I LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Received /T^-ti^' . iSqO ■ Occasions No^^^^^ ■ O.ns No. CITY GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES ALFRED R.'CONKLING FORMERLY ALDERMAN OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK AND MEMBER OF ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Municipal Government is Business, not Politics " Motto of People's Municipal Leetgue of New Vork, 1890 NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1894 s ^5 3^ c 1 .ophiiGHT, 1894. By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. TO THE FOUNDERS OF THE CITY CLUB OF NEW YORK, WHOSE ZEALOUS DEVOTION TO THE CAUSE OF GOOD GOVERNMENT IS HEARTILY APPRECIATED BY ALL PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZENS, THESE PAGES ARE SINCERELY INSCRIBED. -b^^ Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2008 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/citygovernmentinOOconkricli PREFACE I PROPOSE to write a primer, as it were, of the science of city government. I wish to set citizens to thinking. Let them work out their own municipal destiny in the lisfht of common sense and modern science. There is, so far as I know, not one popular book in the English language on municipal government. Mau- rice Block's Fan's: Oroanisation Jfunicipale is a very entertaining book, written in a dialogue form, which en- ables any French child to understand the government of the beautiful French capital. English and American writers have discussed in book form every phase of po- litical science except popular municipal government. This omission does not wholly account for the faults of city government in the United States ; but, if intelligent men had studied in text-books the science of city gov- ernment as they learn the principles of political econ- omy in high schools and colleges, it is not too much to say that our cities would be better ruled. It is said that " comparisons are odious," but every well-informed person must aduiit that in comparing American cities with those of the Old AVorld we suffer by the comparison. Take, for example, the oldest large vi PREFACE. ciii(!H ill ilio TInii(!(I States — New York, Philadclpliiu juhI lirooklyii. No int(;!lii,n'nt ohsorvor (;}in deny tliat tli(;ir ^ovornincnts am vastly inf(;rior to tliose of Loii- (l(;n, liiriniiif^ham and (ilasgow in (ircat I)ritain ; or to I'ari.s, I>(;rlin and Vienna on the (Continent. Ani(u-i(;anH should \h\ v/.v^ct to learn from the eities and towns of older countries whenever they liave any- thing to teach. In all braiu^hes of civic administration the loeal authorities of U(;rlin have been willing to learn from other cities in i^'iUrojx', and to adopt vvhat{^V(!r im- provcunents tlu^y ean apply to their own government. In many n^spcicts I think the Ameriean jx'ople may learn mueh from them, and 1 ho])e we shall soon follow thcur example;. 'rh(!re is in many eities siK-h a suspicion attiuhed to th(i ordinary eity hall ])oliti(;ians that the better class of citizciiiH (h) not wish to jissocMJite with tlujm ; and it will not be denied th.'it mosl, of tlx; members of our (!ity (/ouiK'ils iirc! vastly infiM'ior to tliose of tlu; nniional ('ongress or even of the HUiiv, Legislatures. It is the duty of good Americans to set about at once to obliter- ate the stigma that is attached to tho word alderman. 'V\\i) agitation concerning i,h(>. municipal ])rol)lem is eomparaiivcily rec^ent. The founders of this (lovern- ment took no account of the cities. Now, as T ex])lain in Chapter T, a third of our population reside in cities, and the four largest municipalilics contain nearly one tenth of the ])o|)ula,tion of tin; United States. The municipal problem is becjoming a subjc^ct of absorbing interest, and is now receiving in tho largo cities more PREFACE. yii attcution perhaps than any other public question. It is a principle of government that a citizen must per- form a certain amount of duty to his State, county, city or town. In certain cities of Europe municipal service is compulsory, and failure to perform it results in an increase of taxation. I commend Chapter XVIII (on elections) to the careful attention of the reader, for good municipal government must rest upon good election laws strictly enforced. At this moment the unsolved problem of "home rule" is under discussion by the Convention to revise the Constitution of Xew York, and it seems as if the principle will be recognized. But it goes without saying that a city is not ruled by its charter, and unless better men. serve in our city halls, home-rule principles and new charters will be of little avail. In the preparation of this volume I have received much assistance from the otlicials of our chief cities as well as from many personal friends. I desire to record my grateful sense of obligation to my friend, Mr. Lewis L. Delafield, of the Xew York bar. My thanks are also due to the following gentlemen : Hon. J. B. Eustis, U. S. Ambassador to France ; Hon. George F. Parker, U. S. Consul at Birmingham ; the late Hon. AVilliam H. Edwards, U. S. Consul at Berlin ; Hon. Allen B. Morse, Y. S. Consul at Glasgow ; Hon. William K. Ackerman, Comptroller of Chicago ; Hon. Ferdinand C. Latrobe, Mayor of Baltimore ; Hon, Edwin S. Stuart, Mayor of Philadelphia ; Hon. Charles A. Schieren, Mayor of Brooklyn ; Hon. Xathan Matthews, Jr., viii PREFACE. Mayor of Boston ; Hon. Cyrus P. Walbridge, Mayor of St. Louis ; Hon. William S. Cowherd, Mayor of Kansas City ; Hon. H. S. Pingree, Mayor of Detroit ; Hon. Charles F. Bishop, Mayor of Buffalo; Hon. Caleb T. Denny, Mayor of Indianapolis ; Hon. John B. Mosby, Mayor of Cincinnati ; Hon. L. K. Ellert, Mayor of San Francisco ; Hon. P. F. Wanser, Mayor of Jersey City ; Hon. Anson C McCook, Hon. John C. O'Conor, Hon. M. C. D. Borden, Mr. J. W. Howard and Mr. J. Noble Hayes, of New York ; Mr. J. G. Rosengarten, of Phila- delphia ; Mr. Eichard H. Dana, of Boston ; and Mr. Moses J. Wentworth and Mr. Thomas F. Judge, of Chicago. A. R. C. New York, August 1, 1894. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I.— The Government of American Cities ... 1 II.— The Mayor 27 III. — Boards of Aldermen 40 IV.— Public Parks 52 V. — The Fire Department 64 VI. — The Police Department 71 VIL — Police Courts &4 VIII.— Excise 90 IX. — Water, Gas and Electricity .... 94 X. — Streets Ill XI. — Street-cleaning 123 XII. — Street Pavements 138 XIII.— Public Works 149 XIV. — Charitable Institutions 160 XV.— Public Schools and Trade Schools . . .163 XVI.— Finance and Taxation 168 XVII. — Municipalization 177 XVIII.— Elections 189 XIX.— The Remedies 208 Index 221 (ix) LIST OF AUTHORITIES. For further information on the subject of Munici- pal Government in the United States the student should consult the following works : t^ Municipal Corporations, by John F. Dillon. Public Corporations, by Charles F. Beach. Comparative Administrative Law, by Frank J. Goodnow. : Public Debts, by Henry C. Adams. The Municipal History of Boston, by Josiah Quincy. Handbook for Philadelphia Voters, compiled by Charles A. Brinley, with an Introduction by Prof. E. J. James. The Municipal Development of Philadelphia, 1881-1887, by E. P. Allinson and B. Penrose. The City Government of Philadelphia, published by the Whar- ton School of Finance and Economy. The American Commonwealth (the chapters on Cities), by James Bryce. The Johns Hopkins University Series in Historical and Polit- ical Science (especially the fifth series). Report of the New York State Commission to investigate the City of New York, 1877, William M. Evarts chairman. Reports of the New York Senate Committee on Cities, J. Sloat Fassett chairman, 1890, fi.ve volumes. The Municipal Problem, by Amos Parker Wilder. The Bibliography of Municipal Government and Reform in the Proceedings of the National Conference for Good City Gov- ernment held at Philadelphia in January, 1894, published by the Municipal League. Sewerage and Land Drainage, by George E. Waring, Jr. Annual Cyclopaedia, The article, Recent Growth of American Cities. This list does not include foreign works. Maurice Block's writings on Municipal Government, especially on the city of Paris, may be studied with advantage. Numerous magazine articles bearing on this subject have appeared in the United States and England since 1890. They are chiefly found in The Forum, The Century Magazine, The North American Review, The Nineteenth Century and The Review of Reviews. (xi) REMARKABLE EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN CITIES. 1565. St. Augustine, Fla., founded by the Spaniards. Oldest town in the United States. Incorporated in 1824. 1680. Charleston, S. C, founded ; the inhabitants of two towns of the same name removing thither for the purpose. 1686. The Dongan (first) charter of the city of New York granted. 1686. Albany chartered. Oldest incorporated city in the United States. 1691. The William Penn (first) charter of Philadelphia granted. 1730. The Montgomery charter of New York granted. 1790. Public school first opened to girls in Boston. 1791. Washington founded and called the "Federal City" by George Washington. It was incorporated in 1S02. 1797. First charter of Baltimore granted. 1809. New Orleans chartered. Founded in 1719. 1801. Completion of the first municipal waterworks in the United States at Philadelphia. 1814. Cincinnati became a city. 1816. Pittsburg chartered. 1822. The first charter of Boston granted; the town founded in 1630. 1822. St. Louis incorporated. 1830. Detroit became a city. 1831. First street-car service on New York and Harlem Railroad. 1832. Buffalo chartered. 1835. First charter of Brooklvn granted. Other charters in 1855 and 1881. 1837. Chicago incorporated. 1841. First municipal gas-works established at Philadelphia. 1850. San Francisco chartered. 1862. George Opdyke elected as the only Republican Mayor of New York. 1871. Downfall of the Tweed ring in New York, 1872. William F. Havemeyer elected reform Mayor of New York. 1873. A new charter for the city of New York. 1877. Completion of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, the first railroad built by municipal enterprise. 1881. Election of a Republican Mayor in Brooklyn (Seth Low). 1882. The new charter for Brooklyn took effect.' 1883. Completion of the bridge over the East River, built by the cities of New York and Brooklyn (opened Mav 24th). 1885. The Bullitt charter for Philadelphia granted. 1886. Uprising of anarchists in Chicago, followed by execution of four and imprisonment for life of several leaders. 1891. Mafia massacre at New Orleans. 1893. Colossal registration and election frauds in the city of New York, followed by numerous indictments, many of the offenders being convicted. ■ns has ever been willing to license the Elevated Eailroad Company to erect its tracks across that beautiful pleasure ground. In American cities a portion of the public parks is WATER-FRONT PAIJKS. 01 set apart for athletic £^ai)io.s and several large fu'lds in Central Park were formerly reserved for boys of the grammar schools, but now children from all kinds of schools are allowed to use a large meadow for baseball, lacrosse and football. Of late years the so-called North ^leadow has been used for lawn tennis and about forty courts have been laid out and are used by persons of all ages. A pond in a public park is beneficial. In summer it is used for boating and in winter for skating. In sea- board cities it is desirable to lay out a public park on the water-front, although this idea is rarely carried out. The Riverside Park, on the Hudson in the city of New York, is perhaps the largest " water-front " park in America. Then there are small parks along the water- front, such as Battery Park, Corlears Hook Park, Co- enties Park and East Eiver Park. Pelham Park also fronts on the water and is now the largest park in New York. In Philadelphia the famous Fairmount Park runs along the bank of the Schuylkill. In Chicago, Jack- son Park (where the World's Fair was held in 1893) and Lincoln Park are two beautiful parks on the south and north sides of the city, extending along the lake front. It is argued that land is too valuable along the water-front of a city to be used for park purposes; but in that case it is not too much to demand that a few small parks, one block in area, should be scattered along the water-front. In London political meetings are held in the public 62 PUBLIC PARKS. parks — e. g., Hyde Park — where a hundred thousand working people sometimes assemble and listen to so- cialistic speeches. The public parks in the United States are rarely if ever used for political meetings, although there has been a demand from the Socialists of the city of New York to be allowed to use the public parks for such purposes. At a hearing before the Committee on Cities in the Senate in 1892, they were offered the use of those public places which were covered with asphalt, which meant the small squares at the intersection of streets — like Paradise Park, which is a triangle about 100 by 50 feet, covered with asphalt, at the intersection of two streets. This was not satisfactory to the dele- gates and their application was denied. In some cities the City Hall is erected in a public park ; in others, it is on a business street, with no ground around it. It is well to erect public buildings, such as courthouses, city halls and schoolhouses, with- in public parks, or at least to have a small space of ground around them. The most unique attraction in the public parks of the United States is probably the new aquarium in Battery Park, New York. Under the law of 1892 an appropriation of 1300,000 was made. The aquarium will occupy the site of the old Castle Garden, the well- known former immigrant depot. It is the only free municipal aquarium in the United States and it is be- lieved to be far superior to anything of the kind in the world. There are aquariums at Coney Island and other ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. 63 similar resorts, but they are quite unlike that in Flattery Park. Zoological and botanical gardens are rare in Amer- ican cities. Central Park, in Xew York, and Fair- mount Park," in Philadelphia, have zodlogical exhibits or menageries. There are beautiful botanical gardens at Washington and St. Louis. The new zoological park at the national capital will be one of the finest in the world. The best known in Europe are the famous " Zoo " at Regent's Park, London, and the Jardin des Plantes and the Jardin d^AccUmatatmi in Paris. At present a company has a charter to lay out a botanical garden in the city of Xew Y'ork. The Arnold Arbore- tum, a sort of public museum of trees, is a unique fea- ture of the park system of Boston. The metropolis of the world, which is also one of the oldest large cities, is still increasing the number and area of the public parks. During the past four years one thousand acres have been added to the park area. It is said that the ratepayer (taxpayer) contrib- utes more cheerfully for the cost of small parks than for any other purpose. The plan of common gardens or lawns in the rear of London private houses, like those in Prince's Gate, should be introduced in Amer- ican cities. CHAPTER V. THE FIRE DEPARTME:N^T. The fire service in American cities is generally the best managed and most eflicient of the various branches of the municipal governments. This is rendered neces- sary by the large number of frame and poorly constructed buildings within the city limits and by the regulations of the insurance companies. It was not until 1871 that frame houses were for- bidden to be erected in New York, excepting a small portion of the upper wards of the city. Since 1885 every wooden or frame building damaged by fire or otherwise to an amount greater than half of the value thereof has been ordered to be taken down. In Chicago and Philadelphia wooden houses, excepting sheds not over sixteen feet high, are forbidden to be built. Ex- perience proves that where the fire department is very inefficient the insurance companies either refuse to in- sure or establish rates that are practically prohibitory. Accordingly, the property holders compel the city au- thorities to establisli an efficient fire service. It is true of some cities that the scant water supply may result in a general conflagration without any fault on the part of the firemen. Up to 18G5 the fire departments in the (04) GREAT CONFLAGRATIONS IN CITIES. G5 large cities were generally composed of volunteers. In- ducements were held out to able-bodied citizens to join the fire brigade by exempting them, from jury duty. In those days a fire-engine house was somewhat like a social or political club. In the city of JN'ew York the volunteer firemen oftentimes united and became a power in ward politics until the establishment of the paid fire department, May 4, 1865. The system of salaried fire- men was gradually introduced into other large cities. Since the abolition of the volunteer fire departments in the large municipalities there have been no very de- structive conflagrations, except in Chicago and Boston. At various times more than half of certain American cities have been burned. The principal conflagrations were those in New York city, 1835 and 1845 ; Troy, N. Y., 1862; Portland, Me., 1866; Chicago, 1871* and 1875 ; Boston, 1872 ; and Pittsburg, 1877. In some cities the Mayor has power to order the destruction of buildings by explosives or otherwise to prevent the spread of a conflagration. The remarkable efficiency of our municipal fire de- partments is largely on account of the general exclusion of "politics" in their administration. The larger cities have usually fire commissioners. If the chief of the department is a strict disciplinarian, he will recommend the promotion of firemen on their merits and dismiss delinquents without regard to political influence. For many years the city of Brooklyn had a fire service that * A careful estimate fixed the value of the property consumed in this conflagration at |350,000,000. 66 THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. was cursed by politics, and the insurance companies raised their rates so high that the property owners com- plained bitterly. In fact, some underwriters refused to insure at all. The members of the ring asked the in- surance men to prefer charges against the fire depart- ment. They refused to do so and simply said they could not alford to insure. A short time ago, in Chi- cago, the fire marshal happened to be a man who was too efficient and too independent to suit the " statesmen for revenue only," and it was arranged to remove him. The underwriters, however, announced that rates would go up twenty-five per cent if such a step should be taken, and public feeling ran so high that even the Chi- cago ring was influenced by it, and this capable public servant was retained. Until 1870 conflagrations in the city of New York were announced by the ringing of a bell in several parts of the city. The police always attended fires, but the sound of the fire bell was a signal for every thief and burglar in New York to turn out. Accordingly, the system of placing electric alarm boxes on telegraph poles or lamp-posts was adopted. For many years the telegraph poles in New York were used, but now the alarm boxes are generally placed upon lamp-posts, with red glass on one side of the globe. The growth of a large city with constantly diminish- ing water pressure is well shown in New York. When, in 1842, the Croton Aqueduct was finished, the pressure upon the pipes at the surface of the ground in the lower part of the city was more than thirty pounds to the THE NUMBER OF FlllES. G7 square inch; in 1852 it was twenty pounds; in 1802 but three pounds. In 1882, during the daytime, it was practically nothing, as the water would merely flow out of the pipes at the ground surface. This was owing to the gradually increasing use of water for purposes other than for fire extinguishment. It is unsatisfactory to compare the number of fires in our rapidly growing cities with those of the well-built and well-governed cities of the Old World. In the larger American cities there is no limit to the height of the so- called fireproof buildings, whereas in the cities of Ger- many the general rule is that the height of the build- ing shall not exceed the width of the street upon which it stands. In New York city all buildings exceeding eighty-five feet in height must be fireproof. I give one comparison. In 1882 the number of fires in London was 1,926. In proportion to the population, Xew York should have had 650 fires, but the report for that year shows that there were 1,530. The engine houses, apparatus and firemen of Xew York are, in many respects, superior to those of Lon- don. The late President of the New York Fire Depart- ment, Henry D. Purroy, says, in his article in The Forum for December, 1886, that the time required to place upon the street a fire apparatus in London varies from one to four minutes, while in Xew York it is from ten to fifteen seconds. The fire departments in Amer- ican cities are not organized like those of Europe. Even in England the departments are not uniform. For instance, there are in London about GOO paid fire- 68 THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. men, while in Liverpool the duties of the fire brigade are performed by the police. In Paris and in many other Continental cities the firemen are a quasi-mi\i- tary organization, which is not cursed by politics. In Berlin the fire department is under the control of the State. It consists of nearly 900 men, under the com- mand of a "firemaster in chief." There are but 18 engine houses, but each house is large, and generally contains both engine and hook and ladder, and often- times an open omnibus to convey the firemen to the conflagration. In Philadelphia, which is one third smaller than Berlin, there are 55 engine houses and nearly 700 men. The annual appropriation for the Philadelphia Fire Department is $653,521, while that of the Berlin brigade is but 1375,000. The, great confi- dence of the citizens of Berlin in their fire department is illustrated by what occurred in 18,73, when I was living in that city. A friend of mine was playing cards in a five-story apartment house, when a fire broke out on one of the other floors. The players continued the game while the firemen were at work and the flames were soon extinguished. The system of steam pipes and hot-air furnaces for heating houses is not in general use in Europe, which, of course, diminishes the danger of a conflagration. The fire engines of Europe are usually inferior in size and power to those of the United States. It is, in fact, unnecessary to introduce the American water tow- ers into the large European towns. Water towers were first used in 1879. LIMITED WATER SUPPLY. (JO In a rapidly growing American city defective build- ings are often erected. Even in the older cities specu- lative builders erect flimsy structures of brick or stone, which fall almost like a card house in a general con- flagration. The streets in European cities are usually much wider and the buildings are more readily acces- sible to the firemen. The water supply of American cities is often scant, owing to the rapid increase of population and the tendency of the local authorities to adopt a penny-wise-and-pound-foolish policy so far as the construction of new or enlarged waterworks is con- cerned. The very moist climate of the British Isles renders the buildings less combustible than those in the United States. Droughts often occur during hot Ameri- can summers, and in autumn the buildings are unusu- ally dry and burn like tinder in the event of a fire. It will be remembered that the terrible fires of Boston and Chicago occurred in autumn. In the large cities there is generally a pension fund for members of the uni- formed force who are found to be disqualified, physic- ally or mentally, for performance of their duties. I take the following facts from Mr. Frank L. Laird's interesting chapter on the Bureau of Fire in the De- partment of Public Safety of The City Government of Philadelphia, published in 1893 by the AVharton School of Finance and Economy of the University of Philadel- phia : " The history of the Fire Department in the city of Philadelphia begins almost with the settlement of the State. . . . In 1718 the city acquired its first fire engine, buying it for £50, of Abraham Bickley, an 70 THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. alderman and member of the Common Council. . . . Philadelphia's first volunteer fire company was organ- ized at the suggestion, if not under the leadership, of Benjamin Franklin. It was known as the Union Fire Company, and was organized December 7, 1736. . . . The middle of the present century had passed, and Philadelphia firemen, like those of other cities, were still pumping laboriously on the old-fashioned hand engine. But, about 1857, a Cincinnati man, named Latter, came East to exhibit the product of his genius — a steam fire engine. It was more than the people of Boston and New York could bear and they brickbatted the engine and hooted its inventor. . . . The machine was cumbersome and in many points defective ; but it showed the possibilities of the steam fire engine. Ac- cordingly, the Philadelphia Hose Company proposed a prize for the most practical plans for such an engine. Several were submitted and the prize was finally awarded to Joseph L. Parry, who still lives in Phila- delphia. A contract was immediately awarded by the Philadelphia Hose Company for the construction of an engine after Mr. Parry's model, and in 1858 was fin- ished the ' Pioneer,' Philadelphia's first steam fire en- gine, which has won many laurels in contests Avith the fire engines of sister cities. . . . The volunteer (com- panies) system was abandoned in 1870, and the con- trol of the fire department assumed by the municipal authorities." CHAPTER VI. THE POLICE DEPARTJIENT. The police force of American cities is generally or- ganized upon a different system from the police of Europe. In Great Britain it is founded on a civil plan ; and on the Continent of Europe it is organized on a military basis. The discipline in the police force of European cities is better than that of American cities. In the first place, the police of Europe are a military organization ; secondly, they have, to a great extent, the recognition of the sovereign or State ; and, thirdly, the subject of politics is not allowed to poison the efficiency of the guardians of the peace. The personnel of the Police Department of London is as follows : The metropolitan police is composed of 15,099 officers and men and 33-4 horses, for which the annual appropriation is |G,437,550. There is also the city police, consisting of 988 men, whose yearly com- pensation is about $570,000. The number of men be- longing to the municipal police of Paris is 8,174, and the annual appropriation is 14,370,926. In Berlin every member of the i^olice force is an ex- soldier of good record. This accounts for the unusual excellence of the police. Unlike American cities, tlie (Ti) 72 THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. police force of the German capital is divided into two departments, the day watch and the night watch. The regular police, who are charged with the preservation of the public peace, the detection of crime, and the en- forcement of corporation ordinances, are solely under the control of the State; the municipal authorities maintain a force of night watchmen, whose duty is chiefly to protect the property of the citizens.* The Berlin force consists of 4,500 policemen, and their uni- forms are made by convicts. The police of Vienna (population 1,423,000) is com- posed of 2,800 officers and men. In Glasgow the yearly expenditure is $858,350 for a force of 1,347 men. On the Continent of Europe, the police are usually armed with swords and revolvers, and mounted officers are much more numerous than in the United States. In some cities, as in Paris, the police commonly carry mus- kets with fixed bayonets when on guard duty. The progress in the police of our large municipali- ties is perhaps greater than in any other department. Many years ago life and property were very insecure in the city of New York. The police force was practi- cally a political " machine." The famous Five Points in the Sixth Ward of the city was the terror of the citizen, chiefly on account of the political and badly disciplined mob which were called the police force. In 1857 the Eepublican party controlled the State of New York, but the Democratic party, as usual, dominated the city, and it was then that the power of the Com- * See James Pollard, A Study in Municipal Government. METROPOLITAN POLICE DISTRICT. 73 monwealth was exercised to control tlic local affairs of the metropolis. A metropolitan police district, as well as fire and health districts, was created, and the admin- istration of the police department was vested in a board of five members, who were appointed by the Governor. The Metropolitan Police District consisted of the coun- ties of New York, Kings, Westchester and Richmond.* The Mayors of the cities of New York and Brooklyn were under the law of 1857 (chapter 5G9) ex officio members of the Board of Metropolitan Police. The citizens resisted the enforcement of the police act, and the struggle that followed between the old Municipal Police and the new Metropolitan Police ended in bloodshed. The Court of Appeals decided, however, that the Legislature had not exceeded its constitutional powers ; and the people of New York, seeing that the conflict was hopeless, abandoned all further opposition. Under the new administration the police force became well disciplined and effective. The law of 1864 pro- vides that there shall be four commissioners, whose names are mentioned in the act. In 1870 the Metropolitan Police act was repealed, and the new law provided that the Board shall con- sist of four commissioners, to be appointed by the Mayor. Concerning this department Mayor Hewitt, in his message to the Common Council in 1888, said : * By the act of 1860 the towns of Newtown, Flushing and Jamaica in Queens County were added to the territory of the district ; and the number of commissioners was changed from five to three. 