The Marshall republican., 1908-01-24
FAILURE IN BOSTON.
Municipal Ownership Tried BY The
nub, but Found Wanting.

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Establish Municipal oas end Electric
lieht Works Dsssuss NJ City Hsd
Already Shown its Inability 70 Carry
~ Public uuItiss-Hlstssy Of ths
Unsusesssfu, Attempts. &l-
In 1900 the city council o. Boston
voted against attempting municipal gas
and electric lighting on the ground that
the city had already Deoved its inabit
ity In such matters By Q succession q
failures in various trading enterprises.
In 1897, for instance, Boston estab-
lished q municipal printing plant. Five
years later. in 1904, Harvey Chase. IN
expert accountant, who was examin-
Ing all the city departments for Mayor
Collins, and Thomas r. Nichols. an ex-
pert printer. reported that the plant
had already lost over $4,000 ana that
q greater loss was avoided only By
charging other departments more thae
they would have had - gag outside
printers.
They also reported that at ths, time
OF the Investigation the stock roof was
crowded with unnecessary paper. inks,
etc. bought at great expense anal Ma
BILE TO depreciation By handling ore MN
age by fire; that some valuable stock,
then very recently bought, could not b
found, nor could there be found any
record Of Its use: that excessive rates
were paid for ruling and binding done
outside; that there was an entirely q .
necessary number Of employees In ail
divisions Of the department. who add
cd 20 the expense and subtractcd from
the efficiency: that a disposition TO kin
time was manifest. and that In spite 81
the fact that the hours Of employees
were shorter than In private plants
less was accomplished per man per
rour worked
The operation OF two ferry lines
from Boston TO East Boston. which
were bought by the city In 1850. loom
cd up as another object lesson. Until
1870 tho ferries were leased at q loss
md since then have been operated BY
the city Mt M even greater loss. In
1877. to he sure, the city made the mag
nihcent profit Of s93.ss. but In each OF
the other forty-seven years up to Feb
ruary. 1000 there was q deficit vary
e from S-en 20 1907. OOO and amount.
Ing IN all q $3.Ti3.54s. or an average
~ almost $4,000 n year.
- no water supply. though far
~ ounntity and quality. fur
'a' '3,hcr proof that the city
.n"p.t 30 BUSINESS rs well ns q pri-
'"' zion. Boston receives pure
re metropolitan water
',N' 80 II through the city.
,es and each year pays
of tile total expense.
Trf' 'c'r n simple proposition.
'n"e In 1907 In his report
department said: '"rhe
~ methods for handling
~ such magnitude and.
"eneral crudeness and
'"""-' capital accounts In the
bookkeeping eve since
80. Counda ion Of the plant are aston
i""'-g s's There has been excess
" '1re for work done through
rent OF unnecessary men.
g e-.p r-ment OF aged and innrm
- and " other means whereby the
%, work have been heavily In
.en ca"
.'c"' ear' have nov gone by since
the O. lis In these three departments
were mace public In a free city docs
ment. but not,iHg has been done b
reme:,y them. "Even In those depart
ments especially investigated and ~
ported upon In considerable detail.s
said Harvey Chase In 1909. "ths an
nual expense today In 10 large ~ b.
fore and In some cases even relatively
larger" What surer proof Of inefi-
cheney could be givenf
But even had there been no printing,
no ferry. no water f~ascos. the amounts
paid recently for services Of yeterino-
rians to are for the horses In ~
street and poles. departments q h.
ton would alone have been sufhcisoe -
indicate that It would 30 well to i'm
rather than extend Boston's municipal
activities.
t, The police department In 1904 posA
$19.3A for veterinary services and ned
lcine for each OF Its sixty OF mere
horses. an outrageous price, and the
: next year paid nearly s25. he street
department. where wasting the tar.
payers money, in, excessive ystsslnasy
payments had como TO be a habit, easily
topped It's wi high figures b 1908 -
paying $24.20 for each Of Go0 horssA
These figures were SO obviously -
cesslve that some change had to b.
made. Accordingly the police depart.
ment under a new single headed couD
mission reduced IT. veterinary q.
pcnses In 1908 to about S13 per heesa
and the mayor Instituted Q plan -
which the cost per horse In the strsoe
department came down 10 "a.
That these reductions were possibls
% Itself q sure proof that Bostos =
anything but efficient In business, snll
further proof, II any 10 needed, can
round BY comparing even these
duced figures with. cay, the avsrsso
vio per horse paid under able manaeo-
ment In the Gro department. with ~
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