F 199 
 
 >: 
 
 .'/^ 
 
 
 
 
 '1^ 
 
 'fff 
 
 .^i^J 
 
 
 
 SSv 
 
 ili^^l 
 
 
 ''^iLt ' ( '^ ■ 
 
 
^-n.o'* 
 
 ^°A 
 
 
 "-= 
 
 V cC> ■*-* ''oT.' ,■?> 
 
 
 "^-^, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,'^ .. 
 
 

 *^. 
 
 
WASHINGTON 
 A MODEL CITY 
 
 LIEUT. COL. WILLIAM V. JUDSON 
 
 Corps Engineers, United States Army, 
 
 Engineer Commissioner 
 
 District of Columbia 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 to the American Civic Association 
 at its Seventh Annual Meeting 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 December 13, 14 and 15. 1911 
 
 Published by 
 
 American Civic Association 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 April. 1912 
 
OFFICERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN CIVIC ASSOCIATION 
 
 PRESIDENT 
 
 J. HORACE McFARLAND. Harrisburg Pa! 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENTS 
 
 ■ JOHN NOLEN. Cambridge. Mass: 
 
 CLINTON ROGERS WOODRUFF. Philadelphia. Pa. 
 
 GEORGE B. DEALEY, Dallas, Texas 
 
 J. L. HUDSON, -Detroit. Mich. 
 
 Mrs. EDWARD W. BIDDLE. Carlisle, Pa. 
 
 GEORGE W. MARSTON, San Diego, Cal. 
 
 J. LOGKIE WILSON. Toronto, Canada 
 
 SECRETARY 
 
 RICHARD B. WATROUS, Washington. D. C. 
 
 TREASURER 
 
 WILLIAM B. HOWLAND, New York City 
 
 General Offices 
 
 914 UNION TRUST BUILDING 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
WASHINGTON, A MODEL CITY 
 
 PEAKING as an American citizen 
 and not as a District Commissioner. 
 I claim that the working 'out of 
 mmiicipal problems here, so that the 
 other cities might come to Washington for 
 tried and satisfactory practices, would amply 
 repay the country at large, nearly one-half of 
 whose inhabitants are urban dwellers, for all 
 of its local expenditures. • 
 
 The only way, or certainly the most direct 
 and feasible way, in which the nation can help 
 cities is to provide for the most scientific man- 
 agement of its own city, the national capital, 
 and make available for other cities the knowl- 
 edge thus obtained. 
 
 In the^rst place, we must realize that the 
 proper exercise of city functions means vastly 
 more to the average urban dweller, than does 
 the proper exercise of state or national 
 functions. 
 
 Awakening from sleep in a house which has 
 been safely built, with due provision of light 
 and air, under the city's inspection and pro- 
 tected from fire and burglary by the city, he 
 bathes from a spring of clear and limpid water, 
 of which the city provides several, under thor- 
 ough control, issuing from metal pipes at con- 
 venient spots within his domicile. He eats a 
 breakfast the component parts of which the 
 citv has assured him have been correctlv meas- 
 
ured out and arc of a healthful character. His 
 meal he washes down with pure and filtered 
 city water. The debris from his meal is re- 
 moved bj' the city before it can become nau- 
 seous and unsanitary. And the other waste 
 products of his domestic economy are removed 
 by the sewer, the ashman or the rubbish col- 
 lector — all provided by the city. Starting the 
 children off to a school built and operated by 
 the city, he emerges upon a street which, with 
 its sidewalks, curbs, parkings, lamp-posts, 
 trees and paved surfaces, is provided and 
 cleaned by the city. Traversing this street 
 safelj'-, under the guardianship of proper city 
 traffic regulations, and crossing a park owned 
 and beautified by the city, he catches a breath 
 of air which the city says shall be free from 
 smoke. He enters a street car which the city 
 requires shall be comfortable, sanitary and 
 operated upon a convenient schedule. As- 
 cending by means of an elevator inspected by 
 the city to an office in a building whose height 
 is limited and whose structural safety is as- 
 sured by the city, if it be a dark day, he turns 
 on the electric light or gas, the character and 
 price of which are controlled in his interest 
 by the city. Seizing the telephone which the 
 city demands shall operate for him con- 
 veniently and at reasonable cost, he calls up 
 some city official and berates him because he 
 has not continued to enjoy some special favor 
 at the hands of the tax assessor. Hanging up 
 his telephone, before proceeding to the busi- 
 ness of the day, he indites a few lines asking 
 that a city job be given to his good friend 
 Tones, whose incompetence and habit of drink 
 
have deprived him of other sustenance, and 
 accepts an invitation to attend a mass meeting 
 to protest against the enormity of requiring 
 him to pay some portion of what it costs, to 
 wit, one-fifth of a cent, for a barrel of filtered 
 city water, conveniently delivered to him in 
 his residence. 
 