74: THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. " The only obstacle in the way of an efficient adminis- tration of the police is to be found in the constitution of the Board of Commissioners, which consists of four members, two of whom belong to each of the great po- litical parties. It was organized as a non-partisan board ; but as a matter of fact, from its very constitu- tion, it is nothing more or less than a partisan board. The patronage of the department is notoriously divided between the commissioners, and a large part of their business has been in the past to satisfy the claims of the two political parties whom they represent. It is fatal to the police that politics should enter either into its com- position or its administration. There is no way^ so far as I can see^ to get rid of this evil but to place the manage- ment of the police in the hands of a single commissioner^ to he appointed hy the Mayor^ and to hold office during his pleasure. " A competent and honest commissioner would, in all human probability, have a permanent tenure of office. There has been no Mayor in my day who would dare to confront public opinion in case he should remove such an officer from his position. On the other hand, the fact that the acts of the commissioner would be thus subject to the supervision of the Mayor would insure a conscientious discharge of duty." With a bipartisan board worthless officers are kept on the force by the constant and infamous " tie " vote. For example, two Democratic members may vote to dismiss a captain or an inspector, and tlie two Kepub- lican members may vote to exonerate him. In tliis CORRUPTION IN NEW YORK. 75 way some of the worst kind of officers remain in the department. The New York police force consists of one superin- tendent, with a salary of $6,000 ; four insjiectors, each receiving 13,500 ; 38 captains, with salaries of 12,750 ; 1G8 sergeants (exclusive of 37 detective sergeants at headquarters), with salaries of $2,000; and 174 rounds- men and 3,401 patrolmen. The roundsmen receive $1,500, and the patrolmen, under the law of 1894, are classified into five " service " grades, with salaries rang- ing from $1,400 to $1,000. There are 15 surgeons at $3,000 each, 79 doormen at $1,000 each and 22 matrons at $720. The annual appropriation for the police force in 1893 was $5,309,886. The municipal police of New York was perhaps once the best in the United States ; but, under the recent rule of the party now in power, it has become badly demoralized and many of its members are corrupt. A special committee of the Senate is now (1894) investigating this department; and it is sworn testi- mony that an applicant must pay, either by political assessment or otherwise, for appointment, and an officer must contribute an enormous sum, either to the "ring" or to the commissioners, for promotion. Accordingly many members of the force, of all grades, extort money from certain classes of citizens in return for a license to violate the laws and ordinances with impunity. In 1893 86,488 persons were arrested by the police (see p. 85). The ordinances of Paris are strict, and the traveler rarely sees goods on the sidewalk. In one narrow Y6 THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. street I saw two bags of charcoal on the sidewalk. I asked a policeman if that was not a violation of the city ordinance, and he replied : " Yes, sir ; but if the po- lice enforced all ordinances strictly, one could not walk in the streets of Paris." There is in New York (as in other large cities) a police pension fund, which is made up of fines and fees paid for licenses to sell liquor. The excise fees amount to $300,000 annually. The New York law provides also that after twenty years of service a policeman may be retired on half pay, whether disabled or not. Po- licemen may serve longer, but when the force is ruled by a partisan board the commissioners may compel a meritorious officer to retire in order to make room for one of their favorites. Nearly every year bills are introduced in the Legis- lature to increase the pay of the police, and such a bill became a law in 1894. The police of New York generally act as a unit in politics for those legislators who favor them and hence have tremendous power. The Bureau of Elections in New York city should be separated from the Police Department. It should be managed by a bipartisan board of two commissioners, to serve without salary (as in the Board of Education), and there should be a secretary with a reasonable compensa- tion and with paid clerks. Since 1889 the Police Board of New York has been a partisan body. There was, until July 14, 1894, but one Republican in the commission. During the session THE PIIILADELPIIIA FORCE. 77 of the Legislature of 1894 several bills to reorganize the commission were introduced. One bill provided for a bipartisan board of four members and an extension of the power of the superintendent; another suggested a single head ; another proposed that four police commis- sioners shall be elected, of whom not more than two shall belong to the same political party. The first named bill was passed, but was vetoed by Governor Flower. The police force in certain cities is governed as fol- lows : In Chicago it is ruled by a single head. Under the city charter of 1872 the absolute control of the police department is vested in the Mayor. He appoints all officers and men. An incoming Mayor may promote, degrade, or discharge any member of the force. As a general rule, however, this official transfers most of the responsibility to the superintendent of police. Neither the Bureau of Elections nor any other of the municipal or county bureaus is in any way connected with the local police department. The total number of men era- ployed in the Police Department of Chicago is 3,205. In Philadelphia there is a single-headed bureau (which is a branch of the Department of Public Safety) under a director, who exercises all powers and is ap- pointed by the Mayor. There are no police commis- sioners, and there is no bureau of elections. The sheriff issues a proclamation for elections. The election offi- cers in each precinct are chosen by the people, and the ballots are furnished by the county commissioners. The police have nothing to do with elections except to pre- 78 TPIE POLICE DEPARTMENT. serve the peace. The law requires an officer to be in the polling-place during the canvass of the votes for the purpose of preserving order. During the year 1893 57,297 persons were arrested in Philadelphia. The annual salaries paid in the Bureau of Police are : superintendent, 14,500 ; 5 captains, each $1,900 ; 1 captain of detectives, 11,900 ; 12 detectives, each 11,450 ; 2 detectives, each 11,200 ; 1 fire marshal, $1,800 ; 33 lieutenants, each $1,475 ; 84 street sergeants, each $1,250; 40 patrol sergeants, each $1,040; 108 house sergeants (telegraph operators), each $1,040; 17 police matrons, each $600; 1 police surgeon, $1,800. There are 37 district surgeons, who are called only when a prisoner requires medical or surgical aid. Patrolmen the first year receive $2.25 a day ; the second year,$2.40 ; thereafter, $2.50. The patrolmen, as Avell as all appli- cants of a higher grade, must pass a civil-service exami- nation. A yearly allowance of $40 to purchase a uni- form is made to each patrolman. While the population of Philadelphia is 1,044,894, the police force consists of but 2,223 men. In Chicago, with a population of 1,098,576, the police force num- bers 3,205 men. The police force of Brooklyn (population 957,163 in 1892) is composed as follows : commissioner of police, salary $5,000 ; 1 deputy commissioner, $4,000 ; 1 super- intendent, $5,000 ; 4 inspectors, $3,500 ; 22 captains, $2,700 ; 88 sergeants, $1,750 ; 60 detective sergeants, $1,750 ; 50 roundsmen, $1,200. The 1,300 patrolmen receive $800 the first year, $900 the second year, and THE CLNX^IXNATl PLAN. 79 $1,100 the third year. There are 12 police matrons, each receiving a salary of $800. The total number of officers and men is 1,52G. There are four election com- missioners — two licpublicans and two Democrats. (See p. 19). In St. Louis (population 400,357 in 1890) the Police Department is governed by four commissioners, who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate. The Mayor of St. Louis is, ex officio, president of the Board. There is no bureau of 'elections. The annual salaries of the different grades of officers are as follows : chief of police, $3,500 ; captains, each $1,800 ; sergeants, each $1,200; patrolmen, each $1,000. The force consists of 803 men. In Cincinnati (population 290,000 in 1890) the Board of Police Commissioners is composed of four electors of the city, who are appointed by the Governor. Not more than two members belong to the same polit- ical party. Two of the commissioners, of different po- litical faith, are appointed to serve two years; and the other two, also of different political faith, are designated to serve four years. After the expiration of the term of the commissioners designated to serve two years, all appointments made by the Governor are for four years. The Mayor is a member of the Board, and hence no tie votes are possible. The Board of Elections is composed of four citizens, who are appointed by the Governor on the same principle as the Board of Police Commissioners. The annual sala- ries are as follows : police commissioners, each $1,000 ; 80 THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. superintendent, $5,000 ; inspector, $1,800 ; chief of de- tectives, $1,800 ; detectives, each 81,500 ; lieutenants, each $1,200 ; sergeants, each 81,080 ; patrolmen the first year receive $70 a month, the second year $75, the third year $80, and the fourth year 885. The num- ber of men on the Cincinnati police force is 478. In Minneapolis the executive power of the Police Department is exclusively vested in the Mayor. The Bureau of Elections is independent of the Police Depart- ment. Xo civil-service examination is required. The entire force consists of only 218 men, although the population in 1890 was 164,738, and the area is 53-33 square miles. In New Orleans the Police Department is under the management of the Board of six Police Commissioners, created by the act of the Legislature in 1888. The superintendent is the executive head of the force and is subject to the orders of the Mayor ; but the Board has power to pass resolutions regarding the enforcement of any law, as well as to make regulations for the general government of the force. The police do not supervise elections. All applicants must pass a civil-service ex- amination. In Detroit (population 206,000) there is a bipartisan board of four commissioners, who are appointed by the Mayor for the term of four years. There are 429 mem- bers of the force. In Boston there are three commissioners, who are appointed by the Governor. According to the report of the Philadelphia Police SETH LOW'S OPINION. 81 Department of 1893, the average cost of the police serv- ice of Boston, per head of population, was ^2.81 ; that of Philadelphia was $1.93 ; that of Chicago was $2.42 ; that of St. Louis was $1.G2 ; and that of Xew York was $2.89. Xew York pays more j^er capita for the police force than any of the eight largest cities of the country. Of all the methods of ruling a police force by a Board the Cincinnati plan is, I think, the best; for there the Mayor (an elective officer) may prevent a tie vote, and the electors can hold him responsible for the condition of the department. The chief objection to a bipartisan board is, that if one commissioner changes his politics there is no way of removing him, unless there be in the statute a provision that any commissioner who joins another organization forfeits his office by that act. Seth Low, in opposing a bipartisan police board for New York, says : " Until it becomes wise to place an army under the charge of four generals it can not be wise to place a police department under the control of four men. . . . The founders of this republic com- mitted all the great administrative offices of the Gen- eral Government to a single head. Our cities do not show their wisdom in departing from this practice. They rather illustrate their lack of wisdom, which is the more evident from the fact that they depart from instead of following so great an example." The advo- cates of a bipartisan board of police suggest that in the trial of officers for neglect of duty too much responsi- bility would be fixed upon a single commissioner. This is a specious argument, but it is not well founded. The 7 82 THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. trial of offenders by a so-called nonpartisan board re- sults in the vicious tie vote, which, as I have explained, prevents the dismissal of worthless officers and men. In European cities the j)olice department is gen- erally governed by a single head. In London there is a commissioner of police ; in Paris a prefect of police ; in Berlin a president of police. Where a police depart- ment is poisoned by politics the officer is afraid to do his duty. He can be transferred and hounded by fines and complaints until he is obliged to resign. The se- curity of his place on the force should prompt the offi- cer to do his duty in the belief that he is affected by neither political party. He should be afraid of no one seeking revenge because he had enforced the law against a politician. A police officer under indictment should be suspended from duty and receive no pay. This would prompt a district attorney to bring the offender to trial speedily. In 1893 a police captain in a lower ward of New York was indicted for constant neglect of duty. He was simply transferred to another precinct. Three patrolmen were indicted for extortion from ped- dlers of push carts. They were admitted to bail, and continued to serve on the force. In 1894 the Superin- tendent of Police of Jersey City was indicted for neglect of duty, and remained on the force. A system of police telegraph or signaling has long been used in cities. In New York the Herzog Teleseme system is adopted. This consists in placing, upon lamp- posts, boxes that any citizen can use for the sake of giving an alarm in case of a riot or an emergency. A STATE POLICE FORCE. 83 In Philadelphia the Gamewell system has been intro- duced. So far as a municipal police board is concerned, I have said that the Cincinnati plan seems to be the best. But the system of making the police force a depart- ment of the municipality is wrong. The American people should learn a lesson from the governments of Europe and place the police departments under the supervision of the State. The police power belongs to the Commonwealth. The true remedy for the existing evils of the police boards of cities is to remove the de- partment from politics and make it a branch of the State orovernment under the control of one official. No police commissioner should stand for office, and it is forbidden by law in Xew York. The Governor should appoint the commissioners throughout the State, as is now the custom in several of the large cities. ^>^1^' °^ TS: i CHAPTER VII. POLICE COUKTS. In" the United States there is no uniform method of appointing or electing police magistrates. In some States they are appointed by the Governor — e. g., Massachusetts and Maryland. Even in New York the system differs in various cities. In the great metropolis there are fifteen magistrates appointed by the Mayor for a term of ten years, and receiving an annual salary of 18,000. These police judges are generally zealous ward politicians. Some are reputable citizens, and the contrast between their patient and intelligent method of holding court and the political semicriminal con- duct of their associates is remarkable. Three of them (or one fifth of the whole number) have been indicted for different offenses; and another, on two occasions, has narrowly escaped indictment. For twenty years they were prohibited from practicing law ; but in 1892, after a change in the Legislature of the State, a law was passed, despite determined opposition, allowing police magistrates to practice in the courts. Some of the judges often absent themselves from the city, and twelve efficient lawyers, serving as justices, could con- duct the business of the courts. Brooklyn has six judges, Albany has two, and (84) BETTER MAGISTRATES NEEDFUL. 85 Rochester, Schenectady, Troy and Hudson have but one police magistrate. In these cities they are elected, with terms of from one to ten years and receive salaries from $600 upward. In New York probably three fourths of the people who are brought to the police courts to obtain justice are too poor to employ legal counsel, unless it be one of the "shyster" lawyers who practice only in these courts. They must depend upon the magistrates to preserve their rights. At least 100,000 persons appear before the police magistrates annually. Of this num- ber 86,-488 were arrested by the police in 1893, The remainder are those who appeal for warrants or for pro- tection from their oppressors. The police magistrate is generally an absolute autocrat in the cases that come before him. He has discretionary power, and hence it is difficult to impeach a magistrate for an abuse of authority. Moreover, it w^ould usually be easy to ob- tain a squad of witnesses to commit perjury in the event of proceedings for impeachment in the Court of Common Pleas. The high character of the men that should fill these positions was well set forth by Mayor Hewitt in his message of 1888. He said : " I do not assert too much when I declare that the position of a police justice is more important to the community than that of a judge of the Court of Appeals. The latter finally settles the law, but the former applies it in the first instance in nearly all cases affecting the life, liberty and property of the citizens." 86 POLICE COURTS. The decisions of the New York police magistrates, especially iu election cases, depend largely upon the presence of some anti-ring lawyer. If a man of stand- ing appears in behalf of the accused, a majority of the magistrates are inclined to be careful in their rulings. Now that twenty Good Government Clubs have been established in New York, it would be well for each club to detail a lawyer to attend the police courts daily, especially during political campaigns, and to scrutinize the decisions of the magistrates, with a view to their removal or impeachment if there is ground for such a proceeding. The difference between the government of the chief cities of Europe and the United States is perhaps shown more strongly in the class of men who serve as police magistrates than in any other matter. A su- perior class of men occupy these places in Europe. In Birmingham, England, the magistrates are leading citi- zens and receive no salary. The clerks of the police courts receive ample compensation, and examine the prisoners and witnesses, but the judgments are pro- nounced by the magistrates. (See p. 44.) Concerning the new class of men that must come forward to govern American cities, I know of no field of municipal reform so promising as that of the police courts in the large cities. If, after constant agitation for municipal reform, the police magistrates should be- come a superior class of men, it might then be well to introduce the British system of ex officio magistrates — that is, aldermen or city councilors who serve without CHICAGO POLICE JUSTICES. 87 compensation, and who act as police justices. In the summer of 1893 the conduct of one of the Brooklyn police justices, concerning the case of foreign officers who were attacked by street ruffians, was so outrageous that the Mayor sent an apology to the offended persons. In Illinois police judges are practically appointed by the Governor, as in Massachusetts. There are in Chicago forty-eight justices of the peace, having a term of office of four years. A justice must be rec- ommended to the Governor of the State by a majority of the judges of the Cook County Circuit and Superior Courts. If approved by the Governor the name of the proposed justice must be sent to the State Senate, which accepts or rejects him. It being necessary for these three tribunals to pass upon the names of the justices, a good class of men fill the places. They are usually lawyers, and their jurisdiction is limited to suits where the amount involved does not exceed two hundred dol- lars. From these justices of the peace the Mayor of Chicago selects as many police magistrates as may be necessary, and the city pays their salaries. The Mayor can at any time revoke his appointments and name other justices to act as police magistrates, but those once appointed usually continue to hold the office. The police magistrates and other justices rarely practice in the courts, though there is no statute to prevent them if they are lawyers. In Massachusetts the magistrates are appointed for life by the Governor of the State. They can be removed only by " the Governor with the consent of the Council, 88 POLICE COURTS. and upon the address of both Houses of the Legislature.'* In Boston the police magistrates are called judges of the municipal court. There are a chief justice, with a salary of 14,300, also four associate justices receiving $4,000 each, and one special justice at $4,000. These magistrates are well paid ; for the justices of the Su- preme Court, the highest court in the Commonwealth, receive only $7,000 annually, the chief justice having $7,500, with $500 for traveling expenses. The police judges of Boston spend nearly all their time in court. These courts have a limited civil as well as criminal jurisdiction, but no juries. The police magistrates are absolutely free from politics after appointment, and there never has been a breath of suspicion that they are corrupt. As the Governor can ask nothing of them after appointment, on account of their independent po- sition, he does not appoint party workers, although the places are sometimes awarded to able lawyers who have supported the political party in power. Many appoint- ments have been made regardless of political services. In Berlin, Paris and Birmingham there are central courthouses both for the criminal courts of record and for police courts. In each case prisons are in the build- ings or contiguous to them. The central criminal court- house system is good for cities of moderate size, but in large cities it involves the maintenance of a number of transports or " Black Marias," to convey the prisoners from the district police stations to the central court- house. In the city of New York there are eight police CRLMINAL COURTHOUSES. 89 courthouses, in various parts of the city, and a new central building for the criminal courts of record (called the General Sessions) has just been completed. It ad- joins the central City Prison, or " The Tombs." The poorer portion of the population depend upon the minor civil and criminal courts for the enforcement of their rights and liberties, and impartial administration of criminal justice is one of the highest aims of municipal government. CHAPTER VIII. EXCISE. The subject of the sale of liquor is not strictly a matter of municipal administration ; but enforcement of the liquor law is such an important matter in cities having a large foreign population that brief reference should be made to it. The police force in large cities is often corrupted by the liquor dealers — that is, the police are paid to allow the sale of liquor during the entire night or on Sunday. Public sentiment in towns and villages is strongly in favor of temperance, and in some States, like Maine and Iowa, a prohibition law remains on the statute book, although it is not strictly enforced. Public opinion in cities containing a large for- eign population is in favor of allowing the sale of liquor on Sunday, and in the city of New York the law has been defied for many years. Constant violation of the excise law compels Germans and other foreigners to look upon the city government with contempt instead of respect. When these newcomers see a police force and other city officials bribed to allow the sale of liquor, they must necessarily have a very low opinion of our institutions. The President of the Police Board of the city of (90) SUNDAY OPENING. 91 New York testified recently before a legislative com- mittee that for several years a practice had existed among 23olicemen of accepting bribes from liquor sellers whom they detected violating the excise law. The police commissioners passed a resolution condemning the bribery, and abolishing the so-called spy system, so that weak policemen might not be tempted. The Presi- dent added that he hoped this disapproval of black- mail would abolish the evil, and he believed that, to a large extent, it had done so. In England saloons are closed during church hours on Sunday. In France the saloons are open on Sunday, and the revenue from the sale of liquor goes to the State instead of to the city. In 1893 a bill was introduced in the New York Legislature to submit to the people the question of Sunday opening. It was strongly opposed by evangel- ical associations and the Excise Reform Association of the city of New York, and never was reported. It seems a feasible solution of the problem in large cities to submit to the voters the question, " Shall the public sale of liquors be allowed on Sunday?" If this ques- tion could be settled, it would take away from the police force the chief source of corruption. The brewers and liquor dealers hold the balance of political power in some cities. Philadelphia is one of the few large cities that have adopted a strong high-license law and it has proved satisfactory. When the new excise law took effect, in 1888, the number of retail licenses was reduced from 92 EXCISE. 5,573 to 1,343 — i. e., one license to every 747 people. The ratio in 1894 was one to 677. There is much to be said on both sides concerning the subject of high license. The great desideratum is to have the liquor traffic properly controlled. It would be well to enact a law to the effect that only one license to sell liquor should be granted for every five hundred inhabitants, which would prevent undue multiplication of saloons. It has been suggested to sell liquor licenses to the highest bidder rather than allow a person to take out a license for a definite fee ; that is, the place, not the person, should be licensed. The law might be en- forced by providing, that the second breach should nullify the license, and that the same place could not be relicensed within a year. There is in New York State a law prohibiting the sale of liquors to minors, yet it is rarely enforced. In 1892 a law was passed whereby no saloon could be placed within two hundred feet of a church or school- house, and there are in the city of New York many churches and schools within about two hundred feet of a liquor saloon. In 1887 and 1888 a Eepublican Legislature passed high-license bills applying only to the larger cities of the State, but they were vetoed by Governor Hill. In 1892 a new excise law was enacted, allowing a limited number of so-called all-night licenses in the city of New York. The law provided that the action of the Excise Commissioners must be approved by the Board of Al- dermen, but this act was repealed in 1893, and the ALL-NIGHT LICENSES. 03 power is now vested wholly in the Board of Excise. On January 1, 1894, there were in New York 8,9G8 licenses, or one for every 200 inhabitants, paying an average license fee of $200. The total receipts were $1,747,800, or $431,140 less than Philadelphia receives from only 2,179 saloons. In Pittsburg the liquor traffic is regulated by high license and local option ; in Boston, by high license, numerical enumeration and local option ; in Chicago, by high license only ; in St. Louis, by local option and high license ; in Detroit, by local option ; in Minneapo- lis and St. Paul, by high license, with prohibition of saloons in residential quarters ; in Atlanta, by local op- tion and high license ; in the larger cities of Xew York, by low license only. It is not my purpose to discuss the subject of drunk- enness, but investigations have shown that a strict en- forcement of a practicable liquor law decreases the amount of intemperance. The municipal authorities of the United States would do well to adopt the ordinance of Berlin, to the effect that a saloon keeper forfeits his license if he allows a customer to become intoxicated more than once in his saloon. The true solution of the liquor problem is, perhaps, to abolisli the system of licensing, with the discretionary power it allows to the grantors, and substitute the system of taxing liquor, by which there is no chance of favoritism. CHAPTER IX. WATER, GAS AND ELECTRICITY. Water. — It is impossible to over-estimate the impor- tance of an abundance of pure and wholesome water for a city. The ownership of waterworks varies in different cities, both in the Old and in the New World. In Lon- don the water is supplied by private companies. In Birm.ingham and Glasgow the waterworks belong to the city. On the Continent of Europe the State performs generally what is done by private companies both in England and in the United States. The waterworks of Paris are owned by the city. In Berlin the water supply now belongs to the cor- poration, but it was not until 1873 that the munici- pality took the waterworks under its control, and great public benefit has followed the change. The peculiar feature of the water supply in Berlin is, that the water is sold to the residents like gas — that is, by meter — and this system has been found to work well. In the United States the larger cities own the water- works, as a general rule, but the smaller cities and towns are often supplied with water by private parties or incorporated companies. (94) THE CROTOX AQUEDUCT. 95 The city of Xew York is supplied by the well-known Croton Aqueduct, one of the largest in the world. Its length is thirty-eight miles. This public work was finished in 1842, and its original flowing capacity was about 90,000,000 gallons a day. (See page GG.) The cost, including the Croton Dam and Eeservoir, was $8,575,000. This aqueduct was built by a referendum^ chapter 256 of the laws of 1834 providing that the proposal to construct a new aqueduct be submitted to the voters of the city. A law was passed in 1883 to build a new aque- duct from the Croton River watershed to the city of New York. This stupendous public work became a harvest for politicians ; large sums of money have been squandered upon it, and much of the work had to be done over. The defective work was, in part, owing to corrupt inspectors and engineers, who approved work that was not only contrary to specifications, but done in a most scandalous manner. Several sections were renewed, and suits for colossal amounts were brought by the contractors against the city, but they were for- tunately defeated. Throughout the Croton watershed many farmhouses had been erected close to Croton River and its tribu- taries, so that the drainage of houses and barnyards went into the river and polluted the water supply of the great cit}^ Accordingly, a stringent law was passed in 1893, giving the Commissioner of Public Works plenary powers to remove all ofifensive buildings. The New York Academy of Medicine undertook to perfect this Croton 96 WATER, GAS AND ELECTRICITY. watershed bill. Their representatives went before the Legislative Committee at Albany and suggested cer- tain necessary amendments. They quoted the experi- ence of water companies in Europe, especially in Eng- land ; but they were prevented from citing foreign cases, because one of the demagogues on the committee said : " We don't want to hear anything about England ; we can make laws for ourselves." In other words, this nar- row-minded statesman wished to spend millions of the city's money without regard to the principles of hy- draulic engineering and sanitation, and he ignored the tried and successful methods of other countries. American physicians, scientists and jurists are very glad to learn from their brethren in foreign lands, but the American politician believes that the science of government and the construction of public works must be carried out on the " spread-eagle " system, without regard to the knowledge and experience of older coun- tries. When the committee of the New York Academy of Medicine went to the Mayor of the city to protest against some objectionable features of this watershed bill, he replied, " I am afraid the doctors are going into politics." The total length of the new aqueduct is thirty-two miles. It had cost, up to March 1, 1894, $28,083,000, and it is now calculated that $35,000,000 will be ex- pended before the aqueduct and storage reservoirs are completed, or about three times the amount of the original estimate. It is thought that the new aque- duct will pay for itself out of water rents in about ANNUAL WATER CHARGES. 97 forty years. The total daily capacity is 315,000,000 gallons. In Xew York the regular annual rents vary accord- ing to the frontage of buildings — c. g.^ a four-storied house twenty-two and a half to twenty-five feet wide, occupied by one family, is charged eleven dollars. A three-storied house twenty-five to thirty feet in width pays twelve dollars, while a five-storied house sixteen feet and under is charged eight dollars. There is an extra rate of one dollar per year for each additional family. Some of the extra and miscellaneous annual rates are as follows : Bakeries : Three dollars. Barber Shops : From five to twenty dollars each.* Dining Saloons : From five to twenty dollars each.* Horse-Troughs : For each trough, and for each half barrel or tub on sidewalk or street, twenty dollars. Laundries : From eight to twenty dollars each.* Liquor and Lager Beer Saloons : Ten dollars each. An additional charge of five dollars is made for each tap or wash- box. Soda^ Mineral Water and Root Beer Fountains : Five dollars each. Water- Closets and Urinals: To each building on a lot, one water-closet having sewer connections is allowed without charge ; each additional water-closet (for each seat) and each urinal will be charged two dollars per * In the discretion of the Commissioner of PubHc Works. 