1 Includes $662,500 for abatement of nuisances for Group I, and $220,000 for "sanitary purposes," unspecified, for Group IV. * Includes aid to state and courthouses, and memorial halls.

A more precise classification of debt obligations, according to purpose of issue, by the several cities, is still to be desired. This is particularly the case with the special assessment debt, of whose total, $90,766,383, in Table 24, no less than $78,498,613, or 86.5 per cent, has to be classed as issued for "combined or unreported purposes." The assurance is gratifying that the officials of some important cities are taking an increased interest in the matter, and promise fuller and more definite statements of their various debt obligations in the immediate future; it is to be hoped that the example may be generally followed.

TABLE 26.

Funded and special assessment debt, classified by year of issue. The debt obligations, which are classified according to purpose of issue in Table 25, are shown according to year of issue for the twenty-one years ending in 1907 in Table 26. Nearly half the total outstanding debt appears under the head "not reported," because of deficient information from the two cities of largest indebtedness. New York and Boston together report $830,748,171 of outstanding debt, or 47.3 per cent of the total for 158 cities; whereas they report $825,498,371 out of a total of $874,674,539 for which the date of issue was unreported, or 94.4 per cent. For the 156 remaining cities the total debt is $926,591,167, and the portion for which the date of issue was unreported $49,176,168, or only 5.3 per cent.

TABLE 27.

Funded and special assessment debt, classified by year of maturity.-Table 27 shows the debt obligations for which statistics are given in Tables 25 and 26, classified according to year of maturity for twenty years next following 1907. For $821,202,852, or 46.7 per cent of the total, the year of maturity was later than 1927; and for $24,224,141, or 1.4 per cent, it was not reported. Of this latter amount $3,412,440 represented the principal of "premium bonds" in New Orleans (mentioned in discussion of Table 24), for which the amount to mature each year is determined by lot; while a considerable part consists of serial bonds for which the amounts maturing each year were not distinctly shown

TABLE 28.

Funded and special assessment debt and revenue loans, classified by rate of interest.-The debt included in Table 28 is that reported in the three tables immediately preceding, together with the outstanding revenue loans; it is the sum of the debt shown in the first three columns under the head "classified according to provisions made for payment" in Table 24. The larger part of the debt shown in the last two columns under the classification referred to in Table 24 is debt bearing no interest. For $6,694,923, out of $1,858,227,134, or less than 0.4 per cent, the rate was not reported. The amounts included under the head of "other reported rates," arranged according to rate, are as follows:

The debt reported as bearing no interest consisted of (1) outstanding warrants classed as "special assessment loans" (see discussion of special assessment warrants under head of "indebtedness classified by character," for Table 24); and (2) bonds or other obligations due but not yet presented for redemption. Of the debt for which a rate of 2 per cent was reported, $3,650,563 was reported by Washington, D. C., and $3,000 by Albany, N. Y. The debt bearing interest at the rate of 2.5 per cent was also reported by 2 cities, New York city, which reported $11,927,700, and Birmingham, Ala., which reported $16,768. The debt referred to in Albany and Birmingham was incurred for parks; in the case of New York and Washington, for various purposes.

The total interest-bearing debt for which the rates were reported was $1,847,783,947. The total interest charge on this debt (see Table 8, and discussion in text) was $71,785,707, and the average rate therefore 3.885 per cent. The average rate reported for 1906 was 3.853 per cent, the year showing an increase of 0.032 in the average rate. The average rates for each population group in 1907 were as follows: Group I, 3.75 per cent; Group II, 4.11 per cent; Group III, 4.26 per cent, and Group IV, 4.45 per cent. The corresponding averages for 1906 were 3.68, 4.21, 4.25, and 4.41 per cent, respectively, showing an increase in three out of four cases. As the four groups of cities were not identical for the two years, a slight irregularity is perhaps not surprising; but each series of rates plainly indicates a tendency toward lower interest rates along with increases in population.

TABLE 29.

Assessed valuation. The valuations given in Table 29 are those of property which is subject to taxation for purposes of municipal government; in certain states-notably in Pennsylvania and New Yorkthese differ somewhat from the valuations on which taxes for state and county purposes are levied. In some instances, the assessed valuation of an independent division of the government of a city, such as a school or park district, differs somewhat from that of the city corporation. The table gives separately the valuation subject to general property taxes and that subject to special property taxes for the city corporation but shows only the total assessed valuation for school districts and for other independent divisions.

Reported basis of assessment in practice.-The reported basis of assessment in practice is an estimate, furnished by city officials, of the percentage which the assessed valuation of property forms of its true value. The figures for both real and personal property are subject to possible error, but the former are the more trustworthy. Yet even in the case of real property, only a critical investigation, involving a comparison

between the assessed valuations of lands sold and the considerations allowed at such sales, will afford data for a true statement of the basis of assessment in practice.

For real property, the percentages in the table are all undoubtedly reckoned on the same basis. For personal property, however, there are probably two different bases, the ratio being in one case that of the assessed valuation of the personal property included in the tax list to the true value of the same property, while in the other case it is that of the assessed valuation of the personal property reported to the assessor for taxation to the true value of all personal property; one includes only property that is taxed, while the other takes into consideration also that which escapes taxation. There is greater uniformity in the reports for this class of property than formerly, but undoubtedly in a few instances the ratio of the assessed valuation of personal property taxed to the true value of all taxable personal property is given.

Rates of levy.-The rates of levy for general property taxes per $1,000 of assessed valuation are given in detail for the several taxing bodies, while the rates per $1,000 of reported true value are the average rates for all divisions of city government. Specific rates of levy are given below in the accompanying text table. The rates based on the reported true value are subject to all the possible errors of the estimates given in the column headed "reported basis of assessment in practice."

Tax levies.-Under the head of "general property taxes" are included all general property taxes levied for all divisions of the governments of cities. In certain cases the result obtained by applying the rate to the assessed valuation differs from the amount of levy reported, the variation being due to some one or more of the many factors affecting tax lists, such as the addition of supplementary tax lists, changes in valuation, and the abatement of taxes. These variations are all trifling, however, and are referred to only for the purpose of calling attention to the complexity of the data relating to taxes and the difficulty of securing accuracy in all details.

Special methods of assessment and taxation.-The assessed valuation of property subject to general property taxes in divisions of the city governments having two or more rates of levy, together with the specific levies in the different districts of the cities, are given in Table XXI. Table XXII similarly shows the assessed valuation of property subject to special tax and the specific levies for cities levying such taxes at two or more rates. Under the head "city corporation proper" in these tables are shown the assessed valuation for the city as a whole, together with the rate and amount of tax levied thereon for general city purposes, as distinguished from the valuation and levies of taxing districts including only a part of the city.