had to increase the rate to 5 per cent. I am in favor of amending the law in such a manner that the Common Council, approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, may fix the prices at which bonds shall be sold, instead of calling for competitive bids. Then place the bonds on sale at the Controller’s office to any one who will pay the price. The prices upon each issue should be graded according to the different values of different maturities. Under the present law, as we have it, conditions are too complicated to make a sale practicable except upon a basis of par bids.”
THE ST. PAUL EXPERIMENT
St. Paul wisely introduced into its experiment a more democratic feature, which Tom L. Johnson, Cleveland’s great mayor, thought out (but did not utilize), and which his friend W. B. Colver, now Editor-in-Chief of the Daily News, brought to the attention of the St. Paul officials. Mayor Johnson had recognized the importance of reaching the small savings of the people; and concluded that it was necessary not only to issue the bonds in very small denominations,