8 98 WATER, GAS AND ELECTRICITY. annum, whether in a building or on any other portion of the premises. In the city of New York water meters are provided for hotels, stores, stables, factories and public edifices, but not for private dwellings. Where the water supply is scant, there is great advantage in using water me- ters ; but in the case of private dwellings or tenement houses it seems better for the public health to allow the inmates an unlimited supply. W^ater measured by meter costs ten cents per one hundred feet. The fairest and most logical method of water charges is hy meter. Large reservoirs are common in American cities. For example, the new reservoir in Central Park, Ncav York, has an area of 106 acres, and its capacity exceeds 1,000,000,000 gallons. In Chicago the water supply is owned by the city, and is obtained from Lake Michigan. Cribs have been constructed several miles from the shore, the principal one being four miles distant. The sewage from the city, up to a recent period, has been drained into the lake. Hence the reason for constructing the cribs at a great distance from the shore. A scientific system of sewerage is now in course of construction, whereby the drainage will be sent westward by a canal to Illinois River. (See page 156.) The corporation of Philadelphia owns its water- works, and the Fairmount Works on the Schuylkill furnishes the chief source of supply. Many small cities in the older States are supplied by private com- panies. I know of a city that had originally an option RATES OF PRIVATE COMPANIES. 09 of purcliasiiig the waterworks, but tlie authorities neglected to exercise it, and now this municipality suffers from the exorbitant rates of a private corpo- ration. In Philadelphia the rate for a dwelling with a hy- drant in the yard and a faucet in the kitchen, or having either alone, is five dollars a year. Additional charges are made in dwellings for other connections. The price per water meter in factories is thirty cents per 1,000 cubic feet. In Chicago the frontage rates are a little higher than those of New York, and the special or class rates are about the same. The water charges of private companies in different cities vary so much that I have not space to give de- tails ; but as a rule their charges are based upon the number of faucets or places to draw from. In New- port, R. I., the annual rate for the first faucet in dwelling-houses occupied by one family is seven dollars ; when the house is occupied by more than one family, one faucet only being in use for all, each family pays six dollars. The rate for the first water-closet (self- closing) is five dollars, and for each additional water- closet four dollars. The price is the same for bath- tubs. There are, of course, special rates for hotels, boarding-houses, stables, markets, factories, public bath- houses, etc. The city of Albany, X. Y. (population 100,000), affords a good illustration of selfish ring rule concern- ing the water supply. The people of Albany drink 100 WATER, GAS AND ELECTRICITY. practically the sewage water of the city of Troy, six miles distant. Instead of taj^piug the pure water of the Hudson by the construction of an aqueduct not exceeding fifteen miles in length, or obtaining a sup- ply from the neighboring hills, the water ring of Al- bany steadily refuses to furnish the inhabitants with water suitable for drinking. The supply is, of course, abundant, for the city fronts on the Hudson, and the water is pumped up from the river, the greater part of the city being upon an undulating plateau about one hundred feet above the stream. In New Orleans the waterworks belong to a private corporation, of which the city owns a certain number of shares. Accordingly, the Mayor, treasurer, and com- missioner of police and public buildings are ex officio members of the board of directors. The waterworks of Kansas City, Mo., were built by a private company, under a contract giving the munici- pality the right of purchase at the end of a term of years. In 1894 a bitter and protracted legal struggle was finished, whereby the Circuit Court of the United States decided in favor of the city by giving it pos- session of the waterworks, and fixing the purchase price at $2,714,000. As in other public undertakings, it is well in grant- ing a franchise or charter to a water company that the city should reserve the right to buy out the stock- holders ; but, before that right is exercised, the question should bo submitted to a vote of the citizens. The city of Glasgow, Scotland, which has a model GLASGOW AND LONDON. 101 municipal government, has Lately purchased the water- works. The supply comes from Loch Katrine, and it has proved a paying investment for the corporation. It is urged by " Progressives " in London that the great metropolis should buy out the water companies. ^Ir. John Burns, M. P., who is also a member of the London County Council, thus speaks of the London water supply : " What a different tale does London tell from the municipal enterprise of Glasgow on this ques- tion ! London has to pay a tremendous price for its timidity in grappling with its proper work. London pays 88,500,000 for water that costs the companies only $3,500,000. This surplus of $5,000,000, or two thirds of the London County Council's rate-earned income, is the exaggerated rent of ability and interest that private companies are allowed to take from Londoners for a water supply that is rightly the corporate property of the people whom they supply." * The water supply of London is so scant that no waste is permitted. Water is measured and paid for. Every family bargains for the necessary number of gal- lons daily, and the amount is placed in tanks. At noon the supply from the water main is shut off. The city of Birmingham, England, did not own its waterworks until 18T6. It is so common for private corporations to construct waterworks in Great Britain, that in 1882 some London capitalists attempted to con- struct waterworks for the city of Xew York. They pro- * The Nineteenth Century, April, 1892. 102 WATER, GAS AND ELECTRICITY. posed to take the water of Ramapo River, about thirty- five miles from New York, and conduct it througli a system of pipes to the city; but the proposition was re- jected by the commissioners of the sinking fund. In 1880 an English company obtained a concession to erect waterworks to supply the western suburbs of Vienna. It seems that the cheapest way to supply the inhabit- ants in a city or town with a satisfactory water service is by a well-guarded and equitable franchise granted to a private corporation, with prices regulated by ordi- nance. It is then known in advance exactly what has to be provided for and paid. On the other hand, when the municipality owns the works the constant appropri- ation paid out of the tax-levy, for various necessary but oftentimes unnecessary purposes, makes the total cost greater, although the rates to private consumers may appear less on the water bills than those that would be paid to a private corporation in a similar city. Municipal ownership of waterworks is constantly growing more popular. When they are thus owned the average citizen seems to feel a sort of joint proprietor- ship in " our water plant," and the local politician uses the patronage which the operation of the works affords, as well as the contracts required for repairs and im- provements, to advance his own interests, politically and perhaps sometimes financially. Gas. — Illuminating coal gas was invented in Bir- mingham, England, and that city since 1875 has owned the gas works, which now yield a yearly profit of $125,- 000. In 1814 gas-lighting was introduced in London, MUNICIPAL GAS-WORKS. 103 and English companies soon obtained iiermission to supply Continental towns with gas. In London there are several companies ; but the price is regulated by the market value of coal and the rate of wages, and the city gets the benefit of the bargain. According to Mr. John Burns, the municipal gas-works of Glasgow yield a yearly revenue of $265,000. He says, " London, in con- trast to this prosperity, allows its lighting to jield over $5,000,000 profit to private firms." * Paris is supplied by a private company, which di- vides its profits with the municipality, as a considera- tion for the franchise. Gas was introduced in this city in 1815. Municipal gas-works are quite common in Germany. At present (1894) thirty German towns own their gas- works. In Berlin the use of oil lamps for public and domestic lighting was continued until 1827. In that year a British company, which had already obtained contracts in other German towns, obtained a franchise for supplying gas to Berlin for the term of twenty-one years. Before the expiration of this concession the corporation of Berlin, being satisfied that the growth of the city and the large profits of the English company warranted the construction of municipal gas-works, built iu 1847 a gas establishment, and refused to renew the concession. The British company instantly reduced the price of gas per thousand cubic feet from $2.40 to $1.20, and the latter also became the price of the municipal * The Nineteenth Century, April, 1893. 104 WATER, GAS AND ELECTRICITY. gas. The corporation of Berlin receives from the city gas-works an annual profit of 11,300,000. With the improved methods of manufacturing gas, the price has been reduced, and the American house- keeper may wish to know that the net price per thou- sand feet in Berlin is now ninety-six cents for private consumption. Berlin is, with the possible exception of Paris, as well lighted at night as any other city. In 1883 the corporation of Berlin granted to a pri- vate company a franchise to supply electric lights, and the principal streets are now illuminated by electricity ; but it is too expensive to be adopted by tlie general consumer. It may interest commissioners of public parks in American cities to learn that in Berlin no gas mains are laid in the public gardens, on account of possible damage to trees and shrubs by tearing up the ground. Electricity and petroleum lamps are used for the illumi- nation of the public parks.* Few American cities own gas-works. Exceptions are Philadelphia, Danville, Alexandria, Fredericksburg, Richmond and Charlottesville, Va., Bellefontaine and Hamilton, Ohio, Duluth, Minn., Henderson, Ky., Wheeling, W. Va. and Sonoma, Cal. Gas was introduced in Philadelphia in 1835. It was made by a private company, but the municipality reserved the right to buy out the stockholders. This * I have taken these facts from A Study in Municipal Gov- ernment (the Corporation of Berlin), by James Pollard. THE PHILADELPHIA GAS RING. 10-5 was done in 1841, with the motive of keeping the gas- works out of politics, by vesting their control in a board of twelve trustees, each serving for three years. They were appointed by the City Council, but when the Council tried to obtain control of the works the courts were appealed to. A decision was made to the effect that the board, as trustees of the bondholders, could not be interfered with until the last of the bonds, issued under this arrangement, had been paid off, and it was not until 1855 that the city authorities were able to break up this political gas trust.* The price of gas in Philadelphia is now one dollar per thousand feet. In Boston and Detroit the price is the same, while in Cleveland, Ohio, the cost is but eighty cents, which is probably the lowest of any Amer- ican city. Municipal gas-works are not popular in the United States, owing to the general prejudice against a city's engaging in anything but what are commonly con- sidered strictly governmental matters. A corrupt ring Y^ is almost certain to be formed, if the supply of gas, electricity, etc., be controlled by the city government. This feeling grows out of the general principle that the best government is that which rules least. The gas in the city of Xew York is supplied by private com- panies, the principal of which is known as the Consoli- dated Gas Company, having a paid-up capital of $35,- * See the chapter on the Philadelphia gas ring in Bryce's American Commonwealth. 106 WATER, GAS AXD ELECTRICITY. 430,000. In 1886 the Legislature passed a law to reduce the price of gas to $1.25 per thousand cubic feet, and the corporations complain that it is absurd to regulate by law the price of their product without regulating also the price of the items that compose the cost, such as labor, coal, naphtha, etc. In the event of a strike, or increase of wages, or a rise in the price of coal, the companies would, of course, be compelled to supply gas at a greatly reduced profit, if not at an actual loss, and these companies maintain that for the public to obtain the most satisfactory results, a fair return on the capital should be allowed, and an illuminating and purity standard established. Then the price to the customers should be increased or decreased according to the cost of manufacture — i. e., when the company is able to re- duce the cost of gas, the greater part of such reduction should go to the consumer in a lower price, and a small portion of such reduction should go to the company in the shape of increased dividends. In case of increase in the cost, the reverse of this system should be fol- lowed. This will always make it to the interest of the company to reduce the price, which is virtually the London plan. Large profits have been made by Amer- ican gas companies. Electricity has superseded gas in many American cities and towns, as well as in some of the large cities of Europe ; but it is dearer than gas, even if the illu- minating power of a given number of gas lamps and electric lights be considered. Electricity. — About 1883 electricity began to be AN ELECTRIC-LIGHT "COMBINE." 107 used extensively for ligliting tlie streets of the large cities. The first companies naturally obtained a mono})- oly, but others were soon formed, and they attempted to compete for the illumination of streets. The city of New York affords a good illustration of the original monopoly of electric lighting. For several years two companies supplied electricity at exorbitant prices. They were receiving seventy cents a night for each elec- tric light, when other companies offered to furnish the same light for twenty-five cents. In 1887 a desperate struggle took place, as several companies attempted to compete with the two companies that supplied the me- tropolis with electricity, and a " combine " was formed in the New York Common Council. The attorneys of the would-be competing companies appeared before an aldermanic committee, but their applications were re- fused. The committee declined even to report the reso- lutions granting them a franchise. Accordingly, one of the honest members of the Council moved to discharge the committee from further consideration of the sub- ject ; but after a long debate his motion received but four votes against fifteen. The newspapers at once raised the cry of "Boodle!" and for several weeks the subject was agitated. Meanwhile the bosses of the two Democratic factions in the city wished to avoid the scandal of the Board of Aldermen of 1884, which had just been made public, and summoned the refractory members of the "combine" and advised them to vote to allow the other electric-light companies to compete. The power of the press on this occasion was, I think. 108 WATER, GAS AND ELECTRICITY. shown more clearly than in any oth&r case of late years. One Democratic journal published a chart of the alder- men, and compared them with the city fathers of 1884, two of whom were in Sing Sing, some in Canada, and others awaiting trial. It closed the article in these words : " Do these new scoundrels wish to follow J and M to Sing Sing, or do they intend to invoke a vigilance committee and lynch law here in this orderly and patient city ? " After a struggle of nearly a month the "combine" was broken, and, of the twenty-four aldermen, all ex- cept two voted to give the other electric-light compa- nies the right to furnish electricity to the city and also to private individuals. The Mayor promptly approved the resolution. The bids for supplying light to the city for the current year were postponed until the other electric-light companies were allowed to compete. Dur- ing the agitation the original companies reduced their bids from seventy to fifty cents a light. The gas com- mission, consisting of the Mayor, comptroller and com- missioner of public works, finally received bids as low as twenty-five cents a night for each light. The contracts were then drawn, and, from a calculation which I have made, the city saved about $68,000 a year on account of the reduced cost of supplying electricity.* Prof. J. R. Commons, in . the chapter on Munici- pal Monopolies, in his book on Social Reform and the Church, after discussing the comparative cost of * I was then a member of the Common Council. ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS. 109 water and gas, says : " Electric lighting shows even more startling comparisons. The average cost per light per year, of arcs operated by twenty- three cities, is $53.04. Making the very liberal allowance of twelve per cent on the total cost of plant and buildings, for interest, depreciation and taxes, the average cost is $80.64, and at an allowance of seven per cent the cost is only $75.64. But twenty-nine private companies, under substantially similar conditions, and for the same lights, receive an average of $106.61 — from twenty to forty per cent higher than public cost." Since 1886 electricity has been largely used as a motive power in American cities. In New York the Board of Aldermen of 1888 authorized the Fourth Ave- nue Railroad Company to use electric motors on its line. Since then the overhead or " trolley " wire railway has been introduced into many of our cities and towns. This form of electricity is much cheaper than horse- power, and is called by the sensational newspapers of the day " the dividend-paying and death-dealing " trol- ley railway, on account of the large number of serious and fatal accidents. The trolley wire is noisy, and it has invaded some of the finest streets in American cities. The city of New York is almost the only large city where the trolley system is not extensively used. In the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards, or so- called annexed district, the overhead electric wire is used as a motive power, but the trolley railway has not in- vaded Manhattan Island, except for a short distance on 135th Street, between Harlem River and the Eighth 110 WATER, GAS AND ELECTRICITY. Avenue Elevated Railroad, and extending along Third Avenue from Harlem Bridge to 129th Street at the steps of the Elevated Railroad station. In a city like Albany, N. Y., the trolley lias been advantageous on account of the steep grades and wide streets. The authorities of some municipalities in the West- ern States encourage the construction of waterworks and gas-works and electric-lighting plants by exempting them from taxation for a limited period. CHAPTER X. STREETS. The streets of a town or city belong to the public, and they should not be taken possession of by a corpo- ration or an individual without just compensation. Tlie improper use of the roadways and sidewalks of streets, especially by corporations, is the most frequent source of municipal corruption in the United States. (See page 50.) The giving away of franchises to street railway, omnibus and ferry companies, or at least the granting of them for a very insufficient sum, is the bane of our cities. (See page 176.) Yet it must be remem- bered that many of these franchises were granted to cities in their infancy, and for some years the returns were very moderate. Now, with a rapidly increasing number of surface railways in parallel streets, the com- petition is so great that the profits of the companies are comparatively small. When the franchise is granted in consideration of a percentage on the gross receipts, the competition is injurious to the city treasury when the competing companies do not pay the same stipulated percentage ; but where, on the other hand, a tax or license fee of $bO is paid for two-horse cars, and one (111) 112 STREETS. of $'2o for one-horse cars, the gross receipts are of lit- tle consequence to the city. Considering the insufficient revenue that the city derives, some municipal reformers will suggest an in- crease in the annual percentage or a reduction of the rate of fare. If an amendment to reduce the rate of fare is proposed, the companies at once use every pos- sible means (legal and illegal) to defeat the measure. The weak point is in the original charter. If a clause is introduced to the eifect that a company should pay a greater percentage upon the amount of its receipts, or reduce the fare at the end of, say, twenty years, or if every ten years the percentage should be increased, the city would receive the benefit. I do not advocate general municipal construction of tramways until a better class of men are elected to rule the cities, but I suggest that in all future grants of franchises the municipality should reserve the right of purchase in street railroads, the matter to be decided by popular vote at a charter election. In fact, franchises should not be sold, but leased for a term not exceeding thirty years. The small sum of $230,000 is paid annually for the use of the streets of Xew York by surface railroad companies. Of this sum nearly one half is paid by the Broadway Railroad, which in 1893 substituted cable power for horses. There is a precedent for reducing the fare in the case of the New York Elevated Railroad Company, which in 1878 began to run its trains for a fare of ten cents (except during commutation hours) ELEVATED RAILWAY DUES. 113 between the two termini of the city — a distance of about seven miles on the east side and about nine miles on the west side. In 1886 the fare was reduced to five cents. The West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway Com- pany, which built the first elevated railway through Greenwich Street and Ninth Avenue in New York, was required to pay " a sum not exceeding five per cent of its net income ... as a compensation . . . for the use of the streets." In 1871 the New York Ele- vated Railroad Company purchased at foreclosure the line of the original company. This company, and its successor, the Manhattan Railway Company, paid to the city five per cent of its net annual income till 1890, the aggregate amount being $208,493.75. These pay- ments were afterward discontinued, and the litigation that followed was ended by the decision of the Court of Appeals, in June, 1894, in the case of " The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of New York against the Manhattan Railway Company " (see 143, New York Reports, page 1). This decision was a prac- tical victory for the railway company, the court hold- ing that only a portion of the Ninth x\ venue Hue was liable to pay a percentage of the net income, and that no liability for such percentage applies to the Third Avenue route. The companies owning the Second and. Sixth Avenue routes have never been obliged, under their charters, to pay anything for the use of the streets. In Brooklyn, the elevated railroad was erected in 1888. The company has paid nothing to the city for 9 114 STREETS. the franchise, and no license fees are paid for running the cars. An elevated railway has heen completed re- cently in Chicago. The franchise was granted on con- dition that the city shall receive a yearly license fee of $50 per car, whether the cars are run or not. In Paris and Berlin there are belt railways (elevated and depressed in places) in the outskirts, and this plan might be judiciously adopted in American cities that are not bisected by large rivers. The rivers of these two European capitals are so narrow that bridges can easily be built at moderate expense, though the many substantial bridges (generally of stone) over the river Seine, at Paris, were built at great cost, and are a con- stant source of exjoense to the city. An electric ele- vated railroad has been erected lately in Liverpool. Since the scandal of the Xew York Broadway Rail- road, in 1884, a law has been in force compelling the sale of such franchises to the highest bidder, and the re- sults of this law are excellent. In Cleveland, Ohio, the system adopted is to grant a franchise to the company making the lowest bid concerning the cost to the citi- zen of the article supplied, whether it be transportation or gas. It might be possible to combine the two plans, so as to yield a sure and reasonable revenue to the mu- nicipality, and at the same time to give to the public better and cheaper facilities. In estimating the revenue from franchises for rail- roads or ferries, the gross earnings of the owner or licensee should be the basis of municipal income ; the use of the term " net profits or net earnings " opens the FRANCHISES IN BERLIN. 115 door for legal juggling. The contract witli the city should further provide proper means for arriving at the gross earnings at stated intervals and under severe pen- alties, even to the point of forfeiture of the franchise, in any case of evasions of taxation and of the payment of city dues or debt of any kind. There are comparatively few street-car companies in the city of Berlin, yet the corporation receives from them $300,000 a year for the use of the streets, and the stock pays a handsome dividend. The law provides that street franchises must be sold at auction and a per- centage of the yearly profits be paid to the city. In Berlin the concessions of surface railway companies run usually thirty years, and four per cent of the gross earn- ings must be paid to the corporation. The street fran- chises are confirmed by the aldermen, and it is unneces- sary to obtain the consent of the abutting owners. The rails are carefully laid on granite sleepers, and the cars run very smoothly. In the State of New York a charter for a street rail- road can not be granted without the consent of the owners of one half in value of the adjoining property. If they refuse permission to lay the tracks, application may be made to the Supreme Court, which will appoint three disinterested persons to determine, after a hearing of all i^arties interested, whether the railway ought to be built. The royal police of Berlin supervise the street traffic and inspect the horse cars and stages. A certain num- ber of passengers are allowed to be carried, and when IIQ STREETS. the seats are filled a sign, " Besetz," meaning " full," is displayed, as in Paris and in other Continental cities. Iron posts are placed on the curb line at convenient in- tervals for stopping-places {Halt e-s telle) of the horse cars. To show the perfect control that the municipality of Berlin has over the surface railway companies, I may say that they are obliged to pay the city for removing the snow on their tracks, and to contribute a portion of the expense of sprinkling the streets in which their rails are laid. It may almost be said that the surface railway com- panies own the streets of our great metropolis. In win- ter the companies brush up the snow in the gutter, to the great annoyance of citizens. They never think of watering or cleaning the road way between their tracks, but, on the contrary, they sprinkle sand on the smoothly worn stones for the benefit of their horses. The example of Glasgow is worthy of imitation by every municipality in the United States. Mr. John Burns* says: "On its tramways Glasgow has even a better record than on its water and gas. The corpora- tion has built thirty-two miles, which it had previously leased to a company, but the lease will not be renewed again in 1894. Three per cent has been paid to the corporation for redemption of the original debt con- tracted for building the lines ; four per cent has been paid by the company for renewals; 1750 per annum * The Nineteenth Century, April, 1892. THE USE OF VIADUCTS. II7 per mile has been paid by tlie company as rent. In twenty-one years $2,450,000 has been paid by the com- pany, $750,000 more than the total cost, exclusive of an average of eight per cent dividend taken by the com- pany in that period." In European cities the space under viaducts is gen- erally used for business purposes — e. g.^ the Yincennes viaduct at Paris and the central part of the Stadthaltti or municipal railway of Berlin. The arches near the termini of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge are rented as warehouses, stables, shops, etc. (See p. 179.) The viaduct of the Xew Y'ork Central and Hudson Eiver Railroad Company in Kew Y'ork is not rented for mercantile purposes. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company leases to individuals for storage the brick arches of the viaduct in Philadelphia, receiving there- for a moderate rent. One of the best examples in the world of the utili- zation of space above a sunken track is seen at the w^ll-known Place cle VEurope in Paris. The line is laid in a deep cut and extends into the heart of the city at the St. Lazare Railway station. A short distance beyond the passenger depot is an enormous " floor bridge," that covers the depressed track, from which radiate streets bearing the names of the capitals of Eu- rope. This structure should serve as an objectlesson to railroad constructors in the New World. The chief underground railways in the United States are the de- pressed track in Fourth Avenue and the tunnel of Park Avenue (which is used by horse cars) in Xew York, the 118 STREETS. Baltimore and Potomac Railway tunnel at Baltimore, the sunken track at New Haven, Conn., and the tun- nels under the river at Chicago, through one of which pass double lines of cable road. The subject of grade crossings in cities and the ele- vation of railway tracks next demand attention. This jjroblem is more serious in Chicago than in any other large American city. Here is the most conspicuous example of lack of foresight on the part of the au- thorities of a rapidly growing municipality. It is very difficult to estimate the expense of raising or sinking the tracks, the chief indeterminable item being land damages. I have heard of a calculation as high as $100,000,000 ! The Municipal Council has allowed the corporations to construct large terminal railway stations in the very heart of Chicago, and many grade crossings are still used, to the great injury of persons and prop- erty in the adjoining streets. It is to be regretted that the termini were not removed to the outskirts of the city after the great fire of 1871. It now seems as if the fairest way to solve this grave problem would be to adjust equitably the burden of cost between the par- ties benefited. Concerning this subject the late Mayor Harrison, in 1893, said : " We must not ask the impos- sible, or we will get nothing. In destroying grade cross- ings, we must not at the same time destroy the rail- roads. The closing of certain streets does not mean the abandonment of those streets. The city will re- serve the right to make the railroads open them again some time." If any streets are closed, many suits for GRADE CROSSINGS IN CITIES. HQ damages may be brought. Visitors to the World's Fair must have noticed the raised tracks of the Illinois Central Railroad Company on the embankment for two miles north of Jackson Park. The line was elevated enough to clear all streets ; but the company owned a strip of land about two hundred feet wide adjoiniug the line, and hence had no land damages to pay. In Jersey City the Pennsylvania Railroad Company finished the work of elevating its tracks in 1893, and in the same year the municipal authorities considered a pe- tition to raise the roadbed of the Erie Railway. Many small cities and growing towns are crossed by steam railroads at the street surface. Their local authorities should learn a lesson from Chicago. In the construc- tion of new railways, grade crossings should be for- bidden, and the expense of avoiding them, either by bridges or cuts, should be divided between the railroad company and the city, except in the case of railroads already in operation.