The City of Philadelphia

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Excerpt from The City of Philadelphia: As It Appears in the Year 1893January 30, The act of 1854, while a great advance, did not meet the evils, nor was its intent confirmed to nor its spirit observed by councils. They' neglected the exposure and corree tion of the abuses of the departments and usurped in fuller measure than ever before almost every form of executive duty. If the water department wanted a pump, it was the water committee which decided 011 the kind, style and horse power. If the highway department paved a street, it was the highway committee which supervised the letting, execution and approval of the contract. There was 110 general supeiw'ision of public work. A condition of affairs, which was bad enough in the Old City, became intolerable when carried into the immensely extended business of con solidated Philadelphia, which had assumed proportions which demanded the most intelligent system and responsible supervision to obtain e¿icient service and adequate returns for money expended. The financial management became more reckless every year, until the city was threatened with bank ruptcy. The most noticeable features of the act of consolidation that are new are the Ofiices of city controller and receiver of taxes, created by the act of 1854. The greatest improvements which took place during the period also had reference to finance. The constitution of 1874 placed a limit to the creation of funded debt, and the act of June 11, 1879, compelled the city to pay as you go. Very shortly after the consolidation act, one whose position gave him every opportunity to measure the defects of our system, and whose abilities entitled his opinion to the greatest weight, summed up in forcible English the radical defects in the organic law and pointed out the necessitv for intelligent legislation to cure those defects. The essence of our present charter, given by the act of 1885, known as the Bullitt Bill, is to be found in the second annual message of Hon. Richard Vaux, Mayor of Philadelphia, 1858.V The fifth period is that of the present charter, the act of 1885.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.