Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-09-07
Additional Proceedings of the
Session Held Tuesday.
BONE INTERESTING PAPERS READ
Followed by Discussion by
Several Delegates.



Philadelphia, secretary of the National
Municipal League, read Almost interest
pg paper on Municipal Government
Eow and Century Since; What Will
n Be Century Hence" He said in
bart;
IA hundred years--what hath it
Wrought? The maps Of Asia, Europe
Ind America of tho world, have been
changed. The United Stntes OF
america has fought four wars and
Demonstrated her prowess on sea and
land, at home and abroad. 1t has
brown from handful of States strung
$ong the Atlantic seaboard to q great
md powerful nation, extending from
lea 10 sea, conquering and subduing
n Its growth o mighty continent--th
2hightiest in its latent possibilities on
|ha face of the globe. Commerce and
Industry and transportation have grown
kth equal il not greater strides and
Bhe time is not far distant, IL ID has
bot already arrived, when America will
Dominate the world along these lines.
Ter development, however, has been
Extensive; during the next century it
Mill no intensive. A few more decades
Ind the partition OF the globe among
he world powers will be we'll nigh com
pletad; then we shall BIO compelled to
cultivate with closer attention and
Greater zeal and more care our present
esources. Intensive culture will sue
eed extensive cultivation. The great
hechanical inventions Of the Nine
zenith Century have directly aided the
Extensive movement--the steam rail-
kay, the steamship, the telegraph, tho
ahle the telephone, the inventions Of
he next century will as directly aid
he intensive movement-they will be
Designed with the end In view of MAX
ng the most of what We have.
The character OF our municipal
krowth and development during the
ast 100 years has been along the lines
b extension. Our cities have grown
b numbers, population and territory.
rhe figures are so familiar and have
been so frequently referred to as to oh
late the necessity of repetition. The
bapers are and have been full of metro
olitan Boston, Greater New York,
ireater Chicago, Greater Jersey City,
Greater Newark--PhiladeIp has
cen greater Philadelphia since 1854,
when the consolidation act made the
pity and county of Philadelphia confer
hinous. Indeed, municipal expansion
eems to be quite as much the vogue |;
butte as much the logical sequence Of
vents, quite as much the outgrowth of
n inherent Anglo-Saxon instinct as
RATIONAL expansion.
This development has not been con-
ined to population and territory, but
pas extended to municipal functions as
Felk In 1900 il an American city pro-
ided for paving the streets and cleans
ng them Of the grosser and fouler i'm
lrties, for few night watchmen and
handful at constables, for cleaning
hnd repairing the sewers and docks,
fnd for lighting the streets with
miserable oil lamps, that il was per-
Forming its whole duty to the salts
action of its inhabitants.
According to recent authority
Parsons in Municipal Monopolies, :"
[s9Sj the various courts of this coun-
nv have decided that the following are
proper public purposes and proper
Objects of municipal control and
bwnership: Roads, bridges, side.
alks, sewers, ferries, markets, scales,
81" Nuoi Scuhioi pAihs, bhbi5, 5cHOulSt
ibraries, museums, hospitals, lodging
ouses, poor houses, iails, cemeteries,
revention Of fire, supply Of water, gas,
lectrlcity, heat, power, transportation,
eegraph and telephone service, clocks,
Hating Kinks, musical entertainments,
exhibitions Of fireworks. tobacco ware
ouses, employment Offices. We have
put made beginning, however, ac-
ording to the testimony of another re-
ent writer, who has given the whole
lblect careful consideration tDr.
NliIo K. Maltbie In Municipal Func-
Ions, rage 7S4). DR.. Maltbie says
Whittier is all this tending? WHAT
yer few years since may have been
10 answer suggested by conservatism,
here is today but one, and that so oh
lons as scarcely to be questioned.
ne extension of municipal functions
u the direction in which the city is to
ct as the servant Of the individual has
arely begun; and its scope, certain
o he indefinitely increased In COM
aratvely near future, is to be meas
red only by the resources or develop
hg invention and enterprise, so rapidly
eNeloping of late that their early reali-
alton will be such as to be unthinka-
ple now. The individual will have
heap facilities for transport aud com
lunlcation. The product of his labor
lIl be multiplied in advantage to him
the cooperation for which cities
zone give chance. He will not be
Mt to the hard paths which chance
nay afford for education of his mind
nd his senses, but have this facilitated
every device OF civilization. 1t is
therefore, natural, inevitable. indeed,
aht there should be provided for him
rst water, the prime essential of life
nd health; next, the first of its con.
enlences, artificial light; later, those
UNIVERSAL incidents OF its growth, high.
wy facilities (including power supply,
well as a clear path I; and finally,
lncation and recreation. I"
me tremendous advances of munich.
al government during the present cen
aFy can be best and most graphically
elnonstrated by comparison Of the
rnspectiVe budgets of single city
sd aliiadeiphia) for the years 1900 and
~ according to Atkinson g. Penrose,
their work on the Government o.
niladellphia" (pnges ll5-l16). tbs
1'set Tor the former year as oontainec
the ordinance of February Goth
~ was s6s, 4s5. 92 The appropria
. y. ~, ordinance of 1897 provided fol
,N'52o, 49l. 63. exclusive of the amount.
" n, t'le maintenance Of county offices.
me population In 1900 was 70, 2S7
ne budget 1858, 4s5. %; the per capitt
Srehse " cents. The population il
~, was approximately 1, 200, 600; th,
uuget S35 non dp1 G1. tho nor cun;t.
Slense 500. 43. This increase is du,
.ne TACT that the city does more To-
ny ns citizen than it did 100 years agt
Nv N constantly doing more and tina
Iueh larger territory is covered.
cb bn 1871, Philadelphia hau 1913 public
b auots with BAGS teachers in 1901