CONTENTS. By an act of Congress, which was approved and became law July 1, 1898, the Commissioner of Labor was called upon to make an investigation annually into the statistics of the cities of the United States having over 30,000 population. The paragraph of the act referred to is as follows: The Commissioner of Labor is authorized to compile and publish annually, as a part of the Bulletin of the Department of Labor, an abstract of the main features of the official statistics of the cities of the United States having over 30,000 population. In accordance with this act a compilation was attempted from the printed reports of various cities, but owing to lack of uniformity in these reports, and in many cases to the lack of reports themselves, it was found impossible to make such a classification of the various items relating to the governmental, financial, and other conditions of these cities as seemed necessary for a satisfactory comparison. A schedule of inquiries was therefore prepared and the work taken up by the special agents of the Department. This required personal visits to the various officials of the cities coming within the scope of the investigation. These officials in many ways manifested the utmost interest in the investigation, and contributed freely of their time and labor in compiling the data desired and in making the report a success. The results were printed in the Bulletin of the Department of Labor for September, 1899. As will be seen by reference to the language of the law which has been quoted, provision is made for a similar inquiry each year. In the second report, which appeared in the Bulletin of the Department of Labor for September, 1900, an effort was made to enlarge somewhat the first, and to change slightly some of the inquiries in order to upon secure fuller information on the subjects covered. The third report of the series was published in September, 1901, and while it was not thought necessary to repeat the investigation of the preceding year relative to the nonmunicipal libraries, charities, etc., it was deemed desirable to increase somewhat the scope of some of the inquiries and modify certain classifications in the interest of a more ready compar ison from year to year of the cities included in the report. The report for the present year has also been expanded to some extent by the inclusion of additional data. In other respects, however, it is similar to the reports for previous years, and no difficulty will be found in making comparisons in regard to the subjects covered. The thanks of the Department are due to the officials of the various cities which were visited for their cordial cooperation in the effort to reduce the official records to such form as seemed necessary for satisfactory comparison. It is hoped that experience will render this task easier each year. The first report, contained in the Bulletin for September, 1899, included 140 cities, this being the number in the United States which were at that time believed to have a population of 30,000 or over. The results of the Twelfth Census regarding the population of cities were not available when the data were collected for the second report, which appeared in the Bulletin for September, 1900, but according to the best estimates that could be secured the Department considered itself justified in including but 129 cities. Joliet, Ill., however, was wrongly included, it being shown by the corrected census returns to have less than 30,000 population; while several cities, which were supposed, when the data for that report were collected, to have less than 30,000 population, were shown to have more than that number. This information, however, came too late to permit their inclusion in the report. The following cities were thus omitted: Montgomery, Ala.; Fitchburg and Newton, Mass.; Bayonne, N. J.; Schenectady, N. Y., and Chester and York, Pa. The third report included 135 cities-all of the cities shown by the results of the Twelfth Census to have had a population of over 30,000. In the report for the present year two cities have been added-East St. Louis and Joliet, Ill.—as it is believed that their population now exceeds 30,000. These additions bring the number of cities included in the present report up to 137. The titles of the twenty-five tables embraced in the present report are as follows: TABLE I.-Incorporation, population, and area. TABLE II.-Dates of ending of years covered by the investigation. TABLE IV.-Firemen, fire equipment, and property loss from fires. TABLE VI.-Deaths, by causes. TABLE VII.-Percentage of deaths from each specified cause. TABLE VIII.-Death rate per 1,000 population, by causes. TABLE IX.-Death rate per 1,000 population. TABLE X.-Area of public parks and miles of streets, sewers, and street railways. TABLE XI.-Care of streets, food and sanitary inspection, and disposal of garbage and other refuse. TABLE XII.-Number and kind of street lights TABLE XIII.-Public schools. TABLE XIV.-Public libraries. TABLE XV.-Charities: Almshouses, orphan asylums, and hospitals. TABLE XVI.-Cost of water, gas, and electric-light plants owned and operated by cities. TABLE XVII.-Building permits. TABLE XVIII.-Debt and legal borrowing limit. TABLE XIX. -Basis of assessment, assessed valuation of property, and taxation TABLE XX.--Receipts from all sources. TABLE XXI.-Expenditures for construction and other capital outlay. TABLE XXII.-Expenditures for maintenance and operation. TABLE XXIII.-Summary of receipts and expenditures. TABLE XXIV.-Assets. TABLE XXV.-Per capita debt, assessed valuation of property, and expenditures for maintenance. These tables, which immediately follow the discussion of the same, will be taken up in order and a short analysis and explanation of each will be presented. At the same time there will be given information as to the changes from last year which have been adopted in the preparation of this year's report. Table I.-Incorporation, population, and area. In this table, as in the remaining twenty-four tables, the 137 cities in the United States having a population of 30,000 or over are presented in the order of their population at the Twelfth Census, the largest being placed first. The latest date of incorporation of each of the cities under the present limits of territory is first given, followed by the population at the Twelfth United States Census, June 1, 1900. This census population is used only as the basis for arrangement and is followed by the estimated population January 1, 1902. This estimate, which must be accepted as such, represents the closest approximation to the actual population that could be secured after consultation with city officers and investigation of all available data. This table also presents information as to the area in acres of each of the cities, subdivided as to land and water wherever possible. Lack of official records as to area rendered anything but an estimate impossible in some cities, but the greatest care has been exercised in such cases to have these estimates approximate accuracy as closely as possible. No subdivision of the area of cities into land and water was made in the first two annual reports on this subject. Table II.-Dates of ending of years covered by the investigation.-As regards the dates of ending of the years covered by the investigation, it is necessary to say that in most of the cities investigated the various |