Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-23
STILL HUNTING MICE
INSTEAD OF ELEPHANTS
The Mayors Desire That More Though,
BE Given to a Constructive Program
VIII BE GratiHed When He
Leads the Way

Ava members Of the Real Estate Board that
| the constructive work of the city admins
tration deserves more attention than the
political disputes about the selection OF men
to assist in doing the work or than the fac
tional quarrels among the political leaders.
The real concern of the city government
is the conduct of the public business eff :
ciently and economically. Attention Is con =
tinually distracted from this by other things.
More space is devoted In the newspapers to
the political struggles than to the construc-
tive work of the various departments. The
newspapers cannot be blamed for this be
cause, unfortunately, the public officials are
frequently more willing to talk about their
political plans than about their plans for
public improvements, as those officials have
themselves apparently been more interested
at times in the political than in the business
side of their duties.
Many thoughtful persons have played with
the theory that the break down Of municipal
government in America has been due to the
failure of the municipal officials to grasp the
idea that they were elected primarily as
business executives TO manage the affairs Of
great enterprise. These persons have been
pleased to think that the surest way to i'm
prove city government is for the city officials
day of the year that the voters are the
shareholders in large corporation, the di-
rectors of which are the Mayor and the local
legislature
The dividends are paid in the form of we'll
paved and clean streets sewers where they
are needed an aieQuate water supply, public
buildings suitable for the accommodation Of
the public offices, a school system with school
houses large enough for all the children and
adequately paid teachers enough to take
care OF all the classes, police and fire.
fighting force well housed and well disc-
plined devoting itself solely TO the service of
the public, Fairgrounds in the congested dis
tricts and new streets laid out in the grow
ing sections and in the older districts where
experience shows that new outlets must be
provided for traffic.
The payment of dividends of this kind is
the real business of city government. 1t
is theoretically possible to get the people to
devote so much thought to these matters that
there will be little attention left for the
fight OF the politicians for the spoils of office
And indeed, it is also theoretically possible
that a people intensely interested in the
economical administration of it's public busi-
ness will insist on the election of officers
chosen because they have proved their busi-
ness efficiency rather than because they have
qualified as bell ringers in a political ma
chine.
Many persons would like to have this
theory experimental with so that they might
know whether it would work out in practice
in the United States. They know that it
works pretty well in some European cities,
and they are confident that what Europe
can do we'll America can do better.
So they are encouraged by the spectacle
OF the Mayor of Philadelphia stressng the
business side of the city government in the
presence of company Of business men,
Mr.. Moore told the business men that in
the last nine months eighty city blocks have
been graded, fifty seven blocks have been
paved. forty eight blocks have been repaved,
five miles of country roads have been i'm
proved, nearly four miles of branch sewers
have been laid. and more than mile of main
sewers has been built
This is the first time that this infor
nation has been assembled for the informa
tion Of the people who pay for the work.
II similar information is made public
periodically the people will know more than
they have known in the past about the kind
OF business administration they are get
ting
The Mayor indicated some Of the other
enterprises on which he is engaged The
city is preparing to improve the port facli-
ties by building new piers. 1t is carrying
on the work on the Art Museum, and it is
expected that that magnificent structure will
be in shape to house the art collections of
the city within three years. 1t Is making
some progress toward the building of the
Delaware river bridge 1t is arranging to
build new frehouses and to buy new fire.
hUh linn .a
under way for an extension of the water
supply and for building more sewers and
opening and paving more streets, and doing
much other important work
Money cannot be got for carrying on this
work without the exercise of the greatest
financial wisdom, backed by a determination
10 prevent the waste Of public funds either
by the payment of salaries to supcriuous
employees or by extravagant payments for
work done.
One of the most pressing problems before
the Mayor is the rppaving of the streets 1t
has been estimated that the old pavements
cannot be put in proper repair for less than
$50 600 900. a quarter of this amount was
asked for to be used next year; but only
about quarter of this quarter has thus far
been appOrtiOned. At this rate it will take
sixteen years to repair the streets which
need repairing today. Before the sixteen
years have gone by the streets will be i'm
passable unless some way is found to hasten
the work
This is a business problem, pure and sim
pie. There is or ought to be no politics in
it, save the kind Of politics that there Is in
business efficiency. The bad streets are
costing their users enormous sums every
week. They delay business vehicles and
make it impossible to do full days work