2c can help save YOUR city 500,000 times 2c next winter 89 A pile of snow doesn't last long when the wide mouth of the BarberGreene starts eating it up. Look at the snow move. Two minutes a load guard your appropriation against the worst bliz- A Barber-Greene working for the city of Detroit saved $4,939.20 in two weeks. It operated at the unusually low cost of 12c per cubic yard-a saving of 90% over hand labor. As for endurance, one of the Barber-Greenes owned by the city of Boston worked five consecutive weeks without one single hold-up. It stopped only four or five out of every twenty-four hours while the men ate and changed shifts. Two cents brings you a copy of "Modern Snow Removal." It will show you how Barber-Greenes can help save your city next winter 500,000 times the two cents you spend for a stamp. Yes we should like you to mention THE AMERICAN CITY. T The Municipal Bond Market By Sanders Shanks, Jr. Editor, The Bond Buyer HE municipal bond market has survived the dullest summer in a number of years and is now in surprisingly strong condition when due consideration is given to the tremendous volume of new bonds which were thrown on the market during the six months ended June 30. The reactionary movement of prices which commenced in June and gave promise of being quite serious was quickly checked as the supply of new bonds dropped off sharply early in August. With the announcement of the reduction of the New York Federal Reserve Bank's rediscount rate to 31⁄2 per cent, municipals showed great strength, prices recovering virtually half the losses suffered in the June break. The outlook at this writing is for a widening demand in the fall and, at least, a maintenance of the current price level. The uncertain factor in the situation now is the problem presented by the maturity on November 15 of about $1,250,000,000 Second Liberty 44's, remaining unconverted. The Treasury Department must either induce the holders thereof to exchange their bonds for a new security or sell new securities for cash in order to raise the funds necessary to redeem the Seconds. The fact that these holders of the called bonds have not responded to exchange offers made last March and again in June makes it fairly clear that they are interested only in cash redemption. Information made public by the Treasury Department suggests that these bonds are held in widely-scattered small amounts and it is, therefore, assumed that a large proportion of this immense sum of a billion and a quarter dollars, when paid out to the bondholders, will not be reinvested in securities. The Treasury will, thus, have to call on the money market for large sums, issuing either short-term Treasury Certificates or bonds for the purpose. The extent to which this refinancing drains the market of funds which might otherwise be invested in municipal, railroad and other private securities and the character of the securities employed by the Treasury to raise new funds (i.e., whether short-term notes or long-term bonds) will have a most important bearing on the bond market during the next few months. The following is a representative list of municipal issues sold in recent weeks, showing the net interest basis at which each loan was floated: Your Chances of Getting Killed by an Automobile Ꮤ HILE there has ben a steady annual increase from 1917 to 1926 in the number of fatalities caused by automobiles, and a steady increase in the number of cars in use, the number of fatalities per 100,00 cars has steadily decreased during the same period. Thus, in 1917, there were 9,097 fatal accidents and 5,104,321 cars registered, giving a fatality rate of 178.2 per 100,000 cars. In 1926, according to figures compiled by the American Automobile Association, the number of cars had increased to 22,001,393 and the number of fatalities had increased to 20,819, not including accidents at railroad grade crossings, which the United States Bureau of the Census charges to the railroads and not to automobiles. This gives a fatality rate of 94.63, or a decrease of 46.9 per cent. But figures based upon car registration are somewhat misleading from an accident prevention standpoint, because they do not indicate the true hazard. Another basis must be used-population. In 1917 the population of the United States, as estimated by the Bureau of the Census, was 102,172,845, which means that there were that many chances of somebody being hit by an automobile. In other words, that figure represents the exposure to accident. Thus we find that in that year the severity rate, which the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics is emphasizing in its accident records and which is generally accepted by industry as constituting a true picture of the accident hazard, was 89.03 per million of population. That is, for every million people exposed to the possibility of automobile accident, 89.03 were actually killed in this manner. In 1926, the estimated population was 117,136,000 and the number of automobile fatalities was 20,819, giving an accident severity rate of 177.7, or an increase of 99.6 per cent over 1917. So, while the number of cars is steadily increasing and the number of fatalities on the basis of registration is steadily decreasing, the number of fatalities on the basis of population is steadily increasing and the American people are in greater danger than ever before from this particular cause of accident. C. F. STODDARD. Have You a Traffic Problem Like Jersey City's? Jersey City is the Front Door to New York. All day and all night the year 'round, great caravans of motor trucks, busses and autos converge in the streets of Jersey City, serving its own numerous industries or bound for the ferries and New York. When it snows this traffic might be tied up or thrown into indescribable confusion. In the winter of 1925-26 Jersey City bought four Nelson Snow Loaders, and four more the next Autumn. Now when the snow comes the eight Nelsons are put to work. Through streets and ferry approaches are kept clear and the traffic is passed without trouble, congestion or delay. Let the Nelson help move your winter traffic N. P. NELSON Iron Works, Inc. 822 Bloomfield Ave. 90 Yes we should like you to mention THE AMERICAN CITY. Passaic, N. J. Problems in Municipal Government.-By A. Chester Hanford, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Government, Harvard University. A. W. Shaw Co., Chicago and New York. 1926. XI + 457. $5.00. Applying the case method to the study of municipal government and administration, Professor Hanford presents some 100 specific problems that have arisen recently in American cities, with concrete questions stated, to be answered by the student on the basis of the facts presented and the references given. These cases are intended to link up text-book principles to definite situations and develop other principles and ideas; to engender classroom discussion; and to provide correlative reading. The stimulation of original thinking is, of course, a central aim. Topics presented include city and state relations, charters, legal aspects, the various forms of city government, reform organizations, employment policies, city planning, zoning, recreation, public works, police, courts, fire prevention and control, and welfare, schools, housing, public public health Have You a Traffic Problem Like Jersey City's? Jersey City is the Front Door to New York. All day and all night the year 'round, great caravans of motor trucks, busses and autos converge in the streets of Jersey City, serving its own numerous industries or bound for the ferries and New York. When it snows this traffic might be tied up or thrown into indescribable confusion. In the winter of 1925-26 Jersey City bought four Nelson Snow Loaders, and four more the next Autumn. Now when the snow comes the eight Nelsons are put to work. Through streets and ferry approaches are kept clear and the traffic is passed without trouble, congestion or delay. Let the Nelson help move your winter traffic N. P. NELSON Iron Works, Inc. 822 Bloomfield Ave. 90 Yes we should like you to mention THE AMERICAN CITY. Passaic, N. J. |