New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-02
.rrW.YORK CITY'S FINAN CES.
<ur TRUTH REACHED BY A COMPARISON
OF STATISTICS.
,,nrSe TO ITS DEBT AT THE RATE OF soooo'oco
YEAR IN SPITE OF ENORMOUS RECEIPTS
THE MISLEADING METHODS OF
THE CONTROLLERS REPORT.


u..n,neton. Nov. ! (SpeclaD.-Mr. J. X. Upton ioF
,v Assistant Secretary of the United states TWAS
- whose reputation for ability and accuracy as
.ssucan of finances, is second 10 that OF no o'ner
=, An the United States, and who is in charge Oh @io
,,ustcs Of wealth. debt and taxation Of the Eie'en'
C.,sus has prepared statement of the recep'e az
,,neiures Of New-York City for the years 1901 eHe
,sso-the figures for the latter year being uie -
:, searching analysis OF the report OF 'ie N"s =,
trailer The statement which Is gwen ~, -
.ss ,rut of an enormous amount of psinstaks mOos'
~ 1 he Of deep personal interest TO every mAp"!e'
q, the great me ropons OF the United states.
Tna financial transactions OF the large cities OF 'ho
,,,,.d states have begun 10 rival in Importance lOSo
:, the General Government one hunueu VI 'A0
.,,,ss collect s2l5 100000 per annum oliecl rum ~"
,~one and the total transactions OF the $40 Vue'
t.vins population OF $500 or upward woulo oouoV
~ n known, equal those Of the General 'oVer1i-
- ns-haps he greater and they largely over
,hsaow those OF the states, counties and schooi SS
tiets combined.
The coronation of the city Of New-iork IS. In pop
r.on wealth and financial dealings, by far the great
*. Of these cities Containing onehaI more Popui~
80, than either of its rivals Chicago and Philadelphia
poa,v double that Of It's sister city BROOKLYN ana @O
four times that Of either Boston or ST. LOUIS the heA
in the list IL stands out unquestioned the great Guy
IN. American Continent. To carry out its fiscal oper
ATOMS including those Of the county IL collects oa rev
,nus more than double that Of any other city IN the
rnt.d States and about one fifth as much as inc %
rrgate O. the other ninety principal clteS III 'ue
country. The control OF its fiscal analrs Is Pla0U -
the hands Of certain branches and departments Ou' al
accounts are brought together for adjustment Ill INC
once of the City Controller, and the annual fcporS VI
tha, officer state with cearness the several Items "
receipts and expenditures No city, county VI o'e -
this country no nation in the world except our OWL
NJ IT,
understood or freer from vexat1ouS errors oy tne
PRINTER than that Of NewYork City In It's report ny
the Controller for 1890 notwithstanding It's misleading
superservlcesble table Of comparative expenditures OIL
page 147 .,--- 49,
The oldest taxpaver in that city Of fnanclers, now
ever may take that weIedited report lately from ''
press, examine its contents IN oe'aA Aroih 'o'1 ~
cover but when done he will not be able 10 tell
rb,tb.r he feels sensation of happiness or misery
for he does not know whether with al the paraoe Vi
figures the receipts Of the city for lo9o nave been
sufficient 10 pay current expenses or whether money
had 10 be borrowed for that purpose The lniorrna-
oD Is there however but it needs further group ng
and classification To ascertain the amount OF taxes,
of licenses and Of income from funds collected score
Of items in each case must be combined and TO as
certain how much has been paid during the year Tor
fire health, police poor streets or public buildings,
Ike combinations must 10 made and as these items are
scattered throughout twenty closely printed pages,
mixed up with items Of receipts OF and payments fOr
loans OF Investments and sales Of securities, OF changes
IN sinking funds and Of transfers from one account to
another which only bookkeeping entries OF no In
terest 10 the general reader and Of possible conse
Quence In the report all Of which items must be sfted
and classified properly, il not likely any reader
would ever ascertain for himself the ultimate result
OF the numerous transactions.
The items are, however, capable of classification
which Will present clearly the transactions of he city
and their results. Taking from the item OF tax col
lectons the reported collected and turned
over to the State and the following summary shows
the financial transactions Of the city reported by
the Controller for 1880 and 1889 classified into certain
groups with the increase decrease therein during the
year.
The figures for 1859 are from Bulletin 80 OF the
eleventh census those for 1890 compiled direct from
The report Of the Controller for that year and there
can be no question of their aoourdcy-tte Totals
ing with those reported by the Controller and the
cearness Of the Controllers report renders the CLASH
fcaton easy and certain.
OF receipts and expenditures Of the city
SewYork 1890 and 1889 shown by the Controllers
reports and decrease IN the different items
RECEIPTS.