. »■ •* :*iv: . '■ t ' . > • > * .•'• < OF THE TO Investigate H; U. SIMS^ Chairman JAMES BGWRON H. Au ELKOURIE^ M.D. WE. PERRYMAN WHiKETTlG R.;h. Deicer G. G. ELLIS A.F.HILLEKE BIRMINGHAM. ALA. ,; JANUARY, 1915 l*ReMIIEI« RRINTINO CO. 53ir- REPORT OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE TO INVESTI¬ GATE THE CITY’S EXPENDITURES. Birmingham, Ala., January 15, 1915. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee of One Hun¬ dred :— We, the undersigned Sub-Committee, appointed by you to examine and report upon the possibility of curtailing the City’s present expenditures, now respectfully submit our report. We were appointed by you on December 26, 1914, in re¬ sponse to a letter of Hon. George B. Ward, President of the Board of City Commissioners, a copy of which is hereto attached as Appendix I, requesting the appointment of a committee to make a thorough examination of the municipal work of the City of Birmingham and report their findings, together with their suggestions as to what branches of municipal service should be abolished in case the municipal revenues cannot be increased. Our examination has not been as detailed as the President of the City Commission seems to have desired, but the time within which the Committee of One Hundred must form their conclu¬ sions as to the relief for the City’s finances to be asked of the State Legislature, is growing short, and we feel that our conclusions of fact regarding the City’s affairs are sufficiently accurate to be made the basis of action by the General Com¬ mittee. To accomplish as complete an examination of the City’s operations as was possible under the circumstances, we divided our work into departments to correspond with the main di¬ visions of the City’s activities, and assigned one of our number to each division, the Chairman of this Sub-Committee being joined with the member to whom was allotted the largest de¬ partment, that under control of the Board of Education. Each member has made a separate report in writing upon his depart- ' 1 ment; and these reports, after being heard and considered by our Committee as a whole, have been adopted as the basis for this report of the Committee. These sub-reports are hereto attached as Appendixes II to X, and are made a part of this report. The allotment of departments was made as follows: Dr. Elkourie, Health and Sanitation, except street cleaning and sprinkling; Mr. Bowron, Highways and Street Cleaning and Sprinkling; Mr. Perryman, Fire Department; Mr. Kettig, Police and Detective Depart¬ ments; Mr. Walker, General Government; Mr. Shook, Charity, Recreation, Play Grounds, Parks and Li¬ braries; Mr. Ellis, Building Inspection, Electric In-* spection. Plumbing Inspection, Weights and Measures; Mr. Hilleke, Municipal Industries, North Birmingham Water Works and Electric Lighting Plant; and Mr. Sevier and Mr. Sims, Education. < / t Our conclusion as a whole is that the administration of the City’s affairs has been efficient and economical. The work of every department should be commended; and when we con¬ sider the fact that the City’s current income is far less than that of any other city in the country of 125,000 or more popu¬ lation, with one possible exception, it is surprising that we are getting so much for our money. Each of the appended sep¬ arate reports shows that if the public desire the continued de¬ velopment of all the present municipal departments, they must furnish more money rather than retrench; for none of them can be run much more economically and still justify their, ex¬ istence. This is particularly true of the Department of Health and Sanitation, the Department of Highways and Sewers, the Police Department and the Schools. So that the problem of re¬ ducing expenses is about what President Ward says in the let¬ ter asking the appointment of this Committee, the determin¬ ing on what branches of municipal service the people must give up. 2 It must be admitted that under public pressure expendi¬ tures have been made in some directions at a sacrifice to oth¬ ers which would seem to us more essential to the public safe¬ ty. Perhaps the most essential function of municipal govern¬ ment after the provision of water and light, is the protection of public safety by an ample Police Department. Our Police De¬ partment is much too small. At night we have only forty po¬ licemen on duty; with the result that in certain quarters of the town, not far from the very centre, grocery stores have been broken open almost every night by shattering the front windows; and personal assaults, and even homicides are not uncommon in many sections of the town, as a necessary result of the ut¬ ter inability of the police to cover the territory assigned to them. If the income of the City cannot be increased, it is evi¬ dent that many other departments should be cut off rather than further reducing the police force. Indeed, the Police Depart¬ ment should receive more funds, even at other departments’ expense; and in this connection the less important departments need not be specified, for if opinions materially differ, several departments might bear reduction proportionately to increase the fund for public safety. We do not wish to be understood as recommending the abolition of any branches of the City’s activity if revenues can be rajsed to supply them. They are all doing good work; and in the main there is little expense, so far as we have| been able to review the work, which admits of criticism in comparison with the accepted field of municipal government. A few changes, however, might be made to advantage, even if the present scale of current expenditures is not altered. We do not approve of the method in vogue of dispensing charity. The City spent last year nearly $19,000 in appropriations to charity, besides some $2,000 to maintain the Welfare Depart¬ ment; and most of this was donated to the various charitable institutions, without any apparent rule for determining the needs of each one. Some of them appear to us to be duplicate or¬ ganizations, and some of them are State institutions. 