| Show A TALE OF TWO CITIES the city of greater new york will be brought into political existence on the first day of the year 1898 just four months hence it will be from the outset one of the greatest experiments in local government ever brought to a test on this continent if not in the world it will contain not far fr from am people a greater number than the ithe thirteen colonies had when they divorced themselves from great britain and exclusive of four certainly and five possibly larger than that of any state in the union it has some other interesting features for instance the colossal metropolis will b begin e its career with an annual expense account count of about which of course will steadily grow as time advances the first city officers will serve tor for a term of four years and during this time it to is estimated that the whole of the municipal itys expenditures 1 tures will reach the enormous at of or tor for every man woman and child the amount amoun t is almost inconceivable to the ordinary min dand must all be raised by taxation in one form or another the new york world shows that the number of employed emp loyes of the new city will average one week with another over the whole year round this being an army equal to half the population of salt lake city and two thirds as large as that of the state of nevada and the weekly payrolls will include more men and call for more money than the payrolls of the united states army and navy its public school system w will ill foot u up p of expense or more than one fourth of the interest on the national debt deb t it will also start out with a colossus in the shape of a debt of this being greater than the combined ned state debts of new york pennsylvania jersey an all or of england and the eight southern atlantic states the interest on the debt being per annum this array ray of figures can scarcely be otherwise than bewildering to the average reader and ye yet t they do not tell it all by any means here are some items which seem to have a more familiar sound the annual expenditures of greater yew new york for its public works its ita police fire and health services will aggregate not less than a year based on the items in the city b budgets gets of new york and brooklyn for last year this means a total disbursement bur ahr through ough these main cha channels n of expenditure during the term of the greater cites first mayor of that is more than the total annual cost of maintaining the united states army and navy lit it is more than the annual ull trall of great britain for the support of her army army of over officers and men and only less than the annual cost of maintaining the great navy with which she patrols every ocean and guards every coast line of aa an empire elare on which the sun never 1 I 1 ets I 1 i all of which represents a state of affairs which is causing the business men and newspapers to consider even as staunch a democratic sheet as the world foregoes partisanship in such an emergency and calls in no uncertain terms for a strong and capable man at the head of the city government supported throughout with men of the same caliber in other words politics should be eliminated and the best men that can be obtained for the various places regardless of political affiliations should be obtained the debt of salt lake city is proportionately tiona tely about as large as that of the great eastern metropolis will be when it enters its new estate and there are proportionately as many cogs cams and ratchets in the machinery that require the watchcase watch care of strong and capable hands it should also not be forgotten that while the dimensions of our obligations and responsibilities are not so great that is they do not spread out over so much paper just as high a degree of competency as masterful a condition of will power and as great a proficiency in business management are required to deal with the case in one place as the other in fine it is a state of things which calls for the very best materials we have and to say that these exist exclusively or at all within the lines of any particular political organization is to state a palpable absurdity each and every party has its efficient and honest men but neither of them has the very best for that would mean that in all others ability would be inferior by comparison seth low will doubtless be the candidate of the non partisans of greater new york tor for mayor he served two terms as mayor of brooklyn to the almost universal satisfaction of the people and is now at the head of one of the leading universities versi ties he is able dignified honest and firm and in matters of this kind recognizes no politics we can find a seth low in salt lake if we take the whole field for the search and it may be added that under such circumstances cum stances enough of the same kind of men can be found to fill up the ticket this might be done by either of the parties without going outside of its own membership and it might not experience teaches us to regard the latter as the logical sequence but with party lines ignored it is a moral certainty that the desired end would be attained why give up a certainty for an uncertainty when so much is at stake |