* The use of the sidewalks and roadways of streets varies greatly in European and American cities. There are special ordinances in most municipalities. In gen- eral, it may be said that the municipal authorities of Europe allow the sidewalk to be nsed for the pleasure or amusement of the citizen, while in the cities of the United States the ordinances are strict, but are rarely enforced, against merchants who deposit goods and * In the State of New York 86 persons were killed and 112 injured at grade crossings during 1893. 120 STREETS. signs of all kinds upon the sidewalk. In New York members of the dominant political party are allowed to violate the ordinances with impunity. (See page 75.) In Paris it is customary to deposit merchandise on the sidewalks within the stooj) line. On the boulevards tables and chairs cover this space in front of restaurants and cafes. In some German cities more than half of the sidewalk is thus used. A railing sometimes surrounds the tables. I have seen in Geneva, Switzerland, the entire side- walk, in front of a cafe^ occupied by musicians. In fact, a regular concert was given during the evening, the police keeping, at a distance, a crowd of several hundred persons. Wooden settees are found on the brjoad sidewalks of the Parisian boulevards. In Paris flowers and newspapers seem to be the only kinds of merchandise that are sold in stands or stalls on the sidewalk. These stands must not interfere with the business of a shopkeeper who sells the same kind of goods, and hence they are required to be at a certain distance (about one hundred yards). The owners pay the city a nominal sum for each square metre of surface occupied by the stand. On the boulevards newspapers are generally sold in ornamental kiosks, which are often covered with theatrical advertisements. The city of Berlin receives from the lessees of ad- vertising pillars {Ayizeige-Saiile) an annual revenue of $64,000. Illuminated signs for places of amusement are displayed on the Grand Boulevard of Paris. The city does not charge a fee for the sign, the owners pay- REFUGES AND S1GN-BI<:aRERS. 121 ing only the cost of the gas used. In streets with very narrow sidewalks lamp-posts are sometimes placed in an intersecting street on a line with the house fronts. The gas lamps are occasionally placed upon brackets fast- ened to tlie houses. Refuges — i. e., small raised spaces in the middle of a street to enable pedestrians to avoid passing vehicles — are seen in the principal thoroughfares of London, Paris, Birmingham and other cities. The}^ are gen- erally provided with lamp-posts and lighted by elec- tricity or gas. I never have seen " refuges " in Ameri- can cities. Pedestrian advertising sign -bearers frequent the principal streets of European cities. The signboards are fastened to the shoulders and carried above the head so that they do not obstruct the sidewalk, like the "sandwich " signboard men who were formerly seen in New York. Citizens complained of the " sandwich " men so much that the superintendent of police, in 1888, issued, at my request, an order forbidding these per- sons from walking in the streets, and they have since worn coats painted with advertisements. The most noteworthy street obstruction in the United States was, perhaps, the bridge (called the Loew Bridge) erected in 1872, by a special act of the Legislature, across Broadway and Fulton Street, at their intersection, in the city of Xew York. It was built of iron, with staircases at each corner, at a cost of $14,500, and was erected for the alleged convenience of the public in crossing Broadway, which was crowded 122 STREETS. with vehicles, often making a block at that point, and in winter was sometimes covered with slush more than ankle deep. It was used chiefly by countrymen, who were often photographed on the bridge. A merchant at the northeast corner of the bridge sued the city for damages to his business, and recovered $l0,000. The structure was removed soon afterward. In some cities an avenue in the residence quarter is reserved during certain hours for pleasure vehicles, as in a public park. Notable examples are the beautiful Michigan Avenue and Southern Boulevard in Chicago, about five miles long; Commonwealth Avenue in Bos- ton, and West Seventy-second Street, New York. For several years an effort has been made to exclude busi- ness wagons from upper Fifth Avenue in New York ; but the measure has met with so much opposition during three sessions of the Legislature and in the Common Council that it has thus far failed to pass. CHAPTER XI. STREET-CLEANING. Clean streets are necessary for the comfort and healtli of tlie residents of a city, and a smooth paving surface facilitates, of course, the cleaning of streets. This branch of city government is conducted much better in the large cities of Europe than in the United States. In Xew York the streets were formerly cleaned by a bureau of the Police Department ; but the system was found unsatisfactory, and in 1881 a separate depart- ment of street-cleaning was created by act of the Legis- lature. This measure was opposed by a member of Assembly from New York city, on the ground of *' patronage " ; but his course was not approved by his constituents, and he was defeated at the next election. The street-cleaning departments of our cities are rarely adequately equipped for doing their work well. Either the appropriation is too small, or contracts are let, or made without public letting, in violation of law. Jobs are given to " ring " contractors, who charge ex- orbitant prices. So far as the benefit to the citizen is concerned, this money might as well be stolen as wasted. The one offense is a crime, the other, a neglect of duty or incompetency. (123) 12i STREET-CLEANING. With the possible exception of London the annual appropriation for street-cleaning in New York far ex- ceeds that of any other city in the world. The amount allowed for 1894 is 12,367,390. The commissioner asked for $3,138,930, or nearly $1,000,000 in excess of the appropriation for 1893. Of the above-named sum, $340,000 was set aside for final disposition of material About 1,700 sweepers are to be emjDloyed. In New York 382 miles of streets are swept daily (except Sundays). The following are the expenditures for street-cleaning in other cities : Paris, $1,700,000 ; Berlin, $550,000; Vienna, $690,000; Birmingham, $150,000; Glasgow, $460,630 * ; Philadelphia, $562,594 ; Brooklyn, $555,000 t ; Boston, $730,000. In an American municipality the department of street-cleaning is, perhaps, the most difficult one to ad- minister properly. The streets of New York are now kept cleaner than those of several other large cities, and yet their condition is far from satisfactory to the resi- dents, in spite of the enormous sum expended for clean- ing them. It seems almost impossible to find a suit- able commissioner of street-cleaning. His qualifications should be great. He must be honest, of large experi- ence in managing men, quick in action, of tried execu- tive ability, and in good health, so as to inspect the streets. The work of inspection must be given chiefly * Deduct for the sale of manure, etc., $127,100. f The separate appropriation for the removal of garbage is $133,000. THE IDEAL SUPERIXTENDEXT. 125 to his deputy. There arc hence indoor and outdoor duties. He should have no " politics " in his office. A retired officer of the Corps of Engineers of tlie Army, or an experienced and successful contractor, would make an ideal superintendent of a department of street- cleaning. It is difficult to overestimate his necessary qualifications ; for if the streets be filthy, it becomes a nuisance to the entire population, as well as all strangers in town, while if the docks or schoolhouses or city hall be badly constructed, they affect only a portion of the residents. The women in some cities have endeavored to enforce the laws and ordinances concerning street- cleaning, by forming ladies' health protective associa- tions, and their efforts deserve high praise. On the principle that. street-cleaning is similar to honse-clean- ing, it has been proposed to appoint woman inspectors of streets, on the ground that they are more vigilant than men and less liable to be influenced or controlled by politicians. In Berlin the sweepings are collected into shoots or gullies, which are placed along the street at intervals of 200 feet; and the water-courses also run into these gul- lies, the water passing into the drains by connecting pipes. The solid matter sinks to the bottom, from which it is taken at night and removed by the con- tractors. The streets are swept chiefly at night. With regard to this part of municipal work, a simple and suggestive matter presents itself to the Berlin vis- itor. He can not fail to observe that the scavengers are clad in overalls, which gives them a tidy appearance, 126 STREET-CLEANING. and prevents their ordinary clothes from being soiled. With an official cap on his head and a belt round his waist, the Berlin scavenger feels that he is a public serv- ant. The municipality claims no credit for providing this dress. On economical grounds alone such expendi- ture is fully justified, and it is an example of cleanli- ness set to the community. Our average street-sweeper carries to his home the dust and dirt of the whole day, and dirt makes dirt, as is shown in the houses of the poor. The Berlin scavenger on reaching home removes his canvas overalls (for his ordinary clothes are not soiled by his day's work), washes his face, neck and hands ; and then is ready to enjoy his fireside, or go with his wife and child to some neighboring garden or park. The cost of cleaning the streets of the large Euro- pean cities should interest the urban American tax- payer.- In Berlin the annual appropriation is $550,000. (See page 124.) The principal streets are cleaned on Sundays as well as on weekdays. On Sundays 31,427 square metres of street surface are swept, and on week- days 8,221,855 square metres. (A metre is about 39 inches.) The sweepers work from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in summer, and from 8 A. m. to dark (about 4 p. m.) in winter. The city furnishes overalls consisting of a blue jacket, white trousers and cap. The workmen buy their own boots, except those who work in the sewers. If taken sick in the performance of their duty, they re- ceive from the city an allowance at the rate of $75 to $125 a year. In 1893 the personnel of the street-clean- ing force Avas thus : 72 foremen, with daily wages of 90 THE PARISIAN SYSTEM. 127 cents; 530 workmen, 78 cents; 170 workmen, 66 cents; 150 boys, GO cents. The boys wusli or flush the asphalt streets. In Paris the sum of $1,700,000 is expended for street-cleaning. It will be observed that the amount is more than thrice as much as in Berlin, but the French capital has nearly a million more inhabitants, and the city authorities have been compelled lately to raise the wages of scavengers. The director of the Board of City Works informed me that the annual increase of wages amounted to 1,800,000 francs, or $300,000. The chief items for street-cleaning in Paris are : Wages of about 3,000 workmen, $1,085,000 ; removal of mud and refuse, $390,000 ; cost of drawing the sweep- ing machines, $70,000 ; cost of material, $41,000 ; street watering — cost of drawing the watering carts, $70,000 ; purchase and maintenance of material, $26,000. The city owns the watering carts, and the contractors, by a system of public letting, provide horses and drivers. A special appropriation is made for the removal of snow and ice by contract, and for salt to be thrown into the streets. The asphalt and wooden pavements are sprin- kled with sand when covered with ice. The lowest daily compensation paid to any employee on the street- cleaning force is 92 cents. The street-cleaners in Paris and Berlin use a rubber mop on the asphalt and wooden pavements, similar to that used on the decks of vessels. The French call it a radette^ the Germans a schieber. In Paris the manure in the principal streets is 128 STREET-CLEANING. brushed up, placed in a wheelbarrow, and thrown into the sewers. It floats and finds its way to the Seine River. In London and Birmingham manure is collected by boys and thrown into orderly bins on the curb-line, which are emptied at night. The same practice is com- mon in German cities. In the United States it is customary to allow ma- nure to remain all day- in the streets, except where the street is cleaned by private contract. The general ref- use is swept up in piles and shoveled into a city cart that comes along several hours later. In the city of Berne, the capital of Switzerland, women sprinkle the streets and then sweep up the refuse with birch brooms. In Paris the janitor of a building is held responsible for the condition of the street in front of it, and he is arrested if rubbish is found on the sidew^alk or roadway after the street has been cleaned. The Parisian hose-sprinklers might be advantage- ously adopted in American cities. The little machines consist of iron hose or tubing, with several leathern joints, on runners. The workman fastens the end to a hydrant, turns on the water, and, holding his finger over the nozzle, throws a spray of water on the street surface. These sprinklers are constantly shifted, and when not in use are folded up and placed on the curb-line. They are much used in warm weather on the chief thorough- fares, especially on the Champs- Ely sees, where they ex- cite the admiration of the American traveler. The street-cleaners of Paris use disinfectants — sul- LAVATORIES AND HYDRANTS. DjU l^hate of iron, chloride of lime and plieiiic acid. They give a first cleaniug to the public urinals early in the morning, and at about eleven o'clock a complete clean- ing and disinfection. It should be said that public urinals are found at convenient points on the curb of the business streets, and are probably far more numer- ous in Paris than in any other city. There are public lavatories in the streets of Berlin and London. In the latter city they are underground. They are kept scru- pulously clean, each one being in charge of an attend- ant. It is now (1894) projoosed to establish public lava- tories in Xew York. The cleaning and watering of streets are much facil- itated by an abundance of hydrants throughout a city. If the water supply is plentiful, the streets can be flushed frequently, and this should be done daily, or even twice a day in warm weather. The general use of small hydrants in Paris is the secret of clean streets. A hydrant is often at the top of the grade of a gutter that extends several hundred feet to a sewer, and the run- ning water carries along waste paper and light refuse to the sewer opening. In some parts of Paris a small double hydrant is constructed on the curb, and the street is so graded that the water may be turned either way by a small obstruction, such as a gunny bag. I have seen a workman sweep the washings along with his birch broom to the mouth or shoot of the sewer. The Parisians have a proverb that says, " Xothing in the Seine — everything in the sewer." I know of no Ameri- can city wherein the streets are regularly flushed. 10 130 STREET-CLEANING. In Vienna the streets are kept perfectly clean by the corporation, but thei-e is an annual appropriation of $100,000 to pay a private company for collecting, sweep- ing up and carting away the snow. Good pavements affect only a part of the residents, but clean streets and the proper removal of refuse have a direct effect upon the whole population. Any citizen can judge whether it is properly done. This w^ork is unlike that of the finance or law department of a mu- nicipality, the details of which are so complex that only an intelligent person can, after careful investigation, un- derstand them. A great obstacle to clean streets in large American cities is the street obstructions, especially the habit of encumbering the streets with vehicles not in use. This practice is not allowed in the large cities of Europe, nor even in some of the small cities of the United States. The city of New York is the worst example. Owing to its insular position — it being a long, narrow island — real estate has become very valuable in the lower wards — too valuable to be used for stables and coach-houses. The law forbids the storage of trucks in the public streets, but the evil has long existed, upon the principle that " what can't be cured must bo endured," hence few formal complaints are made. The local authorities con- sider it a necessary evil. Moreover, no political party would incur the hostility of the many thousand carmen and truckmen. These " dead " trucks are a great obsta- cle in the way of street-cleaning. It has been suggested that where residents store trucks in the streets they STORAGE OP TRUCKS IN STRKI:TS. 131 should sweep the surface under and around them. This is good in theory, but it is doubtful if the rule could be uniformly enforced. In the smaller cities, where real estate is not very valuable, stables and courtyards may easily be obtained for the storage of trucks. In London, Berlin and Paris vehicles do not encum- ber the streets, for there are plenty of courtyards to hold them. Moreover, the narrow rivers in these foreign cities are crossed by many bridges, and the carman may easily reach a stable in the suburbs. The truckman in European cities would as soon think of leaving his purse as his vehicle in the street. The disposal of refuse is rarely done properly in American cities. Old-fashioned methods like those of a' border town are generally adopted. It is simply a phys- ical task. Money and able-bodied laborers are all that is required. Although it is one of the simplest branches of civic administration, there is none that more directly affects the inhabitants. There is no other public work for which the people are so willing to pay. The ordi- nances of New York provide that the garbage shall be separated from the ashes. This is done in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Buffalo and Washington. In San Francisco and New Haven the householders separate ashes from garbage. Ash-barrels are not left standing on the side- walks of thoroughfares in Philadelphia and Boston. They are collected and emptied from the back yards and alleys. In St. Louis garbage and ashes are gath- ered at night, by contractors, with covered carts. In Detroit the citizens dispose qf ashes, but garbage is col- 132 STREET-CLEANING. lected by day in covered wagons. In Indianapolis the night-soil is buried. It should be borne in mind that the inhabitants of a city are living in a very artificial state. Primeval man did not need local laws and ordinances, but the residents of cities must observe these two legal maxims : " The safety of the people is the supreme law," and " Every one must so use his own as not to injure another's." The farmer may throw rubbish out of his window with- out annoying his neighbors ; but in a city, if ashes and garbage be dumped in the street, it becomes a nui- sance, and the offender is arrested and fined for violat- ing the corporation ordinance. Citizens should culti- vate the same habits in the street as in the household. The sidewalk and the street should be kept as clean as the parlor. The adult inmates of tenement houses could greatly aid the officials of the department of street-cleaning if they would only obey the city ordi- nances. Few citizens realize the importance of clean streets in relation to the public health. I know of cases in Paris where servants have been arrested for sweeping the dust of a balcony on a passer-by on the sidewalk. In the poorer portions of a city it is difficult to clean the streets, for the habits and customs of the resi- dents of the tenement-house districts are so bad and slovenly that an immense corps of officials would be required strictly to enforce the ordinances concerning ashes and garbage. The dwellers in tenements are usu- ally the poorest and most ignorant class of foreigners, who do not know that it is against the law to throw DESTRUCTORS IN BIRMINGHAM. 133 ashes and rubbish into the street. It seems cruel to arrest these offenders and to imprison them if they are unable to pay a small fine; but heroic treatment is necessary to compel obedience to the law. The punish- ment of one serves as an example to others in the neigh- borhood. In New York the officials of the street-cleaning de- partment excuse themselves on the ground that the members of the police force do not show sufficient zeal in arresting offenders. Where the spoils system of ap- pointments prevails, the street-cleaning department is certain to be inefficient. Where laborers are appointed for political reasons, sufficient care is not taken in their selection, either as regards age or physical ability. Moreover, a partisan supervisor or labor " expert " will not compel the performance of the best work on the part of the laborers. During my recent visit to Birmingham I inspected the " destructor," or establishment for burning refuse. In reply to my question whether the workmen were Liberals or Conservatives, the manager said he knew nothing of their politics. He simply demanded a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. The slag from these destructors is sometimes used for building, and I saw a small house that was made of it. All the refuse would be thrown away in an American city, but a portion of it in Birmingham is converted into the so-called " pou- drette " manure, and sold for fertilizing at $30 a ton. The system of burning garbage has just been intro- duced in a few American towns. At the World's Fair 134 STREET-CLEANING. grounds in Chicago the garbage was disposed of in an Eagle crematory. In Montreal a destructor is used. The most successful English types of destructor are those of Mawe, Fryer, Warner, Healey and Whiley. In 1893 a law was passed allowing the city authori- ties of Yonkers, N. Y., to erect a crematory at a cost not exceeding $16,000. The street-cleaniug commis- sioner of New York adheres to primitive methods of disposing of garbage. It would perhaps be better to erect destructors than to cart the many tons of garbage to scows along the water-front to be towed out to sea by contract. Some of this rubbish has drifted ashore on the beach in front of the hotels at Coney Island, and the proprie- tors have sued the city for damages. A crib has lately been built at Biker's Island, in the East River, to con- tain the city's refuse. A dishonest or careless con- tractor has often dumped refuse in the lower bay of New York, to the great injury of navigation. In cities built on alluvial plains — like Chicago, Indianapolis or New Haven — the sale of garbage, to be used as a fertilizer by the residents of the suburban farms and villages, should yield a substantial revenue. There are now fifty-five towns and cities in England in which garbage and solid refuse are destroyed by burn- ing, and 570 furnaces are employed for this purpose. The amount of ashes to be collected depends partly on climate. For example, in New York, Boston and Berlin much more coal is burned by a given number of citizens than in London or Liverpool. ASHES AND GARBAGE. 135 Municipal authorities in the United States should study the ordinances relating to ash-barrels and gar- bage cans in Paris, Berlin and Vienna. In the average American city the inhabitants are much annoyed by the frequent appearance of ash-cans on the sidewalks at all hours of the day. It is common to overload these cans, so that the refuse falls on the sidewalk or pave- ment. The traveler in European cities never sees an ash-box. I was in Paris five weeks without seeing a garbage or ash-can except when I arose early one morn- ing to go to the central market. The receptacles for refuse are emptied soon after daybreak. In Paris the big wagon of the cantomiier comes along, and the house- holder is fined if he does not take in his emptied ash- box by seven o'clock. These big tin boxes are familiarly called " Poubelles," after the late Prefect of the Seine. A different man, called the chifoiinier or ragpicker, gathers waste paper in bags and paper boxes.* As in American cities, it is customary to distribute handbills in the streets of Paris, and the business thoroughfares are sometimes covered with them. In Berlin the ash-boxes are kept in the yards or courts of the apartment and tenement houses. The lid is fastened to the stone or brick wall of the yard, and the city ashman enters the yard, carries the receptacle to the cart on the street, empties it, and replaces it under the lid on the wall, in place of leaving the box or barrel in the middle of the sidewalk, as in the city of New York. * Thick manila-paper bags have just been tried in New York. 136 STREET-CLEANING. In Vienna the driver of the city ash-carts blows a whistle at a certain hour of the day, when the house servants bring out the garbage or ash-receptacle to the curb-line. The carts are covered, and the ashes are dumped in at the side. Curtains are fastened to the framework, which are pushed back while the ashes are emptied, and they prevent the ashes and dust from fly- ing in the face of passing citizens. Then the servants return the box to the yard. In Glasgow garbage and ashes are deposited in small stone or brick recesses in the rear of the houses and carted away by night. The residents of American towns are entitled to better service methods in the removal of ashes and gar- bage. In New York the ordinance requires that the ash-barrel shall be placed within the stoop line of the house both before and after emptying,* and that sepa- rate receptacles must be provided for ashes and gar- bage. The ashmen receive higher compensation than is paid for corresponding manual work in private life, and it is not too much to ask them to come within the area of private dwellings and into the yards of tene- ment houses and carry out and return the ash-barrels, as in Berlin. Wooden or metallic covers for ash -carts should be used. Canvas covers can not be put on until the cart is filled. The result is that the ordinary American ash- man is a nuisance. There is no uniform hour for col- * I have for several years noticed that tliis ordinance is rarely obeyed, and the city ashmen, being appointed for political reasons, are not dismissed for a constant refusal to do their duty. ASII-CARTS. 137 lecting ashes in American towns. In some cities — e. ^., Boston — the ash-carts go out at night, while in New York and Phikidelphia the work is done by day. Tlie municipal authorities in Germany virtually say to the citizens : " We respect the liberty of the subject, but we deny the liberty of the subject to make himself or his home a source of danger to the health or life of his neighbor." In the United States the Federal offi- cials supervise the persons of the immigrants who arrive from foreign lands with the germs of disease upon them, but after landing on American soil the same im- migrants enjoy, among other inestimable privileges, that of becoming pestilential to their fellow-citizens. CHAPTER XII. STREET PAVEMENTS. The laying out of streets in cities is more properly the subject of a book on engineering — that is, the regu- lating, grading and paving of streets is more a work of the engineer than of the municipal officer. Bad pave- ments mean filthy streets, for it is more difficult to clean a street that is improperly paved than a smooth, well- paved surface. (See page 123.) It is unfortunate that the streets of our large towns have been controlled gen- erally by the local ring, with the sole object of enriching themselves and favored contractors, regardless of the rights of the residents. The poor pavements in large cities are often caused by the careless work of gas or electric-lighting compa- nies, or by persons who have permits to remove the pavement. City authorities should be very exacting concerning the proper replacement of all pavements torn up by citizens. On the other hand, it may be said that, where the State has given a charter to a company to lay gas mains or electric-light wires or pipes for heat- ing or any other purpose, the right to remove a pave- ment should always be exercised, regardless of the cost (138) RESTORATION OF PAVEMENTS. 139 to the city. The defect in the city of New York is that the companies do not rejViace the pavement properly, and the observer may notice how the arch of a street pavement, from cnrb to cnrb, has been broken by care- less restoration of a part of it. The only method by which these parties can be com- pelled to perform fully their duty of restoration of the pavement is to require them to procure from the proper city official an estimate of the exj^ense of replacement, to be followed by a compulsory cash deposit in the city treasury of the cost of each portion of pavement to be torn up ; this deposit to be returned when the munici- pal representative shall have approved the restoration of the pavement, and, in case the work is not properly done, the money to be used to remedy any defects. For many years American cities were paved with the primitive cobblestone, giving a very rough and unsatis- factory surface. Then the Russ pavement Avas intro- duced, followed by the Belgian pavement of granite blocks or trap-rock blocks. The use of wood as a pave- mxcnt was afterward adopted, and the cities of Washing- ton and Chicago were largely paved with wooden blocks. (See page 22.) This wooden pavement proved a source of danger, for in October, 1871, a great conflagration in Chicago took place, and a few blocks of street pavement were burned. About the year 18G7 several streets in New York were paved with wood or Nicholson pavement, but it was not durable, especially in Fifth Avenue, where the traffic is very heavy. The boulevards of Paris and the streets in 140 STREET PAVEMENTS. the West End of London are paved chiefly with wood, but it is skillfully put down, and when the blocks are worn out on the upper side they are reversed and reset. The newest and most satisfactory pavement is as- phalt, which was introduced in Paris in 1854, on the Eue Bergere. The idea originated perhaps in the French capital, where revolutions were frequent, and the rabble were in the habit of tearing up stone pavements and making a barricade of them, behind which they planted cannon. The use of asphalt was suggested as being both smooth and no more expensive, and now many miles of the streets of Paris are paved with asphalt. The use of asphalt is also common in other cities, but especially in Berlin, where eighty-five miles of this pavement are in use. In Paris, and in most cities, a conglomerate or cement foundation underlies the asphalt. The city of Washington may be called the pioneer in asphalt pavements in the United States. Here the streets are wide and well paved. There are few heavy trucks and wagons, as in the large cities of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, and hence the wear and tear on the asphalt pavement is not as severe as in the large seaports. Moreover, Washington being an inland town, the climate is not as damp as in the cities bordering on the ocean. Asphalt pavement is now largely used in nearly all American cities. Buffalo has 162 miles of this pavement. It should be well washed every day in order to remove the manure that clings to the surface. The Boards of Aldermen generally control the sub- ject of street pavements, and gross frauds have often FRAUDULENT CONTRACTS. 