3 A Board of Public Welfare of which Mr. J. D. Moore is Chairman, was organized during the past year or two in re¬ sponse to a general demand that all charities be investigated; and it would seem that the distribution of municipal charities might well be entrusted to that or some similar agency, to the economic advantage of the City. Again we learn from the very full report of one of our Committee (Mr. Bowron) on the streets and their maintenance and repair, that considerable current expense is incurred in that department from the failure to extend pavements in cer¬ tain quarters where conditions warrant the property owners being required to pay for them. The streets in some of our most closely settled residence sections are still unpaved; and where they are hilly, “a street newly cherted may have ruts in some cases six or eight inches in depth cut by heavy rainstorms within a few months next ensuing. There are cases of streets being cherted three times within two years, and we think the expense of the department in such cases should be reduced by such a light form of pavement being put down as will at least be water proof,’’ instead of being carried by the general fund of the City. Similar economies in the current expenses, we learn from the same report, can be attained by a reasonable extension of the sanitary sewers into quarters from which sewage material is now hauled in City wagons. Surface closets alone, now cost the City’s general fund over $10,000 a year, much of which is an unjust expense to put upon the entire community, when the property owners immediately benefited should bear it by pay¬ ing for sanitary sewer extensions. Moreover, certain departments supposed to/ be self-sup¬ porting will bear careful consideration to determine whether the City is realizing from them what is believed. We have inves¬ tigated the public utilities, water works, and electric lighting plant owned and operated by the City in North Birmingham, and can see no economy to accrue to the City in the extension or 4 even in the continued operation of these plants in their present inadequate condition. We submit the above suggestions to the discretion of the City Commission with a view to the actual reduction of the municipal current expenses. We have now to call attention to certain administrative changes which could be made, we think, to the benefit of the City’s finances, even though the amount of money actually spent might not be materially less. The present deficit confronting the City of $880,460.22, accumulated during the three fiscal years ending September 30, 1914, and amounting now, including an estimate of the obliga¬ tions that have been incurred in excess of revenues during the last three months to about $1,000,000, has arisen in great part from making investments and outlays from the general reve¬ nues of the City which might more properly have been paid for by the proceeds of bonds issued specially for the several pur¬ poses. The fund from which the City pays interest on its bonded debt is not that which is causing anxiety: indeed it is accumulating into a sinking fund more rapidly than need be. Therefore, any expenditures now made from the general reve¬ nues which could be legitimately capitalized instead of being carried as yearly expense, should be met by bond issues, even though the issues be small and recurring every twO' years. At present something over $3000 per year is paid as rent for temporary quarters for schools, which might well be paid from the interest fund on a bond issue used to purchase build¬ ings, for the purpose to which rented buildings are now put. Again, the present accumulated deficit, includes something over $120,000 paid out of the general fund for the acquisition of lots for schools and improvements of school buildings; and little additions and constructions to provide more room for the schools seem to be made regularly from the general fund. Therefore, when deficiency bonds are issued as will probably be done again soon, the cost of these improvements is included in the deficit, when it might better be met by special bond issue, thereby reducing the class of bonds the amount of which is 5 limited by the State Constitution; for no city can issue bonds for general purposes to the amount of more than seven per cent, of the assessed valuation of the property in its limits, while bonds for school buildings are not counted in the restriction. On the same principle the present deficit was increased by about $140,000 on account of parks purchased during the last three years, and also by the cost of the new Avenue F prison, about $65,000. These are permanent investments to be used by the public indefinitely, and might well have been paid for by bonds issued expressly for the purpose. It is true, that such bonds could not be excluded from the limitation of seven per cent, on the assessed valuation of Birmingham property; and whenever the public debt is approaching that limit such pur¬ chases as parks should not be made. But outlays for the pur¬ chase of parks and prisons and fire stations are in no sense proper annual expense. In short, the $880,460.22 total deficit existing on Septem¬ ber 30, last, included large capital outlays, not merely those incidental to increasing the Fire Department, the Street De¬ partment apparatus, and other things required by a growing City, and of uncertain durability, but also some $360,000 of per¬ manent investments which the Commission have thought wise to make. This $120,000 of school structures and school lots should have been paid for by a school bond issue; and these parks and City buildings should have been paid for in special issues. And if the people did not want to vote for the issues, they would have known what they were foregoing for economy’s sake. A small issue of bonds is no objection to any one but the broker, who may want to buy them; it makes their payment easier for the public to meet at maturity, and encourages the purchases of securities at home. And if they sometimes sell at a slightly higher rate of interest than large issues, they cost the City no more than the present practice of buying on part payment notes or options, and meeting the maturing payments by loans from the banks. 6 The policy which has been pursued arose, no doubt, from the mistaken idea that the purchase of a park distributed over several years in small payments was as well provided for as if paid for in bonds; but the City’s present status in the eyes of the citizens, proves the fallacy of the policy. The real deficit, then, of the City Treasury for the three years ending September 30, 1914, should have been about $525,000, instead of $880,000, and that includes $100,000 interest on bills payable, part of which was paid to the banks to take up notes issued for time pay¬ ments on purchases, and part of which was paid upon these payments themselves, when such portions of the interest would have been carried by the interest fund if the purchases had been made with bonds at the time, thereby both relieving the general fund, and also avoiding the inclusion of any interest in the prin¬ cipal of the bonds when eventually issued. But it is just to the City Commission to observe, that they did not inaugurate this policy of making investments on time payments. They found the custom thoroughly in vogue, and in some instances could not correct it at once, even had they tried, because the notes were already issued, and to sub¬ stitute bonds for them before maturity would present legal dif¬ ficulties. The conclusion must not be formed, however, that be¬ cause some of the City’s deficit could have been avoided, all of it was unnecessary. The operation of municipal corpora¬ tions involves what are called ordinary running expenses and in addition what are called extraordinary running expenses, the whole being styled governmental cost. For the last fiscal