The San Francisco call., 1898-03-07
HOW PHELAN LOOKED OUT
 FOR FUNDS Some Shortages He Might Have Pre-
 vented. County Officers Who Will Be Begging Before the Years End. The Mayor Said He Gould At tend to the Trouble
 Himself.
STATECRAFT IN ACTION
More Money Will Be Wanted in Several of the De-
 partments.

The letter of Mayor Phelan to the Auditor has caused more hot temperS than that of MT. Broderick to waste portion of Vehemence on the cltys breezes; Dr. and Supervisor Rottanz' Is the latest one to come to the front and center and defend the honor of himself and the finance committee of the Board of Supervisors, of which he is chairman.
 Last Wednesday Frederick issued reply, which plainly showed the state of his mind at being told he did not know what the one-twelfth act was and how it should operate, and now Rot tanzi is ready with figures which he has been digging up ever since the Phelan letter.
 T told him so," cries Rottanzf, as he exultantly points to a deficit marked in red ink on a balance sheet Of the city's finances; T told him so when the tax levy was being made; l told him there would be deficits; 1 told him there would be a deficit amounting to $25,- 900 in the health and police depart ments, and even with the S17 900 they added to the apportionment there is deficit of over 5000. told him all this, and knew it was coming.
 The deficit in the health and police departments is not the only one both ering the Supervisors who have been suggested by the Mayor as the respon- sible parties. There may be deficit in the County Clerks office of $43,0OO and there is another one In the court order fund of nearly $30,000. Of the court or der fund the board has no control, but with the finances of the clerks office they have everything to say.
 laft tho cjfV for Eastern trip during the latter part of last year the board was in the midst of the consideration of some means to cur tail the expenses of the various depart ments of the city government, and while he was absent thorough lnVes- tigation into the situation was made by the finance committee of the board The committee was about ready to re- port when the Mayor returned, and the report was made to him. He took no action upon 1t, as at that time his days were being taken up in the selection or the mushroom board which sprung up so suddenly, and whose adVelt was no more sudden than it's speedy departure.
 The new board had no time for Such work as the curtailing of expenses, and so the departments were allowed to run along as they would until the Finance Committee tired of inaction and asked that some notice be taken Of the ap- preaching stringency. The Mayors re- ply was that he could attend to that matter himself; he had the power and he would exercise it as he thought best The matter thus being taken from the hands of the Finance Committee it again dragged along until the Mayor one day, in a fit of unusual activity, asked the Auditor to hold warrant or one of the County Clerks copyists un- til he could see what he could do about 1t. The Auditor held the warrant for ten days, as he had promised he would, and then he held it for three days more, but there was no further astion from the Mayors office and so he let the war rant go with his signature attached.
 Then the Mayor once more became industrious, and this time his statecraft suggested that he enjoin the Treasurer from paying the warrant and thus save the city the full amount of the copy ist's pay He enjoined the Treasurer, but that was all the good it did, for the courts refused to interfere since the Auditor had passed the demand, the injunction was dissolved and the copy ist drew his money, the only result Of this move being the delay of his pay day.
 Now. according to the figures of the Finance Committee, the deficit is at hand. There Is difference of $43, 900 in the columns of what ought to be and what is, and there seems no way out of the difficulty but to express sorrow and sympathy for the taxpayer.
 The Finance Committee of the board will take no blame for the state of af- fairs; the members say they investi- gated the situation with the one pur- pose of guarding against just such wind up to the fiscal year, and that their work was made of no use by the action of the Mayor when he returned and took charge of things himself they say is no fault of theirs; and if deficit Is at hand they can only join In a chorus of T told you so."
 There are eightyfve men in the County Clerks office, it is estimated, and of them thirty-Six are copyiSts.
 The deficit in the Health and Police departments Is the result of misman- agement; there was deficit from the start for every one familiar with the workings of those departments knew they could not be run on the money al- lowed. In the police patrol system alone the apportionmentS were $12,000 below what 1t was known would be needed, and that amount was finally added reducing the deficit to $15OO. In the case of the County Jail the esti- mate was cut down until shortage of S8000 was apparent, and this was helped with the addition of $25O0. The appor- tionments were made by MT. Phelan and his own board, and the additional amounts were put in after the Phelan board had been returned to their homes by the court.
 There is, too. shortage of $14,000 in the fund for lighting public buildings, and still the gas burns merrily all day in the City Hall with never word from the Mayor. It saves coal bills to heat a room by gaslight, and in some of the offices they are very economical. It saves gas bills, too, to turn on the incandescent lights. and so the wiring of the half has not failed of its purpose. The deficit, however, is a matter the taxpayers must attend to. It Is no part of the Mayoralty.