Please note: this text may be incomplete. For more information about this OCR, view
About OCR text.
November 6, 1909
RECORD AND GUIDE
805
DpfeTiIHof^EsTAjE.BuiLDii/c \R&KrrECTUfiE,KoiJSQloii)DEai(«i»C
Birsit/Ess AifoThemes of GEitoAl iN^CTf M-;
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
Communications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET
PubUshed Every Saturday
By THE RECORD AND GTJIDE CO.
President, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, P, W. DODGE
Vice-Pres. & Genl. Mgr,, H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F. T. MILLER
Nob. 11 fo 15 East 24tli Street. New York City
(Telephone. Madison Square. 4430 to 4433.)
••Entered at the Post Office at New Yorlc. N. Y., as scoond-class matter."
Copyrighted, 1009, by Tbe Record & Guide Co,
Vol. LXXXIV.
NOVEMBER 6, 1909.
No. 2173
THE BROOKLYN EAGLE has been quick to seize upon
oue result of the election as of the greatest import¬
ance for that Borough. According to this able journal the
happiest result of the polling will be the approaching control
of the Board of Estimate by the inhabitants of Long Island.
The new Mayor, Comptroller, and the Borough President of
Brooklyn are all Brooklynites and their voting strength will
be equal to the combined strength of the rest of the Board.
If they can carry witb them tbe vote of the President of
Queens tbey will have a clear majority, and the Eagle thinks
that this is a consummation devoutly to be wished, because
in its opinion tbe City bas been administered hitherto too
much for the benefit of Manhattan. Statements of this Itind
are surely sufficient to justify some irritation on tbe part of
Manhattan tax-payers, Tbe consolidation of tbe former cities
of New York and Brooklyn has been a veritable boon for the
tax-payers of Brooklyn and has resulted in a considerable
loss to the tax-payers of Manhattan. Brooklyn was prac¬
tically a bankrupt city at the time of consolidation. Tbe
immediate fruits thereof were an increase in the salaries of
Brooklyn office-holders to the Manhattan level and a shifting
of a large fraction of tbe cost of the government of Brook¬
lyn on the back of the Manhattan property-owner. Brook¬
lyn now receives about twice as many millions from tbe city
treasury as its tax-payers contribute thereto. Since con¬
solidation, the only money voted for transit improvements
in Manhattan and the Bronx has cost the city nothing and
will eventually be very profitable to tbe city. On tbe other
hand, twice as much money, about $80,000,000 in all, has
been spent on bridges to Long Island, wbicb return to the
city substantially no income at all and which will never
return a direct income anywhere near sufficient to pay the
interest on their cost. Before consolidation, two-thirds of
tbe expense of constructing a bridge was paid for by Brook¬
lyn. Since consolidation more than two-thirds of this ex¬
pense falls on the tax-payers of Manhattan. In addition, a
subway has just been authorized running to South Brooklyn.
That will constitute a burden on the city treasury instead
of a source of income thereto. Similarly, undeveloped sec¬
tions in the Bronx have to be satisfied with elevated roads,
but Brooklyn suburban districts must have four-track sub¬
ways. In view of this array of facts, the tax-payer of Man¬
hattan may well rub his eyes and ask bow much Brooklyn
really requires in order to feel satisfied tbat it is getting a
fair share of tbe benefits of consolidation. What more can
tbe new Board of Estimate from Long Island do for the
Inhabitants of that section than has been don& by the
selfish Manhattan officials of tbe past? The only possible
grievance Brooklyn can have turns upon tbe delay in the
construction of tbe Fourth avenue subway, and that delay
waa due chiefly to tbe opposition of a resident of Brooklyn, ,
Comptroller Metz, whose wholly disinterested attitude in
respect to this matter really injured his personal political
career. The tax-payers of Manhattan are paying the ex¬
penses of consolidation freely and uncomplainingly, and tbey
should at least receive credit for their well-doing from their
brethren across tbe river.
