us for relief from unnecessary burdens, for the amelioration of condition, and for the proper facilities, at least, for the cultivation of talents equal to those possessed by the more favored. Let all have your protection, and grant to all that assistance which, as citizens, they have a good right to demand, as they have a just right to enjoy. The city charter requires, and common practice has made it customary, that on this OCcasion I should present to your attention a general survey of the present condition of the various departments which will fall under your care during the year that has just commenced; and this I do with more than usual pleasure, because I believe that a good account can be rendered of the stewardship of the last last year, and also because of the remarkably good condition of all things pertaining to these departments. Brief, inindeed, these special remarks must of necessity be, yet a more thorough knowledge may be obtained from the various annual reports which will be presented to you hereafter by the heads of the different departments. FINANCES. The subject that naturally excites the most interest of our fellow-citizens is that which relates to the finances of the city; and therefore I deem it my duty to lay before you at this time a concise view of the fiscal condition of our affairs at the commencement of this new administrative year. The gross debt of the city on the thirty-first of December, 1869, as appears by the books of the Auditor of Accounts, was twenty-three million seven hundred and eighty-three thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight dollars and eighty-four cents, and the means on hand for its redemption, seven million five hundred and twenty-one thousand eight hundred and fourteen dollars and fifty-five cents, leaving the net debt sixteen million two hundred and sixty-two thousand one hundred and twentyfour dollars and twenty-nine cents. The amounts of the gross and net debt, as above stated, differ from those given in the report of the Committee on the Reduction of the City Debt, (made to the city council at their final meeting,) inasmuch as a loan for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the widening of Eliot street was passed at the final meeting of the council of 1869. The debt statement shows that the gross debt has increased since the thirty-first of December, 1868, five million three hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and thirty-six dollars and nine cents; that the means for redeeming the same have increased, in the same time, one million nine hundred and three thousand five hundred and four dollars and eighty cents; and that the net increase of the debt during the year 1869 was three million four hundred and fifty-one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one dollars and twenty-nine cents. The increase of the gross debt during the two past municipal years has been ten million one hundred and thirty-eight thousand six hundred and two dollars and sixty cents, and of the net debt, in the same time, seven million three hundred and sixteen thousand sixty-eight dollars and seventy-eight cents. Several of the loans were for works commenced under authority of orders of the city council previous to those years. years. Within two years, loans have been passed for one million two hundred and ninety thousand dollars for completing the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. Of the loans authorized, amounting to six million nine hundred and eleven thousand dollars, only seven thousand and five hundred dollars have been negotiated, the cash in the sinking fund thus far enabling the treasury to meet the demand upon it for the carrying on of the works for which the loans were ordered. The city council of last year author ized the Committee on Finance to fund several loans for street improvements into one loan, to be styled the Consolidated Street Improvement Loan, in a total not to exceed five million dollars; and that committee made it a sterling five per cent. loan; and at their request, the Treasurer of the city is now absent in Europe, as the agent of the city, for the purpose of better facilitating the disposal of the same. The following comprise the loans which are to be negotiated, viz: Street Improvements. December 18, 1868. Atlantic avenue, $1,200,000 00 |