Features of London's Municipal Administration
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MANSION HOUSE AT THK LEFT, WHERE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON LIVES.
(Copyright, 1902, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
Y ' ONDON, England, Aug. 28. (Spe
I. clal Correspondence ot The Bee.)
' London la rapidly changing.
' - Jk The old city la putting oft Us old
' clothes and buying new. Its
streets are being widened, many of the old
buildings have been torn down, and there
Is a fair possibility that the day of the
American skyscraper may come, for flats
are going up In the fashionable section.
An army of workmen Is now busy on the
Strand. As I saw the street ten years ago
It was so narrow that two omnibuses could
hardly pass. Today 11 Is being changed Into
a wide avenue, which shall run from Tra
falgar Square to Holborn, not far from St.
I'aul'a. Where the two streets come to
gether about three acres ot buildings are to
be torn away, and this space will be leased
out by the city for new business houses.
In tearing down the Strand the owners nf
the various properties have had to be
bought out. In many places the buildings
have been replaced. The Qalety theater,
for Instance, had a new structure erected
for. It below and back of where the old
theater stood, and the aaiue Is true ot other
Institutions. This work is going on In the
very heart ot London on some of the most
costly ground ot the world. The city
fathers have had to plate the aoll with gold
to get It, and when the Improvement Is
completed It will, It Is estimated, cost at
least $25,000,000.
American Invasion Above and Heiow.
I have already written something about
the American Invasion of underground Lon
don. I have told you of the Tuppenny Tube
line, which Is now carrying millions from
one part of the city to another at 4 cents
per trip. It U a mighty iron tube with
railroad tracks in it, running far below the
city under the streets. It cost more than
13,000,000 a mile to construct, and the elec
trical equipment was put in by the Oeneral
Electric company of New York. I have
spoken ot Mr. Yerkes' great schemes which
are now fast approaching completion.
These will honeycomb the soli under the
city with similar tubes, and the Westing
house company will build the machinery.
Other scheme are now proposed for
American enterprise above ground. Amer
ican goods are already sold In all parts
of the Strand. The American flag and tho
Union Jack are painted on many ot tho
shop windows and American drugs, Amer
ican notions, American shoes and Ameri
can tobacco are' to be had everywhere. Tho
Weatinghouse building on the corner of
Norfolk street and the Strand Is one of
the finest of this part ot London, and there
is now talk of an enormous American de
partment store on the crescent-shaped
area which is to be vacated by the Joining
of the Strand and Holborn.
Bis; American Department Store.
I understand that an application has al
ready been made to the London county
council for thla space. The parties have
asked to lease it for 999 years, and the
council la considering the advisability of
giving them a lease for nlnety-ntne years.
If It does ao the Americans will have on
of the most valuable locations in London
and will erect a store which will be a
surprise to the London shopkeepers.
At present there la no such thing as a
great department store In London. There
Is a man named Whlteley at Bayswater
who calls himself "a universal provider."
He started business In a small way and
added to bis establishment until be has
what the London people consider some
thing great. Peter RoblLSon has a smaller
establishment on Oxford street, but neither
of these can compare with the mammoth
department stores of New York and Chi
cago. So far London has had no good
rapid transit system, and H may be that
that has retarded the day of such stores.
By the new underground electric routes
one will be able to go to any part of the
CRACK OFFICIALS OF LONDON'S FIRE BRIUADii.
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A LONDON POSTMAN.
city within a few moments at 4 cents per
trip, and the shopping possibilities will be
greatly Increased. I understand that both
John Wanamaker and Slegel, Cooper A
Co. have been considering such an enter
prise, but aa yet nothing has come to a
material head.
From what I have aald about London's
city improvements you will see that the
government here la something of an institu
tion. Thla is. you know, the capital of the
united kingdom, the seat of Parliament
and the residence of the king and royal
family. It has all the chief offlc'als of the
government, but its own admlniatration Is
separate and apart from these. It is dif
ficult to understand it, for the town has now
a doien or so mayors and a maze of other
authorities, each exercising some sort ot
control, but most of these were swal
lowed up In the London county council. At
present there is a county government, a
city government and a borough govern
ment. The borough government might ba
called a ward government, for the city is
divided into twenty-seven boroughs, or
wards, each of which has Its own mayor, its
own council and a certain class ot officials.
