The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-30
IT WILL COST MILLIONS
Plans for the Renaissance of the
City of Havana.
DEBT is NOT EXCESSIVE
1t Arose in q Large Part From Failure to
Pay Salaries-1n Spite OF Numerous
ABUSES the Rate of Tax
alton Is Low.

Havana, Jan. 28.-Major General Lud-
low has on his table several projects
for underground sewerage, street paw
ing, an up-to-date sc.,2ol system ana
improvements of lesser Importance He
has had pressed on his attention a series
of suggestions on how to create an ideal
city. The only obstacle is money A
$40, ,O0O, 900 and s20,0O0,OO is wanted, and
General Ludlow is turning over in his
mind the best way of asking Washing
ton, through Major General Brooke, for
leave to bond the city, so that the next
generation as well as this one may have
an opportunity to pay for the renais-
sance. Ernest Lee Conant. chairman Of
the financial inquiry commission de-
puted by General Ludlow to go into the
finances of the city, has prepared a
among an orderly arrangement of many
dry facts the following paragraphs are
extracted:
THE debt OF the city of Havana Oct.
81, 1885, according to statement signed
by the alcalde and comptroller was as
follows: Loan of April %, 1885, 50-year
6 per cent. bonds mortgage Spanish
Bank of the Island of Cuba), $6,721 900;
loan of Oct. 19, 1892, 50year 6 per cent.
(mortgage Bank of Commerce, United
railways and Regla warehouses), $1.sS2.
0C0; notes, $23,S30.9O; floating debt for
salaries, materials, interest and sink
ing funds. $2,450, 0,064.7S Total, S12,7O6,
S55.72. AT the close of the year the float
ing debt was still greater and the total
debt was about $12, 500, 900. The mort
gage for the loan of 1889 to the Spanish
bank is document of 15S printed pages,
including the index. 1t recites that in
1877 the city borrowed from the Span
is bank a sum of money which. together
with it's interest, amounted in 1889 TO
S3,177 ,653. 25; that the city was in ar
rears for interest and sinking fund and
that lawsuits had been in progress to
compel the city to pay; that the city
also desired funds to complete the
water works and for other purposes and
it was agreed that the city should issue
$6,5O0,000 6 per cent. 50-year bonds to
take up the debts and finish the water
works, the expense of which was esti-
mated at $1,5SS,977. There was fur
ther provision that the loan might be
increased ito $7OOO,OOO and this was
DONE"
The city m0rtgaged the Canal de
Vento, the Aqueduct Ferdinand VII,
the Christiana slaughter house, the Ia
con and Colon markets., with all their
revenues, and so houses which it owns
in various parts of the city. The Canal
de Vento alone is estimated at $1,000,
000 The $7,000,o00 loan, continues Mr..
Conant, has been reduced by the ope-
rations of a sinking fund to $6,712,00O.
The mortgage of 1891 for $3,000,O00, now
reduced to $2,SS2,0 900, has the same prop
erty as security. The arrears of inter-
est and sinking fund on the two loans
are $343,600, which figures as part of the
floating debt.
The floating debt arises from the fail
ure to pay any salaries, contractors or
for materials during practically the
whole of 1898 and for some debts of
prima facie valid obligation of the
municipality and should be funded.
But, before making new loan.' Mr.
Conant says, "for paying these debts a
court of claims should be formed before
which all the municipalities creditors
should prove their claims"
Mr.. Conant then argues: "For a city
of the size and wealth of Havana a debt
of $12,5OO 900 is not excessive. Under a
stable government and an honest ad-
ministration of the city's affairs it is
probable that its general credit is still
sufficient to float an additional loan.
How large such a loan could be made,
am not prepared to say without much
further study. The representatives of
Dady & Co. express their Willingness to
take pay for their sewerage and paw
ing scheme, say $12.000,000, in general
city bonds. which would of course. be
junior to the bonds already issued and
they say that they have already made
arrangements with financiers in New
York to dispose of these bonds as fast
as received. This project alone would
double the present city debt and add
more than one-thrd to it's present an
nual reserve
The revenue of the city is derived en-
tirely from licenses and indirect taxa
tion. Real estate is not directly taxed
and the municipality does not directly
receive anything from real estate.
The island imposes, among other
taxes, a tax of II per cent on the esri-
mated rental of all houses in the city
and country and it pays to the city of
Havana Is per cent. of the amount thus
collected on rents within the city limits.
The island also levies a tax on indus
try, commerce and professions, and it
pays to the city of Havana % per cent.
of all such taxes collected within the
city limits. The other sources of city
revenues which are directly collected
by the municipalities, are the rent of
houses owned by the municipality, rev.
enue of the water works, slaughter
houses and markets. taxes on meat, cof-
fee and wood, licenses on factories. The
tax on meat amounted to $663000.
These taxes, says Mr. Conant, amount
to between $S and SO head on a popu-
lation estimated between 100000 and
25O, 900. In American cities 80 per cent.
or more of the revenues is derived from
direct tax on the assessed valuation
of real estate. including vacant prop
erty. In New York the revenue is about
S2S per head: in Boston about $40;
Philadelphia about SIS and in Chicago
about $12 per head. (These figures are
approximate only. Mr. Conant says.
and were based on census statistics of
1S90).
New York is, of course, a city of eX-
ceotional wealth, and while the revenue
per hold is large, the valuation of prop
erty is probably less than in any city in
the country. l am inclined to think,
though further study might modify this