Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-02-15
MANAGING THE CITY
By Frederic J. Haskin
[Continucd from Editorial Page

CONTINUED from Editorial Page.1
The city commission runs a nursery
where young trees are raised, and
every June the school children of
Reading go out in the hills and plant
them. Thousands of trees are plant
ed every year, and by the time the
school children of to-day are grand
fathers and grandmothers, the hills,
at the present rate, will again be beau
tifully wooded.
Reading was rich and easy picking
for railroads and street railroads un-
der the old form of government. The
thirty-three city fathers used to give
exclusive and perpetual franchises to
those who could muster control,
throwing away forever the right to
use streets and public spaces. Every
street car extension and every right
for track or siding granted by the
commission is now limited to twenty
five years.
Under the old system all city sup
plies were bought by contracts made
as result of recommendations by
committees of the council of thirty-two
aldermen. The recommendation of
it could be rejected with a huge row
in council, personal quarrels, vote
swapping and petty politics as an
aftermath, with good chance for no
contract at all. Under the commits
sion, all purchases for the city are
made through a central purchasing
office, for which one of the commits
sioners is directly responsible to the
whole commission and to the town.
| The result is a better quality of sup
plies at better prices.
A council of thirty-two members
was not the only cumbersome body
under the old form of government.
There was an independent health
board, an independent park board and
an independent water works COM
mission. These boards were usually
composed of politicians selected as a
reward for political service. When
the clumsy council was not busy with
internal quarrels it often spent its
time scrapping with the boards, till
the poor citizen was hopelessly be-
wildered.
The commission government charter
provides for a health officer, su-
perintendent of parks and superin-
tendent of water works. Each of these
officers comes directly under one or
another of the commissioners, who is
held responsible by the voters for the
work of his department. compe-
tent doctor with a competent assist
ant is at the head of the health de-
partment and men specially qualified
have been chosen for the other posi-
tions.
The movie habit is just as strong in
Reading as anywhere else and under
the commission every moving picture
theater has been made healthful
place for children.
Markets and other establishments
that offer food for sale have been han
died like the theaterS-inspected reg
ularly and graded.
Since the commission started op-
erations a new reservoir for the city
water system has been put in. a new
pipe line for augmenting the supply
has been laid and water rates have
been reduced. Plans are being made
for a municipal slaughterhouse and
a municipal hospital. A garbage in
cineratlon plant, owned by the city
but not used for several years by the
old council, has been put to work,
and rates for collection of garbage
have thereby been reduced. The
rates for public lighting have been
cut 10 per cent. Muddy, unsanitary
alleys have been paved and hundreds
of connections with sewers have been
required. Viaducts across railroad
tracks have been built and more than
700 squares of asphalt, brick and ma
cadam paving have been laid.
Such are the principal results OF
two years of commission government
in Reading.