year, the ordinary current expenses exceeded the revenues by about $150,000, and doubtless unavoidably; but during the two pre¬ ceding years the ordinary revenues and expenses were not ma¬ terially apart. Ordinary expenses can be foreseen, and so are easily pro¬ vided for. It is the extraordinary expenses which cause con¬ cern, expenses which are just as necessary as ordinary expenses, and which must be expected every year, but in variable amounts, 7 like renewals and extensions to the fire equipment and street equipment, and Health Department equipment. These expenses in nearly every city in the country of the size of Birmingham are met from the current revenues, or general fund, and our gen¬ eral fund must be large enough to cover them or deficiency bonds will continue to be issued and the City’s bonded debt will there¬ by continue to pile up. So far the bonded debt is not alarmingly large, and an interest fund and sinking fund are being wisely guarded to care for it; but there are limits to the interest fund, and we urge the prudence of having no more deficiency bonds after the pres¬ ent deficiency is funded, unless unforeseen conditions arise. We reiterate that we do not recommend the abolition of any branch of the City’s activities, if revenues can be raised to supply them all; but we were requested to express our opinion where reduction should be made if no material increase in reve¬ nues for the City is obtained by authority of the Legislature and the public. We will, therefore, point the way where re¬ trenchment can be made with the least apparent harm to the general welfare, and it is for the public to say whether they de¬ sire it instead of any plans for relief which may be presented. First, of course, some salaries would have to be reduced; and that would require beginning the reduction at the Commis¬ sioners themselves, whose salaries, though not large as elective offices with the attendant expense of campaigns, are out of proportion to other elective offices in the State. By reducing the Commissioners’ salaries to $5000 each, something over $5000 a year would be saved. Next the salaries of all heads of de¬ partments should probably be fixed at the same salary as that of the head of the legal department, $3600 a year, making a sav¬ ing of $2,600. Then in the license department there might be a saving of $480, and in the engineer’s office an assistant might be dispensed with, at a saving of $2200. Then the offices of City Health Officer and that of City Physician might be combined at a saving of $1,200. Then, if the revenues cannot be increased there might be a cut of 10 per cent, on all salaries of $100, 8 and over, in the Fire Department, thereby saving about $4000, not to mention possible cuts of some salaries in other departments. Thus the salary saving would be at least $15,000. If the salaries of the Commission were reduced to $5000, the salary of the superintendent of schools ought probably to be reduced to something below $5000, which it is at present; but in that event, that officer should be furnished an automobile, whereas he now attends to his duties in his own car. So the reduction on his salary would not be an important saving, if any. In that department a large saving could be made, how¬ ever, by abolishing all free school books, costing last year $16,- 815.17. Free school books cost $11,600 in 1913, and about $6300 in 1912. They began in 1911. Thus about $17,000 could be saved in the Educational Department.. Then if the people desire to reinstate the tuition of $2 a month per pupil formerly charged in the high schools, an emer¬ gency revenue of at least $18,000 might be added from that source. Coming then to the Departments which might be tempo¬ rarily suspended, or thrown upon popular support for exis¬ tence, we would begin by cutting off the City Beautiful Plan¬ ning Department at a saving of $1200; then cut off all aid to charities together with the Welfare Department, thereby sav¬ ing $21,000; then cut off the playgrounds, $4,300; then the .Avondale Zoo, $1775; then all attention to the parks beyond keeping them generally clean, thereby saving about $20,000; and lastly cut $9,000 of the $15,000 now appropriated to the libraries. These suggestions, if adopted, would avoid about $107,000 of the current expenses, without considering the saving which might be made if every economy is observed in extraordinary expenses to be met during the coming year, and which of course cannot be estimated in advance. We may also note that the City might save an additional $24,000 a year in the annual ordinary expenses of water from fire hydrants by accepting the urgent offer of the Birming- 9 ham Water Works Company to re-enact the contract for re¬ duced rates which was repudiated by the people before the present litigation was started. The offer seems to be conditioned upon the City’s with¬ drawing its present litigation against them involving their franchises; and the merits of litigation we do not pretend to decide. But, of course, the offer should be carefully consid¬ ered if no increased revenue is obtained, and since the offer seems to be urged as a compromise for good of the City finances as well as for the water company, we presume that it will not be withdrawn before the City’s financial situation is determined. It is well for the public to consider now whether they de¬ sire the City government to be conducted on the above ex¬ tremely reduced scale; and we hope it will not become neces¬ sary to do so; but if no revenue is provided, the economies we have suggested and many others not now capable of indentifi- cation, undoubtedly must be instituted. We must remember, moreover, that some of the present sources of revenue mjly be soon cut off. During the last fiscal year the City received about $142,500 revenue from liquor licenses, and it appears that state-wide prohibition will be in force by July 1, 1915. In the light of that probability economy or increased revenue will be even more necessary than it is now. After having completed our investigations this sub-com¬ mittee was charged with the additional duty of investigating the sinking fund maintained by the City for the discharge of the bonded indebtedness when it reaches maturity. It has seemed unnecessary to adopt the suggestion to em¬ ploy a;'special accountant to verify the figures given us by Pres¬ ident Ward as shown by the Comptroller’s books for this fund, since we have not employed an accountant to verify the offi¬ cial statements from the books for other funds and depart¬ ments of the City government. Accepting the statement furnished us as true, therefore, the sinking fund was $18,662.02 on January 1, 1907, and had 10 accumulated, on September 30, 1914, to $267,169.80, about $131,000 of which was acquired during the last fiscal year of that period. The law requires one half of all the present in¬ come from taxes on real and personal property to be applied first to interest on outstanding bonds, and then to a sinking fund for their redemption. And therefore just as the property taxes increase, the sinking fund increases in proportion. For some time after 1899 when the sinking fund began by law, the interest on the bonds was more than the half of the property taxes required to be set apart for it, so that there was no sink¬ ing fund at all until 1905 when the taxes first became enough to provide one. Exactly how the sinking fund should be invested, causes some trouble, however. Our recommendation would be to use any portion of it not held for immediate redemption in the purchase of the City bonds outstanding. Respectfully submitted, HENRY UPSON SIMS, Chairman, JAMES BOWRON, E. SEVIER, H. A. EEKOURIE, M. D., W. E. PERRYMAN, W. H. KETTIG, ^ R. H. WALKER, G. C. ELLIS, A. F. HILLEKE, P. G. SHOOK. 