The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-24
HAPPY GLASGOW.
According to This Account 1t Is the
IDEAL of Municipalities.

Happy Glasgow, whose municipal en-
terprises earn dividends, and whose tax
gatherers are about to be given
permanent vacation, whose aldermen
are honest, whose water Is pure and
whose gas Is cheap, has long been "a
city set on q hilI' to civic reformers,
says Montreal exchange. On both
sides Of the water, its success has been
an inspiration; though on this, it has
been more often our despair. A history
Of its municipal development has been
written by Sir James Bell, who has
been lord provost for six years and
Mr.. James Patton, curator Of the cor
poration's museums and art galleries
1t goes back to the birth Of Glasgow
civic life when a bishop constituted
the entire government and brings it
down through long period of control
by traders guilds who controlled the
city administration until the reform
act Of 1888. And their business spirit
seems to have descended upon the pres
ent city authorities. More than their
spirit, indeed, remains to tell Of their
power; for today the heads Of the old
merchants guild and traders guild
are members Of the city council with
out election.
To this business spirit, however,
much must be credited. The London
Chronicle, in reviewing the work, in
s1stS upon early attention being given
to the characteristics Of the Glasgow
bailie and councillor. 1t says:
The prevailing idea which has animated the
blasgow councillors Is that they are the d.
rectors OF vast enterprise in which the
Whole community shareholders .
The Glasgow councillors do not look upon
themselves as Liberals or Conservatives,
economists or Fabians, but simply as bust
ness men. AS a matter of fact nearly all of
them are engaged in business and industrial
enterprises, and to their credit be it said that
tney try to do as well for the community as
they do for themselves in their private con
Germs. They are bent upon seeing that the
people have their dividends from municipal
services, in the shape of beneficial govern
ment, cheap necessaries of existence, and
better social conditions.
The results of this business system
In Glasgow have been made pretty
we'll known to the people of this CONT
nent in numberless didactic articles on
the subject of municipal reform. The
crowning achievement will be the pro-
missed abolition of taxation when it
comes: Yet the abolition of the slums
was a great work, and the securing
or cheap, pure water was another The
authors of the Chronicle say on the
latter subject:
There is certainly not another city In the
kIngdom.indeed, it is doubtful if anywhere
on the face Of the earth there is large
population SO benefcially situated as the.
people Of Glasgow for water supply In re-
speco OF abundance. purity and cheapness.
since the water was municipaIiZed
the price has been reduced $50 per cent and
the supply per head increased 100 per cent,
while the capacity of the present works is
being doubled without any additional charge
A new municipal industry is the supply of
hydraulic power by the water department.
Then since the municipality took hold
OF the gas supply, the price has been
reduced from As. I'd. per 1000 cubic feet
to rs. I'd. which is said to be the cost
of production. How would the gas
users of Montreal like the idea. of get
ting their gas for As cents a thousand?
Yet this Is accomplished under munich
pal control, and municipal control
that expects to run the city without
taxing the people-at ALL 1t is well that
Glasgow is not competing for irnmi-
grafton; or 1t might be difficult to pre-
vent an exodus" back to the old land
Then there are the tramways. They
were municipalized on Sunday, July
l, 1894, when the old tramway company
with Its WORKOUT cars and horses and
it's high fares" gave way to the city.
Ha!fpenny fares were adopted and a
rapid service introduced" saws the
chronicle. THE efficiency Of the ser
vice is unsurpassed; nearly two million
passengers week are being carried.
and about ten per cent earned on the
capital outlay. Beyond a payment of
$4,000 year to the common fund the
corporation does not draw profit from
it's tramways; it adopts the wiser policy
OF using its surplus to further improve
the service, SO that the people may
have the full benefit
But the time would fail to tell Of the
ship canal Of the Clyde, Of the mu-
seums and art galleries, of the Peoples
palace for the poor, Of the botanic
gardens and charities galore 1t is
rather relief to learn that this mar
Vicious Glasgow is behind some of the
great English cities on a point or two.
They have done little, it seems. for
technical instruction; and have not pro-
vided the large, popular free libraries
that are to be found in Leeds, Birning-
ham, Manchester and Liverpool.