The Commoner
JUNE, 1914
ii
e?
&
mission, approved February eleventh,
eighteen hundred and ninety-three,
and the act defining Immunity, ap
proved June thirtieth, nineteen hun
dred and six, shall apply to witnesses,
testimony, and documentary evidence
before the commission.
Sec. 17. That tho commission
shall on or before the first day of
December in each year make a report,
which shall be transmitted to con
gress. This report shall contain such
facts and statistics collected by the
commission as may be considered of
value in the determination of ques
tions connected with the conduct of
commerce by corporations, excepting
corporations subject to the acts to
regu'ate commerce, including an ab
stract of the annual and special re
ports of corporations made to the
commission under section nine of this
act: Provided, That no trade secrets
or private lists of customers shall be
embraced in any such abstract. The
report shall alsu include such recom
mendations as to additional legisla
tion as the commission may deem
necessary. The commission may also
from time to time publish such ad
ditional reports or bulletins of facts
and statistics relating to corporations
engaged in commerce as may be
deemed useful and do not violate the
provisions of this act.
Sec. 18. That nothing contained in
this act shall be construed to prevent
or interfere with the attorney gen
eral in enforcing the provisions of
the anti-trust acts or the acts to reg
ulate commerce.
American Cities Going into Debt
While Those of Europe Are Beginning to Show a Profit
on Their Municipally Owned Service Companies
NET DEBT, ASSESSED VALUATION AND
POPULATION OP TWENTY AMERICAN CITIES
Hero is a down to the minute statement of tho not dobt, population
(estimated for January 1, 1913) and assessed valuation of 20 principal
American cities:
City Net Assessed Popula-
Debt. Valuation. tion.
New York $945,608,986.93 $8,204,862,430 G, 173,064
Philadelphia 99,905,350.00 1,556,323,614 1,625,000
Boston . 77,214,502.89 1,481,779,717 720,000
Chicago ..... 63,311,802.90 927,747,492 2,307,638
Baltimore 46,326,574.82 741,909,312 572,000
New Orleans 38,400,517.50 235,884,111 375,000
Cleveland 38,238,630.00 714,904,025 620,000
Los Angeles , 32,992,651.50 458,939,129 450,000
Pittsburgh 32,010,100.35 786,208,700 552,905
Buffalo 29,369,492.00 325,489,250 446,000
San Francisco 27,500,000.00 510,429,316 455,000
St. Louis 23,806,690.00 599,019,931 730,000
Cincinnati ' 23,500,000.00 530,000,000 405,000
Newark 20,714,062.00 383,864,182 375,000
Seattle 15,297,380,00 212,929,040 281,896
Minneapolis 14,516,896.84 212,563,149 320,000
Louisville 11,016,972.97 185,000,000 255,000
Milwaukee 9,366,750.00 460,548,763 392,181
Detroit " 8,375,291.12 452,255,100 567,944
Kansas City, Mo .. . 4,737,000.00 166,792,892 275,000"
The Chicago figure is the gross debt and includes bonds issued by
the city, the sanitary district, Cook county and tho park commissions.
The San Francisco total-does not Include World's Fair bonds.
U. S. AIDS PAIR TURK
A press dispatch dated New York,
June 3, says: A new era in higher
education tor women in Turkey was
marked today by the dedication of
the live new buildings on the prop
erty of Constantinople college at
Arnautkeuy on the European snores
of the Bosporus. Dispatches from
Constantinople announce that the
Americans who participated in the
exercises included George A. Plimp
ton and Walter B. Walker, of New
York, trustees of the college, and Dr.
Mary Mills Patrick, titular head of
the school. Mr. Walker represented
Mrs. Helen Gould Shepard, the doner
of Gould hall, one of the new group.
BUILDINGS COST $750,000
The live buildings dedicated today
represent an investment of $750,000.
They form a semi-circle on a hilltop
overlooking tho Bosporus. The
campus of 54 acres was acquired in
1908, and the construction of the
buildings was begun in 1910. The
late Mrs. Henry Woods, of Boston,
waB the first subscriber with a gift of
$50,000. The other contributors were
Mrs. Helen Gould Shepard, $200,000
for the construction of Gould hall,
the main administration building;
Miss Olivia Phelps Stokes for the
erection of the dining hall; Mrs.
Russell Sage, f-r the construction of
Russel Sage hall, a dormitory.
The two remaining buildings are
the school of education hall and the
general academic building.
BUILT UNDER AMERICAN FORE
MEN The work of construction was su
perintended by foremen from
America, but the labor was done by
Turks, Greeks, Kurds, Armenians
and Italians.
During the 40 years of the history
of the school of which Constantinople
college is the outcome the attitude of
the Ottoman government toward the
education of girls has entirely
changed, and vaTious schools in Bul
garia, Greece, and Armenia now fol
low the standard set by the Ameri
can college at Arnautkeuy.
The minister of education today
represented the sultan. Other
functionaries of the local govern
ment and representatives of the for
eign diplomatic corps attended
(By Frank Putnam, in St. Louis
Post-Dispatch.)
Scrutiny of data obtained from .17
Amorican cities during the past 60
days for this articlo reveals these in
teresting facts:
1. The larger American cities are
steadily increasing their bonded (Interest-bearing)
debt.
2. They are not using the bor
rowed money (or considered as a
whole are using only a minor part
of it) to buy or build properties
which will earn revenues to pay the
debt.
3. They are still relying on direct
taxation chiefly for revenue with
which to pay interest and principal
of this steadily increasing debt.
4. They all own property worth
more, if it were put on the market,
than they owe, but unluckily little or
none of this property earns anything,
and most of It has to be maintained
and onerated by direct taxation.