11 CITY OF BIRMINGHAM BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS. APPENDIX I. December 20 , 1914. Hon. S. J. Bowie, Chairman, City. Dear Sir:—In view of the statement made by several citizens that retrenchments sufficient to off¬ set the deficit should be made in the budget, would it not be well to have Tuesday’s meeting appoint ‘a strong sub-committee of, say, five or ten men, to make a thorough examination of our municipal work and report their findings. This committee should make the work thorough, for, in my opinion, most of the dissatisfaction now existing is due to lack of information as to the wide scope and magnitude of this city’s work and the direct benefit of such work to each tax-payer. The problem this committee will be confronted with is not so much the reduction of salaries, as many seem to think, but a question of cutting out entire departments. This means they must single out the particular branches of municipal service that shall be dispensed with. For instance, if the Fire Department is touched, what stations and how many will be abandoned? If none are abandoned and the number of men to a station reduced, how shall it be arranged to man the machines and get them to a fire? As the question of salaries seems to be more acute than any other, it may be well to say here that if all the cuts in salaries that have been proposed were put 12 into effect, hardly one-tenth of the deficit would be provided for. Therefore, since it will narrow down to a prop¬ osition as to what branches of municipal service the people must give up, it seems fair that they or their representatives should have a chance to say which departments these shall be. If this suggestion meets the approval of your meeting, the Commission will be glad to co-operate and furnish all information that may be desired to the sub-committee. I have the honor to be. Yours most respectfully, (Signed) GEO. B. WARD, President. APPENDIX II. Birmingham, Ala., January 6, 1915. Mr. H. U. Sims, Chairman, City. Dear Mr. Sims—Pursuant to your request, I have endeavored to investigate thoroughly both the San¬ itary and Health Departments of the City. Bearing in mind the present financial condition of the City, I determined to find a place in these Departments, where I could for the benefit of the City recommend a reduction in expenditures, and thereby save the City some funds; but I am forced by overwhelming evidences to recommend the diametrically opposite to what I believed I would do in the beginning, viz: An increased force and thus an increased expendi¬ ture in both of the Departments I have herein al¬ luded to. The health of the people of this great City must be guarded, and no degree of efficiency is too great for 13 the perpetual welfare of the community in matters of health. The present force, on account of the great area which Birmingham occupies, is absolutely in¬ adequate to render a thorough, necessary and bene¬ ficial service such as needed in this mos'*’ important Department. I have gone into the question of salaries in these Departments very minutely, and I find that the salaries are in all instances, with perhaps one ex¬ ception, reasonable, and in many instances below normal. I, therefore, unhesitatingly say that in the De¬ partments of Health and Sanitation the City of Bir¬ mingham is much in need of additional force and expenditures. In conclusion I am prepared to verify my statements by evidence uncontradictable, and it will be a pleasure for me to demonstrate to any citizen of Birmingham the justification of my position. Very respectfully yours, DR. H. A. ELKOURIE. APPENDIX III. Birmingham, Ala., January 2, 1915. Mr. H. U. Sims, Chairman, Steiner Building, City. My Dear Sir:—Pursuant to the instructions re¬ ceived from you, I have, in company with City Com¬ missioner Weatherly, Street Commissioner Gafford, and City Engineer Kendrick, visited and inspected the work and methods of the Street Department of the City of Birmingham. This inspection has nec¬ essarily included the subject of sewers and the col¬ lection and disposition of garbage and other refuse, for the reason that this responsibility rests entirely upon the Street Department, and is discharged by it. 14 In the course of this inspection I have visited North and East Birmingham, East Lake, Woodlawn, Avon¬ dale, North and South Side, West End, Graymont, Ensley, Fairfield and Wylam. During the inspec¬ tion at Ensley I had the company and benefit of an¬ other member of the committee, Mr. A. F. Hilleke. I found that the City of Birmingham has ap¬ proximately 400 miles of streets in use and 200 miles of alleys, besides 250 miles of dedicated streets which are not in general use; 300 miles of sanitary sewers, and 215 miles of storm sewers. The streets in use would reach in a straight line from Chattanooga to Mobile, and yet the 600 miles of streets and alleys and 500 miles of sewers have only 150 men to look after them for the purpose of daily labor in main¬ tenance, of repairs, cleaning and removing trash, refuse and filth. The distance to be covered within the city limits from East Eake to Wylam is about 15 miles, or an average of 10 men per mile of City. I think this statement is sufficient to show that the force is inadequate. The main streets and avenues I have found to be in excellent condition, considering the weather exist¬ ing in the middle of winter, and the cross streets in fair condition. In the course of a day and a half of active automobile travel going from point to point, I have found only one district that could be called in bad condition, namely. East Birmingham; this partly due to the overflow of the creek which has largely filled up its bed with gravel brought down by storms and overflows throughout the district. An under¬ taking to straighten and deepen and confine this creek to its borders is highly desirable, but will be costly, and it would be out of the question that the property of that neighborhood should be assessed with the cost. With the inspection of this district I have been surprised to find the small proportion of street area 15 which is in a defective, or even dirty condition, and I am greatly surprised at the amount of work