New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-09-01
GREAT ENGLISH TOWN.
RrRM1NcHAMs CORPORATION STREET
A MODEL SEWAGE FARM-PROGREs-
syyE MUNICIPAL. GOVERNMENT.
birmingham. August 20.

MODEL SEWAGE FARM-PROGREs-
sIvE MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
Birmingham, August 20.
Among English critics Birmingham Is perhaps
one of the least interesting to the rapid sight
seer 1t has only one historic church. and that
was rebuilt twenty years ago. 1t has town
hall In the Corinthian style, recalling the Made
leine, and it has elso Greek Council House and
very modern law courts There is series of en-
dowed colleges and municipal literary institutions
"A free library. art gallery and art school, 10
which will soon be added technical school.
There are we'll planned parks with quaint ia
cobean mansion In one Of them; there are numer-
GUS statues in public places and there are relics
OF great men Ike the house OF Watt at Heath
field and the Oratory where Cardinal Newman
spent his last years. The ordinary sightseer
hardly pauscs in the great town long enough TO
take mornings stroll or an afternoons drive, so
preoccupied is he with the prospect OF making
the circuit from Shakespeare's Stratford 10 war
wick with It's famous castle, and thence by the
ruins OF Kenilworth to Coventry. with It's three
tall spires. one of the most delightful Of old
English towns Birmingham ought not to be
neglected by American travellers In no other
English town can the modern art Of governing
large communities on progressive lines be studied
to equal advantage.
A REMARKABLE THOROCGHFARE
The most remarkable thoroughfare In Brming
ham Is Corporaton-st. Twenty years ago II was
an overcrowded section of narrow streets. small
buildings, unsanitary tenements and disease
breeding slrms. Between $500 and 1000 houses
and buildings were removed by the corporation,
a broad boulevard was opened, and 1t is now
lined with handsome and substantial business
hoe lxyaI
an expenditure of $685. 325 general capital &C
count and deficiencies on revenue now capital
ICED An area Of nearly 100 acres in the heart
Of the city was condemned and purchased with
money borrowed for sixty years. The cleared
land was then disposed Of on long-ter leases
of seventyfve years, the plans and specifications
Of builders being subject to municipal approval.
The ground rents new and old buildings upon
the corporation property have a net value OF
$4,000 while the interest and sinking fund con-
tributions toward the payment OF the loans
amount to sS45 0O0 leaving deficiency Of 100000,
which will be reduced materially when all the va
cant land has been taken. When the loans are
paid through the operation Of the sinking fund
the city will have an income Of over 100000 from
ground rents. ard ultimately, when the leases
expire. 1t will come into the possession Of a prop
erty which ought to be worth slO,OO0,OOO. These
the future benefits of this improvement
scheme.
Meanwhile the town has a splendid business
thoroughfare in place of a tangle Of alleys knot
ted with slums. and 1t has also a lower death
rate. tie removal of the unwholesome buildings
having favorably affected the public health. AS
the Town Clerk Edward Oxford Smith. describes
this stupendous public work, the scheme is
kind of savings bank for the benefit of posterity,
ah he acri6c do lx,f ha has
had its reward in the street improvements. in
creased ratable value and vastly better santa
ry condition Of the area. involving greatly de-
creased death-rate and an impetus to the trade
Of the city
This plan of improving the slums Of great
towns and making a permanent investment for
posterity was proposed by Mr.. Chamberlain
when he was Mayor of Birmingham, and 1t has
already demonstrated in practical results the
sagacity of his forecasts and calculations. 1t
was not an original policy, since Glasgow had
already pointed out the way but it has been
carried out with conservatism Of method. The
general plan Of Transforming slums into
well-built sections has been followed by many
other towns Liverpool Manchester, Sheffield
Bradford, Huddersfield among them. Brming-
ham expended $4,000 in erecting few model
dwellings for working people, and then
pended building operations policy Of doubt
full expediency. Glasgow and Liverpool have
built tenement houses a larger scale, and
now collecting rents from tenants.
NEAR TO STATE SOCIALISM,
But whether the corporation builds houses for
humble working people TO rent, or takes ground
tolls from wealthy tenants with the certainty
Of a reversion of the property to the town at the
end Of seventy-five years. it is form Of munich
palzaton which cannot readily be distinguished
from state socialism. BY the time the loans
paid the rates eased up and the improved prop
erty in undisputed possession of the town, there
may be Tory Democrats well as Radicals bold
enough to advocate complete system of land
municipalization by which not merely a few
blocks on improved streets. but every building
In the town shall be owned by the corporation
1t is only twenty years ago that Mr. Chamber
lain was recommending not only this improve
mcnt policy. but also the purchase Of the stock
OF the water and gas companies. All his projects
have been successfully carried out. The water
and gas supplies are now owned by the city
and conducted so economically and profitably
to make good the deficiencies In the dwelling
house improvement accounts. The municipaliza-
ton OF gas has been remarkably successful as
a financial policy. the rates to consumers being
the lowest ever paid. yet yielding very large
profit TO the corporation.
The collectvst policy has not stopped with
gas and water. The tramways are owned by the
town. although not yet operated by It. in
Glasgow; but the success of :he Scotch city in
this new field Of manipulation IL already so
decisive that Birmingham may yet employ its
own servants as drivers and conductors. Its in
vestments In tramways. gas and water plants,
Corporation street, libraries art galleries. mar
kets and cemeteries make I'm O65 ~ the
municipal debt Of 1893 O75 The bulk of the
debt has been incurred while the city has been
entering UPON those progressive municipal poll
cies which seem To have q socialistic directinn