141 occurred in connection with them. In some cities n contractor is unable to pave a street without bhickmail, either from the Board of Aldermen or from the ring that misrules the city. In the days of Tweed, in the city of New York, contracts were worth twenty per cent to the aldermen — that is, a contractor was oblio-ed to allow the Board of Aldermen to extort one o fifth of the price as a condition precedent to paving the streets, and the city paid the difference. Sometimeis the contract for street paving is so low that there is no blackmailing balance for the aldermen. A notable case occurred several years ago in New York. The demands of the aldermen were so exorbitant that the contractor was likely to be ruined. Accordingly he made a statement that he had "discovered" a large ledge of rock underneath the street surface, which would require blasting and excavating, and thus increase the amount of the contract price. Hence the contract was amended, and each corrupt alderman received so much from the contractor, who, for their mutual benefit, " dis- covered " solid rock in the alluvial soil. In the city of New York new pavements are paid for by an assessment on the abutting property owners, while repavements and maintenance are paid for by a general charge on the city treasury. Where an assess- ment is vacated through some technicality, the cost comes out of the city treasury in violation of the spirit of the law. The pavements of Paris are not always uniform. In the residential streets the roadwavs are sometimes 142 STREET PAVEMENTS. covered with macadam, with stone blocks on each side extending a distance of about three feet from the curb- line. Where horse-car tracks are laid in macadamized streets, stone pavement is put down between the rails. While the thoroughfares of Paris are generally well paved, the authorities use their discretion and save expense in the case of " out-of-the-way " streets and squares, where there is little or no travel. For ex- ample, in the open space surrounding the Pantheon the pavement consists of large and well-worn stone blocks, which are now out of repair. On the heights of Montmartre some of the roadways are covered with rough blocks, and the streets are almost as dirty as those in the ordinary American city. The stone pave- ment of the Place du Carrousel should be improved. The total length of the streets of Paris is about 600 miles. During the repavement of a street, only one half of the breadth of the roadway is closed, so as to allow travel on the remaining surface. In Philadelphia the street-car companies are com- pelled to keep in repair the pavement from curb to curb of the streets they use. They repaved in 1893, 50-39 miles of streets. In New York and Baltimore they must care for or maintain only the space between the tracks and two feet beyond in each direction. The poor pavements in some of the streets of Philadelphia are owing to the objections of the street-car companies to repairing at their own expense. In a rapidly grow- ing city the Philadelphia plan would retard the exten- sion of surface railways, but it is reasonable to compel REPAYING BY CAR COMPANIES. 143 the railway companies to keep the entire street in re- pair in the older parts of the city. The street-car companies of Cleveland, Ohio, are required to pave the space within their rails, including that of the surface between their double tracks, and as far as one foot outside of the outer rail. In some Continental cities the space or street around a cathedral and a hospital is paved with the noiseless asphalt. During the hours of divine service on Sunday in London the coachmen are required to walk their horses while passing a church. Societies have been organized in several cities for the purpose of preserving the pavements, and, inasmuch as the agents of each society are unable to examine all streets, citizens are called upon to act as volunteer in- spectors and report all cases of defective pavements and dangerous sidewalks. The proper officials are then notified, and the necessary repairs are made. In Philadelphia there are 31 miles of turnpikes and 821-14 miles of paved streets, which are covered with the following kind of pavements : Cobblestone * 264*2 miles, or 31 per cent. Rubble 114 miles, or 13-4 per cent. |_ \ Block 208-4 miles, or 24-4 per cent, -u { Vitrified brick 49-6 miles, or 5-8 per cent. I^^V-— Sheet asphalt 78-2 miles, or 9-2 per cent. \^V- Block asphalt 18-97 miles, or 2*2 per cent. Macadam 114*2 miles, or 13-4 per cent. Granolithic 4-67 miles, or -6 per cent. * The further use of cobble is forbidden. ^ 144 STREET PAVEMENTS. There are 1,590 miles of sidewalks, chiefly of brick. The following materials are also used : concrete, stone, brick and stone combined, wood and asphalt. In Brooklyn there were up to January 1, 1894, 410^ miles of paved streets, which are classified as follows : Cobblestone 275-425 miles. Belgian 85-268 miles. Granite 86-748 miles. Concrete , 13-075 miles. In New York there are now (May, 1894) 405*06 miles of street pavements, which are composed of the follow- ing materials : Specification granite 153*67 miles. Specification trap 62-81 miles. Belgian trap 66-93 miles. Square granite 21-82 miles. Asphalt 52-26 miles. Macadam 20*80 miles. •Cobblestone -27 miles. Total 378-56 miles. The total length of pavements in the annexed district is twenty-six and a half miles, of which fifteen and a quarter miles are of trap block and about eleven and a quarter miles of granite block. This is wholly on a sand foundation, excepting the pavement on Third Avenue. There is no cobblestone, except on the pave- ment laid by the Union Railway Company between its tracks. The cost and durability of pavements differ so much in the various cities that I have space only for a general statement. COST OF GRANITE AND ASPHALT. I45 At present the paving materials most commonly used in the large cities are asphalt and granite. As a rule, the business portion of the chief cities has been repaved with granite, and asphalt is now laid in the residential streets. The cost per square yard of Trinidp.d Lake asphalt upon a six-inch concrete base varies from $2.38 in Washington to 13.60 in Boston. In Philadelphia, Bal- timore and Buffalo it averages about $2.70. This pave- ment is generally guaranteed for a period of from five to fifteen years ; i. e., the contractor keeps it in order during that time without extra charge. The asphalt pavements of New York are now guaranteed for fifteen years. This guarantee increases the cost from seventy cents to 12.00 per square yard. The average price in the metropolis has been about $3.79, but of this amount only seventy per cent is paid on completion of the work. No further payment is made till the end of the sixth year after completion. Then, if the pavement has been kept in good order without expense to the city, three per cent is paid, and a similar sum in each suc- ceeding year to the end of the fifteenth year. The cost of granite per square yard is as follows : In New York it is $2.80 on a sand or gravel founda- tion, and on a concrete foundation it varies from $3.50 to $4.00. In Philadelphia granite blocks with gravel joints cost $2.50, and granite blocks on a concrete foundation and with pitch joints cost $3.85. The price of vitri- fied bricks on a concrete foundation is $2.20. 11 146 STREET PAVEMENTS. In Boston the cost, including grading, of granite pavement upon a six-inch concrete base with pitched joints, is from 14.56 to $4.66 ; it is, upon a gravel base with pitched joints, from $3.02 to $3.27 ; and upon a gravel base with sand joints, 13.05. These pavements are guaranteed for six months by the contractor. In Baltimore the Belgian block pavement laid upon a heavy sand foundation costs from $2.75 to $3.00. Medina sandstone is largely used in Buffalo, Roches- ter, and Cleveland, and to a slight extent in Chicago. In the first-named city 120 miles of this pavement have been laid. This stone is less durable than granite, but it is also less noisy and affords a more secure footing for horses. Its cost per square yard on a concrete base is $3.60. Out of 1,007 miles of paved streets in Chicago, 648-38 are of wood. The price of this pavement is ninety cents per square yard, and it lasts about seven years. These wooden blocks are cut wedge-shaped, and hence can not be reversed and reset, as is customary in Paris. For further information concerning the cost of pave- ments in the large Eastern cities, the reader is referred to the valuable report of the Street Paving Commission of Baltimore, made to the Mayor and City Council, May 21, 1894. The " life " of a pavement depends on the amount of traffic upon the street, and the nature and degree of perfection of the foundation. It is impossible to give accurately any definite length of time that a pavement will last. DURABILITY OF PAVEMENTS. 147 Asphalt pavement lias been used for such a short period in the United States that only an approximate estimate of its durability can be given. On a portion of North Broad Street, Philadelphia, street asphaltum after eight years' use is apparently as good as when put down. A patch of Trinidad asphalt on Fifteenth Street, Washington, laid in 1879, is now (1894) in per- fect condition, the repairs having been inconsiderable ; but there are few heavy vehicles passing through this street. In Philadelphia the durability of granite pavements has averaged from twelve to twenty years. The brick pavements last from two to five years. In Boston a pavement of Cape Ann granite, laid on a concrete base, should be in good condition after twenty- five years of use. The granite from the quarries of Massachusetts is harder and more durable than that of the Middle and Southern States. In Baltimore one street paved with Belgian blocks twenty-one years ago is still in excellent condition, al- though it has been subjected to very heavy travel. I have seen granite pavements in a business street of New York in a fair state of preservation after twenty years of use. In other streets a similar pavement has been worn out in about twelve years. In Rochester Medina sandstone on a residential street has lasted thirty years. Street pavements will be more durable if the City Councils enact ordinances providing that the width of the tires of large vehicles shall be increased. 148 STREET PAVEMENTS. The whole subject of pavements is so important that a treatise of the size of this volume could be written upon it. I merely state these facts in the desire to throw light upon the unsolved paving problem, and the municipal reformer can further pursue the subject. CHAPTER XIII. PUBLIC WORKS. The public works of American cities are, perhaps, the field of more swindliug than any other department of the municipality. Mr. White, in his suggestive article in The Forum for December, 1890, says, " The city halls . . . are the acknowledged centers of the vilest corrup- tion." (See page 50.) In that connection this remark applied chiefly to the aldermen, and, occasionally, to the Mayor. But the public works that are controlled by the officials in the city halls of the larger towns are generally as badly and corruptly done as the proceed- ings of the city Legislature. I could give many ex- amples, but I shall simply remind the reader of the " Tweed " courthouse in the city of New York, which cost untold millions, and the new city hall of Philadel- phia. The visitor to the Quaker City is at once struck with the prominence of this public building. The gi- gantic tower is a monument to the extravagance and corruption that formerly existed in the city government. As a general rule, it is impossible to construct a courthouse or city hall within the appropriation. Some corrupt contractor commonly finds a deficit in the ap- propriation and obtains an additional amount to make (149) 150 PUBLIC WORKS. it up. So much money has been wasted in the public works of American cities that the taxpayers hesitate to approve of the erection of any public building that is not vital to the welfare of the city. For example, in the city of Xewport, which is one of the oldest and best- governed cities in New England, the taxpayers have refused recently to allow the erection of a city hall, to cost not more than $50,000. This was decided by a referendum. The assessed valuation of real and per- sonal estate in Newport amounts to 134,703,050, and the wealthy summer residents in this city-by-the-sea pay more than half of the taxes ; yet, notwithstanding the good government of the city, a majority of the taxpayers refused to abandon the old and small building occupied as a city hall, and erect a new one. It is, I believe, only in the city of Newport, E. I., that the real estate taxpayers are allowed to control the expenditure of the public funds, exceeding a certain sum, for a special matter. The advantage of universal suffrage is that, where a city is ruled by honest and competent officers, the voters will do what is necessary for the best interests of the city, and narrow-minded and selfish taxpayers are not allowed to retard its prog- ress so far as benefit to the residents is concerned. The citizen naturally demands an equivalent for his taxes. If he be not a taxpayer, he suffers from ring rule or high taxation by an increase of rent, for the owners of real estate in the densely populated districts of a city are generally indifferent to taxation. The reason is that, as a rule, the higher the taxes the higher the PLAIN PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 151 rents; the Icindlord exacts an increase of rent on the ground that he is suffering from an increase in taxa- tion. The Jeffersonian principle of " economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened," has usually been ignored in the progress of American cities. At present, owing to the overthrow of corrupt rings in some of the large cities, and the increasing interest of citizens in municipal government, the city authorities are often inclined to adopt a penny-wise- and -pound-foolish policy in the construction of all pub- lic works. (See page 69.) The public buildings of European cities are gener- ally of artistic design, and in some instances they are gems of architecture. The city halls of Paris and Ber- lin are beautiful. In American cities the j^ublic build- ings are not generally ornamental. This is as it should be. American public buildings should be plain, dura- ble and built of the best materials. No money should be spent in decorations, either on the exterior or the in- terior. I would advise that all public buildings, espe- cially schoolhouses, should be fireproof, with staircases of stone or iron. Private individuals and corporations are in the habit of erecting ornamental buildings. With these devices the taxpayer has, of course, nothing to do ; but towers, spires, carvings and ornamental doors should not be added to public buildings, for the reason that the tax- payers may object. The general rule for awarding work by contract is to give it to the lowest bidder. This principle is not 152 PUBLIC WORKS. always advisable, because, when the lowest bidder re- ceives the contract for some j^ublic work, it may be so badly and recklessly done that positive danger may result, or the work may have to be renewed. The merits of all good public works depend upon honest, intelligent and vigilant inspectors. This is espe- cially true in a rapidly growing city. In the opening of new streets, in the grading, paving and sewerage of streets, if the inspectors are honest and vigilant, the work will be done according to contract. There are, in the older States, laws for the construction of buildings, including the percentage of the lot to be built upon, plumbing and sanitation. If the inspectors are honest, the work will be done according to law, and the resi- dents will be benefited. Unfortunately, the inspectors of public works in large cities are often political appointees " out of a job." They must be taken care of by the ring, and are put upon the pay rolls to the detriment of the citizens. Their salaries are so low, and their " assessments " or contributions to the ring so large, that they are often forced to approve of defective public work, or blackmail the contractors of private dwellings in order to support themselves and their families. These inspectors learn from their superiors lessons in the practice of black- mail. Their political employer or overseer has probably extorted money from the contractors on public and private buildings, so he is not surprised wlien his clerks and underlings in turn pursue the same practice. These inspectors show discretion in levying tribute on citizens. EDUCATED INSPECTORS NEEDED. 153 For example, if a person belongs to the ring he is not molested. In the growing parts of our large cities to-day new houses are often erected regardless of the laws of sanita- tion. The same is true in regard to tlie materials used for building. For example, if a contractor can save $500 by using wooden beams in place of iron girders on a roof, he can, of course, afford to pay the inspector $100 to approve of his work. It has been suggested that some organization like the City Club of New York — a non-partisan association of the better class of citizens — should supervise all pub- lic works, and insist upon the specifications of the con- tracts being strictly carried out. I can not overestimate the value of having responsible persons watching all public works, with the object of seeing that they are done strictly according to contract. This is especially true in the paving of streets, which any observer in a large city knows is one of our weak spots in municipal government. I would advise that inspectors in the departments of buildings, docks, streets — in short, in all public and private works — should be required to pass a civil-service examination, which should be as thorough as is necessary in a scientific school to confer the degree of civil or mechanical en- gineer. In the large cities there is generally a society of civil engineers or a builders' association. It might be feasible to require the approval of a board of civil engineers or a builders' association before an inspector could be appointed. 154 PUBLIC WORKS. In some States there is a State Board of Medical Examiners which examines physicians, and no candi- date can be licensed to practice until he has either a certificate from them or a diploma from a medical school. I need not say that lawyers are examined, either by a committee of the bar or by the professors of a law school, before they are admitted to practice. The profession of an inspector of public works in cities is fully as important for the public interests as that of the physician or the lawyer. If there is no society of civil engineers nor builders' association in a city, it might be possible to require the approval of three com- petent engineers or builders before a candidate could become an inspector. Insj)ectors should receive a rea- sonable salary, sufficient to persuade them to perform their duty. At present the salaries are so low that inspectors are tempted to sell their influence or ap- proval. (See pages 152-3.) In the cities of Europe millions have been spent on the quays and docks. Take, for example, the magnifi- cent Victoria Embankment on the Thames at London, the quays on the Seine at Paris and the embankment on the Neva at St. Petersburg. Few American cities have been willing to improve the water-fronts properly. If our water-fronts were improved, economically and carefully, it would meet with the general approval of the intelligent citizen, but so many large cities are cursed with ring rule that the suggestion of a general system of stone embankments and docks (either on bays or rivers) arouses universal objection and indignation. drainagp: of Chicago. 155 The defective work of the contractors, in our me- tropolis, is shown by a statement of a civil engineer in the Dock Department. He has lately informed me that a dishonest contractor has offered him an entire year's salary to approve of his careless work on one of the piers ! In some cities the contractors are forced to buy ma- terial from members of the ring at a higher price than is offered by other contractors. Several years ago a contractor in the city of New York refused to buy pav- ing stone from a quarry owned by some prominent poli- ticians, and accordingly he was " punished " by an or- der from the inspector compelling him to tear up and repave two or three blocks. The public health of a city depends largely upon a complete system of sewerage. I give on pages 157-9 an extract from Mr. Pollard's book, concerning the spacious sewage-farms {Rieself elder) at Berlin, and a reference to the similar works at Birmingham, Eng- land. The scientific solution of the grave problem of sewer- age in these cities is worthy of the consideration of mu- nicipal authorities throughout the world. American cities are generally built upon the seaboard or upon the banks of a river having sufficient current to carry off sewage. Chicago is, I believe, the only large city wherein the disposal of sewage became a serious question after the city had grown to enormous dimensions. For many years the drainage of Chicago was into Lake Michigan, 156 PUBLIC WORKS. but now a new system of sewers has been constructed, and much of the drainage turned westward. Through this system eighty per cent of the sewage of the entire city flows into the Chicago Eiver, and, in dry weather, is pumped into the old Illinois and Michigan Canal. The sewage flows through this canal into the Illinois River and eventually into the Mississippi ; the remain- ing twenty per cent of the sewage flows at all times into Lake Michigan. In rainy weather all sewage flows into Lake Michigan. Nine sewer-mains enter the lake on the " South Side " and seven mains on the " North Side." The work that is now in progress is to con- struct a much larger canal, thirty-seven miles in length, parallel to the old one, and, according to the estimates, it will cost about 122,000,000, and it will be completed in 1896. The sewage-farm system in use at Berlin and Bir- mingham is declared to be impracticable for Chicago, owing to the inability of the local authorities to obtain, and operate at reasonable cost, the large amount of land required within a short distance of the city. The plan of chemical treatment of the sewage is also im- possible. The history, description and illustrated details of this great work are fully set forth in a volume enti- tled The Drainage Channel and Waterway, by G. P. Brown. The sewerage system of some of the older cities is defective, and it is to be regretted that our rulers of the past generation did not employ competent men to in- THE SEWERS OF PARIS. I57 crease the number or to enlarge the size of sewers to keep pace with the growth of a city. Several j^ears ago a dishonest contractor was con- structing a sewer near Central Park in New York, lie was in great haste to obtain his money, and, instead of nsing pipes, he laid barrels in the ground, for which he received the contract price. It is strange that in some of the older streets of Paris there are no sewers. Cesspools have been built under the houses, and a private company pumps out the cesspools once a month. The refuse is taken away in receiving tanks and transferred to boats on the river, and is then carried beyond the city limits. The large sewer, called le grand collecteur, is about eleven miles long. It begins near the Pantheon, forms a siphon under the Seine, and ends in the river near Asnieres, below Paris. Tourists are allowed to pass through the sewers of Paris every fortnight. A permit is obtained at the city hall, and the trip is made by boat and by car, which runs on a track just above the sewer. It is an interesting though hardly an agreeable excursion. The water from some of the sewers is used for irrigation at the suburb of Gennevilliers, where the choicest vegetables, served in the Parisian restaurants, are grown. Concerning the sewerage system of Berlin, Mr. Pol- lard says : " These sewage-fields are a most noteworthy feature in the sanitary arrangements of the city. They com- prise nearly a dozen separate properties, which were 158 PUBLIC WORKS. formerly barren heaths, and wliich liavc all been bought by the corporation witliin the last eighteen years for the special purpose of utilizing the town sewage. . . . The sewage is pumped to the highest point upon each estate — about sixty-eight feet above the level at the pumping stations — whore it is discharged into a large tank, cor- responding to that from which it has come. From this point it is spread over the whole estate, according to the requirements of difrerent parts, the distribution being eftectively regulated by an elaborate system of sluices and watercourses. "At the pumping stations in the city there are self- acting registers, which record the quantity of water pass- ing through the gathering tank. Readings of the regis- ter are taken four times daily. A heavy rainfall flushing the drains necessitates, of course, a more rapid evacua- tion of the tanks, and this is simply and readily accom- plished by increasing the forcing power of the engines. Before passing into the tank, the water is led through iron nettings with one-inch apertures, and all solid mat- ter — wood, paper, straw and such things — is gathered apart to be carted away to canal barges. By these it is conveyed, with ashes, house refuse and street sweep- ings, to be used on farm land at a distance from the city. At the receiving tank on each estate there is also a self-acting register, and by a simple arrangement the inspector of the estate may tell at any hour of the day or night at what point the water stands. During the day a flag, and during the night a bright lantern, rises or falls on a flagstaff as the volume of water in the tank SEWAGE-FARMS AT BERLIN. I59 is greater or less; thus the risk of overflow is obviated, and the inspector, sitting in his office — it may be a couple of miles away — is able to order and regulate the outflow at will. " The sewage-fields are divided into tliree kinds : First, those wiiich have grown richest in soil are used as fruit orchards, and let out to market-gardeners, who supply the fruit-markets of Berlin ; second, those which are rich enough to bear turnips, potatoes and grain crops are partly let out to tenants and partly managed by the corporation ; and, third, those still growing grass are wholly in the hands of the corporation, who sell the grass to cow-feeders and others. As many as five crops of ffrass are obtained in a season from the last-mentioned o fields. One of the estates, which has been longest in use, now yields a profit of about three per cent on the cost of the land and irrigation works, after payment of all working expenses, renewals and up-keep." It is said that this sewage-farm system cost about $30,000,000. The area of the sewage-fields is now (1894) thirty square miles, or about five miles larger than the land occupied by the city of Berlin. Similar though less extensive sewage-farms were laid out at Birmingham in 1865, and the town authorities have gradually enlarged their area. A spacious cow stable has been erected, and the health officer informed me that the milk was of the best quality. /::■ CHAPTER Xiy. CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. The management of charitable institutions does not differ materially, whether they are Municipal, State or Federal. Generally, it may be said that State institu- tions are managed more economically than those of the cities, for the reason that the local ring is able to foist its favorites upon the institutions more easily than can be done in State or Federal institutions. In ring- ruled municipalities the authorities appropriate barely enough money for the proper maintenance of charitable institutions. . Instances have been known where the salaries of officials have been raised when the extra ex- penditure of money was positively needed for the care of the city's dependents. Municipal hospitals should be placed under the control of one responsible and compe- tent person. A comparative statement of the number of beds in hospitals, in proportion to the population of the chief cities of the world, may interest the reader. In Rome it is 18 to every thousand ; in Naples, 12 ; Stuttgart, 11 ; St. Petersburg, 9 ; Paris, 9*83 ; London, 7-59 ; and in New York, 3-30. In New York a movement has been started to pro- vide a home for consumptives, and to establish more (160) BOARDS OF IIEALTn. 161 hospitals. The total number of beds in New York is 10,245, of which only 4,8G1 are in the municipal charity hospitals. European cities are generally more advanced than tliose of the United States in regard to the care of the poor and sick. The schemes for relief of the poor of Berlin have been reduced to a science. There are institu- tions for the care of poor children, old married couples, and orphan and sick poor, and night refuges and shel- ters. There is also a system of unpaid inspection and outdoor relief. District physicians and surgeons have been established, who visit the poor in their homes, and to whom a small annual allowance is paid by the city. These medical officers make careful discrimina- tion between the innocently poor and those whose poverty is the direct consequence of their own vicious habits. The Boards of Health in cities should be separate departments, not bureaus of the city government. In New York the Board of Health is practically a bureau of the Police Department, and it is thereby less efficient than an independent department would be. Boards of Health should have plenary powers in the matter of sanitation, drainage, plumbing, inspection of food, milk, etc. The class of men selected for inspectors by the Board of Health should pass a very rigorous examina- tion, and should be independent of politics. American cities could learn a lesson from the municipality of Ber- lin, where the citizens are practically as free in the best sense as in this country ; but the health officers of Ber- 12 162 CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. lin will not allow a resident to make himself a nuisance or a source of clanger to his neighbor. (See page 137.) The results of improved sanitation in Berlin are very striking. In 1873 a system was begun that in a few years transformed the city from one of the most unhealthful to one of the most healthful in Europe. The death-rate has been reduced from thirty to about twenty per thousand, and the tendency is toward further dimi- nution. This remarkable result has been brought about chiefly through the labors of Prof. Virchow. He is the most eminent pathologist of the time, and, besides serv- ing as town councillor, he has been a member both of the Landtag and the Reichstag. The town of Birmingham, England, has a very effi- cient health officer, who has served for many years. By improvements in Birmingham the death-rate decreased from 26*8 per thousand in 1874 to 19 per thousand in 1888. By virtue of the Artisans' Dwelling Act, houses in the slums have been torn down occasionally and new buildings erected by the corporation of Birmingham. The death-rate in New Orleans for 1893 seems to be the largest of any American city. It was 28*17 per thousand. Boston came next, with a rate of 24-02, while that of New York was 23-52. The death-rate of Dublin was 27-05, and of Rheims, France, 28-02. CHAPTER XV. PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND TRADE SCHOOLS. In the United States the mimicipal authorities are less apt to provide for higher education than those of Europe. The colleges are almost invariably supported by private enterprise. In our great metropolis there is the College of the City of New York, which was estab- lished under the law of 1848, and was at first known as the Free Academy. It was reorganized in 1866, and the members of the Board of Education, together with the president of the college, are the trustees of the institution. It is entitled to an annual appropriation not exceeding $150,000. In 1894 the Legislature passed a bill providing for a new site, with buildings for this college, but it was vetoed by Governor Flower. In 1869 an institution for girls, similar to the old Free Academy, was organized. It was then called the Normal and High School, but in the following year the name was changed to Normal College. It now has a curriculum of five years, while the majority of other normal institutions have only a three years' course. The annual appropriation for the Normal College is 1125,000. In Berlin the administration of both common and high schools is vested in the so-called city school depu- (163) 164: PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND TRADE SCHOOLS. tation, composed of about thirty members, several of whom are members of the City Council. Some of the large common schoolhouses have extensive yards con- taining gymnastic apparatus, and the students are obliged to use it. These schools are unsurpassed by any in the world. Fourteen per cent of the population are at school. This is about two per cent more than in Edinburgh, which, according to Mr. James Pollard, is the most school-going city in the United Kingdom. Education in Berlin is compulsory. In the common schools it is free, but in the higher schools the annual tuition costs from $20 to 125 ; and where three mem- bers of a family attend school at the same time the third one is usually a free pupil. Every child begins to attend school at the age of six, and must continue until it reaches fourteen. Children were formerly allowed to work in factories, and given three hours daily attend- ance at schools, but this rule has been repealed by a recent law. Half holidays are allowed on Wednesdays and Saturdays, instead of the entire Saturday, as in the United States. Music is cultivated. Careful attention is paid to the manners of the children of Germany. Boys doff their caps to their teachers, and the rules of politeness are strictly enforced. The Germans have a proverb that runs thus : •' Mit dcm Hute in der Hand Kommt man diirch das ganze Land," which I may thus translate : " With your hat in your hand You get on in the laud." EDUCATION IN BERLIN. 