which is accomplished with so small a staff. The work arising out of the streets may be di¬ vided into two classes: (a) that of construction; (b) of maintenance and cleansing. The work of con¬ struction is performed by contractors who receive their contracts after a competitive bidding. It is nec¬ essary, under the statute, to define in an improvement ordinance the nature of the material proposed to be used, and therefore the City resorts to a pro forma bidding, at which the various contractors make their bids, designating the material which they will fur¬ nish, and the City Commission, with the advice of the City Engineer, decides upon the most advanta¬ geous bid and the material involved; then passes a permanent ordinance, and takes a formal bid, having the guarantee of the previous bidder that he will maintain his previous offer. The paved streets of the City include ten different classes, and are as fol¬ lows : Kind of Paving. Miles. Wood block_1.28 Brick_14.40 Asphalt_4.17 Granite block_2.17 Concrete_2.43 Asphaltic concrete_4.03 Granitoid_ .91 Bitulithic_20.74 Rock asphalt_ .45 Bituminous binder_8.31 58.89 16 There has been some confusion in the past with reference to the construction of paved streets, owing to the efforts of rival contractors upon petitions to obtain recommendations of abutting property owners as to the material to be used, thus exciting some measure of rivalry. This has also led to some variety in the classes of pavement put down, and, in some cases, there has been doubtless misunderstanding on the part of property owners as to the ultimate cost to accrue from the improvement for which they were signing the petition, especially in the case of the owners of corner lots, which have been charged with an extra amount for the intersection of the streets. As a result of this, some pavements have been put down, even before the commencement of the City Commission regime, which have been more costly than was satisfactory to the property owners, and protests and refusals to pay have been very numerous. In addition to this, a great deal of work was under¬ taken by the different adjacent municipalities prior to their incorporation with the City of Birmingham- under the act of the Legislature creating Greater Bir¬ mingham. Claims were made in various cases that these ordinances were technically incorrect, and therefore invalid, and the refusals to pay were very numerous. I am informed that the City Commission, in its early days, had nearly or quite 5,000 cases pend¬ ing of this character, and that the greater/part of the time of the Commissioner of Streets for his first two years in office was required to be devoted to straight¬ ening out these disputes on the best terms obtainable. Some had to be litigated, and others had equity in them and compromises were made. It is estimated that in the aggregate the City may have lost $290,- 048.31 on this ground. N. B.—(Page 4) of which $237,352.72 is charged against the annexed towns. 17 Progress is being made, however, and this De¬ partment appears to be now well systematized and the system of petitioning by rival pavement salesmen has been discontinued. The Commission has the authority to order a street to be paved where it deems it necessary, but, out of consideration for the abutting property owners, it has been very patient and sought in every way to avoid forcing pavements contrary to the wishes of the neighborhood. I feel that in this matter some injustice is done to the City at large and the expense of the Department unreasonably in¬ creased. I have heard some criticism as to the wisdom of paving Twenty-sixth Street, and inspected the work being done there. There were two reasons for se¬ lecting Twenty-sixth Street in preference to Twenty- fourth or Twenty-fifth: First, that it admitted of a 3 per cent, grade, being the easiest haulage street now existing between the central city and North Birmingham. Second, that the cut necessary to accomplish this involved a change of the grade of the street, and, owing to the land on both sides being in the posses¬ sion of one owner who waived claims for damages, w’hereas, if either of the other streets had been se¬ lected there would have been a hundred owners with whom to settle or litigate such claims. On account of the street railroad bearing a substantial part of the expense, the city is only assuming about $4,000 apart from the amounts which will be collected by assess¬ ment, and the establishment of a north and south bou¬ levard is of sufficient importance to justify this ex¬ penditure. Other extensions of the paved streets are highly desirable. It is not yet, however, entirely a settled question as to the most desirable material to be employed. The wood block pavement and bitulithic are extremely satisfactory for heavy traffic, but the 18 crying need of the City is for a lighter and cheaper pavement for residential or light traffic streets which will wear well and turn the moisture. Experiments along this line are still being made, and the City Engineer is keeping in close touch with the experi¬ ence of other cities. In the maintenance and keeping in repair of these streets, the paved streets are infinitely better as call¬ ing for little attention. Where an upper crown has been given to the surface so as to shed the water, these streets should wear almost indefinitely. Bir¬ mingham is noted for its wide streets and avenues, but in the residential districts this very width imposes an unreasonable tax upon the city; in the case of un¬ paved streets; to lay the dust in summer or to remove the mud in winter. The very width prevents a proper camber being given to the section, and the wide flat streets wear into holes. This is a hilly city, and it is impossible to main¬ tain a macadamized street on a hillside against ero¬ sion. A street newly cherted may have ruts in some cases six or eight inches in depth cut by heavy rain¬ storms within a few months next ensuing. There are cases of streets being cherted three times within two years, and I think the expense of the Department in such cases should be reduced by such a light form of pavement being put down as will at least be water¬ proof, and that the owners of the adjacent property ought to be willing to bear this expense, instead of it becoming incumbent on the general fund of the city. I found that the question of keeping the streets clean, which involves the removal of disagreeable or offensive matter, links itself with the sanitation of the City. The Health Department handles all questions of inspection, but the physical removal of all refuse, garbage and the contents of surface closets, dead ani- 19 mals, etc., is handled entirely by the Street Depart¬ ment, with the limited force already specified. I con¬ sider this arrangement as decidedly advantageous over the separate handling, which has been sometimes proposed. It permits an elastic distribution of wagons and of the convict force, so that a shortage at one point may be made good