simply to obtain enough revenue to cover expense and not attempt to pile up an increased inheritance for future generations-an inference to be drawn from the attitude of a great many taxpayers when the tax rate was fixed-the city in effect levied $4,000,000 more taxes than it should have done. This more than $4,000,000 of taxes represents one-seventh of the taxes raised by the $1.75 rate and therefore is equivalent to twenty-five cents in the tax rate. Had the city levied a tax just sufficient to provide revenue enough to meet expenses the tax rate would have been $1.50 instead of $1.75.

A Question of Policy.

This Bureau is not advocating that the city limit itself to the securing of sufficient revenue to cover its expenses. A more exacting standard should, perhaps, be adopted and adhered to. The city positively ought not to be satisfied with any less exacting standard. It should see to it that its revenues at least equal its expenses. And what is of equal importance, the city should set up its policy in terms that are self-explanatory and that insure accomplishing the results sought.

One of the greatest boons to civil life that has thus far come out of the war is the excellent wartime repression of venereal disease and control of vice in civil communities. There is danger now that this control may relax if organized public opinion is not brought to bear in favor of strict law enforcement by all local authorities. The National Municipal League, the Council of National Defence, and a dozen more national organizations of dignity, conservatism and importance realize the gravity of the situation. Let Philadelphia, and Philadelphians, do their part!

Should the city borrow for current expenses?

Should the city borrow for non-self-supporting undertakings?

Should the city borrow at all?

HE Director of City Transit, in a recent address, sounded a note of warning against

TH

the present tendency in public finance to borrow for all kinds of public improvements.

According to the almost universally approved policies of recent years, the Director's position is rank heterodoxy and as such should receive an exposure of its error, or else it should prove a challenge to our present assumptions.

The minimum standard for the conduct of public business is that the municipal corporation, or other unit, shall not lose ground financially that it shall not impair its net worth.

This minimum standard has been interpreted by many as meeting the requirements of a "pay-as-you-go" policy, as we made clear in CITIZENS' BUSINESS No. 351-February 13. And being content with such a minimum standard is by no means wholly without reasonable argument in its favor. In its behalf it is urged that it is unfair to charge the taxpayers of the current generation with the en

tire cost of property which future generations also will enjoy.

Is It Wrong to Borrow?

Now, there is no absolute right or wrong to the latter widely-accepted doctrine. So long as the city's capital or accumulated net property is left intact, it is a matter of policy to determine whether or not we shall add each year to our inheritance, and if so, how much?

Our view is that there are a number of factors to be taken into consideration when deciding upon a borrowing or non-borrowing policy for financing improvements.

The question of the nature of the proposed capital improvements-whether, for instance, they are utilities of a self-supporting character— is an important factor.

Then, the question of whether the existing debt is already large and whether it is burdensome, should be considered.

The money market and the relative advantages or disadvantages of floating securities on particular terms at any given time are matters

that should play a part in making the final decision.

Above all, it must not be forgotten that interest on debt is, except during construction, pure expense. Whether that expense is more desirable than higher immediate taxes is the question to be decided.

Citizens Must Think

While no hard and fast rule can be laid down that will be applicable to all cases, the conservative policy would seem to lean toward the views of the transit director, that we are too much inclined to borrow.

The questions raised are among the most important that the public has to answer. They cannot be answered without a serious effort to understand our huge city-corporation in all its relations.

"It is a shame that here where liberty was cradled, the city should still be in the cradle stage."-F. B. Barnes, in Philadelphia Public Ledger.