The Topeka state journal., 1897-11-19
soME ComPARIsoNs.

Mr. Joseph Chamberlain and other
prominent Englishmen and the British
press have recently been pointing the
finger of scOrn at New York and Phar-
isee-like giving thanks that their cit
les are not like the American metropo-
lis They have been saying some very
severe things, but the New York news
papers have placed themselves in po-
sition which renders any defense al
most impossible.
They have not only said hard things
about the administration of their own
city affairs, always, of course, during
the ascendancy of the other party, but
they have bestowed unlimited praise
upon the municipal government of
English cities
The World in a recent article making
comparisons between English and
American conduct of city business,
said:
Glasgow contains about $50. 600 peo-
pie. Manchester's population is 100000,
but its municipal government directly
benefits 5000 COO Birmingham has
about 100000 within its corporate lin
its. All these cities are newer than
any of the great American cities All
have had their real growth in the last
p years. All their plans for good gov
ernment began about the time of the
close Of our civil war-eNactly the
period when New York and the other
American cities fell into the hands Of
bosses and rings of COrruptiOniStS.
They are governed by an electorate
that in no essential respect differs from
ours The masses of the people vote
and have absolute power oyer their
public servants. the officials. They Sc
Iect a municipal cOuu a. that admi1is-
ters the citys affairs by dividing itself
into executive committees one COM
mittee at the head OF each department
of the public service. These council
lOrs serve without pay, and. although
elections are frequent, changes i'm the
council from causes other than death !
are comparatively rare.
Ia their municipal campaigns the
questions of national or other than
city politics are never discussed Lo-
cal affairs only are issues. Parts lines
do not exist. Nominations for office
can be made aud are made by a petit
1iOn signed by ten Names proisasar
OF the candidate. q secOnder and eight (
others Yet there are few candidates, +
and even few contests. An official who I
serves the city well is practically never I
opposed for reelection.
All this is the result of single cause /
the complete divorce Of politics from |
city affairs.
In these three cities. and in scores of +
sna Her English cities the chief source of |
revenue is not by direct taxation of the /
people. as it is in New York and Brook /
1yn- The most of the expenses Of gov /
ernment are paid out of the income (
from public works-water gas elec-
tricity, street railways. etc.
The most of the municipal depart [
ments are almost or quite self-support-
ing Many Of them pay a large profit /
that goes to decrease the taxes for
such necessarily Improbable depart
ments as police, fire, sanitary and sew
age.
The municipal bonded debts are large
almost as large in proportion as
those Of New York and BROOKLYN But
the interest charge is paid for the most
part out of the profits Of muuicipal !
anrarn15SpG and collected n f2
es as it is here.
Year by year the taxes there are
growing smaller. In Glasgow there are
now practically no general taxes In
Manchester and birmingham the gen
era1 rates are small. And the princi-
pal OF the debt is constantly decreas-
ing.
In Glasgow the street railways are
now owned and run by the city at
large profit. Yet the average fare is
q bout two cents. and there are work
ingmen's trains morning and evening
on which the charge is only one cent.
Until two years ago the street rail
ways, which We're built by the city. were
leased to private company which paid
its stockholders 10 per cent dividends /
after paying the city annually: ID The
total interest charge on the city's in
Vestment: % enough to accumulate in !
to sinking fund big enough to pay off
the total first cost of the roads at the !
end of the lease; CD enough to reim- (
burse the city for all repairs and re- i
newaIs, and (4) an annual rental of /
$3.50 a mile. And they were allowed to
charge on the average about two and a
half cents as a fare,
Manchester built its street railways
and leased them to a company which .
pays the city interest on the cost and
net dividend of 10 per cent per annum. /
Yet this company may charge only
q bout three cents, and must run two
cent workingmen's { aims morning and
evening.
In Birmingham the private company
which has leased the street car lines (
built by the city pays all the interest
charges, is paying off the first cost of
the roads, pays the city in full for keep
ing the lines in perfect repair, and
charges about the same fares as those
in Manchester. At the expiration of
the lease Birmingham, like Manchester.
Will own the lines outright, free from
all encumbrances and in perfect cOndi-
ton.
In New York the street railway fran
chises have been either sold for a song
or given away outright. The street
charge ffve-cent fares, pay the
smallest possible heed to public con
venience and comfort, and altogether
bring into the city treasury about !
s352. 600 a year. And $500. 1000 of this
sum comes from the Broadway road, |
which, under the system of the British |
cities, would be paying upward of So
900, ,0OO
Many more statements and cOmpari-
sons equally damaging to the American
cities have been made from time to time,
but confession without repentance and !
reform counts for little. It is clear that
politics still has a. grip on New York
else how could Tammany be victorious