ONE of the most encouraging results of tbe election has
been tbe stronger tendency which has been shown
in the price of the city stock, and tbe feeling of satisfaction
which is indicated by this fact is in all probability well
founded. The Record and Guide does not, indeed, believe
that the new Mayor and Board of Estimate will be able, any
more than their predecessors were able, to bring about any
material reduction in tbe municipal expenses, but there can
be no doubt that they will be obliged from tbe very necessity
of their situation to make every effort to keep, expenses
do-^<'n. During the campaign two issues predominated—the
issues of new subways and of municipal economy. Ail the
new officials are committed to tbe rapid extension of the
subway system, and the Mayor-elect in particular to the con¬
struction of the new system with the city's credit. He may
have difliculty in making good this part of bis platform,
because at this writing it is doubtful whether the consti¬
tution has been amended for the purpose of permitting the
city to issue as much stock as is necessary for the con¬
struction of a self-supporting transit system; but in any
event it will go hard with the ne'w administration in case
at tbe end of its term a good start has not been made
towards additional subway construction. The pledge in
respect to municipal economy will, as we have said, be still
more difflcult to redeem; but even If little can be effected
in the way of reducing the city's expenses a good deal can
be accomplished in the interest of financial reorganization.
Tbe attempt which will undoubtedly be made hy the new
Comptroller and Board of Estimate to introduce more order
into the city's finances, and to diminish the waste will at
least serve to show how much can be accomplished -under
existing laws and how much more can be accomplished with
the help of some effective reorganization. The new Board
of Estimate Is characterized by a high average of good inten¬
tions and ability. The very fact that the new Mayor waa
elected on one ticket and the rest of the Board on another
will provoke emulation on the part of the competitors for
public approval: and there is a fair chance at least that this
competition will not stand in the way of effective co-opera¬
tion in respect to all matters Involving some essential ques¬
tion of public welfare. That some auch Incentive of emula¬
tion nnd co-operation will characterise the work of the Board
may be fairly anticipated, and the new administration should
assume office encouraged by tbe confidence and good wishes
of the people of New York,
BOSTON bas gained something better frora the recent
election than has New York. A new charter has
been adopted by popular vote in that city, which is a radical
improvement upon its existing charter and which is In fact
the best system of municipal organization as yet adopted in
any large American city. In certain respects It Is Indeed
an improvement upon the charter reported to the Legisla¬
ture by tbe New York Commission, Tn their general ten¬
dencies the two charters are similar. In both cases a Finance
Commission becomes substantially responsible for the good
government of tbe city. Tn both cases a Mayor is made
responsible for the efficient administration of the city's
affairs. In both cases the Board of Aldermen is used aimply
as a check upon the Finance Commission and the Mayor.
But the details of the organization are superior in the Boston
instrument. The Boston Board of Aldermen has become a
small body of only nine members, elected on a general ticket,
instead of tbe large body of district representatives, which
is proposed by the Ivins charter. When elected in tbia way,
there Is a much better chance tbat tbe Board will perform a
useful function, and serve as a really efficient check upon
the Finance Commission and the Mayor. Furthermore, the
new Mayor of Boston, while he will serve for four years,
will be subject to recall after two years, provided the voters
of the city decide at a special election tbat he has served
them 111. This provision la more doubtful: but Ita Insertion
constitutes a useful experiment In the value of the recall as
a political expedient. It Is natural that In case officials are
elected for long terms and are supplied, with abundant pow¬
ers, some precautions should be taken against a possible
betrayal of tbe public trust. But while the new Boston
charter Is in these respects better than that of the New York
Commission, the latter Is so much an Improvement upon the
existing charter, that the sooner it is adopted the better.
There is unfortunately very little chance tbat it will be
adopted at tbe next session of the Legislature: hut In all
probability the offlcials elected four years from now will
serve under the provisions of a charter which will more
closely reserabie tbe Ivins charter than does the instrument
under which we are now governed.
IN CASE further investigation proves tbat the Criminal
Courts building in Centre street is wholly unsafe and
can be made safe only by radical reconstruction, the Board
of Estimate should consider carefully the best course to be