The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-06
Nations Capitol Has Worst City Gov-
 ernn1ent
POnderOuS Public Utilities Com mission Order Probe of
 Taxi Rates
Ry Our Staff correspondent,)

Washington, June Washington is the wea1thiest city in the United States-it is also the worst governed.
 The per capita wealth of the citizens of Washington is about $3,o00, in spite of the fact that a full. one-third of the population is negroes, most of them wretchedly poor. Even New York, with it's horde of Inillionaires. has a per capita wealth of only 1000. Wash ington's per capita wealth is from three to five times that of the smaller industrial cities of the middle west. Yet these same industrial cities are So far in advance of Washington in municipal governm ent that there is no com pariSon.
 do not charge graft or tnefdciency against Washington's municipal insti- tutions. Simply, the city government is further removed from a sense of the real needs of the real population which in Washington's case is gov ernment clerks and laborers, strug- gling with a terrible problem of earn ing a bare 1iving-than that of any other American city.
 Let a recent illustration serve to prove the truth of this observation
 Some time ago there was created for Washington a, public utilities conrnis- sion. Great things were predicted for this body. There seemed to be a fer tile field for it.
 
 are sky high. Each year the gas com pany asphyxiates a score or so of cit izens, but nothing is ever done about it. Washington has that city curse, the double street car system-two trac- ton corporations which refuse to ex- change transfers and run their cars at all hours of the day just often enough to insure plenty of profitable strap hangers. i
 So the public utilities commission, -,44L tance, took hold of things And with all of Washington's crying needs con fronting ft-shades of Tom L. John son, Mayor Pfngree and other munich pal pioneers-what was the first re- form which this enlightened body tac- kIed?
 It ordered an investigation of taxi cab rates!
 The average citizen of Washington rides in a taxicab once in a lifetime; and yet the rate charged for this ride seemed the burning question of the hour to the public utilities commits sion. To anyone who knows the bur dens which are put upon the poor of Washington by the other public utility corporations, the thing passes the out rageous point-it simply becomes laughabIe.
 But this is only sample Of the, way things go in Washington. There is no public spirit. The people are submissive to all sights and insults, For they have no votes in their own ment Is prescribed for them ready made by Congress.
 The people have no votes. Conse- quent1y, influence at the capitol is what counts. This influence has in the past been swung by the million aire population of Washington-the real estate and banking ring, the rich merchants, and the millionaire owners of the insolent public service corpora lions.
 The newspapers are serviIe to this ruling group. No Washington journal ever raises it's voice against any of the g1aring abuses to which the pop ulation is subjected. Oh, yes, the newspapers carry on their tfcrusades, but they conine them to safe sub jects. If it's a swat-the-f1y campaign, or cleaning-up day, or tag day for the boy scouts, the Washington newspa- pers take it up with great enthusiasm. But they never say anything about D cent fares, Or universal transfers, or a poisoned gas supply, or extortionate rents
 The millionaires aren't even grateful for this submissiveness. Recently a society undertook "whirlwfnd- cam paign'' to raise $3O0,OOO to enlarge a times are taken. A large clock was placed on a public corner, and 1t was announced that the big hand must swing around to the S3o0,OO0 mark in two weeks.
 The campaign fell down." Any oth- CT city with a spark of gumption would have raised the money once it had undertaken the task. But in Washington the m1l1ionaires contribut- ed their pitiful $1O0 apiece, and at the expiration of the two weeks the hand of the clock stood only at $125,o0O.
 Summing has recently become a fashionable hysteria in Washington. The cleaning up of the slums is an excellent enterprise, but 1t must be followed up with the providing of have been driven from their quarters in the alleys. That the alley popule- ton will be driven to districts where rents are higher is little concern to the city beaut1f1ers. The working sys- tenn of the stunning parties is typi- calIy washington1an. Not one word has been said about the fact that the poor of Washington are charged high CT rates for rent than are collected from the inhabitants of any other slum districts of the United States. Washwonen, many of them widows, supporting families of children, are rnuIcted SIS per month rent by Wash ington landlords. Moreover, the poor of Washington are subjected to a ren- tai extortion which for refined cruelty has no counterpart in America that I know of Tn many slum houses. if the rent is not paid by the fifth day of the month, it goes up a. certain per centage The rent of a $15 house is $17.50 after the fifth of the month.
 Of course, Nothing is said about rents by the stunning parties Not in Washington. The whole idea is to make a beautiful city. And Washing ton is eautifuHbeautifu1 as a tomb enclosing a dead public spirit.
 Some day Congress is going to en- franchise the citizens of Washington and give them .se1f-government And when that day comes fancy the pub lie utilities commission will find some thing more vital to investigate than