to elicit mass of information OF great
practical public value, which has never before
been collected although the cost of munic-
ipal government in this state as Is pointed
out in the letter referred TO, Is many times
greater than the cost of the administration OF
the State government neither the people gen
orally nor the Legislature has any authentic
and accessible figures nor Is there IN existence
any system of general and uniform reports such
as is really requisite to enable the Legislature
properly to deal with the questions OF municipal
taxation and government which are continually
presented for its solution" This plain state
ment attcsts the necessity which exists for col
lecting the data called for by the intcrrocatorcs
addressed to the Mayors. These officials arc
asked TO describe with sufficient detail the ma
chinery by which the cities OF which they are
at the head are managed. and to state the out
come of the management as it shows itself IN
such tests as the rate of taxation compared with
the assessment valuations. the size and cOndi-
ton of bonded and floating debts and the
amount of arrears of unpaid taxes
The committee which meets to-day in this
city appreciates, we believe, its responsibility
and its opportunity of rendering the public
signal service. 1t hopes a result of its
labors to accomplish at least these two things ;
first from a careful study Of the facts which
it will gather to draft a general law applicable
70 all the minor cities Of the State second, to
devise a scheme which will rescue the admin
istraton of the finances of this metropolis from
the unntelligibo tanglc which is their present
condition. Those familiar with the question of
municipal reform will at once see how impor
tant are these two aims of the committee. Dur
ing the last ten years nearly 1900 acts have
been passed by the Legislature relating TO the
government of cities And since IT i safe TO
say that twice as many more were introduced
which failed, it appears that this kind OF lcgis-
lation must have consumed since 1850 large
share of the time and attention of our law
makers Let a general law he enacted and
the Legislature will be relieved from the ncccS-
sity which now confrontS il year after year OF
considering large and varied assortment OF
charter amendments. Furthermore, the cities
themselves would profit by the change, since
their governments would be placed on broader
and firmer basis. II needs no argument with
intelligent men to establish the proposition that
the public affairs of this great city of ours are
at present administered in palpablc disregard
of anything approaching approved business
methods Hundreds of thousands of dollars
are recklessly thrown away annually which
could easily he saved to the taxpayers if the
level headcdncss which is displayed in the con
duct of private business and not "politics" and
shiftlessness ruled the departments.
1t is to be expected that the committee will
| apply the probe courageOusly. Every New
| Yorker, no matter whether a Republican or Il
| Democrat, who takes an unsclfsh and public
| spirited view of civic affairs will demand that
the investigation shall be thorough. Any other
sort of an investigation would be worse than
useless