from another in a way which could not be done to produce the same efficiency if there were two separate and distinct forces employed, of men and wagons, involving separate foremen and superintendents. At the present time, the cost of the Street Commissioner is prorated between the two departments. I attach hereto a schedule of the sal¬ aries and rates of wages paid in this department. The system of accounting is good. A record is kept of the places where each separate squad has worked each day, showing the number of men employed, either free labor orconvict, the name of the foreman orguard, the number of loads of dirt, slag, chert or sanitary refuse moved. The distribution of cost in the Comp¬ troller’s office appears to be accurate and intelligent. None of the work in this Department is performed by contract, and no free labor is employed except for foremen and for the drivers of the wagons, who, in many cases, must carry the loads alone to their des¬ tinations and return, and it would be entirely too ex¬ pensive to employ convicts in that capacity, as they must be guarded. From my own experience in the employment of labor, I do not consider any of the salaries or wages paid in this Department as exces¬ sive or unreasonable. The combined oversight of hundreds of miles of streets and sewers, the distribu¬ tion of 150 men over a city 15 miles in length, charged with the responsibility of maintaining and repairing the streets and sewers, the removal of all refuse, and the care and custody of the convicts and mules so em¬ ployed demands a high order of executive ability, and 20 I think that the City is ably served by Mr. F. H. Gaf- ford, and that he is producing results that are dis¬ tinctly to be commended. The convict labor is charged against the respec¬ tive jobs on which it is employed by the City Comp¬ troller at the actual cost of maintenance of the pris¬ ons. This figure appearing on his books, including the item of guarding, which has heretofore been dis¬ tributed separately, and which I think should be merged with the prison costs for accounting pur¬ poses, is 93.2 cents per head per day of labor obtained. This includes, however, the entire cost of the North Side and Ensley prisons, which should be divided to ascertain the proper cost of the maintenance of streets and sewers, as the North Side prison is used for de¬ tention purposes, and practically half of the Ensley prison also. Assuming then the entire cost of Avenue F prison and half the cost of Ensley, a figure appears of 71.6 cents per head per day as the actual cost for each day’s labor. This is made up as follows: Sala¬ ries, 6.9; expense, 0.2; general supplies, 3.1; repairs, 2.4; guards, 27.8; food, 22.2; fuel and power, 3.4; water, 1.1; clothing, shoes, etc., 4.6; totalling 71.6. The supplies, both for the prisons and for the City’s use generally are purchased in bulk and carload lots of feed for the mules brought to the city warehouse and unloaded right into the bins in convenient proximity to the mule lot. The new city jail at Avenue F is light, clean, commodious and sanitary, absolutely fire¬ proof, and every part of it can be and is washed down daily. It is so arranged as to be very economical in guarding, heating, cooking and cleaning, and I can¬ not see any economy to be effected there. It is fair to point out that if all the prisoners handled in the last fiscal year at Avenue F daily had been able to labor, 60,189 days work would have been had, whereas the above cost was predicated upon 44,104 days ac- 21 tually had, there being certain number of women on hand and of men unable to labor at street cleaning or repair work, the cost of whose maintenance is nec¬ essarily included in the above figures. The cost of guarding is the only element in the labor cost which appears to me somewhat excessive, and this is un¬ avoidable where the great extent of the area to be served requires the subdivision of men into such nu¬ merous squads, a guard being required even for a single team laboring with two or three convicts. It is a question that may be properly considered as to whether, instead of letting the construction of new streets by contract, this work might not be under¬ taken by the City and handled with convict labor where 25 or 50 convicts could be worked at one place, with four to six guards. This would greatly reduce the cost of guarding. As to the relative efficiency of such labor, compared with free labor, it is hard to offer an opinion without definite figures for comparison. I am disposed to think from my observation that for the class of work performed, which, in some cases, is disagreeable, higher wages would require to be paid to attract free labor, and that the use of the convicts at the cost above stated is an economy to the City. In the distribution of material for street repairs chert is obtained in large quantities at 60 cents per cubic yard delivered at railroad siding, or through a flat rate quoted by the street railroad company at 80 cents per cubic yard delivered at any point within the city limits reached by the street car tracks. This diminishes materially the amount of haulage, and without such an arrangement the present work could not be performed by the existing staff. The expense of haulage of garbage has been con¬ siderably reduced by the abolition of city dumps and a source of great annoyance and menace to health has also in this way been removed by the substitution of 22 crematories for the incineration of the street refuse. The one visited at Ensley appeared to be working fairly well, but not giving sufficient heat to enable it to handle the large quantities of tin cans, which have to be separated from the refuse and are forming un¬ sightly and large collections. Some plans are under consideration for dealing with this subject. The removal of refuse from the surface closets is a serious tax upon the city, and is costing at this moment $10,000 per annum. Some doubt is expressed as to whether the construction of sanitary sewers and connection with them will ever overtake this condi¬ tion. The tendency is continually to build in outlying areas, even in advance of the construction of sewers, and the City has been lenient in forcing connections during depressed conditions of business, on account of the expense to property owners of the plumbing, which it is necessary to install, and which amounts to quite as much as the pro rata charge for sanitary sewer. In the interest of health, however, as well as economy, it seems desirable that the construction of sanitary sev/ers should be pushed steadily wherever conditions seem to make it fair and reasonable that this charge should be imposed upon the property owners. The abolition of the surface closet is also a necessity incident to the abolition of typhoid. In this connection, whilst not entirely within the scope of my assignment, I am compelled to point out that the City has outgrown the original provision of sanitary sewers, and that at some time in