London Connty Connell.
The general government, however. Is the
London county council, comprising 13T mem
bers, of whom nineteen are aldermen. Th's
council practically governs London. It
Axes the taxes and spends the money, and
that right royally, too. Last year its ex
penses amounted to tSO.000,000. or to mora
than the revenues of many a state govern
ment. The council arranges for the debt
of the city, which now amounts to more
than $239,000,000. It steps little deeper Into
debt every year, and it enters upon all
sorts of public improvements, granting
franchises and permits for all kinds of un
dertakings. It la hard for an American to realize the
powera of such a council. That of London
county controls the music halls, the tram
ways, the bridges, the waterworks and all
public Improvements. I have told you how
It has already spent millions In erecting
houses to rent to the poor, and how It Is
building several little municipal cities on
the outskirts of London for that purpose.
It dots, in fact, a wholesale and retail real
estate business. The tenement bu ldlngs
villi all bring In moderate rents and the
city officials will collect them. The county
council will probably hold the fee simple
title to the ground alcng the Strand, and it
will lease it at ground rents to builders. It
is estimated that the city will eventually
receive something like $20,000,000 In rents
from this source, and If it does as Birming
ham is doing, that Is, provides that at
the end of the lease the buildings revert to
the city, London will become the richest
corporation on earth.
Illah Official Salaries.
I have looked somewhat Into the matter
of salaries here in London. The county
council spends about $32,000,000 a year, and
much of this goes out for labor. The offi
cers of the council receive from $4,000 to
$10,000 per year. The clerk, engineer and
architect each get $10,000; the assessor,
$7,600, and the head of the street car de
partment, $5,000.
Tiie officers of the city corporation are
still better paid. The recorder has $20,000
per annum, the town clerk $17,000, or just
as much as we pay Minister Choatc, and
the controller and remembrancer $10,000
each. In addition there are other salaries
ranging from $11,000 down.
Perhaps the best paid mayor of the whole
world Is the lord mayor of London. He has
a salary of $50,000 a year and his house
rent is free. He lives in the Mansion House
across the way from the bank of London,
within a short distance of the Tower and
London bridge. I have met him at his
palace during my stay, and he has room
and to spare.
The lord mayor does not control, how
ever, any part ot the metropolis except
that known as the city or the part that
forms the chief commercial and money
making center. It lies east ot the temple
and embrace the port, the docks, the cus
tom bouse, the bank, the exchange and the
hundreds of great wholesale establishments,
banks and other corporations which make
London the financial center ot the world.
This is the city proper, and it is a city
of the day. It has a population of 300,000
and through it every day more than a mil
lion go in and out while it is light, but at
night it is almost as deserted ss a city
of the dead. Its thousands of capitalists
and clerka then leave it and It is handed
o.er to the watchmen and policemen, the
lord mayor. In fact, being about the only
prominent citizen to remain all night
through.
London's Dig Dock.
I have spent much time about the docks
watching the great steamers load and un
load goods for and from America and all
parts of the world. I don't know where one
can get a better idea of the immensity of
this city. You might live about Hyde Park
for years and hardly know London was a
port. Still London is the greatest port of
the wor:d. It surpasses Liverpool and all
the others. The whole river Thames from
here to the sea Is Its harbor, so that the
port is really sixty-nine mile long, and it
ranges in width with the width of the
river.
Standing on London bridge you see a
forest of masts, not only in the river it
self, but rising high above the great whole
sale structures bordering it. The docks
are mighty basins cut out of the lands along
the bank, enormous vats of water covering
acres surrounded by warehouses. St. Cath
erine's docks have an area of twenty-three
acres, the London docks and Mlllwall docks
each cover 100 acres, while the Surrey
docks and the West Indian docka have each
350 acres.
