The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-11-03
STATISTICS oF CITIES.

Upon the initiative of the New York
Reform club Committee on City Affairs,
resolution was passed by the Fifty-fifth
congress calling upon the commissioner
of labor to compile and publish annually
an abstract of the official statistics or
cities. The first volume has just been
issued in the September number Of the
Bulletin of the Department of Labor, and
we know of no publication which con-
tains in a condensed and easily accessible
form such an array of statistics regard
ing city affairs 1t is impossible to
enumerate In detail the subjects COW
cred. The most important are popula-
tion, deaths, arrests, convictions, excise,
police, fire equipment, charities, schools,
libraries, cost of gas. water and electric
light works, finance, etc.
The difficulties Commissioner Wright
had to overcome render the report all the
more worthy OF praise. Here were no
cities keeping their statistics according
to different plans. No attempt had been
made to introduce uniformity, and how
ever excellent each method may have
been, it was necessary to adopt uni
form plan in order to render the results
of any value at all With the co-opera-
tion of the city officials, this has been
done to very successful degree Upon
certain subjects, e. e., number OF con-
victions for various offenses, the reports
are not as complete as could be wished.
But such omissions will grow less and
less, and in a few years this annual alb
stract of statistics of cities will rank
in value and interest with any statistical
work issued by any government OF the
world. The suct ess of the present num-
ber far exceeds the anticipation of the
most hopeful
That there are inaccuracies Is not to
be denied, and some are quite amusing.
ENs~a ,a,1n In
arrests for drunkenness and 1880 convlc-
tions. Evidently there were some 26
persons " no voluntarily appeared before
the judge and asked to be convicted, or
were left over from the previous year.
But possibly this item belongs to the
third class of lies, which have been
grouped lilies, d lies, and statistics"
The great practical value of this alb
stract is principally in the direction of
furnishing reliable data without which
| progress Is impossible, of inviting COM
| parisons between cities and thus OF
| arousng a spirit of friendly rivalry. San
| Antonio, Texas, which this year occupies
| the unenviabc position of being the only
city which sert in no reports whatever,
| will scarcely continue to be unrepresent-
| ed.
| To render comparisons more easy-for
| the chief object of municipal statistics
| is TO show what is being accomplished by
| different cities in the way of solving city
| problems-the cities should be arranged
| in order of their population rather than
| alphabetically. For example, In the
present tables Newport Ky, with a
population of 81 500 is next to New York
with its 3,5OO0O0 inhabitants. Now NUM-
cipal conditions in Newport are so dit
| ferent from those of New York that
| there is not a single justification for
their proximity. One would never think
of comparing the statistics Of the two
cities. New York should stand next to
Chicago and Philadelphia, and st. Louis
and Boston. The alphabetical arrange
ment permits city to be easily found,
but key at the beginning of the tables
would do this and the arrangement ac>
cording TO population-a scientific classi-
| fication-would greatly improve the value
| and usefulness of the tables.
But all in all one cannot praise too
highly this first report. 1t is excellent,
and subsequent issues will be awaited
with great expectation. Every citizen is
under obligations not only to the Reform
Club Committee on City Affairs for the
origination Of the idea, but TO congress
and to Hon. Carroll d. Wright for the
efficient way in which the idea is being
| carried out.