165 Absence from scliool is severely punished. Corporal punishment is resorted to, but, in Mr. Pollard's opinion, it is not more severe than in English board schools, where there is now almost no ground for complaint. The corporation of Berlin supports trade schools, in which young workmen are instructed in the trade they have chosen, in the use of their tools, and somewhat of the science of their calling. The fee is from twenty- five to fifty cents a session. The trade schools were established about 1882, and have proved very useful. The municipal authorities of Berlin maintain element- ary schools for the education of blind and deaf-mute children. The annual appropriation for all classes of schools in Berlin is about $3,500,000. The pupils at- tending the city schools of all kinds cost the city annu- ally about 813 each. In Xew York the annual appropriation for public schools is $4,448,355. In Philadelphia it must be at least 11,000,000 under the Constitution, and it is actually 83,549,855. Women are eligible, by the Constitution, to all school offices. In 1891 a School of Pedagogy was established for the free education of male teachers as an adjunct of the Central High School. There is also a Girls' Normal School and a Manual Training School. In Boston the annual expenditure for schools is $2,266,000. In Baltimore it is 8993,677. In Chicago the school-tax fund is 85,550,000, or 81,000,000 more than in New York. Of sixteen American cities that have more than 250,000 inhabitants, New York stands 166 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND TRADE SCHOOLS. number fourteen in its expenditures per capita of popu- lation for the purposes of free education ; and of the thirty-three municipalities, whose populations exceed 100,000, her place is number twenty-six. Although municipal trade schools have been estab- lished in nearly every country of Europe, they are still in their infancy in the United States. In the " mechan- ical " course of the College of the City of New York a course of study in the mechanic arts, covering five years, is pursued, a workshop having been fitted up in the basement of the building. There is thus far no purely trade common school, so to speak, in the city of New York, although there are several manual training public schools. Colonel Eichard T. Auchmuty was, perhaps, the founder of trade schools in the United States. He established the New York Trade School with his own money in 1881, and he expended nearly $250,000 upon it. During the first year he had thirty pupils, who were increased to ninety-eight in the sec- ond year, and two hundred and seven in the third. At present the graduates number over six hundred, and boys come to the school from all points in the United States and Canada. The other principal trade schools are The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades (endowed with nearly $2,000,000 by the late Isaiah V. Williamson), in a suburb of Philadelphia ; the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn ; the Drexel Institute, Philadelphia ; the Armour Institute, Chicago ; and the Ilorological School, at Walton, Mass. The Polytechnic Institute at Baltimore is, I believe. THE FRANKLIN FUND OF BOSTON. 167 the oldest municipal institution for technical education in the country. Several years ago a Manual Training School for Colored Youths was established in the same city. Boston, renowned as she is for her superb educa- tional facilities, has as yet no trade school ; but the Franklin Fund, amounting to something over $300,000, is to be devoted to the establishment of one or more such institutions. In April, 1894, the aldermen made a tour of the large cities for the purpose of inspecting technical schools. CHAPTEE XVI. FII^^AKCE AND TAXATION". The subjects of finance and taxation are not exclu- sively departments of municipal government. Yet it is necessary to discuss them briefly in this volume, because the residents of a city pay a much larger sum in direct taxation for the support of the municipality than for that of the State. Moreover, the debts of the cities are proportionately much greater than those of the State or the national Government. The vast amount of prop- erty exempt from taxation in cities increases, of course, the rate of tax paid by the individual. In New York city the real estate exempt from taxation is valued at 1308,398,495, of which $205,814,770 belongs to the city and $18,863,000 to the United States. Many buildings used for educational, charitable or artistic purposes are exempt by special act of the Legislature. Church prop- erty is not taxed. The total State tax paid by the city of New York in 1893 was $4,112,266.62, out of the $35,064,257 tax-levy. For several years the city of New York has paid nearly half of the State tax, although the population is but one fourth of that of the State. There are single blocks in the business part of the city that are worth (168) INCREASE OF MUNICIPAL DEBTS. 169 more than all the real and personal property in some rural counties. In the early days of the republic, cities were ham- pered by the lack of power of their officers to raise money by taxation. This was especially the case in Philadel- phia under Penn's charter. The power to raise revenue for the current expenses of the municipality was grad- ually given by the Commonwealth to the various cities. At the present day the City Councils or Boards of Al- dermen in some cases have power to raise money by taxation. It is usual to limit by constitutional provision the power of a municipality to incur indebtedness. In some cities the total debt can not exceed ten per cent of the assessed valuation of the real property subject to taxation. Municipal credit was not abused in the United States until the close of the civil war. Then a mania for speculation and extravagance overcame the people. Prof. Henry C. Adams, in his book on Public Debts, says : " The financial evils of municipal administration are so familiar that they cease to be the occasion of sur- prise ; and it is important to learn whether such evils are traceable to a disregard of financial principles, to some radical defect in the organization of city govern- ment, or to the imperfect development of society itself. " In 1840 the debts of cities amounted to little more than $25,000,000. ... So late as the year 1860 the bonded indebtedness of the cities containing a popu- lation of 7,500 and upward was but $51,000,000. . . . 170 FINANCE AND TAXATION. By the year 1870 the combined debts of cities, towns, counties and school districts amounted to $515,800,000 ; and during the ten years that followed, $306,300,000 were added to this sum. . . . The cities have apj^ealed to public credit regardless of consequences." A table of the increase of population, taxable valua- tion, taxation and debt in fifteen of the chief cities of the United States, from 1866 to 1875, is as follows : • Increase in population 70-5 per cent. Increase in tax valuation 156-9 per cent. Increase in debt 270'9 per cent. Increase in taxation 363-2 per cent.* The increase in debt has been most notable in the large cities, as shown by the following comparison that I have condensed from Prof. Adams's work, pages 344, 345. Statistics of twelve large cities for the years 1877- 1886 are compared with those of twelve small cities for the same period : Aggregate increase of debt 187j as against 98 per cent. Aggregate increase of valuation 74, as against 121 per cent. Aggregate increase of taxation 86, as against 108 per cent. Aggregate increase of population. ... 88, as against 42 per cent. Amount of debt per capita of population, $86.50, as against $20.50. The sudden increase of the debt of New York dur- ing the reign of the Tweed ring is, perhaps, the most remarkable of any large city. (See page 14.) During the two years preceding the downfall of that ring in * See the Report of the Pennsylvania Commission to devise a Plan for the Government of the Cities. iiatp:s of interest on bonds. 171 1871 the increase of the city's debt was -$40,050,648. On July 1, 1894, the net funded debt of New York city was $104,330,034, and the State of New York is practi- cally out of debt. In the small cities the most sudden and remarkable increase is that of Elizabeth, N. J. That city is practi- cally bankrupt. It has an indebtedness of $3,737,700, against a total property valuation of 114,070,270. The debt grew chiefly out of the needless paving of streets, at exorbitant prices, that were far in advance of any present use. There was also general reckless extrava- gance in all municipal expenditures for other improve- ments. The population of the city is 38,000. Increase of bonded indebtedness is not peculiar to American cities. In Europe the municipalities are dis- posed to increase their debts, though to a much more limited extent ; but it is difficult to compare the in- debtedness of the cities of Europe with those of the United States, as the administrative departments of Europe are managed so much more economically, and the cost of material and the price of labor are much less. A city having a low rate of taxation has often a large bonded debt. The rates of interest now paid on city bonds are worthy of attention. The city of New York, owing to its great wealth, makes, perhaps, the best showing. Of late years bonds have been some- times issued bearing only two and a half per cent in- terest. In Tweed's time loans were made at the rate of seven per cent, and some of these bonds are still out- 172 FINANCE AND TAXATION. standing. During Mayor Hewitt's term — January 1, 1887, to January 1, 1889 — he endeavored to induce the holders of these bonds to surrender them and to re- fund or accept in their stead bonds paying three per cent and running for a long term ; but the bondholders declined the proposition. The city of Chicago is about to reissue at four per cent 11,787,000 worth of bonds that have borne interest at seven per cent. Many of the small cities in the United States are now selling bonds at the rate of four and five per cent. These bonds are sometimes exempted from municipal taxation. In the District of Columbia registered bonds, guaranteed by the United States Government and bear- ing interest at 3*65 per cent, have been issued recently. The issue is limited to $5,000,000 and is exempt from all taxes. The city bonds in several Western States are fair investments because the city debt is limited by the State Constitution to five per cent of the assessed valu- ation of the taxable property. The tax-rate of cities is often a delusion and a snare, for the reason that, where the municipal authorities refuse to make an appropriation, application is made to the Legislature for authority to issue bonds. This method of financial juggling is adopted in the city of New York. For example, on January 1, 1887, the net city debt was $90,395,633, the lowest point it has reached since 1872. On January 1, 1889, the debt was $91,423,135. From 1889 to 1892, the city of New York incurred new indebtedness to the extent of $43,887,693 j DEBTS OF AMERICAN CITIES. 173 but during the same period, old debt to the amount of $21,170,815 was redeemed and canceled, making the net increase in the bonded debt $22,710,878. On Janu- ary 1, 1893, the net bonded debt, after deducting the amount of the sinking fund, was $98,995,051. The assets of the city are estimated by the present Mayor at $559,000,000, or about five times as much as the present debt. On January 1, 1894, the net funded debts of the principal cities were approximately as follows : Brooklyn $47,337,000 Boston 35,000,000 Philadelphia 27,930,000 Cincinnati 26,000,000 St. Louis 21,376,000 Chicago 18,450,000 Baltimore 16,100,000 Pittsburg 9,000,000 San Francisco 650,000 The expenditures of the cities of Europe should be proportionately larger, for the reason that the standing army is quartered upon them, and many buildings and open spaces are occupied for garrison purposes, where, in the United States, the corresponding area would be owned by private individuals and hence furnish an in- come in the form of taxation. In Germany the soldiers are not allowed to vote, so they have no indirect means of increasing or decreasing the city debt. The annual municipal expenditure of the leading cities is here given : 174 FINANCE AND TAXATION. Cities. Expenditure. Population. London 158,446,000 66,000,000 21,150,000 11,868,000 38,664,257 32.426,210 23,061,526 10,647,928 5,100,000* Paris 2,480,000 Berlin 1,767,000 Vienna 1,423,000 New Yorkf 1,610.108 j: 1,098,576 1,044,894 Chicago Philadelphia Boston 446,507 The cost of goyernment per capita is in London 111.46, in Paris 126.61,* and in Berlin $11.97. In the city of New York the rate was $5 in 1850. At the end of Tweed's administration, in 1871, it was $18.66 ; and in 1893, excluding the expenditure for assessments, it was $24.01. Some residents of cities advocate the single-tax theory — that is, all taxes should be placed upon land, whether improved or unimproved, and the so-called un- earned increment (which, in a city like New York, is enormous) should go to the city, and not to the free- holder. The rural taxpayer constantly complains of the amount of personal property that escapes taxation in cities, and he naturally favors the distribution of the tax upon real and personal property. In some States the so-called listing system is in force ; but it is very unpopular, and the owners of personal property re- * In 1890. (See pages 52, 53.) t Excluding about |3,500,000 for improvements by assess- ments and by the issue of bonds. X The mean of the federal and police census. * In London the debt per capita is $45.92, and in Paris it is $161.30. TAXES IN PARIS AND BERLIN. 175 sort to every device, including perjury, to evade tax- ation. An income tax is levied in the principal countries of Europe, and a similar system will take effect in the United States, January 1, 1895. In France special kinds of taxes are levied, such as the jpatente, which is a license duty paid by all persons habitually engaged in a " profession, commerce or in- dustry." In Great Britain and on the Continent the tenant pays a tax on the amount of his rent. In Paris the shopkeeper pays a tax on the number of doors and windows. The French and German systems of munici- pal taxation are so complicated that I have not sufficient space to explain them. I merely refer to them, so that the American student of municipal taxation may pursue the subject at his leisure. Some idea of the tax on real estate in Paris may be formed when I say that the owner of a building worth $20,000 pays a tax of $80, which is divided between the city, the department and the republic. He pays an additional tax of $24 on the doors and windows. Then the tenant pays a tax on the amount of business done, and the freeholder pays a general income tax in addition. In Berlin the owner of a house and lot has to pay to the city two and two ninths per cent on the rent, which is appraised by official experts, besides the tax on the real estate. The tenant has to pay an annual t^x of six and two thirds per cent on the annual rent above $250 ; five per cent, from $200 to $250 ; four per cent, from $150 to $200 ; three per cent, from $100 to 8150 ; 176 FINANCE AND TAXATION. two per cent, from $50 to $100, and nothing under $50. The taxes on a house that rents for $20,000 are $1,311, or six and five ninths per cent, exclusive of the water and gas taxes. The average. CQst of collecting taxes in the large American crtfeT is a trifle more than one per cent. In New York city it is about half of one per cent. The other chief sources of revenue are franchises for the use of streets and from ferries, in cities with a water-front. Leroy-Beaulieu says that, in his opinion, the revenue of European cities will, in the near future, be collected from such sources as the rent of public halls and mar- kets, slaughter-houses, waterworks, gas-works and pub- lic conveyances. The municipal gas-works in German cities are an excellent investment. In Berlin about eighteen per cent of the annual municipal expenditure is raised from the sale of gas ; and in Philadelphia nearly seventeen per cent is collected in a similar manner. The improvident disposal of franchises to individ- uals or corporations in American cities accounts to some extent for the enormous municipal debts. In the city of New York alone, if the franchises for surface railv/ays, stages and ferries had been granted for an adequate sum, it would scarcely be necessary at present to pay taxes for the support of the city government. CHAPTER XVII. MUKICIPALTZATION". Excepting waterworks, markets and docks, munici- pal authorities in the United States rarely go beyond what may be termed the regular or ordinary sphere of public works. Municipal tramways, railroads, lodging- houses, savings-banks, public halls, disinfection estab- lishments, abattoirs, libraries, museums, pawnshops and gas-works are almost unknown. The last named are the most common, for there are twelve cities that own their gas-works. (See page 104.) Hailroads. — The municipality of Cincinnati com- pleted in 1877 the Cincinnati Southern Railway, about one hundred miles long. This subject is fully de- scribed by J. H. Hollender as " A Study in Municipal Activity," in the Johns Hopkins University Studies, twelfth series, vols. i. and ii. (1894). The Legislature of New York, during the session of 1894, passed a law permitting the city of Xew York to construct a railroad. It is the so-called Chamber of Commerce Rapid Transit Act, because the bill was ap- proved by that body. The law is to be submitted to the voters at the general election in November, 1894, and, if the referendum is carried, the work will at once be 13 (177) 178 MUNICIPALIZATION. begun by the rapid transit commissioners. This pro- posed municipal railway will be, I think, the practical solution of the problem of rapid transit for New York city. The number of passengers carried on the New York Elevated Railroads increased from 45,900,000 in 1879 to 221,400,000 in 1893. With the exception of the Cincinnati Southern Rail- way, the most gigantic municipal enterprise is prob- ably the New York and Brooklyn Bridge. The Bridge Company was originally chartered as a private corpora- tion. (See chapter 399, laws of 1867.) But little work was done until about 1874, when an act was passed tak- ing away all the rights of this corporation, and making it a municipal work of the tw^o cities. (See chapter 601, laws of 1874, and chapter 300, laws of 1875.) The present bridge was built by the cities of New York and Brooklyn, the former paying one third and the latter two thirds of the cost. The trustees of the bridge are appointed by the respective Mayors of the two munici- palities. The receipts of the bridge are used for its maintenance and to provide for the payment of em- ployees. All surplus moneys received for tolls are paid twice a year, at the rate of two thirds to Brooklyn and one third to New York. The cost of the structure was about $16,500,000. In 1893, 42,615,105 passengers were carried in the cable cars that cross the bridge. The fare of each passenger is three cents, or ten tickets for twenty-five cents. Pedestrians were formerly charged one cent, but the bridge is now free for them. The LODGING-HOUSES. 179 arches or spaces under the bridge, between the piers and the termini of New York and Brooklyn, are rented for wareliouses, stables and other purposes, the annual rent roll being now nearly $100,000. LoDGiNG-IIousES. — The only municipal lodging- house in the United States, so far as I know, is in Bos- ton. Applicants for shelter are obliged to saw or chop wood for three hours in return for supper, lodging and breakfast. They are also compelled to be scrubbed in a bath-tub. In 188G a law was passed (chapter 535) to provide for the establishment of municipal lodging- houses in the city of New York. Two years later the Department of Public Charities and Correction in- cluded in its annual estimates $25,000 for the purpose of enforcing the act. But the Board of Estimate and Apportionment refused to make an appropriation for that purpose, and in the following year the same appli- cation was made and rejected. The commissioners then concluded that the expenditure necessary to establish such lodging-houses should be assumed by private en- terprise and philanthropy Seven city lodging-houses have been established in Glasgow, a bed with clean sheets costing but seven cents. There are many cheap lodging-houses in the city of New York, which are licensed by the Board of Health, usually in January. In the first w^eek of this month of 1894 the licenses granted included accommodations foi 11,321 men. These figures give a fair idea of the ex- tent of the so-called lodging-house vote in New Y^ork. 180 MUNICIPALIZATION. In autumn this number is estimated at about 22,000, or nearly nine per cent of the total vote of the city. In 1893 lodgings were given in police stations to 127,520 persons, of whom a slight majority were males. DisiiN'FECTiO]^. — In 1886 the corporation of Berlin erected the first disinfection establishment. In all cases where infectious diseases have been found in a dwelling, the bedding, clothing, carpets, etc., which are likely to contain the germs of disease, are placed in a covered conveyance and carried to this establishment, where they are put on a rack and exposed to steam heat of about 110° Fahr. for thirty-five minutes. The steam is then turned off, and the articles are cooled and ven- tilated, and sent home without damage. A small charge is made on all goods thus disinfected — about a cent and a half per cubic yard. This establish- ment is built of brick and stone, occupies an area of 142 by 120 feet, inclosed in a large courtyard, and is now considered an indispensable annex to the adminis- tration of the department of public health. There is in Kew York a similar municipal disinfection establish- ment with a disinfecting corps. Abattoirs. — The city of Berlin has erected a com- bined cattle-market and slaughter-house, which was opened for public use in 1881, and covers about twenty- seven acres. All cattle, sheep, swine and calves to be slaughtered in Berlin must be brought to this estab- lishment. There are accommodations for 1,300 head of cattle, 3,400 swine, 2,000 sheep and as many calves. Mr. Pollard says the most cfiBcient system of meat in- ABATTOIRS AND MAFiKETS. 181 spection in the world is probably to be found in Berlin. All dead meat slaughtered in the country, and intended for Berlin consumption, must be brought there for in- spection before being offered for sale as food for human beings. Xo butcher can sell meat that does not bear the official stamp of the inspecting department of the central market. The chief inspector is a veterinary surgeon of reputation, and he has twenty-two surgeons and assistant surgeons, with a large staff of special in- spectors, microscopists and stampers. The result is that the purchaser of goods at a Berlin butcher shop may rest assured that all the fresh meat there offered for sale has undergone a strict scientific test, and has been declared officially to be fit for human consump- tion. I recommend the sanitary authorities of American cities to obtain copies of the specifications and plans of the disinfection establishment and central slaughter- house of Berlin, with a view to their early adoption. The abattoirs of Paris consist of 64 pavilions, cov- ering 67 acres. This municipal establishment employs 1,000 men. Markets. — In the matter of municipal markets Americans should follow the example of the cities of the Old World. The Central Market in Paris is a large iron and brick building, with a zinc roof and with large skylights over the roadways. There are immense cellars for storage of produce. Three parallel lines of cars extend from these cellars to a tunnel under the Boulevard d'e Sebastopol, which communicates with the 182 MUNICIPALIZATION. circular railway. The public markets of Paris are opened at three o'clock A. m. in summer and at four A. M. in winter. They are lighted by electricity. At seven o'clock the street peddlers' wagons must be re- moved and market refuse on the streets collected, for the sweeping machines are then used. The ordinance forbidding the throwing of rubbish into the street is not strictly enforced in the vicinity of markets. The new model markets of Berlin are probably un- equaled by those of any other city. They are built of brick in the most substantial manner, and are w^ell ven- tilated and lighted by gas. The market committee maintain strict supervision with the assistance of the police. Unwholesome food is promptly seized, cleanli- ness is strictly enforced, and all refuse is removed at least once a day. The fish departments or stalls of the Berlin markets are unique. Large marble tanks have been constructed with an abundant supply of water. In Washington there is a spacious central market which should be an object-lesson to some of the large cities. In Philadelphia there are but four indifferent market-houses which belong to the city. They were appraised in 1892 at $152,000. The metropolis has ten markets, some of which are of one story only, and the revenue from market rents and fees in 1893 was $311,670. Chicago has no municipal market, but officers are employed by the city to inspect meat, fish, vegetables, etc. In Boston there are two city markets— Faneuil Hall ROOF-GARDENS OX MARKETS. 183 and New Faneuil Markets — the total income of wliich in 1803 was $85,405.07. Eleven municipal markets have been erected in Bal- timore, yielding a yearly revenue of $51,813. There are generally unauthorized street markets — hawkers or licensed venders — in cities. They are seri- ous competitors of the lessees of market stalls, as they pay no rent, and in some cities they are not even licensed. A recent report of the Public Control Committee of the London County Council on the subject of mar- kets is interesting. I give a brief extract from some of their conclusions : " The market itself can also be made a valuable cen- ter, both for health and pleasure, by keeping the roof of the main building low and flat. A large open space and playground could be formed on this roof, and the interior of the building could be so arranged as to be available on Sundays, and, perhaps, at other times, for recreative purposes, as it appears probable that, to the neighborhoods in which these buildings would be erected, the occasional playing of a municipal band or other means of recreation would be an immense boon." The combination of public market and public pleasure ground is deserving of a trial in our large cities. It has been suggested recently that the roofs of car-stables and of cable power-houses of the large cities could be utilized as public playgrounds. These build- ings are usually low, with flat roofs, and at small ex- 1 84: MUNICIPALIZATION. pense tliey could be transformed into delightful roof- gardens for the poorer classes. LiBRAKiEs, Art Galleries and Museums. — In Europe the State provides the education for art and science, which in the United States is generally fur- nished by cities. In the capitals of the Old AYorld there are usually a free library, an art gallery and a natural history museum. Large industrial museums have been established in London, Paris and Berlin. Few munici- pal institutions of this class are found in our country. Free libraries and free museums and art galleries in American cities are generally established by private en- terprise and philanthropy, on condition that a city will provide the buildings and grounds. Several cities own free libraries of moderate size, but the only ones of special importance are the Public Libraries of Boston and Chicago. The city authorities of Boston appropriate $162,000 a year for the Public Library, which contains about 700,000 volumes. This institution is one of the oldest and largest of the kind in this country. The building was dedicated January 1, 1858. A new edifice will be occupied in the autumn of 1894. There are nearly 200,000 volumes in the Chicago City Library, which will soon be moved from the city hall to the new building on Dearborn Park, and it received in 1893 an appropriation of $487,464. The State of Massachusetts leads the country in the number and value of its libraries. By the fourth annual report of the State Commission, it appears that, of 352 cities BAXn-HOUSES AND PAWNSHOPS. 185 and towns in the State, 234 have libraries that are con- trolled by the municipality and are free for circulation to all persons. There are two semi-municiiial musenms in the Cen- tral Park, Xew York — the American Museum of Natu- ral History (chartered in 1809) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (incorporated in 1870). The buildings are owned by the city, while the collections and objects are in each case the property of a private society, but all necessary expenses for keeping in repair, etc., are borne by the city. Wealthy citizens have founded valuable free libraries and museums with courses of free instruc- tion in the chief municipalities. Bath-Houses. — In Berlin there were up to 1893 twelve public bathing establishments. I witnessed in that year the opening of another and a larger (brick) bath-house erected at a cost of $150,300. It is 130 by 98 feet, and contains small bath-rooms as well as a large swimming tank. Floating baths have been provided by the authorities of the cities on the Atlantic seaboard, but I know of no municipality that has built a substantial bath-house in the interior of the town. Such a movement was agi- tated in New York in 1892, but nothing has yet been done. Pawj^shops. — Public pawnshops have long been established in Europe, especially in France, Germany and Italy. They are called motifs-de-piete in France, and Leihhduser in Germany. The public loan-office, or Monte de Piedad^ has eight branches in the city of 186 MUNICIPALIZATION. Mexico. It is more purely a charitable institution than that of Paris. The rate of interest is about half of that which the law permits private pawnbrokers to charge. I believe there are no municipal pawnshops in the United States. Miscellaneous. — In Chapter IX I refer to twenty-three cities that own municipal electric-lighting plants. Municipal savings banks have not yet, I believe, been introduced in the United States. The same is generally true concerning public halls in which citizens could assemble, excepting the upper story of markets in several cities. Some years ago a member of the Legis- lature from the city of New York introduced a bill ap- propriating $50,000 for the erection of a public hall in Washington Square, but it was not passed. Such buildings have been erected in a few large cities of Europe. The most notable example is the Bourse du Travail^ or Labor Exchange, in Paris. It is an ornamental build- ing, seven stories high, and cost nearly a million dol- lars. The municipality pays the cost of lighting, heat- ing, cleaning and maintaining the building, and also the salaries of the six secretaries who direct its gen- eral operations. The municipality does not allow the Bourse du Travail to be used by the foes of labor. When, in the spring of 1894, a disorderly mob attempt- ed to use this building, the Government closed its doors, which were guarded by soldiers. WATERWORKS. 