The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1921-08-25

/ gave abundant supply for the first
! time; operated a municipal garage;
saved several hundred thousand dollars
per year to gas consumers by securing
universal natural gas at SAC instead of
artificial gas at 85c; contracted for bet
i ter street lighting at lower rates de-
spite modern costs; provided adequate
budget procedure; centralized purchas-
ing. reduced floating debt from $685.
600 to $50, 900 first year; put civil serv-
/ ice on honest basis; provided annual
audit Of account; publicity on all city
matters; appointed city plan commits
sion and numerous other citizen advi-
sorry boards.
Norfolk, Va, population 115,777, had
/ doubled its population suddenly during
the war, yet the new government dat
| ing from September, 1918, reduced the
inherited deficit $4,000, 900; added ST.
100000 of public improvements; made
the police and fire departments the
best paid in the country; established
juvenile court; employed visiting
nurses; opened free medical and dem
tai clinics and established a city hos
| pital Through cooperation between
the city planning commission and the
/ citizens. street extension project
which would ordinarily have cost the
city $3.50, 900, was completed for $40 900.
| A ffty-acre water frontage worth
4 $750, 900 was acquired for $25OOOO.
Fourteen new Fairgrounds were opened
and recreation developed for adults
municipal tennis tournament, for in
stance. Infant mortality was radically
reduced.
The Experience of Wheeling.
Wheeling, W. Va, population 54,322,
adopted the plan in 1917 and when the
first manager died in 1919, this was
what they said of his regime: Raised
all wages of all city employees; saved
| $4,000 by combining jobs; motorized
the fire department; wiped out the red
| light district and gambling; gave city
new electric light system without extra
cost; negotiated new contracts that
saved the city $4,000 on gas and $4,000
on electricity per year; made the trac-
ton company pay half the cost Of two
new bridges; settled garbage problem;
discovered old government had signed
away city's rights in telephone mer-
ger; started suit and recovered cash
and privileges worth $4,000; sold old
city gas plant to good advantage; de-
feated street railroad fare increase by
proving generalization.
kalamazoo, Mich, population 4S ,487.
The new government found 100000
more real estate values by equalization
and $4,000 of property that had es-
capped taxation; established a budget
and lived within it; cleared off inherit.
ed deficit of $50 900; centralized pur-
chasing; saved>the people 100000 an
nually by earning better fire insurance
rate; established veneral disease elm.
les; sold coal from city yard at cost;
united private and city nursing under
full-times city physician; enlarged the
parks 80 acres; made theN government
more understandable by a municipal
exhibit, by bulletin periodically dis
tributed to every home, and by read
able annual report.
Alameda, Cal, population 28,806.
Adopted modern zoning ordinance ex-
Guiding business from residential.
areas; enlarged parks; cleaned streets
by direct labor at one-third of the old
contract price; now cleans principal
streets twice day instead of three
times week; makes profit on gar
bage; in 1919 carried through street
construction at 1919 less per mile than
the old government did at pre-warl
prices.
"Waltham, Mass, population 30,891.
Although labor went up 54%o and ma
terials 82qo, the tax rate went up only
| $50 in the years from 1917 to 1919;
combined service of water and engin-
eering departments, saving salaries and
increasing efficiency; avoided $500, 900
expenditure for new water supply by
stopping leaks and waste Of $3.50; CEN
trail purchase and cash discounts; COM
munity street dances and free movies
Phoenix, Ariz, population 29053
Despite rapid increase in costs, the val
uation and tax levy were not increased
in 1919.
Exceptions to the Rule.
These are instances. So many such
accounts are in evidence that the cumu-
lative mass Of them is overwhelming.
That does not mean that there are no
exceptions. There are and always will
be. In few of the towns the change
IN the form of government has not
altered the prevailing complacent stag
nation and the improvement has been
slight. There have been a few odd
cases where the people have elected the
old political crowd to the council and
the council has either chosen local
chronic job-holder as manager or has
made miserable the life of an imported
experienced man by petty nagging and
cheap politics, but even in these cases
there has been an unexpected amount
of progress. In some towns the BUSH
ness crowd has dominated the new gov
eminent, in others it has been labor.
"The city managers are not miracu-
lous experts; the great majority of
them are hard-working full-time-and-
then=some practical men with alluring
chances of promotion ahead Of them
If they make good and rather unusual
opportunity to do it. Many a mayor
has wished he had his freedom from
red tape and at the annual conventions
of the city managers association when
anacd0teS arp fnld nf tho ipaDLitrJa~