the future considerable expense must be incurred in the enlarge¬ ment of the system. Contemplating, therefore, this necessity, which may take the shape of trunk sewer, involving perhaps a larger expense than may be deemed entirely proper to be borne by abutting prop¬ erty, and considering also the necessity which I have previously pointed out, for the construction of cul- 23 verts or storm sewers to handle creek and gully storm washes, some part of which may, from the nature of the surrounding property, be assumed by the City, it seems to me impossible that any material reduction can be made in the cost of the street and sewer de¬ partment, and that, on the contrary, to give satisfac¬ tion to the citizens, a larger force ought to be em¬ ployed, and a larger expenditure undertaken. In this connection it seems entirely proper to point out that a sum of 2 mills upon the entire assessed value of the City of Birmingham is collected by Jefferson County for roads and bridges, and I am informed that this amounted in the year just past to $169,874.59, of which only $21,574.19 was contributed as a refund from the County to the City. If, by proper legisla¬ tion, either in the direction of constituting the City of Birmingham itself a separate County, or a sep¬ arate taxing district with a right to expend within its own area the taxes collected, this money could be retained, it would be possible greatly to relieve the cit¬ izens by the steady improvement of the Street and Sewer Department, and, at the same time, to relieve the City Treasury, for a force could then be employed and paid out of the tax thus collected which would be adequate to build all the new paved streets which are required for the development of traffic, and for the prevention of erosion, which work, so far as equitable, would be paid for, as at present, by the abutting property, and, as a sub-committee, I respect¬ fully report to 3^ou that this seems to me the proper action for our committee to recommend to the Gen¬ eral Committee of One Hundred. Yours very truly, JAS. BOWRON. 24 COv o CM q o q G 00 uS Tt InI CM o 00 H o 00^ iq CM_ q H tvT y—l' cm" 1—r CO CjO- CO- c CQ 3 O Tf Tf 00 £ 3 o\ VO o vd 00 a> lO (M o? o cc 00 o a; o cm" JZ co- CO- tn fc4 o 00 00 Ov ON ON ov M- M- CO- co- VO VO tt (V fe o fM o8 O) £ 1-H tn o\ vd CO ^ CO . VO T—I lO VO O VO 00 Ov 00 o o ■n* co cvT y^ ro Cv' o o Tt- 00 (M •s CM CM CM CM d 'O V-c « COV ^o- co CM vO «JO CO q. m- Vi O CM O ' CJv 00 G ii a G G < W O u-> CM Q< 3. CM 0\ • CM 3 00 Ov I 00 o VO ro cq co_^ O «> -r-T 3 O CO- co- o Q> in 00 VO • Tt 3 CM o 0^ 3. cd Tt" I 00 CM r—i ^ 00 co- co- • o • • o ai CM • • CM CM • • CM CO CO vO CtJ q_ • • q_ q cc co" • • co" co- 1 t • • 1 1 CO- bfi c . rt 1 1 1 T « ’O 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 G ^ tg JS Vh t 1 o G O 1 1 1 I I 1 < 4-> 03 d3 » d in ;-i $ 126,000.00 35,000.00 60,000.00 200,000.00 125,000.00 90,854.00 60,000.00 110,680.00 7,500.00 60,000.00 1,200.00 ' 35,700.00 _ 6,500.00 _ 1,000.00 _ 70,000.00 _ 90,000.00 _ 2,500.00 _ 15,000.00 $1,200.00 $1,125,7 34.00 64 PARKS—EXHIBIT Park Maintenance for 1913-1914—Fiscal Year. Park Expenses: Salaries -$9,396.67 Expenses _ 674.60 General supplies_ 24.01 Repairs and replacements_ 1,606.97 Forage, shoeing and care of horses_ 360.00 Fuel and power- 30.65 Water_ 135.08 Street improvements_ 6,346.92 Sewer improvements_ 992.92 Avondale Park improvement_ 77.60 Capitol Park music_ 600.00 Ensley Park improvement_ 381.01 Lakeview Park improvement_1,051.76 North Birmingham Park improvement 846.62 North Haven Park improvement_ 141.18 Pratt City Park improvement_ 705.13 Pratt City Park pavilion_ 985.30 West End Park improvement_ 129.98 Woodlawn Park improvement_ 833.64- $25,220.04 Park Equipment: Equipment _ 64.00 Total park maintenance_ $25,284.04 65 Parks: PARKS—EXHIBIT Salary List. Month. 1 Superintendent - _ _$95.00 $95.00 1 Keeper--- __60.00 60.00 3 Keepers -__ _ _ _ _ _ 50.00 150.00 Day. 1 Laborer _ — — - _ - 2.00 50.00 3 Laborers _ _ — - _ _ 1.50 112.50 1 Laborer _ _ _ -- 1.35 33.75 1 Laborer _ _ - - _ .50 12.50 17 Laborers--- - _ 1.25 531.25 Total_ $1,045.00 LIBRARY—EXHIBIT “A” The Public Library Board spent from city funds during the year ending September 30, 1914, $12,000.02. The character of these expenditures is indicated below: Binding_$821.61 Most of this was for binding books worn out by use. Some of it was for binding complete volumes of magazines that are worth preserving for reference use. Book shelves_$157.99 The shelves were crowded at the beginning of the year, and as 10,000 new books were purchased many new shelves were necessary. All shelves were built of pine at a low contract price. Coal _$69.00 For branch libraries, express, freight and drayage_ 67.06 Furniture_147.47 New tables, enlarged loan desk, typewriter desks and chairs for Central Library and tables and chairs for new East Lake branch. Insurance _24.29 66 Lights and lighting___ 210.14 Globes for all libraries and current for the branches. Postage _$ 21.00 Printing _ 38.40 Repairs and permanent improvements_ 112.47 Salaries _ 9,497.17 (See itemized list—Exhibit “B”) Stationery _ 67.25 Supplies _ 617.94 Includes cataloging supplies, application blanks, book cards, borrowers’ cards, typewriter supplies, book mending material and other similar items. Telephone_ 32.00 Traveling expenses_ 32.50 Expenses of director before his appointment when he came at the invitation of the Library Board for a personal interview. Typewriter_ 75.00 Water_ 8.73 $12,000.02 LIBRARY—EXHIBIT “B” All the people listed below were on the staff for at least several months of the fiscal year ending September 30, 1914, at the same salaries, except Miss Robb and Miss Gadihle. These two were apprentices without pay for six months or more, before they were put on the pay roll in October. The total of this monthly pay roll multiplied by twelve gives a sum considerably larger than the salary expenditures of the last fiscal year. The reason for this is that members of the staff were added near the middle of the year. The additions to the staff became necessary because of the large number of books that were added after the book fund campaign, and be¬ cause of the greatly increased use of the library by the public. (See Exhibit “C.”) 67 December Pay Roll. Carl H. Milam, Director and Secretary-$208.33 A. B. University of Oklahoma. One year N. Y. State Library School. Ten years library experience. Formerly Secretary and State Organizer, Public Li¬ brary Commission of Indiana. Lila May Chapman, Vice-Director-$90.00 A. B. Wesleyan Female College, Macon, Ga. Graduate Carnegie Library School, Atlanta. Eight years experience. Formerly Librarian Birmingham Public Library. Mrs. C. P. Engstfeld, Cataloger_$75.00 Two years college work. Graduate N. Y. Public Library School. Six years library experience. For¬ merly Assistant N. Y. Public Library. Emily Van Dorn Miller, Reference Librarian_$75.00 A. B. Sophie Newcomb College, New Orleans. One year N. Y. State Library School. Four years library experience. Formerly assistant Minneapolis Public Library. Theresa B. Hood, General Assistant and Librarian, East Lake branch_$60.00 Graduate Alabama Synodical College for Wo¬ men. Graduate Carnegie Library School, Atlanta. Four years library experience. Formerly assistant New York Public Library. Doris M. Hanson, Librarian, West End branch_$50.00 Graduate Wisconsin University Library School. Mrs. Edith Edwards, Librarian, Ensley branch_$50.00 Certificate from Indiana Public Library Commis¬ sion Summer School for Librarians. One and one- • half years library experience. Pearl Sandifer, Librarian, Woodlawn branch_$50.00 Certificate from Indiana Public Library Commis¬ sion Summer School for Librarians. Three years li¬ brary experience. 