 I think you will all admit, 'on reflection, that 
 it is exceedingly important to nearly 50,000,000 
 Americans how all city functions are per- 
 formed and what they cost. I hope I have led 
 you to believe that it is not a far-fetched idea 
 that America should have a model city. And 
 perhaps even if I had not suggested it the 
 thought would have come into your minds that 
 \\'ashington should be that model city. 
 
 In therapeutical experiments the guinea pig 
 serves the purposes of the experimenter and 
 speedily becomes a martyr to science. I do not 
 mean to suggest that Washington should be one 
 or any number of guinea pigs. I would rather 
 liken my ideal of Washington as a model 
 city to a great demonstrating farm, where, 
 under the most favorable conditions and under 
 the guidance of experts, results are secured 
 so nearly, approaching perfection as to encour- 
 age others, set a standard for them and de- 
 monstrate the best methods. 
 
 We often hear that a city is a great business 
 institution, but most of those who make the 
 remark have no real comprehension of the 
 meaning of their words. They probably mean 
 to liken it to a great mercantile business, and 
 would thus indicate that a successful merchant 
 would make an efficient city administrator. 
 Nothing could be further from the truth. 
 
When wc say that the operation of a railroad 
 system is in itself a great business, we mean 
 that it is a business not only great in magni- 
 tude, but also special in character. 
 
 Steel men run steel plants. Railroad men 
 run railroads. Any plausible good-natured 
 fellow is considered competent to run a city. 
 The skill demanded is in the line of vote- 
 getting — not city management. 
 
 First we must realize what city management 
 demands and then, in the case of cities other 
 than Washington, we must study how to 
 secure it under our political system. 
 
 Right here I may as well admit that we prob- 
 ably cannot solve the whole problem here in 
 Washington. I mean that part of the problem 
 that is political. But here can be shown what 
 is the proper organization of personnel ; what 
 qualities the personnel should possess; how 
 best it can be recruited and retained at a maxi- 
 mum of efficiency; how most wisely and most 
 fairl}'^ the public purse may be filled; what 
 functions the city should undertake ; what is 
 the proper degree of perfection to be sought 
 in the performance of each city function, so 
 that some may not thrive unduly at the ex- 
 pense oi others; what is the best practical 
 method of doing each of the almost innumer- 
 able things that the city is called upon to do ; 
 or, to state it in another way, here can be de- 
 monstrated how the average citizen can get 
 the maximum of comfort, convenience, safety 
 and pleasure for each dollar expended by him 
 collectively with his fellow citizens through 
 the agency of the municipality. 
 
 Surely, if there is knowledge of all the facts 
 
our people will have the political wisdom to 
 take advantage of that knowledge. 
 
 Far be it from me, who have never enjoyed 
 the franchise, nor as an official experienced 
 the encouraging or chastening effects of it, to 
 attempt to point out with any large degree of 
 authority how "the political control of the 
 people over their cities can best be exercised; 
 but some things with reference to the per- 
 sonnel of a city government I do know. 
 Never should a man be at the head of a city 
 department who is not an expert in its con- 
 duct and reasonably certain in the tenure of 
 his office, so that he may have the courage to 
 say "no" to each one who wishes some yielding 
 from the public interest in his own behalf. I 
 am afraid that the first feeling of the average 
 citizen, when he learns that a friend has been 
 inducted into a city office, is that he may now 
 ■experience preferential treatment. And if he 
 does not, friendship ceases. 
 
 It was a wise ruler of Athens who, before 
 he took office, gave a farewell dinner to all 
 of his friends. 
 
 If I am right about this, then those selected 
 by the electorate should not be charged with 
 duties that can fairly be placed upon heads of 
 departments. The principal duty of those 
 elected, it seems to me, should be, when an 
 important vacancy occurs, to scour the whole 
 country for an expert who could probably 
 devote the rest of his working days to the 
 intelligent direction of some city function. 
 Honesty, intelligence, training, industry, pa- 
 tience and the habit of absolute impartiality 
 should be united in the individual selected. 
 
No other consideration, political, social or per- 
 sonal, should be of the least weight. Heads 
 of departments should have much to say about 
 the selection of their subordinates, a merit 
 system, of course, being absolutely preserved. 
 Every subordinate employe should, so far as 
 practicable, possess qualities which, with the 
 acquisition of judgment and knowledge that 
 come from experience, would fit him for pro- 
 motion to the top of his department. 
 
 I may say that for the public works of the 
 District of Columbia we are following exactly 
 the procedure outlined above in the selection 
 of employes. 
 