187 The municipal ownership of waterworks in this country is not always advantageous to the taxpayers. The waterworks belonging to private persons are usu- ally better managed than those owned by cities, and the average cost of water supply per capita is about thirty- five per cent less than when a municipality owns the works. (See page 102.) The water rates of private com- panies are generally about twenty-five per cent higher than public water taxes. This fact has aroused a strong feeling against the former, for few citizens stop to think of the taxes they pay, in addition to the water charges, for public works. McxKjpALiSM. — The present tendency of Ameri- can city governments is to perform what has long been done by private enterprise, and this is in line with such progressive cities in Europe as Berlin, Glasgow and Birmingham. Municipalization is the proper method of governing a city, provided it is done upon business principles. A municipal day's work is generally much less satisfac- tory to taxpayers than contract work or subletting the work. In Xew York the party in power is seeking con- tinually to catch the "labor" vote by proposing laws specifying that no laborer in the city employ shall re- ceive less than two dollars a day, and that eight hours shall constitute a day's work. It is obvious that the contractor, who gives a bond for the faithful perform- ance of his work, or who is dependent upon honest inspectors, who will approve his work before he can 188 MUNICIPALIZATION. receive his pay, and who employs men for ten hours a day at the market price of labor (which is usually less than that fixed by the city departments), can do better work. Some unpractical reformers propose that street railroads shall be built and managed at the pub- lic expense, and that the public shall be allowed to ride free. This reduces the principle of municipalism to an absurdity. I recommend that the field of municipal enterprise be increased as soon as respectable citizens vote to- gether in sufiicient numbers to elect a better class of men to municipal offices. Municipalism has this fea- ture to recommend it : the city will raise no corrup- tion fund to bribe either a Legislature or a Board of Aldermen, whereas, in many States and cities, it is now difficult, and oftentimes impossible, to pass without bribery a law giving a charter to a corporation or an individual to build a great public improvement, such as a railroad, a bridge, a waterworks or a gas plant. If public works were constructed under the supervision of honest commissioners, engineers and inspectors, the field of municipalism would be rapidly extended. CHAPTER XVIII. ELECTIONS. This chapter may be considered a preface to the next one. I have already said that the chief remedy for our municipal evils lies in the suffrage — that is, the introduction of an intelligent and independent method of voting at city elections. (See page 49.) The laws concerning the elective franchise in certain States can hardly be improved ; the difficulty lies in their non- enforcement. A stream of water will not rise higher than its source. Unless public sentiment demands the enforcement of the law, our elections will continue to be a carnival of crime and corruption in the larger cit- ies, especially in Kew York and Brooklyn. Precautions asfainst false resristratration should be taken. In San Francisco a voter on registering must give his age, height, weight, color of eyes, hair, com- plexion, etc. — in other words, it is a sort of passport registration, and the registry book identifies the voter, so that a careful inspector can prevent the false person- ation of an elector. The law in New York is very de- fective in this respect; and when, at the session of 1894, a bill was introduced to apply the California statute to the whole State of New York, two Senators from the (189) 190 ELECTIONS. metropolis opposed the measure, on the ground that the registry book would make a sort of " rogues' gal- lery " of voters. This objection came from representa- tives of the organization, which at the last election was (so far as I know) the only political party that com- mitted frauds in the city of New York, and they were the most atrocious frauds since Tweed's time — shown by a large number of indictments and convictions. Be- lievers in good city government understand that the chief, if not the only, weapon in their hands is the bal- lot, and they will not object to the severest and strong- est law that human ingenuity can devise. The next step will be to require a voter, on registra- tion day, to write his name in one of the registry books, so that if the inspectors or judges of election should not remember the voter on election day, four or five weeks afterward, he could be asked to identify himself by writing his name. In France every elector receives by mail a so-called carte d'eledeur or a small electoral ticket, on which he writes his name. He is not allowed to vote unless he presents this card at the polls. Then the chairman of the Board of Inspectors cuts off a cor- ner of the ticket to prove that he has voted, and returns it to him. The reader will see that this regulation re- quires a voter to read and write. All French elections are held on Sunday. In Switzerland voters are also re- quired to present an electoral card which states the oc- cupation and year of birth. Under this system " rejjeat- ing " is impossible, and the false personation of a voter is next to impossible. THE FRENCH ELECTION LAWS. 191 A few writers on the subject of electoral reform have recently suggested the introduction of the French system in the United States. Its adoption would bring out a protest chiefly from the so-called better element, who would be more inclined to leave their electoral tickets at home and refuse to go after them than the humbler class of voters or professional politicians, who think of little but politics during a campaign. In Alabama a statute was enacted in February, 1893, providing that " each registrar shall, at the time of his registration, furnish to each elector, who may register, a certificate of registration." A subsequent section con- tains these words : " That in order to prevent repeating, no elector shall be allowed to receive a ballot from the inspectors, nor to cast a ballot, until he shall have pro- duced and surrendered to the inspectors of election at the polling-j^lace the certificate of registration herein- before provided for." Professional reformers are prone to exaggerate the importance of primary elections. They say that, if the masses of voters will only attend the primaries, better candidates will be placed in nomination. Theoretically this is true, but the project can hardly be carried out. The voters who do not take an active part in political manipulation can not make their influence felt without united action, and business men can scarcely be ex- pected, to organize an opposition among themselves, to have headquarters and work together at a primary. In other words, concerted action is hardly possible among those who are not professional politicians. Long ex- 192 ELECTIONS. perience has shown that, except during a great crisis or political revolution, business men will not attend the primary elections. If the ordinary citizen registers and votes, it is really all that can be expected of him. Ee- formers complain that " the whole thing is cut and dried," when a political convention is called to order, and they have only the choice of voting for the regular ticket, or nominating some unknown man, or bolting the convention's nominations. An excellent alternative for the proposed " slate candidates " has just been es- tablished in the city of New York. The so-called Good-Government Clubs, in the campaign of 1893, se- lected worthy candidates and obtained their acceptance by the Eepublican organization in two districts, and elected them by a large majority in districts, which, in the previous years, have been Democratic. These two Good-Government Club Assemblymen were men of high standing, and both made an excellent record in the Legislature. In two other districts, independent Demo- crats were nominated by the Good-Government Club organizations, and one of them received nearly one third of the votes cast, there being two regular can- didates. The coming man must learn to vote independently at municipal elections. He must be taught — and it will take time to teach him — that he can support the best men at city elections without renouncing his allegiance to a national party. The so-called Good-Government Club movement will not prevent a citizen from support- ing a partisan ticket in national and State elections. SEPARATE CITY ELECTIONS. 193 In liis Farewell Address Washington said, '' Let nie now . . . warn you in the most solemn maTiner . . . against the baneful effects of tlic Spirit of Party gen- erally." For many years national party lines have been drawn in municipal elections, especially when national, State and local officers are chosen on the same day. The subject of separate mnnicipal elections has long been agitated. If distinct municipal elections were to be established in Xew York they should be held in the spring and not after the general election for President or Governor, because the rancors and disap- pointments of election day would prevent many good citizens from coming to the polls in December to vote for city officers. During the years from 183-i to 1849 the charter elections of New York were held in the spring. From 1850 to 185G they were simultaneous with the general election, and in the period from 1857 to 18C9 inclusive, the city elections took place in De- cember; but in 1870 this was changed, and all city officers have since been chosen at the general election in November. Excepting Xew York, Brooklyn and Buffalo, special charter elections are now held in all cities of the State. Most of our other large cities, ex- cept Baltimore, have separate charter elections. The electors of Cleveland, Ohio, generally divide on party lines, although the city election is held in April, and this is true of the voters of some other cities, but Chicago furnished an exception at the mayoralty elec- tion of 1894. The main objection to a special election in large cities is the expense. In New York it would 14 194: ELECTIONS. now cost about $400,000. The city election of 1893 in Chicago cost $144,494.43. In general, it may be said that the indifferent voter will not cast his ballot to redeem a ring-ridden city un- til he, learns that it is cheaper to register and vote for decent and respectable candidates than to pay high taxes and encourage extortion and blackmail among municipal officers. The charter elections in the cities of Albany, N. Y., and Newark, N. J., in the spring of 1894, are object-lessons, showing how much independent voting may do if citizens are thoroughly aroused. In the State of New York a patent voting machine was used in many towns in 1892, 1893 and 1894. I witnessed the operation of this machine in Tonawanda in April, 1893. The canvass was made in thirty-five minutes, whereas, by the old method, it would have taken fully four hours. The inspectors or judges of election should represent equally both political parties. In some cities there is a bipartisan board of two Demo- crats and two Eepublicans, and it is necessary for a majority to decide a dispute or construction of the election laws. A municipal ring maintains that the dominant party should control the election machinery and count the votes. Such a system is simply disfran- chisement of the minority and encourages gross frauds, as shown in recent elections in the State of New York. The true policy of election laws is to prevent the domi- nant party from obtaining control of the election ma- chinery, because this policy tends to make parties or factions self- perpetuating. They pass laws to raise OFFENDERS MUST BE PUNISHED. 195 salaries and to give enormous privileges or valuable franchises to their favorites, and like vultures feed upon the carcass of the body politic. The only argument in favor of a partisan board of three inspectors is econ- omy ; but it costs money to execute the laws, and it is a good investment to make a sufficient appropriation for the enforcement of the laws relating to the elective franchise. AVhere the inspectors or judges of election are equally divided between the two principal parties it is like balancing the scales of justice ; any other policy amounts to the suppression of the popular will, and is a menace to American institutions. One of the best methods of preventing election frauds is to insist u2)on the j^unishment of offenders. It is possible for a Governor who has been put into office by fraudulent voting, or who wants something more from his party, to pardon the very criminals that helped to give him his official position. This was done in Xew York in 1884. The defeated party is generally discouraged after election, and they do not prosecute the guilty persons, chiefly on the ground that the fraud would not have changed the result of the election. The same zeal that is displayed before elec- tion should be continued after election, if frauds against the franchise have been committed. If citizens get dis- gusted and lose their civic pride on the ground that there is no hope, it emboldens the ring and encourages the tricksters to commit even greater crimes at the suc- ceeding election. The political maxim that " every- thing goes in politics" is a menace to free and fair 196 ELECTIONS. elections, and the self-respecting voter should spurn and suppress this sentiment. The question of citizenship is directly connected with good city government. All political parties take advantage of loose and defective naturalization laws, and aliens from the slums of great cities are dragged to court and naturalized at an alarming rate. The natu- ralization laws of the several States should be amended so as to require a voter to reside in the United States at least five years, and to become a citizen at least six months, before Tie is allowed to register and vote. The latter provision would prevent the unseemly crowding and rush that are annually seen in the courts of the city of New York from ten days to a month before elec- tion. In Tweed's time it was considered an atrocious crime for a ring judge to naturalize three candidates in five minutes; but in October, 1893, I entered one of the courts of the city of Xew York and saw a judge ad- mit three apjAicants to citizenshi}) in just three min- utes. The answers given to questions on American history and geography were ludicrous. In cities containing a large foreign-born popula- tion the pernicious practice of " catering " to natural- ized voters has been established. It is not a parti- san question. All classes of politicians seek the so- called foreign vote. In certain districts of the city of New York it is customary to nominate a German and an Irishman for local offices, with a view of catching the suffrages of these respective foreign elements. There is, of course, nothing objectionable in the mere AMERICANISM. 107 fact of nominiiting a niituralizcd citizen for a local oflicc. But the practice of naming a figurehead, siui- ply to obtain on election day the support of his former countrymen, is vicious and insulting to their intelli- gence. If our fellow-citizens of foreign birth — especially those of Great Britain, France, Germany and Switzer- land — would only vote in this country as they voted at home, our city governments would be much better. I mean, of course, that national party lines should not be drawn, and that municipal officers should be chosen on their merits. Here let me add some of the remarks of the lion. Fiichard Guenther, of Wisconsin, a naturalized German: " We know as well as any other class of American citi- zens where our duties belong. We will Avork for our country in time of peace and fight for it in time of war — if a time of war should ever come. When I say our country, I mean, of course, our adopted country. I mean the United States of America. After passing through the crucible of naturalization, we are no longer Germans, we are Americans. . . . America first, last and all the time. America against Germany; America against the world ; America, right or wrong ; always America. We are Americans." The presidency and vice-presidency of the United States are, I believe, the only public offices to which foreigners are not eligible. Many leading men in the older cities are of alien birth ; but, unfortunately, a ring-ridden municipality mainly selects the worst ele- ments of the foreijzn-born citizens. The better and 198 ELECTIONS. successful class of aliens should be welcome to mu- nicipal offices, especially if they bring with them the municipal non-partisan idea of the " old country." I think that Americans have inherited from Great Britain the practice of corruption at the polls. In Ger- many there are no laws for the punishment of bribery at elections, for the reason that this crime is almost un- known. The poorer class of voters in France are very dignified, and they would spurn any offer to purchase their vote. In Switzerland corruption at the polls is very rare. Formerly elections in England were carni- vals of crime, but the statute of 1872 brought about monumental reforms, and now but little money is used corruptly. Some States — like Massachusetts, New York, California and Missouri — have adopted corrupt- practices acts, but they are generally defective and can be evaded easily. Let us hope that an enlightened public opinion will do much to diminish the amount of bribery now existing, until it is reduced to zero. I recommend the educational qualification for voters, which prevails in the States of Massachusetts, Con- necticut, Wyoming and Mississippi. It might be ad- visable to omit the educational qualification in the case of voters born previous to 1850, because the older class of voters in remote country districts may not have received the advantages of education, and it is now too late for them to learn to read and write. In Massa- chusetts a voter must be able to read and to write his name. In Mississippi he must be able to inter- pret the Constitution when it is read to him. In PLURAL VOTING. 190 Georgia delinquent taxpayers arc excluded from the suffrage. In Newport, II. I., only freeholders are allowed to vote on the proposition to spend money for improve- ments. (See page 150,) The New York commission of 1877 suggested the establishment of a small board of finance, to be selected by taxpayers to the amount of 1500 each. (See page 15.) This is the system in some countries of Europe, where plural voting exists and a property owner may cast not exceeding three votes for each elective officer. That is the principle of moneyed corporations as applied to the government of municipal corporations. This system is so unpopular in the United States that, in the present state of public opinion, it is idle to discuss it. Plural voting on the basis of a property qualification never will be adopted, but the system prevailing in Belgium is not out of the question with us. There the head of a family, who has reached the age of thirty-five years and pays an annual tax of at least one dollar on his residence, may have an additional vote. The additional family vote at munici- pal elections should receive thorough discussion in the United States. If adopted, it might put an end to the constant agitation for woman suffrage. Some prop- erty-owning American women now contend that " tax- ation without representation is tyranny." These well- meaning persons forget that there are two kinds of taxes, a money tax and a service tax. The former is levied equally on the property of men and women. The latter is levied on men alone. It calls for jury 200 ELECTIONS. service, police service or military service, and every able-bodied man is liable to perform at least one kind of it. Political representation goes with " service " tax- ation, and not with the other. Both property and women are protected by the Government, but property without discrimination of ownership has no representa- tion. In other words, the right of citizens to vote does not depend upon a property qualification. In some of the original States there was a property qualification for voters. It existed in Rhode Island, even as late as 1888. Kansas City, Mo., has in its charter a provision levy- ing a poll-tax of 12.50 upon every male resident of the city over the age of twenty-one years for each year in which a general election is held ; but if the per- son so assessed shall vote at the separate city election held that year he need not pay the poll tax. This pro- vision was enacted for the purpose of compelling citi- zens to vote, and it has thus far worked with beneficial results. A test case concerning the validity of the law is now (1894) pending in the Supreme Court of the State. ■ The subject of compulsory voting has long been agitated. Of late years measures to compel citizens to vote have been introduced in a few States, and in May, 1888, such a bill came near passing the jMassachusetts Legislature. The men who fail to vote are often those who are loudest in their denunciation of the existing order of things. There arc, of course, many reasons why the FAILURE TO VOTE. 201 residents of cities do not vote. Young citizens often look upon election day as a holiday and go out of town. In 1890 a lady living on Long Island invited fifteen voters of New York city to spend election day at her residence. They accepted the hospitality, and were thus prevented from casting their ballots. In France many citizens refrain from voting. Dur- ing political campaigns it is common to see on walls and fences posters urging electors to go to the ballot- box — ''^Aux umes^pas iT abstentions " ; and many French residents of American cities do not become naturalized. The habit of electioneering at the polling places has been greatly abused in the United States. In colonial times it was customary to hold elections in churches. The voter went forward and cast his ballot, and no one was allowed to speak to him. In the State of New York it is a misdemeanor to electioneer within one hundred and fifty feet of the polling place, but this law has been grossly violated, and in 1893 there were several arrests and convictions in the city of New York for electioneering at the polling places. In some cities of Germany voters are classified in the order of the sums they pay for taxes, with the largest taxpayer heading the list. They are then di- vided into three classes, each of which has paid a third part of the aggregate amount. This is out of the ques- tion in the United States, but there should at least be an educational qualification. An American citizen can vote only once, although he may be a property-holder in several States. 202 ELECTIONS. The vote cast at charter elections is usually less than that cast at a State or national election. The most no- table example was in the city of New York in 1890. At that time an election was held for Mayor and city officers as well as for members of Congress, but the city was gerrymandered so that all the members of Con- gress were certain to belong to one party, so it is un- necessary to consider the Federal candidates. Then nearly 90,000 citizens neglected to register and 30,000 voters stayed away from the polls after they had regis- tered. The issue was the election of a fusion ticket, headed by an independent Democratic lawyer for Mayor, against Tammany Hall. The latter organiza- tion had been thoroughly exposed by the investigation of a legislative committee earlier in the year. It had been truly charged that the investigation was for par- tisan purposes, but the testimony was very damaging to the faction in power. There was a clearly defined issue, and the ring candidate for Mayor was re-elected by a plurality of 23,000, although he received the votes of about 5,000 less than half of the registered citizens. So, if it be assumed that the electors who registered and failed to vote were anti-Tammany citizens they could have defeated this organization if all had come to the polls. The defeat was owing to the apathy of the Re- publicans in refusing to vote together for the candidates accepted by their county convention. The intelligent citizens are the only persons whose votes can be cast to nullify those of the ignorant and vicious electors and of the selfish politicians who never CORRUPTION IN TROY. > 203 fail to come to the polls. Lot tiio emphasize the re- marks made at the recent National Conference for good city government, held in Philadelphia, that the edu- cated class of voters or so-called better element require more attention than the humbler citizens. After the defeat of the fusionists the voters took the non-voters to task and said, " We can stand it if you can." The laissez-faire method of municipal government is lam- entable. The alarming corruption at the polls that has long prevailed in the city of Troy was the subject of discus- sion at recent meetings in the city of Xew York. On the same evening lawyers from Troy addressed the City Club and a Good- Government Club. The Union League Club also denounced these offenses in a series of resolutions. A boss-ruled police refused to make arrests for false registration (before election day) and for illegal voting. Tliese electoral crimes culminated in the murder of one watcher for the Republican I3arty and in the as- sault upon others at the charter election of 1894. The chief offender was tried, convicted and sentenced to be executed for murder in the first degree, and his accom- plice was sentenced to imprisonment for nineteen years and six months; but it should be borne in mind that these felons were merely the tools of the ring that has long misruled the city. The real criminals behind these unfortunate wretches will probably never be punished. In 1893 the Mayor of Portland, Me., was counted in by a false canvass and refused to serve. 204 ELECTIONS. In 1889 gross frauds were committed by the election officers at Jersey City, N. J., and a ballot box was taken from the polling place to the house of a candidate for a high office and the desired majority was given, regard- less of the number of votes cast. The result was that sixty-eight ballot-box stuffers were sent to prison and served terms from eighteen months downward. The atrocious frauds in the village of Gravesend (a suburb of Brooklyn), the conviction and imprisonment of John Y. McKane and a score of his confederates, and also the punishment of many election officers in the city of New York, are too well known to American readers to require more than a passing notice. In the city of Cohoes, N. Y., the outrageous inter- ference of the police at the charter election of 1892, whereby the ballot boxes were seized and the election disputed for some time, may also be mentioned. The last, but by no means the least, remedy for bad city government is strict enforcement of the laws con- cerning the elective franchise. Good government rests on good election laws strictly enforced. These laws are more easily violated in the city than in the country, for in villages nearly every voter is known to the election officers. In cities the voters move about, and many newcomers appear at the place of registration. Advo- cates of honest elections should remember the motto, " Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." In certain wards of many cities corruption has been the rule rather than the exception on election day. The statute provides for challengers and watchers to FLOATERS AND STOVE-SITTERS. 205 enforce the election laws, and it is desirable that each political party should have at least one intelligent watcher to prevent violations of law. One good watcher at the polls from morning to night is better than a hundred stump speakers with brass bands and banners to " wake up " the people. In order that the regular party watcher may not be prevented by a mob of ward " heelers " from occupying a position where he may see the voting and canvassing, the names of all duly ap- pointed watchers, with their alternates, should be filed at the office of those wdio supervise or manage the elec- tions — in New York with the chief of the Bureau of Elections. Such a provision would also prevent par- tisan policemen from ejecting watchers Avho compel cor- rupt or careless election officers to obey the law. The cheap lodging houses in large cities are the prin- cipal abodes of the "floater." In New York many tramps are paid to register, but a different set of persons vote on their names. In order to obtain a list of those lodgers who are legally entitled to vote, the Board of Health should compel the keepers of lodging-houses to file sworn weekly returns of the names and nominal residences of the alleged " floaters " and " stove-sitters." (See page 179.) The adoption of the so-called Australian ballot laws in the several States, w^hereby the ballots are printed and distributed at public expense, has diminished the necessity and excuse for levying political " assess- ments," and has decreased, although not abolished, bribery. 206 ELECTIONS. It is difficult to calculate the proportion of venal voters in a community. Prof. John J. McCook, in an article in The Forum for September, 1892, estimates that sixteen per cent of the voters in one part of Con- necticut sell their suffrages. He says, further, that in one district of a city, on a certain street, forty per cent were marked purchasable. In rural communities there is, perhaps, more bribery than in cities, but other election offenses are rare. A better class of men should be selected as inspectors of elections, poll clerks and ballot clerks. Citizens who object to acting as jurors in the courts should be an- nually reminded, that in New York election officers are exempt from Ji>i*y duty. The elet3non laws have been boldly violated for many years, and I doubt if there will ever be a fair election and an honest count in certain cities until there is a non-partisan society for the enforcement of election laws. Such an organization is as necessary as the Society for the Prevention of Crime, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children or the City Improvement So- ciety. A society to enforce election laws should have counsel familiar with criminal practice, and his work would be confined chiefly to false registration and fraud- ulent voting. He might even be empowered by an act of the Legislature, or by the Governor, to serve as spe- cial district attorney with the grand jury, to prosecute those who commit crimes against the elective franchise. Such a prosecuting officer would be free from partisan prejudices, and could pursue with unrelenting zeal mem- PUBLIC SENTIMENT NEEDFUL. 