The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-02-26
RrcHmoND's NEEDS GROW WITH PRO-

GREss
The city OF Richmond Is growing in wealth. in
population, in the nupber OF Its enterprises and
In every other way 1t Is rapidly forging to the
front as ONE OF the greatest, weathiest and most
enterprising cities In the South. 1t surpasses
any other city south of Washington in many
respects and excels most of them in every way.
II is the coming city Of the South the metropolis
OF the section.
Within twenty years Richmond has passed
from the ranks of the smaller communities of
the country and without pause it has gone for
ward toward it's destine place among the NUM-
cipalities of the nation. Its reputation has
spread abroad in the land 1t has wiped away
all traces of the desolation during the years
following the war; 1T is almost twice the size
it had attained in 1890; in ten years it has grown
marvelously. Richmonders have no reason to be
other than proud of the position It has attained
by It's own magnificent efforts
The city has grown in other ways than these
however. With greater population, greater
wealth, greater expansion. increased business
and with the coming Of immigrants, the needs
Of the community have increased. They have
kept pace with progress What was sufficient
unto the needs Of twenty, ten and even a few
years ago are insufficient today. With more
construction has come the necessity for more
and better paved streets; the increase in manu-
featuring has come the need for more room
for homes and with more homes has come the
population has come more congestion and with
more congestion has come the need for more and
larger Fairgrounds; with a larger and buster
city the payroll has grown the gas works have
acquired needs for improvements the street
cleaning force has had its labors increased be-
yond its capacity for performance In every way
the need Of larger expenditures has developed
The budget adopted by the common council
last night and which will go to the board
of aldermen for concurrence is inadequate to the
need of the community. Every appropriation
asked by the administrative board was put at
the lowest possible point Nothing was asked
that not absolutely necessary Desirable
appropriations were scarcely considered and
many of those things of great importance were
left out to make room for the necessities, Three
and half million dollars is not enough for
with the business of the city.
In all probability what the administrative
board asked and what the council appropriated
was all that the state of the city finances would
permit The outgo and the income must bear
some relationship to each other If the money
In not there 1t cannot be spent Moreover, there
is great fault to be found with the distribution
Of the funds at the disposal of the council There
ic no need here to criticise administrative board
finance committee or council for the amount ap-
propriated or for the manner In which 1t was
distributed, but merely to call the attention of
the people of Richmond to the fact that If their
city is to continue Its advance 1t must be pre-
pared to pay the freight. Economy is one thing:
parsimony Is another and economy at the ex-
pense of progress is parsimony Failure to ex-
pend in order to maintain a decent standard OF
living, is not wise economy and is as much to
be blamed in a city in citizen.