Stock Watering. A bill (H. R. 97) to prevent stock watering by combinations, consolidated companies, or trusts engaged in interstate commerce was introduced into congress December 2, 1907. The bill provides that whenever two or more corporations engaged in interstate commerce enter into any lawful merger or consolidation whereby the two or more corporations fall under one management, the management of such consolidated corporation or merger is prohibited from issuing a total volume of stock in excess of the sum total of the actual market value of bona fide outstanding stock in the several corporations six months previous to the date of consolidation or merger.

If any corporation or consolidated company violates the provisions of the act, then each officer and each member of any board of directors or board of management, or board of trustees, participating by vote, or act, or otherwise, in such unlawful overissue of stock, is to be deemed guilty of the crime of public cheating, and, upon conviction in any circuit court of the United States, is to be fined not less than $1000 and confined in a United States prison with hard labor for not less than twelve months.

Transportation Facilities. On December 4, 1907, a bill (S. 483) was introduced into congress, requiring railroad companies engaged in interstate commerce to furnish promptly cars and other transportation facilities. The inter-state commerce commission is empowered to make rules and regulations for carrying the provisions of the act into effect.

National Incorporation of Transportation Companies. An elaborate bill (S. 499) for the formation of national corporations for railroad and navigation lines engaged in inter-state and foreign commerce was introduced into congress, December 4, 1907.

NEWS AND NOTES

MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS

WILLIAM BENNETT MUNRO

The annual conventions of the National Municipal League and the American Civic Association were held in Providence, R. I., during the week beginning November 18, last. Hitherto these two organizations have pursued the policy of holding separate annual meetings at different seasons of the year and in different sections of the country; but this year the experiment of joint meetings was tried for the first time. In every way the experiment was an unqualified success: the programme was more elaborate and more varied than ever before; and the attendance at the meetings exceeded the hopes of the most sanguine. Unusual interest in the proceedings was manifested by the citizens of Providence, and an encouraging number of the leaders of local public opinion listened to all of the more important papers.

Those to whom the choice of a place of meeting was committed were very fortunate in their selection of Providence, for not only were the facilities of Brown University placed at the disposal of the two organizations for all the meetings, but the local arrangements for entertaining the members were all that could be desired. The hospitality shown by Providence citizens very considerably contributed to the pleasure of the week.

After addresses of welcome had been made by Governor Higgins on behalf of the State, by Mayor McCarthy on behalf of the city, and by President Faunce on behalf of Brown University, the two organizations began their programmes on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 19, with a paper on The Battle for Betterment, by Hon. Clinton Rogers Woodruff of Philadelphia. This paper contained a comprehensive résumé of the more important developments in various American cities during the past year with comments upon their significance. A paper by Hon. Brand Whitlock, mayor of Toledo, O., on National Parties in Local Elections contained some pertinent observations upon the desirability and possibility of eliminating party lines in local politics. Mayor

Whitlock's presentation of the matter furnished basis for a spirited discussion, some of those present urging that it was neither desirable nor practicable to cast adrift all the trammels of national party allegiance in civic elections. While this discussion was proceeding the members of the American Civic Association held a round-table conference on the subject of Definite Work for Small Communities. Among those participating were Prof. Albert Bushnell Hart of Harvard University, Mr. Frederic A. Whiting of Framingham, Mass., and Miss M. L. Dock of Fayetteville, Pa., a member of the Pennsylvania forestry commission. The Tuesday evening meetings were devoted to papers upon the general subject of preserving natural beauty from commercial spoliation, and dealing more particularly with the work being done for the preservation of Niagara Falls. Equipped with stereopticon views several speakers gave addresses on this topic, among them Gen. Francis V. Greene of the Ontario Power Company, Mr. H. H. McCrae of the Electrical Development Company, Mr. Charles M. Daw of the New York State Reservation Commission, and Mr. John W. Langmuir of the Niagara Falls Park Commission of Ontario. The work of the McKim Commission was also described by Prof. Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., of Harvard University, a member of this body. The addresses disclosed the strength of the popular movement which has rallied itself to the cause of preserving Niagara from the inroads of power corporations, as well as the readiness of the latter concerns to meet the leaders of this movement at least halfway.