68 !vlrs. J. D. Ellis, Librarian, Avondale Library_$50.00 Five years library experience. Jessie Bilbrey, Stenographer_$50.00 Graduate, Commercial Course, Central High School, Birmingham.. Lillian Gregory, Night and Sunday Assistant_$30.00 Four years experience. Librarian Birmingham College. Ruth Clem, Attendant_$30.00 Apprentice course, this library. Eleven months experience. Fannie Partlow, Attendant_$30.00 Apprentice course, this library. Sixteen months experience. Sara Robb, Attendant_$30.00 Apprentice course, this library. Eight months experience. Jeanie Gadihle, Attendant, half time Ensley branch_$15.00 Apprentice course, this library. Ten months ex¬ perience. Ruth Chiles, Sunday Attendant, Ensley branch_$4.00 Maid, Central Library_20.00 Three janitors in branches, each $10.50i_31.50 Summer salary, $8.50. One janitor. East Lake branch (no furnace there) Total present monthly pay roll, $954.83. 6.00 LIBRARY—EXHIBIT ‘‘C.” Some figures that explain why the staff is larger now than it was a year ago. Some Comparisons for Nov., 1913, and Nov., 1914. Percentage Nov. 1913 Nov. 1914 Increase Books added -— - _ 344 1,055 307fo Books cataloged _ - 274 1,118 308 New borrowers registered 326 1,137 249 Books issued for home use 10,866 23,339 115 Expenditures from city funds- _ 598 $1,233 106 Library of 1912-13 Compared With Library 1913-14. Year ending Year ending Percentage Sept. 30,1913 Sept. 30,1914 of increase City appropriation , $7,677(1) $12,000 56.3% Volumes in library , 28,064 37,991 35.3 Net gain in volumes during year _ . 3,749 9,927 164.3 Home Issue .127,102 179,434 41.1 Registered borrowers __ . 15,094 20,637 35.6 Number registered dur- ing year_ . 3,094 5,539 79. Magazines bound 60 115 91.6 Volumes rebound 551 1,909 246.4 Volumes catalogued dur- ing year . 4,764 9,344 96.1 Visitors to reference rooms . 10,381 14,421 38.8 Visitors to reading rooms _ - . 45,406 63,839 40.5 Number libraries in sys- tern__ 5 6 20. Number people on staff . 8 13 62.5 (1) Estimated. Library was managed by School Board, and the library expenses were not kept separate from other school board expenses. 70 LIBRARY EXHIBIT No person, except one stenographer, is employed in the library who has not had library school training or library ex¬ perience. A six-months apprentice course is given to those who wish to enter the library service without attending a library school. Applicants for positions as apprentices must pass an examination showing that they have the equivalent of a high school education. The beginning salary for those who com¬ plete the apprentice course and are employed is $30 a month. Promotions are to be m^ade only after an examination is given. Each member of the staff, except the Director and Vice- Director is required to sign a time sheet morning, noon and evening. Lost time must be made up at such a time as is sat¬ isfactory to the Department head. There is no killing time while on duty. Works is so ar¬ ranged that every member of the staff is busy every minute of the day. A General Staff meeting is held once each month. A re¬ view of some recent book, not a novel, is required of each member of the staff, talks are made, and there is discussion of topics of interest to all. The five Branch Librarians meet with the Director for a few minutes every Wednesday morning to discuss the library work in the branches. Following this meeting they spend two or three hours looking up reference questions for their patrons, and doing such other work as will keep them informed about new books added and new activities begun at the Central Li¬ brary. The Library Board demands of all its employes not only a good general education, special library training, and a defi¬ nite number of hours of conscientious service each week, but also a genuine enthusiasm for the work that the Public Library is trying to do. 71 LIBRARY EXHIBIT “E.” Annual per capita cost of public libraries in eleven cities, five next larger and five next smaller than Birmingham: St. Paul _ .24 Columbus___ .18 Toledo _ .10 Oakland _ .48 Atlanta _ .12 Birmingham _ .08 Worcester _ .36 Syracuse _ .29 New Haven_ .25 Memphis _ .13 Scranton _ .15 CHARITIES EXHIBIT “A.” Mr. P. G. Shook, Birmingham, Alabama. January 5, 1915. Dear Sir:—Replying to your letter of recent date request¬ ing certain information, beg to advise that the following items show on the annual report of expenditures: “Charity—Direct Relief $693.17.” This is largely for bu3dng railroad tickets to get desti¬ tutes out of town. “Appropriations---Charity ” Anti-Tuberculosis Assn_$ 3,800.00 Bham Humane Society_ 1,255.00 Girls’ Home_ 600.00 Free Milk Depot for Babies_ 600.00 72 Holy Innocents Hospital_ GOO.00 Jeff. Count}^ Orphans’ Assn._ 1,200.00 Mercy Home - 1,800.00 Octavia White Home_ COO.00 ,01d Folks Home- 300.00 Old Home Hospital_ 1,200.00 Pisgah Home _ 600.00 Salvation Army Rescue Home_ 900.00 St. Vincent’s Hospital_ 1,200.00 United Charities _ 600.00 Volunteers of America_ 604.25 Free Dispensaiy (3 months)_ 300.00 iWelfare Department _*1,929.91 Total charity_$18,089.16 Educational. Boys’ Club _$ 2,217.82 Total_$20,306.98 *The Welfare Department consists of Mrs. Searight and Mrs. Findley. They take care of all female prisoners, and also many females who are not prisoners, but in a more or less moral disturbance. I am enclosing herewith also table showing comparison of amounts spent by other cities for Charity, Libraries, and Recreation. The cities selected for comparison are the four cities listed in the United States Census immediately above t Birmingham, as to population, and the four immediately be¬ low BirminMiam. o If there is any further information you wish, kindly ad¬ vise, and will be glad to furnish same. Yours very truly, G. WARD, President. 73 CHARITIES EXHIBIT ‘‘BA Payments For: Columbus, Ohio Recreation 42,454 Libraries 35,802 Charities Hospitals and Corrections 51,235 Toledo, Ohio 72,609 18,534 42,856 Oakland, Cal. 142,366 83,241 6,512 Atlanta, Ga. 60,123 21,551 152,935 BIRMINGHAM 10,735 7,677 34,359 Worcester, Mass. 90,104 56,500 222,333 Syracuse, N. Y. 67,036 42,385 173,408 New Haven, Conn. 73,253 35,393 117,111 Memphis, Tenn. 134,944 18,234 76,494 Rank of Birmingham. 9 9 8 74 X. r r ' } I » ; "V'i r i f i r?: J-