207 bers of all political parties, high and low, who violate the election law. I have suggested amendments to the statutes as a remedy for existing evils, but I repeat that the strictest laws will be of little value unless public sentiment is behind them. CHAPTER XIX. THE REMEDIES. All cities should be incorporated under general laws, with an appropriate classification according to population, a:id all such general laws should equally apply to all cities of each class. A municipality hith- erto incorporated should become organized under a gen- eral law whenever a majority of the electors of such city shall so determine. The amendment of city char- ters by special acts, and without the consent of the voters of the city, is, perhaps, the chief cause of bad local government. There should be no evasions of the Constitution by indirect means, such as are common now. For ex- ample, a general law may be passed, and then, for the benefit of one class of persons or a corporation, a sub- sequent statute, exempting all but one or two counties from the provisions of the general law, is enacted. In the Legislature of New York it is common to introduce a bill relating to cities of over one million inhabitants, which, of course, refers only to the metropolis ; or an act affecting cities having a population exceeding 500,- 000, which can include only New York and Brooklyn. The alternate domination of one political party over (208) HOME RULE. 209 another often leads to much unnecessary interference with the government of a municipality, and is subver- sive of the jDrinciplc of " home rule," which is now be- coming popular in the larger cities. Legislative inter- vention could be prevented by a constitutional pro- vision that the charter of a city may be amended only by the electors of the city. In some of the Western States — Missouri, California and Washington — recent laws have given power to a board of elective freeholders to propose a city charter not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws, which must be ratified by the qualified voters at the next election. (See pages 24 and 47.) The electors of cities should be allowed to make ex- periments. For instance, when the citizens of Oswego, N. Y., in 1894 asked for permission to revise their char- ter, the Governor vetoed the bill on the ground that " it proposes to substitute aristocracy for democracy, and is English rather than American." (See Senate bills, Nos. 170-524.) It is not too much to say that in some of our rapidly growing cities the government can be improved only by experimental laws. Too many mandatory laws are enacted by the Legislatures. The State should authorize and empower municipal authori- ties generally to act in their discretion. The words " with the consent and approval of the Board of Esti- mate and Apportionment " are sometimes inserted in acts affecting the city of New York. (See page 11.) I advise "proportionate representation," on the ground that the anti-ring citizens should always have 15 210 TriE REMEDIES. representation in the City Council. With this system in a gerrymandered city the "boss" could not choose a large majority of the members of the Board of Alder- men before election. It would then be safe to increase the power of the Municipal Councils by providing that all laws should be confirmed by them. (See page 47.) The most conspicuous example of the disfranchise- ment of the opponents of ring rule is now shown in the city of New York. In 1892 the so-called stolen Legis- lature enacted a law to reapportion the State. The metropolis was gerrymandered, and every one of tlie thirty members of the Board of Aldermen is a repre- sentative of Tammany Hall. At the general election of November, 1892, the following vote was cast : Dem- ocratic, 175,267; Republican, 98,967; Labor, 5,945; People's, 2,366, and Prohibition, 2,439. If proportion- ate representation had then existed (such as is now the law in Denmark, Switzerland and Illinois) the Democrats would have had nineteen members and the Republicans eleven. All the Democrats were members of Tammany Hall, although there were then two other Democratic factions in the city. It will be seen that Tammany was not entitled even to tv/o thirds of the Council — that is, enough members to override the veto of the Mayor. The method of computing proportionate represen- tation is to divide the total number of votes by the number of candidates, so as to get the average vote for each candidate ; then divide the vote of each political party or faction by the electoral quotient, which will COURAGEOUS OFFICERS REQUISITE. 211 give the number of members to wliicli each faction is entitled. The Aldermen or City Councilors should be elected for the term of three years, and one third of all the members should go out of office every year. The sys- tem of retiring one third of the City Council every three years allows some continuity in the policy of the local authorities. (See pages 40-42, 44.) I wish to emphasize the fact that the chief remedy lies in the improvement of the men who execute the laws rather than in the laws themselves. Great power and responsibility should vest in the same official. Out of the four hundred and fifty cities having a population of eight thousand and upw^ard, there are very few, if any, that are governed to the satisfaction of the resi- dents. Under the new Bullitt charter the form of the city government of Philadelphia is perfect, yet the men now (1894) in office are not satisfactory. The best citizens should be selected for municipal office regardless of their i^lace of birth, religion, prop- erty or views on national questions. It is very desir- able to have courageous officers in the executive de- partments. For example, the Governor of a State or the Mayor of a city may refuse to suppress a riot for fear of losing votes for the party to which he belongs and thus permit valuable property to be destroyed. In many of the w^ell-governed cities of Europe college pro- fessors hold office either as Mayors or Aldermen. The salaries of the heads of departments should be sufficient to induce competent men to seek such places. 212 THE REMEDIES. Eetired merchants or lawyers could conduct a depart- ment upon business principles. Of the men now in the control of American cities many never have been able to succeed in private life ; others have been conspicuous either as keepers of liquor saloons or as violators of law. (See pages 10, 50, 75, 84, 91.) Then the terms of office should be long, or at least, if the term be from five to ten years, it should be un- derstood that a faithful officer shall be allowed to con- tinue during good behavior. For many years the judges of the Supreme Court of the State of New York have been elected for fourteen years. The result is that they are an independent class of men. All municipal officers should receive an annual salary, which should neither be increased nor decreased during their term of office, and which should be in lieu of all fees and perquisites. For the government of each department I recom- mend a single commissioner with one deputy, except in the Board or Bureau of Elections. (See page 76.) The Philadelphia plan of requiring the heads of the munici- pal departments to give ample bonds for the faithful performance of their duties is worthy of adoption in all cities. Laws should be strictly enforced. Statutes that are not executed are worse than no statutes at all. The non-enforcement makes a very unfavorable impression upon citizens of foreign birth. When they see certain classes of laws uniformly disregarded in a community, they lose respect not only for tlie law, but for tlie law- CIVIL-SERVICE LAWS. 213 and onlinancc-miiking bodies of the State and the city. For example, in the city of New York, where nearly half of the population is of foreign birth, the excise laws are not enforced because they are not sustained by public sentiment. The result is widespread corruption in tlie police force. (See pages 90-91.) In the cities of New York State the civil-service laws are constantly violated. If these laws were faith- fully enforced, public servants would remain in office, and the theory that " a due participation of office is a matter of right " would be forgotten as a delusion of the early days of the republic. A corrupt " boss " and ring fear publicity. Many unworthy city officers are elected, or allowed to continue in office, through gross ignorance of the public concern- ing their true character. Some cities have a com- mittee of a hundred or of fifty, and such committees would do well to scrutinize the records of all candidates for elective offices and publish campaign biographies. Exposures in the press or in circulars are better than addresses at public meetings. Such questions as " How often have you been arrested ? " " How many men have you shot ? " " ^Yho are your partners in the saloon or dive-keeping business ? " addressed to a candidate, would be useful in municipal contests. The City Re- form Club of Xew Y^ork publishes annually very severe strictures on the character of members of the Legis- lature. (See pages 9-10.) In Massachusetts the teachers of the public schools are required to instruct the pupils in the principles of 214 THE REMEDIES. temperance in the use of liquor. It is equally impor- tant to teach the rising generation the duty of citizens in regard to election laws. It is not alone necessary to prepare the children of American homes for citizenship ; we should also instill the principles of our government into the minds of those children whose parents were born in foreign lands. It is a remarkable fact, that the naturalized citizens and their children, who use the free circulating libraries of the city of New York are eager to read American history and books that explain the working of our institutions. The subject of political economy is taught in all American high schools and universities. It is chiefly confined to the principles of national and State govern- ment. It is desirable that municipal government should in future receive quite as much attention as has been devoted heretofore to the subjects of the currency, the tariff or immigration. Civic science thus far has received but little attention, except in Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, and in the Wharton School of Finance and Economy in Philadelphia. Some of the older cities are at the mercy of corpora- tions, which own the waterworks, street railroads, gas- works, etc., and that were virtually granted exclusive franchises in the infancy of these municipalities. New and rapidly growing cities should learn a lesson from the narrow-minded policy of many cities in the Eastern and Middle States. They should demand a fair return for all franchises to mere villages, or, if the city is not cursed by a corrupt ring, the principle of the munici- INDICTMENTS OF CITY OFFICERS. 215 paliziition of public works should be carried out so far as is consistent with economy and the wishes of the tax- payers. The Bostonian system of registration of labor- ers is worthy of adoption in all cities. As I write, municipal officers of all grades in many of the large cities are now under indictment, and many more would be added to the list if it were not for cor- rupt police magistrates, packed grand juries and negli- gent district attorneys. It should be the duty of all city reform associations and good-government clubs to scrutinize the character of the men on the grand jury. Where criminals or their known sympathizers are placed upon the list, reputable citizens should arise in their might and de- mand that the objectionable names be stricken off. The reader will remember that a grand jury represents a county. Still in the larger cities the county is nearly the same as the city. In New York and Philadelphia it is identical. Chicago, Cincinnati and Brooklyn al- most absorb the counties in which they lie. It is much easier to reform the government of the city than that of the State or the nation, for it is less difficult to influence a Mayor and Board of Aldermen than a President and two Houses of Congress. While I do not wish to raise the tariff issue, yet I submit that the dwellers in cities can easily live under a low or a high tariff, and the subject of good city government is more important to them than Federal legislation. The urban population has a much deeper interest in clean, well-lighted and well-paved streets, efficient police and 216 THE REMEDIES. fire departments, an abundant water supply, sufficient public school and public park accommodations, than in tariff reform. The citizen does not always feel the effect of a Federal statute, but municipal law and ordi- nances touch him daily. ) Where a city is governed from the State capital the citizens should organize a committee or association to watch legislation. Some financial and commercial bod- ies detail a committee or an attorney to watch their in- terests, but the weak point is that they need concen- trated action; and unwise laws are made on account of the weakness and lack of organization of the prop- erty-holders rather than by the strength of the selfish or corrupt men in the Legislature. One sincere and intelligent citizen may make his influence felt more easily in a Legislature or Common Council than in either House of Congress. The average American is too i^atient and long- suffering. He endures municipal abuses of all kinds. In the language of the day, he does not " kick " enough, and he should learn a lesson from his English cousins. The great superiority of the rulers of English cities over those in the New World can, to some extent, be traced to the everlasting tendency of the Briton to complain and insist upon his right to good government, even in trifling matters. The facility with which a bad bill is passed by the average Legislature is appalling. The power of public opinion was forcibly shown in the repeal of the Central Park Speedway law of 1892, as I explain on page 57. POWER OF PUBLIC OPINION. 217 A stronger illustration of the force of enlightened pub- lic sentiment may he taken from the Pennsylvania Legislature of 18?^. In that year it passed an act to incorporate the South Improvement Company. It was a very broad franchise, authorizing the corporation to do any form of business except banking. Under this charter the Standard Oil Company was organized. The law was very injurious to the people of the oil regions, and accordingly a committee of citizens was appointed at Titusville to visit Harrisburg (the capital) and insist upon its repeal ; but the members of the Legislature indignantly refused to receive them. They returned and reported this fact to their constituents, and a much larger committee was selected to revisit the capital, but they received like treatment. Meanwhile, mass meetings were organized at various points in the oil regions, and then a committee of one thousand citi- zens went to Harrisburg and demanded the instanta- neous repeal of this act, and it was promptly repealed. A member of that Legislature says that in his three years' experience he never had seen it free from " ma- chine " rule, except from the time that the committee of one thousand appeared until the close of the session. Then the legitimate petitions of the people of tlie State were received with profound respect. In many of the States the people have voted for bi- ennial sessions of the Legislature, thus abdicating much of their own authority and relegating government to executive officers. No session should be extended be- yond the year in which the Legislature is convened. 218 THE REMEDIES. The constitutional provision of some States per- mitting cities to incur a total debt not exceeding a cer- tain percentage of the assessed valuation of the real estate is of doubtful wisdom. (See page 1G9.) In the "Western States, where towns grow up rapidly, it is im- possible to foresee the needs of the future cities, and therefore a constitutional prohibition against the incur- ring of debt is unwise. The indebtedness should be increased with the consent of the taxpayers. The cities of Chicago and Buffalo seem to be our most rapidly growing municipalities, and yet in each State (Illinois and New York) they are prevented by the Constitution from running in debt over a certain amount. City government is constantly changing in the United States, and the present evils may disappear. Municipal officers can do little more than respect the wishes of the bulk of the voters. The destiny of tlie cities is in the hands of the men and women who establish a moral standard, to which the worst officials must conform. They are the real politicians, rather than those who hold office. The tendency of municipal governments in the United States is downward, and when they reach the lowest depths of degradation, the citizens rise in their might and defeat their persecutors and plunderers. When citizens are regularly warned in political cam- paigns to overthrow the political despotism that op- presses them, and when they uniformly disregard the warnings of competent persons and vote for municipal "THE MOBS OP GREAT CITIES." 210 officers on national party lines, these electors have as good a city government as they deserve. The American people are patient, practical and pa- triotic. The national Government is satisfactory. The several States are fairly well governed, except in the Legislatures, and even in the legislative bodies of the Commonwealth corrupt members are generally in the minority. It seems strange, with popular education so widely diffused, with no large standing army to eat up the substance of the people, and with neither compul- sory military nor naval service, that the American peo- ple should so overlook the principles of correct munici- pal government, that it is the universal testimony of competent critics, both at home and abroad, that city government in the United States is the one conspicuous failure. Jefferson said, " The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body." Let us hope that good Americans will at once set about to heal these sores. In several cities the sores are beginning to heal, and the process must go on. Good citizens, who are in the large majority, should vote together, but this is more easily said than done. The moment the American people realize the dangerous and downward tendencies of the city governments they will vote together. They may not always succeed in their first efforts, but if the respectable electors of any city will persevere, they are certain to succeed in spite of colossal crimes at the bal- lot box and a boss-ridden police obeying the orders of 220 THE REMEDIES. the venal ring. Progress should be made not impul- sively, but steadily and mindful of the interests of the great bulk of the people. Now that nearly thirty years have passed since the conclusicn of the civil war, it seems singular that the American people could not have displa3'ed more ability in the government of their cities. The rule of the mu- nicipal " boss " and ring is far different from a govern- ment " of the people, for the people and by the people." Those who believe in a free government should at once unite to abolish ring rule and its kindred abuses. The government of the people should be restored in its en- tirety to our cities. Thus would a new impetus be given to the cause of good municipal government throughout the Xew World, and it will then be an honor to be an American citizen. / Great cities are the danger-points of our national life, and hence municipal government is best worthy of the careful thought of our citizens. Underneath all remedies that may be suggested for the better govern- ment of municipalities is the inculcation of the doc- trine that they must be ruled on sound business prin- ciples, and that the questions of policy that divide the best men in national politics have no place in the choice of municipal officers. INDEX. Abattoirs, 180, 181. Adams, H. C, 169. Americans, patience of, 3, 216. Albany, 84, 194, 99, 100. Aldermen, 28, 29, 40, 51. election of, 45. term of, 46. at large, 46, 47. by districts, 46, 47. " Boodle," 29, 39, 49. power to approve licenses, 92 Alexandria, Va., 104. Americanism, 197. Amendments to laws, 17. Amsterdam, 53. Annual arrests. New York, 75, Philadelphia, 78. Aquarium, New York city, 62. Aqueducts, 95, 96, 100. Armour Institute, 166. Arnold Arboretum, 63. Art galleries, 184. Assistant Aldermen, 45, 46. Atlanta, 93. Auchmuty, Richard T., 166. Australian ballot laws, 205. Baltimore, elections in, 193. Mayor's term, 30. Polytechnic Institute, 166, public parks of, 52. street pavements, 146, 147. school appropriations, 165. 85. Bath-houses, 185. Battery Park, New York city, 60, 61. Belgium, 199. Bellefontaine, Ohio, 104. Berlin, 140, 151, 155, 156, 162. abattoirs, 180, 181. advertising pillars, 120. Biirgermeister of, 28. City Council of, 42, 43. fire department of, 68. gas-works of, 103, 104, 176. museums, 184. parks of, 53. police courts, 88. schools, 163, 165. sewage of, 157, 159. street cars, 115, 116. street-cleaning, 124. Bicameral city council, 46. Birmingham, annual expenditure of, 12. criminal courts, 88. death-rate, 162. gas-works of, 102. health officer, 162. magistrates, 86. municipal enterprise, 187. population, 53. public works of, 53. pure government of, 13. refugees of, 121. sewers of, 155, 156, 159. street-cleaning, 124. (221) :22 I]?DEX. Birmingham, Town Council, 44. waterworks of, 101. Board of Estimate and Apportion- ment, 11, 209. finance, 15, 199. medical examiners. 154. Bonds of cities, 171, 172. Boston, 65, 93, 122. Aldermen of, 46. charter of, 29. conflagration in, 65. library, 184. liquor sale in, 93. Mayor's term, 30. parks of, 52, 53. street-cleaning, 124, 137. Boulevard de Sebastopol, 181. Bribery, 2, 188, 205. Bridge, over the East Siver, 117, 178, Broadway, 39, 114, Brooklyn, Aldermen of, 48. bad government of, 2, 4, 24, 25, 66, bridge, 178. departments of, 18, 20. elevated railroads, 113. elections, 193. laws concerning, 11. Mayor of, 19, 20, 30, 37. police judges, 84, 87. public parks, 52, 53. size of, 215. street-cleaning, 124. special acts for, 208. Brussels, 53. Bryce, James, 2, 105. Buffalo, 45. 52, 146, 193, 218. Builders' Association, 153, 154. Bullitt Charter of Philadelphia, 211. Bureau of Elections, 76, 205, 212. Burns, John, 101, 103, 116. Cable railroad, 112. California, 47, 189, 198, 209. Canada, 108, 166. Cape Ann granite, 147. Carte d'electeur, 190, Castle Garden, 62. Central Park, 54, 56, 57, Gl, 157, 185, 216. Cesspools, 157. Cliamberlain, Joseph, 12, 13, 35. Chamber of Commerce, 177. Champs Elysees, 54. Charlottesville, Va., 104. Charters in New York, 18. Charter elections, 202. Chicago, Aldermen of, 46. bonds of, 172. elections in, 193, 194. fire department of, G6. great tire in, 65. grade crossings, 118, 119. Mayor of, 5, 25, 30, 32, 33, 37. population of, 52, 174, 218. pavement of, 146. politics of, 4. public parks of, 52, 61. public library, 184. sewerage of, 155, 156. trucks excluded from avenues in, 122. Avater charges, 99. ' waterworks, 98. Church, 92, 201, Cincinnati, 4, 30, 46, 52, 5*^ 177, 215. Circulating libraries. Mew York city, 214. Citizenship, prepare children for, 214. City, functions and nature of, 1, 2., City Club, New York city, 153, 203. City Eeform Club, 9, 10, 213. City Improvement Society, 206. Civic science, 214. Civil-service examinations, SO. Civil engineers, 153, 154. * Civil war, 220. Cleveland, 105, 114, 143, 146, 193. Cohoes, 201. College of the City of New York 163. College professors, 211. INDEX. 223 Combine, 107. Commons, Prof. J. E., lOS. Coney Island, 62. Connecticut, 198, 206. Consolidated Gas Company, 105. Constitution, evasions of the, 2U8. Corrupt Practice Act, 19. Crematory, 134. Croton Aqueduct, 66, 95-99. Danville, Va., 104. Death-rate, 162. Debts, 168. of American cities, 170-173. of New York city, 14, 171-173. Denmark, 210. Departments in New York and , Brooklyn, 18. Destructors, 133, 134. Detroit, 30, 80, 93. Disinfection, 180. Disinfectants, 128, 129. Docks, K, 154, 155, 177. Downward tendencies, 218. Drexel Institute, 166. Dublin, 13, 53, 162. Duluth, Minn., 104. Edinburgh, 164. Elections in Alabama, 191. California, 189. England, 198. France, 190, 198, 201. Germany, 198, 201. New York city, 189, 193, 196, 197. Switzerland, 190. Electricity, 106-110. Electric tramways, 109. Electric railroads, 114. Elevated Railroad, 112-114, 119, 178. Erie Railway, 119. Enforcement of laws, 212. Evarts, William M., 14. Excise Reform Association, 91. Excise laws, 90. Exemptions from taxation of semi- public works, 110. charitable institutions, etc., 168. church property, 168. Expenditures of cities, 173, 174. Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, 61. Family vote, 199. Famous fires, 65. Fare on Elevated Railroad, 112, 113. Federal legislation, 215. Fifth Avenue, 122. Fire-proof buildings, 67, 151. Fire engines, 67, 70. Fire-engine houses, 65, 68. Fire Department, in Chicago, 66. in Berlin, 68. in London, 67. in Liverpool, 68. in New York, 67. in Philadelphia, 68-70. Five Points, 47, 72. Flower's, Governor, vetoes, 77, 163. Flowers on sidewalk, 120. Franklin, Benjamin, 70. Franchises, 50, 111, 112, 114, 115, 176. Frame houses, 64. Fredericksburg, Va., 104. Free Academy, 163. Gamewell signal system, 83. Gardens, botanical, 63. zoological, 63. Gas ring of Philadelphia, 26, 105. Gas-works, 103, 104, 177. German politeness, 164. Gerrymandering, 49, 201. Geneva, 120. Glasgow, 44, 45, 53, 101, 116-124, 136, 187. Good Government Clubs, 86, 192. Governor, appointive power of the, 83, 84. Grade crossings, 118, 119. Grand jury, 206, 215. 224 INDEX. Half holidays, 164. Hamilton, Ohio, 104. Harlem liiver, 109. Harlem Bridge, 110. Harrisburg, 217. HealthBoards, 161,162, 179. Henderson, Ky., 104. Herzog Teleseme system, 82. Hewitt, ex-Mayor, 32, 57, 59, 74, 85, 172. Hill's, Governor, veto, 92. High-license law, 92, 93. HoUender, J. H., 177. Horological school, 1G6. Hospitals, beds in, 160. Hotel ds.Ville, 41. Hot-aiil fp-naces, 68. HycU^aiife, 129. Hlihois,/'87, 205. Indianjjpolis, 45, 52. In^e^ors, of food, 181, 192 ; of elec- ■•' ^lons, 190 ; of public works, 152- ; . -^154. Insurance rates, 66 Jacksonville, 30. Jackson Park, Chicago, 61. Jardin d'Acclimatation, Paris, 63. Jardin des Plantes, 63. Jefferson, 151, 219. Jersey City, 19, 82, 119, 204. Johns Hopkins University, 177, 214. Kansas City, Mo., 24, 52, 100, 200. Labor vote, 187. Labor Exchange, Paris, 186. Ladies' Health Protective Associa- tion, 125. Latter, the inventor, 70. Lawrence, C. W., 29. Legal maxims, 132. Leroy-Beaulieu, 176. Lll)raries, 184. License fees for horse-cars, 111,112 Lincoln Park, Chicago, 61. Liquor, sale of, in Boston, 92. in Chicago, 92. in Detroit, 92. in New York, 93. in St. Louis, 93. in Pittsburg, 93. in Philadelphia, 93. Liverpool, 58, 68, 114, 134. Lodging-houses, 179. Loew Bridge, 121. London, ashes in, 134. Commissioner of Police, 82. County Council, 40. docks in, 154. lire department, 67. gas supply, 106. gas-lighting in, 102. hospitals in, 160. Lord Mayor of, 28. museums in, 184. ordinances for wagons, 143. population and public parks, 53, police department, 71. private houses, 63. refugees in, 121. street-cleaning, 124. the season in, 6. the " Zoo," Regent's Park, 63. water supply, 101. waterworks, 102. wooden pavement, 140. Low, Seth, 31, 36, 81. Lowest bidder in contracts, 152. Lubbock, Sir John, 40. McCook, Prof. J. J., 206. McKane, John Y., 204. Magistrates of Berlin, 43. police, 71, 72, 82, 115. Manhattan Railway Company, 113. Markets, 181-184. in European cities, 181. in American cities, 181. roof-gardens on, 182. INDEX. 225 Massachusetts, 87, 198, 200, 213. Mayor : ideal Mayors, 36, 37. origin of, 27. term of office, 27, 30. Memphis, 23, 24. Metropolitan Police Board, 73. Mexico, 45, 59, 186. Minneapolis, 93. " Moderates," 40. Monts-de-piete, 185. Municipal Corporations Act, 13. Municipalism, 187, 188. Museums, 184, 185. Naples, 160. Napoleon, 58, 59. Naturalization laws, 196. Naturalized Americans, 196, 197. Newark, N. J., 194. New England, 37, 45, 150. New Haven, Conn., 118. New Orleans, 4, 37, 46. Newport, E. I., 36, 150, 199. Normal College, 163. Oil regions, 217. Oswego, N. Y., 209. Paris, abattoirs, 181. belt railway, 114. Bourse du Travail, 186. Champs Elysees, 54. charitable institutions, 160. city hall, 151. tire department, 68. gardens of, 63. grand boulevard, 120. markets, 181. merchandise on sidewalk, 120. parks of, 53, 58, 59. pavements, 129, 139, 146. pawnshops, 186. Place de I'Europe, 117. police, 71. population of, 53. 16 Paris, prefect of the Seine, 28. quays, 154. " season " in, 6. sewers, 157. street cleaning, 123, 124, 127-129, 132, 135. Parry, Joseph L., 70. Pavements, asphalt, 23, 140, 144, 147. Belgian, 144, 147. block, 143. cobble, 139, 143, 144, concrete, 144. cost and life of, 145, 14' granite, 144, 147. granolithic, 143. Medina sandstone, 14 Macadam, 143, 144. rubble, 143. Kuss, 139. sand on, 116. trap, 139, 144. vitrified brick, 143. wood, 22, 139, 146. Pavement societies, 143. Pawnshops, 185, 186. People, a government of, for, and by, 220. Pennsylvania Eailroad, 117. Penn's charter, 169. Philadelphia, City Council, 45. education in, 165, 166. expenditures, 174. fire department, 68, 70. gas-works, 105. government of, 4, 5. high-license law. 91, 93. Mayor of, 30. municipal department heads to give bonds, 212. pavement, 143-145, 147. police, 77, 78, 81. population, 52. public parks, 53. viaduct in, 117. waterworks, 98, 99. 226 INDEX. Pittsburg, 65, 93. Police cominissionei-s, 73-T6, 78-82. government of, S3. in Berlin, 71, 72, 82. in Boston, 80, 81. in Brooklyn, 78. in Chicago, 77, 81. in Cincinnati, 79, 81. in Detroit, SO. in London, 71, 82. in Minneapolis, 80. in New Orleans, 80. in New York, 72, 77, 81. in Paris, 71, 82. in Philadelphia, 77, 78, 81. in St. Louis, 79, 81. in Vienna, 72. Police judges, Illinois, 87. Maryland, 84. Massachusetts and Boston, 84, 87, 88. New York, State and City, 84,85. Pollard, James, 104, 155, 157, 164, 165, 180. Portland, Me., 65, 203. Powel, John Hare, 86. Pratt Institute, 166. Prefect of Police, 41, 82. of the Seine, 41. " Progressives," 40. Prohibition laws, 90, Proportionate representation, 49, 209-210. Providence, 30. Public buildings, 151. Charities and Correction, 18, 179. parks, list of, 52, 53. sentiment, 189, 207. Purroy, Henry D., 67. Kamapo River, 102. Kupid transit. New York city, 177, 178. Referendum, 95, 150, 177. Registration, of laborers, 215. of voters, 189, 191. Reports, New York Senate Com- mittee, 1890, 16. Rheims, 162. Richmond, Va., 104. Riverside Park, New York, 61. Rochester, 85, 146, 147. Rome, 160. Rosebery, Earl of, 40. Salaries in New York city, 7. Saloons, 90-93. Sandwich-men, 121. San Fransclsco, 30, 46, 52. Savings banks, 186. Savannah, 52. St. Lazare station, 117. St. Louis, 30, 46, 52, 53, 63, 93. St. Paul, 93. St. Petersburg, 154, 160. Sehieren, Charles A., 37. Schenectady, 85. Schools, annual appropriations for, 1G5. Schoolhouses, 92, 151, 164. Separate city electloBs, 193. Sewerage, 155-159. Shepherd ring, 23. Signboards, 121. Sing Sing, 23. Socialists in parks, 62. Sonoma, Cal., 104. Spirit of party, 193. State tax of New York city, 168. Stove-sitter, 205. Street-cleaning, cost of, 124. commissioner, 124, 125. in Baltimore, 131. in Berlin, 125-127, 129, 135, 186. in Birmingham, 133. in Boston, 131. in Butialo, 131. in Detroit, 131. in London, 124, 129, 131, 184. in New York, 123, 129, 130, 131, 133, 135-137. in New Haven, 131. INDEX. 227 Street-cleaning, in Paris, 127-129, 131, 102, 135. in Philadelphia, 124, 131, 137. in Vienna, 135. Stuttgart, IGO. Sunday, liquor sale on, 91. use of parks on, 50. Sweeping machines, 127, 1S2. Switzerland, 120, 210. Tammany Hall, 33, 34, 57, 202, 210. Taritf issue, 215. Taxation in Europe, 175, 17G. Tax income, 17. Tax levy, 168. Taxpayer, rural, 174, Tax-rate, 3, 4, 168, 172. Tennis courts in parks, Gl. Tires of vehicles, 147. The Tombs, New York city, 89. Tonawanda, N. Y., 194. Trade schools, 166, 167. Trolley railways, 109. Troy, 65, 85, 203. Trucks in New York city, 130, 131. Tuimels, 117, 118. Tweed, 48, 141, 149, 170, 171, 174, 190, 196. Tweed ring, 26. Union League Club, 203. Verplanck, G. C, 29. Veto power, 38. Vetoes of Mayor Hewitt, 39. of Mayor Low, 39. Viaducts, 117. Victoria Embankment, 154. Vienna, 53, 72, 102, 124, 130. Virchow, Prof., 162. Volunteer tire department, 65. Voting machine, 194. Washington, D. C, 5, 6, 22, 24, 63, 139. George, 5, 19a. Square, New York city, 186. . State, 24, 47. Watchers at the polls, 205. Water charges, 97-99, 187. Water-front parks, 61. Water meters, 94, 98. towers, 68. Waterworks, 94-102, 177, 187. ownership of, 94, 102, 187. Water reservoirs, 98. Wharton School at Philadelphia, 214. Wheeling, W. Va., 104. White, Andrew D., 49, 50, 51, 149. Williamson Free School of Me- chanical Trades, 166. World's Fair, Chicago, 61. Yonkers, N. Y., 134. Zclle, Mayor, 28, 36. THE EXD. h THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE THIS BOO^s^^AMPEDBELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS ^TrVssESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN r^;-s^ b^^o^^In ^TH^E -- -- -„%%^\^;;^ OVERDUE. •KJr4 1968 2 ? j^-6^«v^5PII — ^ •fiiOl--^ fvf-lSf U) 21-100m-8,'34 YB 08754 'X '5-^3 9^