Arizona republican., 1907-01-11

 mission immosiately set to work re. placing it with brick The whole busi. ness section-thirty-e eight blocks in al lis again paved. and the price paid
 for the work is 40 per cent less thar , for the worthless paving which pre- ceded it. A good start has now beer made toward paving with brick the
 main thoroughfare from the center tC
 the amusement section or the Gull
 front In addition, one hundred and eighty-one blocks have been paved with
 shell and crushed rock. All of this
 work. except. possibly, the last item
 would have been paid for in the past
 either by bond issue or by the abutters
 Under the new government the city has
 secured about a fifth of the expense
 from the street railroad, and paid for
 the remainder out of current revenues.
 A good appearance is as essential
 for a city as an individual Formerly,
 Galveston was a slattern, and a south ern slattern at that-which is as far as Language goes. For years the abutters
 had appropriated the walks in front of their places of business as a matter of
 course. In some cases, stands on city
 
 as much as sSO per month. The side
 walks of Southern town. with their Ihen-cOOpes and boxes. are untidy enough at best, but those of Galveston had exceeded precedent and example Commissioner Austin instituted a cam paign. and cleaned them thoroughly
 There was, of course, active protest from the parties interested. and gen. erous threats that the Commissioner would suffer at the next election. But the walks were cleaned. An incident ally. the threats did not prove serious to MT. Austin atRlection time.
 The lighting oHthe streets has con- lstituted another striking change-nOt to be estimated in dollars and cents alone. Nine thousand dollars a year-as shOwn-has been saved in this depart ment by better management and cheap CT supplies. The lights have been placed where they belonged. In the days of the ward aldermen they were distributed through the wards accord ing to the dictation of the aldermen. The section of the wharves in the meanwhile. had been left unlighted. Every year there was a regular loss of life by the drowning of sailors and longshoremen who had gone stumbling off in the darkness into the harbor. The Commission, in rearranging the lights. have found sufficient to place about the wharves. This has meant a noticeable decrease in the loss of life. and it has meant also-as good street lighting must always mean-a decrease. clearly important. though. II. and crime.
 All this has been accomplished on the streets in the past. all expenses being paid from current revenue. For the future there has been under con- sideration a plan whichever if never realized-is worth giving as illustra- tive of the broad way in which the !. citys affairs are managed. If the citys | assessed valuation increases as much ! in the next few years as is expected. : the plan is to issue a million dollars | worth of bonds and pave the principal ! streets of the city at once. after the | of the grade raising The city | would immediately have the advantage i of the great development which such | a move, would inevitably mean. The | sum is not large looked at from the | of the greatest cities. but | for Galveston, with her debt and her small valuation. it is very great indeed. ! This plan may never be carried out. but the consideration of it shows the manner in which a far-sighted and | businesslike city government may act. and its influence, not only for the pres ent but for the far future.
 THE EMERGENCE FROM MEDIE-
 VALISM.
 The financial success of the water department has already been spoken of. Commissioner Lange. who is jeal- Ously devoted to his work, has stim- Ii ulated income in every way, and by his careful management the operating ex- pense has been kept down to practic- ally what it.was before the storm. The , city Is turning from the use of the cis- -ern-the queer, huge wooden tubs. which in the old days collected all the inhabitants water-supply from their -oofs-tO the city's mains. The growth lf the sewers is also calling for a con- inually increased use of water. These , sewers. also under'Mr. Lange's charge, !, Ire now being rapidly extended through Ii he place. Before the storm the city , lad been sewerless. except for a sys- em owned by a private company in ; he business center Just before the [ 'torm this private sewer was bought T )y the city. The task of the Commis- f 'ion has been to provide as early as I possible for the residence section. The I aising of the grade gives for the first , ime slope across the flat sand island f m which the city is situated, suitable ! or easy drainage into the bay The , has extended the sewers S rom eight to eighteen miles. In a few q ears the entire residence section will 'e covered by the system. And in the f the city is having its health a egulations severely enforced. h
 The importance of the health de- lI in a Southern city-especial h y a sea port-needs no advertisement s The heat, the carelessness of sanitary $ the ships that drop in t cross the sea from the filthy tropics, b rith their chance cargoes of tropical t isease-these dangers speak for them fl elves. Before the Commission there c 'as no health department worthy of a he name. Shiftlessness was chronic IT he kind-hearted aldermen and officials O aw to 1t that no one need be clean tl nless he cared for that sort of thing. T 'nder the new board, the work was O 1Epu nm hv Or c NY Truabaarf h