Even larger than these are the Royal
Victoria and Albert docka, which are almost
three miles In length, and have an area of
500 acrea, and those ot Tilbury, further
down the Thames, which are quite as large.
If you could put a big farm under water,
and allow mighty warehouses to rise up
along the borders and through the fields
and add hundreds ot steamers loading and
unloading at them, you might hare some
idea of these docks. They are profitable
institutions, and the London county council
is planning to bring them under the control
of the city. They now belong to private
companies, but the city propose to buy out
the present owners and to manage the docks
by a public board, under the direction of
Parliament. This will probably be done at
aome time in the future.
Water from Wales.
Another thing which the county council
is planning 3 the bringing of water for
London clear across England from the
Welsh lakes. At present London is sup.
plied by the Thame and Lea rivers, but It
already uses 205,000,000 gallons a day, and
it is estimated that the demand will soon
be such as to Impair the navigation of the
Thames. Birmingham is getting Its water
from Wales and so are other cities, and
London will in all probability have to do
likewise. The water works are now in the
hands of private companies whose gross in
come last year amounted to something like
$10,000,000, and whose profits were over
$5,000,000. The London county council pro
poses to buy out these parties and run the
water works as. a city institution.
This would undoubtedly be better for
London In a sanitary way and also for Its
Are department. This cltyi has ten fires
every day the year through. - It has more
than 3,600 flies a ear, and the Are brigade
is a very important part of the metropolis.
Tais now consists of 1,200 men, and it is
equipped with seventy steam engines, of
which eight are river engines to protect the
shipping of the Thames. In most of the
towns of England the Are departments are
not as well organized as in our own, and
the machinery here is far behind the times.
They Have Better Halls.
There is one thing, however, which I And
much better hero than In the United States.
1 refer to the postal and telegraph services.
These are under the general government,
and are excellently well managed. If I re
member correctly our postal service Is run
at a loss. The English postal service makes
a proAt of about $18,000,000 a year, and
gives better malls at lower rates. You can
send a letter weighing four ounce to any
part of the united kingdom for a penny or
2 cents, and overweight costs a half penny,
or 1 cent for two ounces. You can send
parcels which weigh as much as eleven
pounds for 6 cents for the first pound
and 2 cent for each additional pound, and
the book post is about the same as ours.
The telegraphic service is lower than in
America. The cost of a dispatch to any
part of Great Britain and Ireland is 1 cent
a word the lowest charge being 12 cents,
and both adlress and signature being paid
for. In the general postofflce in East
London there is a tele eranh rnnm wVtora
600 men are emnlnvpri ronnivin .n .an
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lng dispatches, while in the basement there
are iour steam engines which supply the
pneumatic tubes by which the telegrams
are forwarded for delivery to the various
part of the city.
I like the postal savings bank system
which Is In use all over Great Britain, so
that every little village ha its savings
bank. You can deposit money wherever
there is a postofflce and the savings banks
are so well patronized that they now have
more than $600,000,000 on deposit. Such an
institution would be of the greatest good
to the United States, and if properly or
ganized would result in our holding every
cent of our own national debt.
American-London Exposition.
Dilring my stay in London I have been to
America's exposition at the Crystal Palace.
It is not a success either In the number of
its exhibitors nor the number of Its vis
itors. Indeed, you can see more American
goods In a walk along Plcadilly or the
Strand than you can at the Crystal Palace.
Many of the exhibitors complain that they
have been brought here under false pre
tenses, and It would have been much better
for them and for the reputation of the
United States if there had been no exposi
tion at all. As far as I can see, the whole
show consists of a fair display of Amor can
typewriters, a few machinery exhibits, an
American soda water fountain, a carprt
sweeper or so from Grand Rapids, a lawn
mower from New York, a patent beer bot
tle washer from Philadelphia, a kodak or
o and a half dozen spectacle sellers. The
spectacle seller have boxes of spctacli
(Continued on Seventh Pae.)