Physical Statistics of Cities. By W. F. WILLOUGHBY, Ph.D., Assistant Director of the Census. The keeping by cities of accurate and logically-classified records of their financial transactions, and the publication of such records in proper form, is urged by all persons interested in improving municipal conditions, not merely in order that the public may have information by which to judge the character and magnitude of municipal operations, but in order that the city officials themselves, as well as the public, may have the data by which to determine how municipal affairs are being managed. It is, of course, desirable that each city should know from year to year what are the amounts of its receipts and expenditures by items and its obligations apart from any specific use being made of these figures other than to let the city officials and the people generally know how the city stands financially. If real progress, however, is to be made in the way of improving the organization and business methods of the city, in securing greater efficiency and economy and in having the activities of the city directed in the most desirable channels, these financial figures must be brought into correlation with the physical facts to which they relate. If financial records and statistics of cities are thus to serve the full measure of their usefulness they must be of such a character that they will furnish a basis for passing judgment upon the extent to which the value received for expenditures made is adequate The case for this correlation of financial and physical statistics of cities has been excellently stated by Mr. A. P. Folwell, editor of the "Municipal Journal and Engineer," in an editorial which appeared in that journal, September 21, 1910, under the title of Municipal Records and the Census": "A superintendent of water or lighting who does not so keep his records as to know absolutely whether his department is operating at a loss or a profit cannot be expected to greatly improve its financial status. Next in importance Need for Physical is the wisdom from learning from other similar Statistics departments, by comparing their results and finances with those of his own, and this in detail and not in final results only. That one city spends $5,000 a year on street cleaning and another $10,000 conveys no information of value. How many miles of a given class of pavements are cleaned? How often and how thoroughly? How much material is removed? What is the cost per mile and per cubic yard in terms of days of labor? These and similar questions must be answered before a comparison can be made which will serve any useful purpose. What does it cost per mile to maintain pipe sewers, and what those which can be entered for cleaning? Every city should be able to learn from its officials the answers to such questions concerning its own property, utilities and activities. But it is unfortunately true that a great many do not know how many miles of sewers they own, how many yards of each kind of pavement, or even the total cost of maintenance of either. 'Amount appropriated,' ' amount expended,' and 'balance' might just as well constitute the entire report of some department heads, so far as real information is concerned; and cases have been known where even these three items would not check." To meet the requirements of good administration it is thus evident that three classes of statistical data, two of which consist of original data and one of derived data, must be had regarding municipal operations, viz: (1) financial statistics, (2) physical and operation statistics, and (3) a correlation of the two so as to give results expressed in such terms or units of measurement as will most clearly reveal cost or other factors by which the real efficiency and economy with which city affairs are administered can best be determined. It is unnecessary for me to dilate to any extent upon either the necessity for securing data of the first class or the extent to which such information is now being secured. Practically all cities are now paying constantly increasing attention both to the matter of recording their financial transactions in conformity with the most approved principles of accounting and of giving the facts brought out by such records to the public in a more Interest in complete and easily comprehensible form. The Bureau of the Census hopes that its work of compiling and publishing annual volumes of statistics of cities having a population of 30,000 and over, which work dates from the year 1902, has contributed something towards fostering this increased interest. Especially has the Bureau, through the full discussion presented in its reports of accounting terminology and other features of accountancy as applied to government operations, sought to promote the adoption by the cities of improved financial methods and uniformity of practice. As far as in its power lay it has thus sought to standardize the whole matter of municipal bookkeeping and reporting. In this effort it has always been powerfully aided by the National Municipal League and other organizations. Indeed, as is well known, the inception by the Federal Government of the work of collecting and publishing municipal statistics is due to the National Municipal League and the classification of receipts and expenditures adopted by the Bureau is substantially the one recommended by the league. Separation of As regards the second class of statistical data, the Bureau almost from the outset of its work recognized that if it confined its reports strictly to the field of financial statistics it would largely fail to give to the public the information regarding municipal statistics