The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-03-17
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straight, careful business methods such as any man would apply to his own affairs. Great pressure and ingenuity has been used to add to the sources of revenue. An additional $30000 has been secured in the four and a half years from vehicle tax, not collected in the period before. Nearly $60,00O has been secured from interest on city deposits which, by an extraordinary piece of carelessness, was given over previously to the city treasurer. Some $I500 has been realizSd from taking over the costs which had formerly gone to the chief of police and the prose- cutting attorney in the city court The waterworks, at practically no increase in operating expenses, have yielded $115,000 more. And when the streets were rebuilt, the street railway paid its share of them-a matter of $O,oOo. Added to this is a comparative saving in the four years and half of $60, 0O0 and $40,0OO in the police and fire departments from reduction in salaries and force, and nearly $4OOO0 from the cheaper operation of the electric light de- partment.
 Tax Collections.
 But the most source of immediate in- come where the greatest gains over the preceding government have been made have been the collection of taxes. Noth- ing could have been looser than the meth ods of collection under the ward alder men regime. Delinquent taxes were let go not merely for a few years; a great share of them were lost forever In 1S9l after the reform government of 1895, $ll5,- 0G0 was marked off the citys books at one time; since then, sums probably equally large have also been charged orr as worthless. The government of the gener- al alderman collected taxes better than its predecessor, but it too was making large losses. In it's first four and half years the commission collected $90,- 600 more in back taxes than the preced- ing time. The el,o---'-- in current taxes was even more striking. Although the commision's assessments were S425,OOO less in the period, it's collections were within $175.00O as much as those of the adminis- tration before-a gain of $25O,OO0 There is no miracle about all this It means simply that for the first time Galveston is operated by business men on q busi- ness basis Every possible corner of the city's operating system is now being watched with care, both to increase in- come and decrease running expenses" These financial results are amazing, but physical and moral results are notable. A great sea wall seventeen feet above the level of the Gulf and four and a half miles long has been built. It cost $4,2oo,- O0O Of this the county of which Calves ton constitutes 80 per cent in financial way furnished s1.500,000. The state of Texas remitted state taxes for seventeen years and allowed the sum of them, s. OOO 900, to be used for raising the c1ty's grade to the top of the sea wall. The bonds the city fell to sixty after the storm but now are above par in spite of the tremendous outlays and of the fact that the old bondholders were persuaded to remit half their interest for five years.
 Better Moral Tone.
 In the enforcement of the law and the upbuilding of moral tone great progress was made Galveston had been an open town. Sailors from all over the world and the excursionists from up the coun- try had made it a tough place, especially on Sunday. But variety shows and dance halls have been closed. Saloons have been forced to be orderly and are closed after midnight. Gambling houses and policy shops have been routed. Forty four policemen do the work of fifty-one in the old days, and do 1t far better, be- cause the commission has made it an honest efficient instrument. There is no suspicion of graft anywhere. In paving the improvement has been tremendous. The wooden pavement fioated away with the tidal wave, leaving bare sand. The commission has replaced this with brick. Thirty eight blocks in the business sec tion have been paved at cost of 40 per cent less than the old, inefficient wooden stun. One hundred and eighty blocks have been paved with shell and crushed rock. The fruit stands, hen GOODS, etc, have been driven from the sidewalks. Money has been saved in street lighting, though more lamps have been provided.
 In the matter of sewerage good progress has been made. Before the storm there was only a private system in the business center. This was bought just before the storm and the new sloping grade has made 1t possible to put in general sys- tenn. There are now eighteen miles of sewers. The town has been made clean and kept clean be effiecent sanitation. War has been waged on mosquitoes and flies, and though three cases of yellow fever came in on ship last year, there was no spread and no alarm. It Is all thus summarized by the Mcclure writer:
 Galveston, in short, is now beginning to reap the results of five years of clean, able city government. She was desperate and bankrupt; now her credit is good. She was unclean; now she is clean; she was a town of vice and license; now she is orderly. Unpaved streets are well paved, there are good sewers where for merly there were none, there is an ample water supply in increasing use. The city is protected from future Ganger from food But good government has meant more than it's direct service to the city. It has meant indirectly industrial ard commercial prosperity. Property which fell dead. with no buyers, after the storm, has regained its former value, and in sec tons has exceeded it. In two years more, when the grade rising is cleaned up. much larger increase will undoubtedly take place. The city is prospering in business way as it never did before. The fine beach and sea wall are being rapidly developed to entertain the growing excur sion trade with a big amusement village. But most important of all, the shipping from the port is increasing tremendously. It has trebeled since 1900, and Galveston is now the second city in the United States in point of the value of it's exports. The government of the town did not, of course, cause all of this growth but the conditions it brought about were a great factor. For good government is not mere ly a mechanical, routine, negative thing; 1t is a strong, positive agent. which takes hold on the far future in any city which is fortunate enough to possess it."
 Experience of Houston.
 So much for Galveston. What about Houston, which has followed her neigh bor's example? The best answer to this is the following letter from the mayor