2o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a revenue in excess of interest and sinking fund for the bonds issued; 

 yet if we should acquire $100,000,000 of additional water front 

 now owned by private parties the borrowing capacity of the muni- 

 cipality would be reduced $10,000,000, and the income would suffer 

 the amount of taxes on the land acquired. There should be 

 adopted a constitutional amendment that would separate debts in- 

 curred for revenue-yielding investments, such as docks and water- 

 works, from those created for general public improvements. The 

 former should not be a charge against the borrowing capacity of 

 the city. 



The budget of the city for 1900 is $90,778,972.48, which 

 will be reduced $9,000,000 by the general fund, leaving some 

 $82,000,000 to be raised by taxation. The magnitude of this out- 

 lay for current expenses may be better understood by comparison 

 with the expenditures of other large cities. The approximate 

 current expenses of London last year were $73,000,000; of Paris, 

 $75,000,000; of Berlin, $23,347,600; of Boston, $35,454,588; of 

 Chicago, $32,034,008; of Philadelphia, $27,075,014. 



In 1899 the State tax paid by the city of New York amounted 

 to $6,275,659, or nearly seventy per cent of the whole; interest on 

 bonds absorbed $11,275,822, leaving $75,813,644 as the actual cost 

 of the current expenses of local government. The gross budget 

 represented a per-capita tax of $24.62 on 3,500,000 inhabitants, 

 of which $19.56 was for local expenses. Of this enormous expen- 

 diture more than $35,000,000 is paid out in salaries and wages 

 to 37,000 officers and employees. The Police Department cost 

 $12,000,000 a year, of which $10,700,000 is for salaries. New 

 York has 6,400 policemen. Philadelphia has 2,600, and the annual 

 cost of the department in that city is $3,100,000 a year — much 

 lower in proportion than that of the metropolis. 



The salaries and wages paid to all regular department em- 

 ployees, including policemen, firemen, street cleaners, and dock 

 builders, are higher than those paid in any other city in the world, 

 and almost without exception the rate has been fixed by act of the 

 State Legislature, and not by the local authorities. In the matter 

 of fixing the pay of officers and employees the city of New York 

 has never known any degree of home rule. 



The magnitude of the city in wealth and population has always 

 operated against economy in local government. There has existed, 

 apparently, an overwhelming popular sentiment in the city, as well 

 as throughout the State, that such a great municipality should pay 

 the maximum price for everything it might require. If this sen- 

 timent had been satisfied by the payment of high salaries and 

 wages it might have been excusable from some points of view; but 