Moreover, most of this property
could not be sold in any less event
that a court's declaring the city gov
ernment bankrupt and winding up
its huainess for the benefit of its
creditors. So that the real security
for the debt Is not the city's nonpro
ductive property, but its power to
assess (tax) its citizen-stockholders.
5. Taxpayers begin to act as if
they were worried about this way of
conducting the city business.
This worry expresses itself, in a
widespread undertaking of the task
of remodeling city charters and city
governments. During the past 13
years more than 350 American cities,
including some of the larger ones,
have adopted new charters, incor
porating radical changes in the or
ganization of city business methods.
The evident intent of the makers
of these new charters, and of the
popular majorities which, adopted
them, is to put city government on a
sounder basis a a going business es
tablishment to stop graft and
waste, to make city officials more
w in An crnod work and less free
I'to do bad work, to check the upward
march of the bonded debt, to nom
down taxes, to find new sources of
city revenue just what each wor
ried taxpayer would try to do in his
private business if he found its fixed
charges increasing faster than its in
come. He begins to rer.Hzo that his
citizen-stockholder's "slraro in the
city's business house can not any
longer safely be Intrusted to the
management of tho professional poli
ticians, but must be given some part
of his own export attention.
No private business could succeed
if it produced only those goods which
it must sell at a loss or give away for
nothing. If Its managers adopted
this policy, when they could readily
have taken on other lines which
would yield profits, they would be re
garded either as philanthropists or
as lunatics.
It Is precisely this policy which
American cities with few exceptions,
and these only in a slight degree,
have pursued down to the present
day.
That Is to say, our cities have all
dealt in the eight uonpaying services
schools, parks and playgrounds,
fire, police, streets, sewers, hospitals
and jails and have failed or refused
or been denied permission by state
legislatures to deal In the profit-
earning services, gas, electricity,
water, street railways and tele
phones. A majority of them have
acquired their waterworks; few have
gone beyond that.
Can the worried taxpayer wonder
under these conditions, and consid
ering also that he has neglected his
duty as a stockholder and left city
management In the hands of political
spoils hunters, that tho cities have
piled up steadily larger debts, while
the little incorporated groups of pri
vate citizens chartered to own and
operate the profit-earning services
have plied up most impressive pri
vate fortunes?
toward financial js&fety as rapidly tm
tho nonpaying orvlco, aro travel!
away from those. Thoy find thay
can afford to soli tfcoso profit-earning
services to their people cheapor thaii
privato owners did. Thoy find that,
ovon at roduced prices, thoso services
turn into tho city treasury a sum
clont surplus over operating and
maintenance cost to pay interest and
principal of bonds Issued to buy or
build thorn. Soveral cities find that
after u thoBO chargos have boon
met, some surplus still rornalns to
help pay for or carry on the non
paying services, thus reducing dlroct
taxes lovlod to support those serv
icer. Looking forward a few years, thoy
seo tho day coming when thoy will
own tho profit-earning services dobt
free. A little farther ahead, surplus
earnings of those paying services will
have wiped out bonded dobt incurred
to got nonpaying services. Thoro
after, wholly dobt free, those fortun
ate ritios can olthor cut their charges
for the paying services to oxact cost
or can hold tho charges whore thoy
are averaging about 50 per cent of
American city charges for the samo
service (privately owned over here)
and remit all municipal taxes.
That, must sound, to most Ameri
cans, like a fairy tale. Something
too good to bo true. Not at all. A
few of tho smaller Gorman cities
have already worked their way out
of tho dobt holo In just this way.
Two of them get so much revenue
from municipal Investments In profit
producing properties that thoy not
only levy no taxes, but pay each,
householder a yearly dividend. It
may bo that increasing demands of
an increasingly complex civilization
EUROPEAN CITES TAKE OVER
PROFIT-EARNING SERVICES
In contrast with this prevailing
policy of American cities, some of
them heading toward bankruptcy
or toward a purgatory in which they
must forever tax themselves more
heavily to pay Interest on bonded
debts too big to "be wiped out con
sider the prevailing policy of the
cities of Europe. The European
cities, progressively taking over the
nrofit-earning services in addition to
the nonpaying services, are traveling
EYE STRAIN
Relieved by Quitting Coffee
Many cases of defective vision aro
caused by tho. habitual use of coffee.
It is said that in Arabia where
coffee is usod in large quantities
many lose their eyesight at about
fifty. Tea contans tho samo drug,
caffeine, as coffee.
A Now Jersey woman writes to tho
point concerning eyo trouble andt
coffee. Sho says:
"My son was for years troubled
with his eyes. Ho tried several kindg
of glasses without relief. Tho opti
cian said there was a defect in his '
eyes which was hard to reach.
"He used to drink coffee, as we all
did, and finally quit it and began to
use Postum. That was three yeara
ago and ho has not had to wear
glasses and has had no trouble with
his eyes since.
"I was always fond of tea and
coffee and finally became so nervous
I could hardly sit still long enough
to eat a meal. My heart was in such
a condition I thought I might die at
any time.
"Medicine did not give me relief
and I was almost desperate. It was
about this time we decided to quit
coffee and use Postum, and have used
it ever since. I am in perfect health.
No trouble now wltl my heart and
never felt better In my life.
"Postum has been a great blessing
to us all, particularly to my son and
myself."
Name given by Postum Co., Battle
Creek, Mich. Read "The Road to
Wellville," In pkgs.
Postum now comes In two forms:
ReKiiInr Postum must be well
boiled. 15c an 25c packages.
Instant Postum is a soluble pow
der. A teaspoonful dissolves quickly
in a cup of hot water and, with cream
and sugar, makes a delicious bever
age instantly. 30c and 50c tins.
The cost t.er cup of both kinds is
about the same.
"There's a Reason" for Postum.
sold by Grocers.
.A
