Frequently against Bulgaria

I refer to this incident because it seems to me an illustration of the good sense which, on the whole, cha-racterizes the local administration of the country. No charge is brought more frequently against Bulgaria by people who, for one cause or another, are dissatisfied with the present order of things, than the assertion that, under the new regime, the local indebtedness of the municipalities has assumed serious and alarming proportions. Philippopolis is often cited as an example of this alleged extravagance.

But if the information given me by persons who have no interest in the matter is reliable, the charge in this instance has very little foundation. Since the liberation of Eastern Roumelia Philippopolis has incurred a debt of £ 120,000, which, in the main, was borrowed from the National Bank of Bulgaria at a charge, for interest and sinking fund, of about 10 per cent The revenue of the town, which is chiefly derived from the octroi duties, is about £20,000; and, with the rapid growth of the population, this revenue is steadily on the increase. The interest on the city loan absorbs more than three-fifths of the municipality’s annual income, and it is admittedly hard pressed to meet the normal expenditure out of the balance of some £8000. At times the municipality has been short of money to meet current expenses.

The loan, however, has been spent to advantage. The waterworks alone cost £80,000, and the balance of the loan was employed in the construction and equipment of the public schools, the town library, and the municipal offices. I should think it extremely probable that these various improvements may have put money into the pockets of the leading personages in the city in addition to any general benefit they may have derived from them as members of the community. As I have said before, the standard of public duty is not as high in Bulgaria as it is with us.

Still, I can see no evidence whatever that, even making allowance for a certain amount of individual jobbery, the city did not get full value for its money. The great bulk of the town debt has been incurred in undertakings which are likely to prove remunerative in the end, and which are important, if not essential, to the welfare of the city. What is true of Philippopolis is true, I gather, as a rule, of the other municipalities.