 The remaining duties of those elected in the 
 ordinary city would be to secure coordination 
 between departments, to restrain departments 
 Avhich would seek unreasonably to prosper at 
 the expense of other departments, and to rep- 
 resent, through the platforms upon which they 
 have successfully campaigned, the broad 
 policies desired by the electorate. 
 
 These functions being of such a general na- 
 ture, it seems to me that there should be as 
 few as possible directly responsible to the 
 people. And the fewer there be, the less will 
 each have time to do the work that should be 
 left to the expert heads of departments. 
 
 For the reasons stated a commission 'of 
 three, without the assignment of special func- 
 tions to each, would seem to constitute an 
 ideal elective governing body, as it has con- 
 stituted a good appointive body here in the 
 District of Columbia. 
 
 I feel better qualified to speak of the physi- 
 cal than of the moral side of city growth and 
 
 8 
 
maintenance. It is much easier to agree upon 
 physical than upon moral or sociological ends 
 and aims. We seem not to know exactly how 
 to solve the problem of the social evil ; or of 
 the saloon; or of poverty. Let us pass 
 them by. 
 
 The matters that follow we can agree upon, 
 and they comprehend the city problems that 
 are of a material nature. 
 
 All physical operations within a city cost 
 money. We may classify all physical opera- 
 tions in accordance with the source of the 
 funds which sustain them. A reasonable classi- 
 fication of the funds would be as follows : 
 
 (1) Those supplied by the utility corpo- 
 
 rations. 
 
 (2) Those raised as taxes. 
 
 (3) Private capital. 
 
 The privately owned public utilities, not less 
 than those publicly owned, must be built and 
 operated, speaking in the broadest sense, abso- 
 lutely in the public interest. To the citizen 
 this means cheap and satisfactory service. To 
 the stockholder and the bond owner it means 
 perfect security. A city cannot be well served 
 by public utility corporations that are not 
 financially sound and virile. The public utility 
 commission is therefore a necessity and inci- 
 dentally, although but partially, it controls cer- 
 tain expenditures within the city. 
 
 Funds raised by taxation, public funds of 
 course, are expended by the agents of the 
 pul)lic. As much as possible that part of these 
 funds devoted to permanent improvements 
 should be expended in accordance with definite 
 pin-poses and well considered program. Hence 
 
the necessity for city planning and for sound 
 finance. Debt isn't such a good thing as it 
 seems. It is better to economize on those ex- 
 penditures that leave nothing at the end of the 
 year and raise as much as possible b}^ current 
 levies. Then there w\\\ soon be money to put 
 in improvements that would otherwise be ex- 
 pended for interest. 
 
 To what extent and with what good result 
 can private expenditures in city building be 
 controlled in America? If "excess condemna- 
 tion" be made practicable, through changes in 
 organic laws, doubtless great sections of cities 
 can be made to grow as the public would de- 
 sire. Much could be done, careful study con- 
 vinces me, if in our cities it were by law made 
 practicable and desirable for property owners, 
 in limited sections or on certain streets, to 
 dedicate easements to the public by virtue of 
 which building operations in those localities 
 might be controlled through special building 
 restrictions, administered by competent com- 
 missions. The public and the private interests 
 in this matter for the most part run parallel. 
 All that is necessary is the provision of a cer- 
 tain legal method of procedure. 
 
 We have bills before Congress for the con- 
 trol of our public utilities ; for the orderly and 
 systematic prosecution of the required great 
 public improvements in accordance with defi- 
 nite plans and a well considered program ; and 
 for the establishment, practically based on con- 
 sents, of special building restrictions. 
 
 The passage of these bills is essential if the 
 capital city is to attain in its development that 
 measure of perfection which is bounded only 
 
 10 
 
by existing conditions and the limitations of 
 human forethought. I ask your Association 
 to make Washington often a subject of your 
 consideration. 
 
 Help us secure our needed legislation. 
 
 ] hope I have shown that you have a very 
 practical interest in all that is done here. I 
 assume that your sentimental interest in the 
 capital of the nation does not need cultivation. 
 It has already induced you to establish your 
 headquarters here. And just as there flow out 
 from \\'ashington to the uttermost parts of 
 our country continual streams of law and 
 executive direction that pTOt'^ct and foster the 
 interests of the people, so do I hoy^ ihzt ^^^ 
 influence of your Association will reach out 
 from Washington and help every community 
 in the Republic. 
 
M8EATS I 
 
 ri WASHIMSTOM 
 
 y 5 83 
 

vpS _..__ - 
 
 ^' 
 
 
 ^g# N. MANCHESTER 
 INDIANA 
 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 310 404 7 
 
 ■ ''I. Si 
 
 i r ^ * - J Ht