The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1908-12-11
The Financing.

The Financing.
/, On the tnt hand what reputable cor
Germ would cucumber itself with deb
equal 10 the entire cost of its business
III such had been the case where woul
there be a further market for the bond
which must 10 toward extensions, i'm
provements, and upbuilding OF such
planty Who then must bear this debt
What municipality as a whole in eacl
and all OF its departments attempts to d.
20, the only alternative is securing thin
debt by lien upon all OF the property o
the municipality.
The Construction.
After the investment has been provd
ed for the municipality must then turn "a
the construction OF its plant. In private
| Affairs, extensive consideration and care.
| full calculation and expert counsel and
| advice are combined in determining how
| best to invest these funds. In municipal
| lighting affairs the inexperienced are al.
lowed to make recommendations and au.
| thorize all expenditures or possibly where
additional bonds are required rousing
political speech of Is minutes explains to
the general public their conclusions and
an reclamation vote authorizes this in
vestment. In examples without number
plants has appropriated 20 per cent in
excess of like construction by private com
panies. This not only hinges upon the
radical difference between spending your
own money and that OF someone else's
but also upon expensive and unnecessary
construction due to lack of attention and
knowledge of the details and the errors
and lax methods Of the whole work. Con-
tractors dealing with municipalities are
more liable to charge enormous sums for
alterations on the original plans or the
necessary changes are entirely omitted
resulting in poor construction and bad
operation and material sacrifice in eff
cheney. The high cost of construction and
the desire to make a favorable showing
to the constituents frequently prevents
the use of the best and most suitable ma
chinery in municipal plant with addi-
tional results at the beginning of high
cost of operation and maintenance.
Management.
After the completion OF construction
the municipal plant has then to take up
its method of management. This will de- |
mand the greater portion of the time of
experienced men and who have we to |
look to in this connecticut We have
either a board appointed by the political i
ring then in power, composed of local !
business men who will continually dis |
agree among themselves either to advis-
able points in operation or as to favorit-
ism in their placing Of orders or in ap-
proval of investments, etc., all of which
must be carried out by the executive and
municipal assistants themselves, who at
he present time are giving all of their
pare moments from their private bust
less to existing duties in the Police De-
u |
Department and Others or we have po-
ltical superintendent appointed through
lis activity on election day and not on
ny question of merit. Has our board
nuch spare time under present condi-
ions to devote to this proposed work
which could not well be devoted to these
xisting departments? Is our short past
rec from all petty squabbles and local {
ealousies among ourselves? These men {
ave but short time in Office in which
o inaugurate their policy even though it
e with the best interests in hand and
heir lack of experience requires a con- c
derable time before they are able to use ,
heir good business Judgment to the q
est interests of this department. In q
lct many decisions are made which must 7
e paid for in the long run by the NUM- :
pality or its constituents, the taxpayers.
he qualifications of these men are not :
ways without criticism. They may be 4
Iperienced and highly intellectual and
'teemed citizens, successful in their own C
ndertaking. C
If the defects of the management a
ould stop here it would be bad enough s.
taken care of. Every change of ad- p
inistration results in some new en- a
oyees being added and old ones dropped "
ON political consideration only. Study b
e municipalities of our state and you p
i'll come to the conclusion that the po- o.
ical machinery of these municipalities ii
organized and centers around such I'M az
as these. How many of the et
'ar headed business men and citizens of tt
, IT TRUE
THAT THE CITY'S WORK COSTS N
THAT THE CITY CAN SHOW THE R
HAT A PRIVATE PARTY COULD?
THAT WE CAN WISELY AUTHORI
AR INVESTMENT BY THE CITY AFT
TIE SPEECH AT A VILLAGE MEETIN
THAT OUR CITY FATHERS HAVE
ND FREEDOM FROM OTHER CITY d
} MAKE THIS A SUCCESS?
THAT OUR GOVERNING BOARDS
RE FROM POLITICS OR PREJUDICE
ENTS, INTERRUPTIONS. BREAKDoWl
.EMENTS AND FORESTALL THE IN
! SUCH AN INDUSTRY?
THAT UNDER MUNICIPAL OWNER
ILL READ LESS AT THE END OF EA
THAT THE CITY WITH ITS WASTE
1DUCE YOUR RATES SUCCESSFULLY
THAT WE ARE SATISFIED WITH Tt
OUR COAL BILL OR OUR DOCTORS
ANYTHING WHICH WE NBUY?-Twi