File:The New England magazine (1907) (14796565553).jpg

Identifier: newenglandmagaziv37bost (find matches)
Title: The New England magazine
Year: 1887 (1880s)
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Publisher: Boston : (New England Magazine Co.)
Contributing Library: Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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,000,000. Youwould naturally think that a corporationwith a total investment of $87,000,000 andan annual income of $24,000,000 couldat least pay its way as it went, and you mighteven reasonably expect it to be reducinginstead of enlarging its net debt. So itwould if it were a private corporation —or else it would speedily arrive in the handsof a receiver. The municipal corporationhas this advantage over your private cor-poration: that it cannot fail; it has behindit not only its own assets, but also the en-tire assets of the residents of the munici-pality. In this case, that means a billionand a quarter added to the $87,000,000owned by the city corporation. Why Bostons Vast Debt Grows Con-stantly The city of Boston should be paying offits debt. If its business was given incharge of a small board of experts — ex-pert business men, not expert politicians —its pay-rolls would be rid of several regimentsof tax-eaters, unnecessary employees, andthose who remained upon the rolls would
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WHATS THE MATTER WITH MASSACHUSETTS? 407 give a full days work for a days pay,which is far from being the case to-day.Nowhere in all New England is there sucha crying need for government by commis-sion as in the city of Boston. With four-teen aldermen and seventy-five council-men in the legislative department of thecity government, is it any wonder that thepublics funds are spent with lavish hand,and in large part in ways so veiled and con-fusing that only the inner circle of politi-cians and the chief beneficiaries really un-derstood how it is done ? Is it any wonderthat waste is everywhere apparent, sinceresponsibility is so widely diffused that thetaxpayer cannot fairly hold any one manto account for anything that takes place? Public Credit in Partnership with Pri-vate Profit Boston builds subways, under streetsand harbor, and leases them at nominalrates to the immensely profitable street-railway monopoly. She buys lands, forparks and institutions, and notoriouslypays more for it t

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