Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-09-08
'onvcntion OF Municipalities at
Burlington One OF Big
Meetings This Year
MANY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
Taxpayers of the State viii Be Great
~ Interested in tho Discussions at
the convention--some Notable Men
Viii Speak at the Westinghouse Of
Iowa.
pecjal to Times Republican.

Burlington, Sept. Sat the eighth
annual meeting of tho League oil Iowa
Municipalities to be held here Wednes-
day aud Thursday, September IL and
Ia. many questions Of the greatest I'M
portance to officials and taxpayers VIII
come up for consideration and discus
sion. The meetings OF the League are
among the most important held IN To-
wa. dealing us they do with questions
relating to municipal affairs and d.
rectiy Of interest to more than half OF
all the people In the state. The meet
ing at Burlington will be made up OF
municipal officials from all parts Of
Iowa and the meeting will be for bus
mess from start to finish. AT least
six hours each day will be given up
to the consideration of municipal at
fairs. While the officials Of the muni-
cipallties are most directly interested
In these questions. all who are inter-
ested In municipal affairs are invited
to attend the convention and will be
made welcome Commercial clubs and
other organizations interested In i'm
proving municipal conditions are invi-
ted to send delegates and should do SO,
as the addresses made will be valuable
and Instructive.
On Wednesday evening the people Of
Burlington will entertain the delegates
by ride on one of the finest boats on
the Mississippi and the serving OF an
elaborate lunch. While on the boat
several speeches and addresses on mu-
nicipal subjects will be made by well
known men and during the convention
many valuable addresses will be made
Interesting Features.
Professor Frank Herriott of Drake
University. will present paper on the
subject Uniform Municipal Account
ing and the Taxpayer" Any one who
has ever tried to compare statistics
from different municipalities will APP
preclate the Importance OF this subject
as under the present system each mu-
nicipality keeps dts accounts according
to it's own system and for the purpose
of comparison they are usually value
less The idea In adopting a uniform
system is to have every municipality
keep its accounts In similar manner
and then have the results published
each year. In this way the taxpayer
in each municipality can see how the
affairs of his home city are conducted
as compared with other cities of the
same size and class. Such q system
would also result In friendly emulation
between the officials Of the different
municipalities as to which could make
the best showing and could not fail to
ereatly improve conditions In all the
cities and towns OF Iowa.
Mayor Robert s. McNutt OF Mnsca-
tine Will present a paper on the sys-
TEN of street paving used In that city.
Muscatine has constructed many miles
OF pavement bs' simply laying one
course OF brick ON sand foundation.
This greatly decreases the cost OF the
pavement and has given satisfaction In
AIuscatine. This report, together with
the paper on the width OF pavements
FOR residence streets by Charles p.
Chase, city engineer Of Clinton, will
he of interest to every official inter-
ested in the paving question. Most
cities have made the pavement on resi-
dence streets wider than is necessary
and IL a movement is begun to narrow
the pavements on residence streets,
lIOuStbtluSF VI uOIlNAo NAS ~ ''S' ~ ~N.~
taxpayers each year.
Garbage Disposal.
DR.. p. G. Napmann of Burlington
will present an exhaustive report on
garbage disposal. This is question
that every city in the state Is vitality
interested in, and DR.. Naumann has
made a careful investigation OF the
subject and his report will be of great
interest and value.
Prof c. S. Mcgowan, Of Iowa City,
Will discuss the question Of sewerage
and sanitation and there Is no question
In which the citizens Of all clties,are
more Interested than in this, and there
is no better authority In the west ON
these subjects than Professor Ma
gowan.
In view Of the great interest now
being taken irl questions Of taxation
and assessment and the general belief
that the present system Is wrong great
interest will be taken in the paper of
Mayor ]. C. Williams, of Oskaloosa, on
this subject. Mayor Williams is
close student Of these questions and
his report Will be the result OF careful
study In connection with the question
of taxation, Hon. ]. N. Hughes, city
attorney Of Cedar Rapids, will submit
a paper on the subject, Municipal
Tax on Railways" This Is . question
that the supreme court Of Iowa is un-
able to decide, having handed down
directly opposite opinions, and as Mr..
Hughes was the attorney in one of the
cases he will be able to give the dele
gates some valuable ideas on this
question.
Almost every municipality in Iowa,
whether the water works plant Is
owned by the city or a private COM
pany is interested in the question ~
water supply. Hon. Leo Harlan, OF
Clarion, Will present report on this
subject.
city Clerk L. Derby Of Marshalltown
will submit n report on permanent
sidewalks. Marshalltown has a plan
of building sidewalks on the seven
year plan with but little expense for
preliminary advertising and this paper
will be OF interest to every city and
town that is building permanent side
walks.
One Of the most important reports
to be presented to the convention will
be the report on legislation presented
by Mayor Alberson, of Washington.
The League has done much in the past
to clear up conflicting sections in the
code, and the recommendation Of the
League Will be considered by the next
legislature, as the experience OF mon
who have had the actual experience