Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-04-15
COST OF GOVERNMENT
In THE CAPITAL CITY
Former Engineer Commissioner Makes
Interesting Comparison With Cities
of Approximate Size.

and the total tax collection depend
altogether upon the same will. It
is. however, the duty Of the Commits
sioners to furnish the most service Of
the best quality that can be had for
the money given them to disburse,
which is another way Of saying that,
regardless of the amount allowed by
Congress. they should perform the
various services required Of them at
the lowest cost consistent with salts
faction to their clients. the public.
In a general way. it is usually
taken for granted that the District
is well governed. The government is
admittedly political, its person
mel is, practically throughout, per-
manent: on the face of things the
city Is clean and well appearing. and
not the slightest hint OF graft or of
favoritism has ever been made.
These things are generally con-
coded. but it might be illuminating
to learn how we compare with other
cities of about the same size. At
the outset. it should be remarked that
q
able degree valueless because neces-
sarily they must be statistical, based
on figures alone without considera-
ton of differing local conditions and
of the quality OF the service rem
dered. This element of doubt and
weakness Is well illustrated by the
remark Of a late District Commits
E10nar M
washington, said that he had never
realized how clean Washington was
until he had moved away from the
District and returned for visit. If
the city in which he now lives spends
as much as we do for street clean
ing, 1t must either get less for It's
money or be more difficult to keep
clean.
Keeping in mind these limitations
ana remembering that I am furnish
ing figures derived from Official re-
ports 1t Is extremely interesting to
compare the expenditures reported
by the five cities. Washington. New
ark. n. j.; Pittsburgh, San Fracisco
and Buffalo, and in order to get an
idea as to tendencies, all figures ara
given for 1916, the last pre-war year,
and 1921, year in which we were
beginning to recover somewhat from
war prices and to assume a more
nearly stable condition.
What Other Cities spend.
These five cities varied In popula-
ton in 1916 between 3so,35o for New
ark to 579.1s0 for Pittsburgh. Dur
ing the five years to 1921, their reIa-
tive order as to population remained
unchanged. Newark being still 4bs
smallest at 425.ss5, and Pittsburgh
The largest. with 602.35o. During
that period Washington and Buffalo
gained more than the others. about
4l,000 each. All these cities are nearly
enough of the same size to give value
to a comparison of the information
that has been embodied in the table
of general statistics which IL nrintad
at the bottom of this column.
1t Will be seen that the District OF
Columbia is so per cent greater in
area than the next larger city. San
francisco. In other words. its smaller
population is scattered over a con-
siderably greater area 1t would he
misleading to place too much en-
phasls on such an index as the
average population per square mile,
but density of population undoubted
ly is Of Importance in it's effect 1Jpon
the cost of government. 1t seems
OBVIOUS that given number of people
hre and police protection. less ex-
pend1ture for paving and maintain
ing streets. and correspondence
smaller amounts for defraying the
cost of other customary public sery-
ices Hence, it Is worth while to note
that in 1916 the population per square
mile was for Washington, $500:
Newark. $500; Pittsburgh, $4,000:
San Francisco. 1890. and Buffalo,
12,20o- In five years these figures
changed, so that Washington had
$500; Newark, $4,000; Pittsburgh, 49,
200; San Francisco, 10000, and
Buffalo, 1890. Thus Washington had
gained 500 per square mile; Newark,
l,2oo; San Francisco, 700, and Buffalo,
LOO. while Pittsburgh seems to have
declined in density of population,
possibly due to annexation Of thinly
settled outlying territory.
Eject Upon Expenditures.
The effect of area upon expendi-
lures Is traceable in the figures as to
the number of schools, policemen, and
of firemen, although some allowance
must, of course. be made for the fact
that in the District separate schools
are maintained for the colored chill
dren. AS, however, seats would have
to be provided for these children in
any event, any disparity in the num-
Der of school buildings and class
rooms is only in small part accounted
for by the special provision made for
the colored children of the District.
Referring to the table of general
statistics. we see that in 1915 the
District had $50 schools with LASS
classrooms, and, in 1891. 156 schools
with 1880 rooms We had a greater
number of school buildings than had
any other city in the group. but our
total of classrooms was at the end
of the period the lowest Of all, and
our average per building also the
lowest. Evidently we were maintain
ing scattered small units in the face
of a tendency elsewhere to develop
sou .,s.""t larger groups. most
kIou.lnueu on Third Page.)