wiped out the commercial supremacy of some of the great seaports of the world, are now controlled by science and limited to the countries of the ignorant. It is the duty, then, of the private citizen to study sanitary problems as he would those of taxation or of any branch of government. Then he will be ready to guide his fellow citizens in movements in the direction of better and broader hygienic work. It is not given to all of us to see the end from the beginning; especially is this true of a science so young and so progressive as public sanitation; but I do feel hopeful that the labor bestowed will ultimately accomplish the good we wish, and that in the future we can predict not only a healthier but a higher and more goodly civilization. Report of Committee on Uniform By Dr. EDWARD M. HARTWELL, Chairman The Committee on Uniform Municipal Accounting and Statistics begs leave to present the following as its Fifth Report. The Committee has been reconstituted and The Committee. enlarged by the Executive Committee since the last meeting of the League, and now consists of the following named gentlemen: *Dr. Edward M. Hartwell, Chairman, Secretary Statistics Department, Boston. *Dr. Frederick A. Cleveland, Secretary, Haskins & Sells, 30 Broad St., New York, N. Y. *M. N. Baker, Engineering News, 220 Broadway, New York, N. Y. *Harvey S. Chase, Public Accountant, 27 State St., Boston, Mass. *Hon. Harry P. Henderson, State Examiner, Wyoming. *Prof. J. W. Jenks, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. *Dr. Samuel E. Sparling, State University, Madison, Wis. Horace E. Deming, Lawyer, 11 William St., New York, N. Y. Howard C. Beck, Deputy Comptroller, Detroit, Mich. Prof. Frank J. Goodnow, Columbia University, New York, N. Y. L. G. Powers, Chief Statistician, Census Bureau, Washington, D. C. *Clinton Rogers Woodruff, Lawyer, Philadelphia, Pa. E. M. Sells, of Haskins & Sells, Public Accountant, 30 Broad St., New York, N. Y. * Members of the Committee since it was constituted in 1901. William M. Lybrand, Public Accountant, Stephen Girard Building, Philadelphia, Pa. Prof. E. R. A. Seligman, Columbia University, Baltimore, Md. Prof. Jacob H. Hollander, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. H. W. Wilmot, Price, Waterhouse & Co., Public Accountant, New York, N. Y. Edgar J. Levey, former Deputy Comptroller of New York City, 135 Broadway, New York, N. Y. Two meetings of the committee have been held in New York City, at which there was general discussion of the work to be done in preparing the final report, as well as prolonged critical consideration of the forms and rubrics proposed by Dr. Cleveland for exhibiting a city's financial operations on the basis of revenue and expense. Mr. Baker has undertaken to prepare a "Bibliography of the Literature of Municipal Accounting," and the preparation of a "Glossary of Terms" has been entrusted to a subcommittee consisting of Messrs. Cleveland, Powers and Hartwell. Under the auspices of the Federation of Societies of Public Accountants in the United States, a Congress of Accountants Congress of was held at the World's Fair in St. Louis, September 26-28, 1904. The first business session of the Congress, on September 26, was devoted to consideration of municipal accounting. Of the four papers presented, three were by members of this committee. Mr. Harvey S. Chase presented a paper entitled "A Brief History of the Movement Toward Uniform Municipal Reports and Accounts in the United States." Mr. H. W. Wilmot, in a paper entitled "The Municipal Balance Sheet," discussed the principles involved in drawing up such a sheet and suggested an appropriate form of statement. Dr. F. A. Cleveland's paper was a discussion of "Revenue and Expense as Distinguished from Receipts and Disbursements in Municipal Accounting." These, with Mr. Ernest Reckitt's paper on "Appropriations in Respect to Municipal Accounting," constitute the most notable additions to the literature of the subject during the past year. It may be noted that financial reports of several cities of Ohio have appeared within the year, and that in form and Ohio arrangement they conform to schedules recommended by this committee in 1902 which have been adopted by the state auditor of Ohio under the Ohio law of 1902. The report of the auditor of Cambridge, Mass., for the year 1904, as for the preceding two years, is drawn up in accordance with the scheme of the committee. Special Publications No. 10 of the Statistics Department of the city of Boston contains a restatement in summary form of the Auditor's Reports for the year 1900-01 to 1903-04 inclusive, in accordance with the League Schedules of 1901. New York. The Report of the comptroller of the city of New York for the year 1902, recently published, marks a striking advance as regards make-up, arrangement and intelligibility, upon the earlier issues of the series; and your committee desires to express its thanks to Comptroller Grout for his courtesy in placing at its disposal a number of copies of his interesting and valuable report. Minneapolis. The Annual Report of the comptroller of the city of Minneapolis for the year 1904, recently published, deserves special mention and will repay careful study. The report is based upon a new and improved system of accounting instituted and supervised by Jones, Cæsar, Dickinson, Wilmot & Co., of which firm Mr. Wilmot, of this committee, is a member. The balance-sheet illustrates the principles advocated by Mr. Wilmot in his paper presented to the Congress of Accountants, to which attention has already been called. "The General Revenue and Expense Account" sets out revenues and expenses classified according to the plan adopted by the Census Bureau and the National Municipal League. It is interesting to note that as a result of keeping the Minneapolis accounts on a revenue and expense instead of cash basis, the fact emerges that the expenditures and liabilities in 1904 considerably exceeded the amount of the appropriations. The forthcoming report of the United States Census Bureau on the Financial Statistics for the year 1902 and 1903 of cities Census having 30,000 inhabitants is awaited with unusual interest, owing (1) to the extraordinary efforts of Mr. L. G. Powers, Chief Statistician of the Division on Wealth, Debt and Taxation, who has conducted the investigation, to secure full and comparable data, and (2) to the fact that the schedules adopted by Mr. Powers, who is a member of this committee, conform in certain essential respects to the classification recommended by the National Municipal League. The activity of the Census Bureau in this field is a fact of capital importance. The Movement The present movement for securing a reasonable degree of uniformity in municipal accounting and financial reports appears to have originated nearly ten years ago. In one or another of its phases the subject has for Uniformity. been under discussion by the National Municipal League since 1896. Therefore, it seems fitting at this time, especially as your committee expects to present its next and final report in book form, to call attention to the most notable achievements of the past ten years in this line, and to note the salient characteristics of the discussion and measures which have led to those achievements. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science for May, 1895 (pages 865 to 881) contains an article by Prof. John R. Commons (Indiana University) on "State Supervision of Cities." Prof. Commons holds that a city is not merely a private or business corporation, and cites Dillon's "Municipal Corporations" as to the legal powers of the legislature to erect, change, divide, or even abolish them" at pleasure. He admits that legislative interference works serious evil. The principle of legislative control is sound, but plainly the legislatures are not in a position to exercise their control. He notes the establishment in certain states of state boards exercising central control over (1) Health, (2) Charities and Correction, (3) Equalization and Assessment of Taxes, (4) and the Civil Service. Professor Commons outlines the history and describes the functions of the Local Government Board of Great Britain. His account of the work of the state examiners of Minnesota N |