New-York tribune., 1909-12-29
CITIES EXPENSES
WHERE MONEY GOES.
WOuld Need II. s. SteePs Cap
ital-NezC YOrk's Debt.

Washington. Dec 2s-If the 15s largest
cities of the United States were TO merge
themselves into one great corporation they
would need a working capital of sl.25O.ooo,-
900. or just about the equivalent of the
capital stock OF the United States Steel
Corporation turned into cash
The Census Bureau has made elab-
crate investigation of what II costs 10 run
municipalities how the money is spent and
who gets it. The net amounts spent on
public works and departments or collected
from taxes or other sources of revenue COM
posed about 5s per cent of the total trans
actions for 1907 The remaining AZ per
cent was spent incidental TO the conduct or
the citv's business, or in transactions where
the city acted merely fiscal agent. as
in the collection OF revenue for the state or
county.
To maintain the departments OF city gov
ernment costs Sc per cent of the total. In
1907 the 15s cities enumerated collected
nearly s6O0.OOo 900 in their own revenues
and then borrowed more than $500, 1000. 900
for improvements. But an American city
as a collective institution is far from
bankrupt In 1907. after paying all main
tenance and operation and interest upon
debt the cities of the United States had
among them SIZE. 100000 to push new work.
II costs more than ss3 oOOo 900 year to
protect life and property and more than
s37,0OoOO0 for sanitation and the preserva-
tion of health. The principal item-sl0s.-
600. .oOo-is for education, and for recreation
Is spent least of ALL a little more than
sl2.0o0.00o.
1t costs Sc 81 per capita in New York TO
maintain the police force. but it only costs
40 cents in Oshkosh. 1t costs 50 AZ in Wash
ington and costs A cents in Lincoln. Neo
Il costs only 40 cents per capita to main
tain the Fire Department in Newport. Ky;
a cents i'm Harrisburg, Penn. but - o. in
Atlantic City.
The tendency of municipal ownership
shows itself in some directions. OF these
15S cities, 116 own and operate their own
water plants Only seventy-six of them
own their own market places. In summing
up the cost of all the items of city govern
ment, II appears that interest on borrowed
money makes almost as great a showing
per capita as any other item. IL averages
So o. and goes up as the size of the cities
increases
New York City's total net Indebtedness
for the fiscal year OF 1907 was more than
seven times that of any other city in the
United States and more than one-half OF
the total of the twentyseven largest cities.
a figured by the Census Bureau. OF the
total net debt of the 15S cities OF more than
$4,000 population, New York City is credited
with 39.2 per cent. the per capita being
s142 81 The other cities over so were: Gin
cinnati, 1928 s5: Boston. $40 81; Galveston,
Si15 7s; Pueblo. Sos %. and Newton. Mass.
slO5 So. OF the cities over $4,000 San Fran
cisco had by far the smallest net debt, and
Detroit, with s23 Is per capita. next to the
smallest. OF cities having from 10000 to 800.
coo inhabitants, those with the smallest per
capita net debt were st. Joseph, Mo. SIG 4s,
and indianapolis. ST 81. OF cities having
from $4,000 TO 100000. Erie. Penn. had the
smallest, with $40 13: then came Wheeling,
W. Va. with SO Al; Joplin. Mo, with $40 Il.
and Johnstown, Penn, S11 10.
The increase in the net debt for the fiscal
year of 1907 was s13O, $50. .631. more than three
fourths of which was credited to the fifteen
largest cities. The only city of less than
100000 inhabitants having an increase OF
more than 100000 was Seattle. whose net
debt increased s5.791.07s. Several cities de-
creased their net debt in the year, the
largest of them being St. Louis, San Fran
cisco, Washington. Indianapolis and Kan
sas City.