that was urgently demanded. It is almost if not quite as desirable to know the number of teachers and pupils as the amount expended on schools, and the number of policemen as expenditures for police protection. The Bureau has, consequently, steadily increased the scope of its work in the direction of securing information descriptive of the physical properties of cities, personnel and other factors of municipal activities showing the operations concerning which the financial facts recorded relate. The development of this phase of its activities finally reached such a stage that the inclusion of the data collected in the regular census volume of statistics of cities is no longer possible. To do so would unduly expand the bulk and complexity of that report. It has consequently been decided that, beginning with the reports for the year 1909, the Bureau will issue two series of reports on statistics of cities, the one devoted to financial statistics proper and the other to statistics of physical properties, their operation and personnel. The prime necessity for this separation arises from the fact that if statistics of the second class are to be of real value they must concern themselves with the details of the Census Plans subject covered, and be technical reports in the highest sense of the term. The planning and carrying through of inquiries on such a scale is an undertaking of such magnitude and complexity that it would be folly to attempt to cover all phases of municipal activities at one time. The Bureau has accordingly outlined for itself a program which contemplates taking up the different fields of municipal activities seriatim so that all will be covered in a five-year period. In the case of financial statistics it is practically imperative that the record should be a continuous one from year to year. No such necessity exists in the case of physical statistics. Here data permitting of comparisons from five years to five years serve almost every purpose. But whether this be so or not the subject is one in which quality and completeness for one field is preferable to quantity and incompleteness in respect to a number of fields. The field that has been selected for consideration in the first of this new series of reports is that of sewers, refuse disposal and highways, and work on this investigation is now in active progress. I have devoted considerable time to this discussion of the physical statistics of cities and the plans that have been formulated by the Census Bureau for securing such statistics since it is evident that no proper correlation of two factors can be had until the two factors themselves are available. This then is the first fundamental point that we who are interested, not merely academically in the matter of municipal efficiency, but practically in promoting such efficiency in specific cases, must grasp; that in the same way that every possible effort has been made to encourage cities to keep their financial records in proper form, so they must now be urged to keep correspondingly-accurate and logically-arranged records of their physical properties and transactions. Mr. Folwell, in the editorial from which I have quoted, points out how far from satisfactory are the practices of most cities in this respect. It is manifestly impossible for an indi vidual city accurately to correlate its financial and physical statistics with a view to figuring costs and much more so for the Census Bureau to present statistics comparing city with city until the primary data regarding both factors are available in at least a fairly satisfactory form. This being so, the query might well be made whether the Census Bureau is justified in going to the expense that is involved in its undertaking when the results are certain to fall so far short of what is desirable. The only answer to this is that the Bureau, constituting as it does the only central official agency for securing information regarding cities, believes that it has as one of its prime duties that of sparing no pains to promote the establishment and maintenance by the cities of systems by which the original data that it is the function of the Bureau to collate may be rendered available in the best possible form. It is impossible to estimate the good that has been done in this way by the Division of Vital Statistics of the Bureau in securing the adoption by the states and cities of the country of proper methods for the registration of births and deaths. Had it not made this effort a very essential part of its work, the reports it now issues on vital statistics would be of far less value than they are. In the same way the Bureau can only hope to improve greatly the statistics of cities by doing what it can to improve the character of the primary data as secured by the cities themselves which it has to use in its compilations. Agitation of the question by the Bureau, and by such bodies as the National Municipal League, can do a great deal, but tangible results can only be expected by actually attacking the problem. This the Bureau has done in its investigation of sewers, refuse disposal and highways which is now in progress. Although the schedules and instructions for this investigation were only adopted after most careful study and consultation with experts outside the government service, it is certain that their practical use will reveal many defects which no amount of office study could develop. By constantly incorporating improvements as brought to light in this, and the schedules to be drafted for the other fields, there ought gradually to be evolved a physical statistics data scheme that will not only be reasonably satisfactory but of a |