On Wednesday morning the National Municipal League devoted its meeting to the general topic of local taxation. Hon. Lawson Purdy, chairman of the board of taxes and assessments in New York opened the discussion with a paper on A Model Plan of Taxation in which he described what he considered to be the proper subjects of local taxation and the proper method of imposing taxes upon these. Local communities, he thought, should have power to determine what subjects should be taxed locally, and also the rate at which these should be assessed, the legal necessity of uniformity being a great obstacle to an equitable and effective system of local taxation. Dr. Delos F. Wilcox, secretary of the Detroit Municipal League, followed with a well-written paper on The General Property Tax in Cities in which he emphasized the various points at which the tax is liable to encounter obstacles and especially its influence as tending to establish "a school of perjury and concealment." The speaker strongly advocated the entire abandonment of the general property tax both in theory and in practice. The Taxation

of Savings Banks was the subject of the next address, given by Charles E. Sprague of New York, in which the incidence of this branch of taxation was discussed at length; and the morning's programme closed with a paper by Mr. H. T. Newcomb of Washington, D. C., on The Taxation of Railways. The speaker made a strong plea for the "gross earnings tax" as the only one free from insurmountable objections, as being collectible at a minimum of cost, and as the most capable of equitable adjustment. At its separate meeting the American Civic Association held an informal conference upon Municipal Adornment and Parks. The discussion was opened by Dr. John Quincy Adams, secretary of the Municipal Art Commission of New York, who spoke of the scope, purposes, and achievements of this body. A paper dealing with The Railroad as a Factor in Civic Improvement was presented by Joseph T. Richards, general engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad in which were pointed out many lines along which the municipalities and the railroad might, through coöperation, contribute substantially to the improvement of what is almost always an unsightly area in the community, the strips adjoining the railroad right of way. Along similar lines was the address of George W. Wildin, mechanical superintendent of the N. Y., N. H., and Hartford Railroad on the subject of The Smoke Nuisance on Locomotives. "A good, intelligent fireman," said Mr. Wildin, "is the only really successful smoke preventive." Part of the session was devoted to a discussion of the billboard nuisance, papers on this subject being read by Mr. Harlan P. Kelsey of Salem, Mass., and Edward T. Hartman, secretary of the Massachusetts Civic League. The subsequent discussions elicited opinions from a number of those present.

At the afternoon sessions of Wednesday the National Municipal League held a round-table conference on Electoral Reform. The subject was introduced by Mr. Thomas Raeburn White of Philadelphia, counsel for the Committee of Seventy, who emphasized the desirability of holding State and municipal elections in alternate years. Mr. Richard L. Gay, secretary of the Election Reform League of Massachusetts discussed the results of experience in the Bay State along this line, and Mr. Robert Treat Paine, Jr., of Boston, laid stress upon the fact that the evils of national and State party intrusion in municipal campaigns are not necessarily eliminated by legislation fixing a time separation between local and State elections. The discussion of the subject, which was highly interesting and profitable, was continued by Mr. Elliott H. Pendleton of Cincinnati and Mr. George Burnham, Jr., of Philadelphia. Hon. Robert Luce, member of the Massachusetts legislature, then gave an

interesting description of the workings of the Massachusetts joint primary law, or "Luce Law" as it is popularly called, of which he was the sponsor. This paper was discussed by Mr. Horace Deming of New York and by Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte, attorney-general of the United States, the latter making a plea for the simplification of nomination and electoral procedure.

At the Wednesday evening joint session of the two organizations President Bonaparte of the National Municipal League delivered his annual address, the subject of which was Government by Public Opinion. The audience was very large and appreciative. "After all," said Mr. Bonaparte, "the most effective instrument of coercion possessed by society against its weaker or more dangerous members is the influence of public opinion." The address embodied a plea for a more impartial and faithful reflection of public opinion by the press. "There is one thing that the newspapers must do if they would be, in the field of politics. or in any other, an agency for good, and that is to think and to tell the truth. No worthy end was ever achieved through deception, whether of ourselves or of others."

The proceedings of Thursday morning related to the Forces Moulding the City of the Future, with addresses by President W. H. P. Faunce of Brown University, Hon. Homer Folks of New York, and Hon. Clinton Rogers Woodruff of Philadelphia. In the afternoon there was a discussion of the various experiments now being made in the direction of simplifying the framework of municipal government. The Galveston plan of city government was described in a paper by Prof. William Bennett Munro of Harvard University, in which the merits and defects of the Texan system, so far as these could be judged in the light of Galveston's experience, were set before the members. A paper by Mr. Silas B. Allen of Des Moines, Iowa, was read by Eliot H. Goodwin of New York, descriptive of the provisions in the new Des Moines charter. In this the writer emphasized the value of the provisions in the charter relating to the use of the initiative, the referendum, and the recall. Rear-Admiral F. T. Chadwick followed with an explanation of the Newport system of city government. The speaker believed this plan to be superior both in theory and in practice to the Galveston and Des Moines systems in that it observed a sound canon of local government in keeping separate the appropriating and the expending authorities. Admiral Chadwick thought that the fusion of large powers in the hands. of a small commission afforded, if not subjected to the strictest supervision, unlimited possibilities of evil.