St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-31
FACTS For ST. PAIL

| L
No city is fully equipped for manag-
ing it's own affairs or for instituting
necessary economies until it has
| knowledge of the cost of government
in other cities of it's own size and
similarly situated. There have been,
| from time to time, loose and mac
curate comparisons instituted be-
| tween the revenue, the expenditure,
| the tax rate and the resources of
| st. Paul and other cities The sta
| tistics given were always open to
| attack, and arguments based upon
| them were easily demolished. 1t be-
came evident a long time ago that,
before the authorities of this city
could act intelligently in retrench-
ing expenditures and tightening the
burdens of the people, they must be
supplied with more abundant and
dependable information.
The G 0 b believes that there is
| no issue of such vital Importance as
this to our people. 1t believes that
taxation in st. Paul must be reduced.
1t feels this to be necessary not only
as a measure of justice to our hard
working people and to our great
business interests, but to the growth
and prosperity of the city itself. But
if taxes are to be lowered, we must
first know where a saving can be
made and how it can be effected.
Where are we to apply the knife? No
| one would be willing to cripple any
department of the municipal service,
to let streets and bridges fall into
decay, to impair the efficiency of
the schools, the fire department or
the police service, in order that
fraction of mill might be taken
from the tax levy. The primary
question, therefore, asserts itself
what are other cities spending in
like circumstances for the same OBJ
jects? This is the original inquiry,
and it is one so difficult to answer
that no sustained attempt has ever
yet been made.
There has been no such thing in
this country as a comparative study
of municipal methods. DR.. Shaw's
admirable book on municipal gov
eminent in Great Britain laid the
foundation for new branch of econ
omics. What he did for the cities of
England and Scotland, and is now
doing for the cities of the continent,
some investigator of the future must
do for the cities of the United States.
Only when the people have all the
facts before them will they be pre-
pared and willing to act. DR.. Shaw's
studies, however, are mainly along
the lines Of inquiry into political
conditions and municipal methods Of
administration. We must begin far
Their back. We must start with the
financial side, and ascertain the re-
lations to each other of revenue
and expenditure in different Ameri-
can cities in order to obtain a basis
for the policy of the future.
With a conviction Of the absolute
necessity of action by st. Paul to
reduce the tax rate, and with the
further certainty that before this
can be done with either safety or
wisdom we must know what they
are doing in other cities that can
fairly be compared to our own, the
G b e set on foot, some time ago,
an inquiry into the comparative
finances of four Western cities. A
gentleman amply qualified for the
work, familiar with the processes of
! city government and fitted to wrestle
with the complex financial details
of municipal affairs, has been en-
gagged for months in a thorough
study of the problem. The results
Of his investigation are now in
| shape, and will be presented by the
G b e in a series of articles that
Will give to every taxpayer in st.
Paul an exact and life-like picture
| of the material condition of his own
| city, it's needs and it's possibilities.
| as compared with others of the same
| rank.
A large list Of cities might have
been selected for this investigation:
but there are four which were suffi-
GENTLY nearly equal to each other
In population, according to the CEN
sus of 1890, and which have sufi-
cient resemblance in conditions of
growth to make the comparison a
fair and instructive one. These cit
les are st. Paul, Minneapolis, Oma-
ha and Kansas City. AS thorough
an inquiry into the finances of these
four places as it is possible to make
by visiting each of them, searching
through records, Analysing all their
official reports and tabulating re-
suits, has been completed.
The Clio b e wishes to say here
that this inquiry was not made with
any preconceived ideas, or in order
to obtain results that would work
for or against any interests or any
method of government in any one
Of them. Its sole object was to as
certain facts and present them to the
people. The only instruction given
was to find out the truth and state
it. The interest of st. Paul demands
first of all that we know where we
stand and what we can do, as demon
strated by what others have done or
are doing. We believe that the re-
suit of this work will be of inesti-
mable value to this city. Hereafter
any one Who proposes a reform, sug-
gests a cutting off Of expenses, OF
l n fnr ~1s,<