Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-11-12
TORONTO OFFICIAL
HAS HIGH PRAISE FOR
THIS CITY'S SYSTEM
Joseph Harton, Accountant
for Toronto Municipality,
Calls Business Methods
Here Excellent.

Tho city Of Philadelphia is run on
very encicnt business system. in the opin-
Ion Of Joseph Hafton, City Accountant OF
Toronto. who has been investigating the
accounting system In City Hall with two
other experts from the Canadian city,
with view TO Its adoption In his own
municipality.
The business system OF Philadelphia
IS excellent 1t Is very efficient, and
could scarcely be improved upon" said
Mr.. Harton today you should. how
ever. do all OF your purchasing through
q central bureau.
THE business system Of Philadelphia
been urging the adoption OF its own sys-
tenn in Toronto for some tihe, and has
been pointing 10 your system here In
Philadelphia. where the Municipal Re-
search ideas are followed in the business
sido of the city government, as tho best
example. Mayor Hocken, OF Toronto, was
in Philadelphia about month ago. and
when he returned to Canada he sent us
here to make thorough investigation.
'The legislation and the powers and
duties of the city officers are different In
the two cities. however. and we cannot
urge the adoption of your complete sys-
tern In Toronto for that reason. For in
stance, our City Treasurer performs the
same duties as your City Controller, In
addition TO his duties as City Treasurer.
] think your system OF separating these
two functions could not be improved
upon.
CITY DEPARTMENTS.
THE business of the city government
could scarcely be better handled than II
10 through the departments in your City
Hall. In my opinion. the work is divided
h,
tenn that provides a complete check upor
everything.
philadelphia also has the adyantaE,
over Toronto In the terms OF ofIlce o
your city officials. We elect our cit,
officials for terms OF one year only anC
the Mayor is never elected to more thar
two terms
philadelphia City Trensurer's depart
ment and City Controllers department
are almost perfect The City Controller
department, however, frequently dupli
Gates on the work done in other depart
ments. but this has the advantage o
serving as another check upon the wor
done.
II do not thoroughly agree with tn
practice of your Department of Publ
Works in letting out all OF its work unde
contract In Toronto our city engineer
bid on nearly all work, so that the cit
Is a competitive bidder for nearly ever
AAhPNA etAAi1 tcANASSNs
CENTRALIZED PURCHASING.
philadelphia does need. however,
better system of centralized purchusint
You have a central bureau for this pu
pose, but 1t does not attend to all OF II
purchasing, as It should. Your difereI
departments do too much of their ow
purchasing. This is probably due TO II
fact that many of the older officials he
will not readily change to the centraliz'
purchasing idea. They assert. hOweve
they must attend to much OF the purchn
ing themselves to save time. They do n
save enough time, though, to justify Il
Decentralization of this work. II all
the purchasing for the city OF Philad'
phia is ever placed in the hands OF o
bureau, the officials In the various depal
ments will soon become educated to Z
idea, and will learn to plan their pu
chases in advance.
philadelphia also lacks storage hous
for the city's supplies You have not
single storage house In which to keep
supplies that the city departments mt
draw upon. We have two in Toronto a
il saves the city money. because we q
able to purchase I'm bulk and seld
have TO demand quick delivery"
Harton, NJ. A. Tally and II. Mats
came to Philadelphia 10 days ago. a
have investigated every detail OF
business system of PhilRdelphia's c
government. They were joined by MAJ
Hocken last night. and the four left
Toronto this morning AS result
their investigation they will adVoc
several changes In Toronto's syste
they said.