The sun., 1908-11-01
TEE REAL ESTATE HARKET
SOME GOOD RESULTS OF THE
BUDGET CAMPAIGN.

end LArg0F Appf0prieuOas OOteanoS
Ter HumanitaFian Ends-OMeiais
Called On te show Where Msney Goes
The budget exhibit. opened by Comp
troller Nets and visited by $1,000 tax
payers. ls 10 be closed tomorrow by
Gov. hughes In non-partisan address
IN behalf Of efiicient methods In govern
ment. Perhaps few would have thought
six months ago that the budget for 1909
would be Examined with 90 much genuine
and intelligent interest on the part OF
Taxpayers a. II has. A year ago Fred
erick Trevor Hill, the historian and writer
on politics, advised against an attempt TO
popularise the budget on the ground that
the public could not be Interested In
figures and statistics. Last week Mr..
Hill recalled his previous soepttctsm ana
wrote TO tho Bureau Of Municipal ne
search: "You have succeeded admirably
In popularizing the dry facts and figures.
A few dayu ago q client Of mine showed
me q letter which he was about 70 post
TO the Board Of Estimate. Accordingly
I questioned him and discovered that the
exhibit had for the first time aroused him
to realization that he had something at
stake. believe there are thousands OF
other cases like this. individuals and
sporadic associations are helpless. The
Bureau OF Municipal Research ought to
stay in business until 1t eliminates the
necessity for Its existence"
Fridays meeting at the exhibit was Tor
the purpose Of "taking stock. with special
reference TO the lessons learned by tax
payers that can be applied during the year
1909. Little was said Of budget disap-
pointments. and the general attitude OF
Senator Brush and other speakers was
one Of congratulation, first that the tax
payers had realized the superiority OF
facts over attack, and second. that city
officials had given budget based so far
as possible upon evidence Of need.
That there Ia disa ppointment In some
quarters should not be concealed. 1t
should be recalled. however. that Of the
SIS, 900, 900 increase in the budget over
half. nearly $1,000. 600, Is to pay interest
and redemption charges. In spite Of
the increase the budget Is notable for
what II did not do. It did not grant
salary increases; 1t did not make addi-
tions to the staff except whom new build
inRs were to be opened or new kinds Of
work undertaken; It did not give the So
called political departments special
pulls; Il did not fail to cut the estimates
Of Borough Presidents. On the oon-
trary, those who attended the session
Friday morning heard Borough Preei-
dents vote aye on q budget that had
ruthlessly slaughtered their requests
a
Bronx below its amount for 1908. facing
In all boroughs truths presented by ex-
perience from the Finance Departmentand
by taxpayers at the hearings.
More important than the size Of the
budget, more important than the things
It failed 10 do, are the substantial i'm
provement In administrative methods
October 20. 1908. marks the oommittal
Of the first American city to q system oi
protecting It's budget 30 that, money, ,shal
be ussd in 1eee fdrs ths enrAo.e al4ser-
tised In 1908 Department heads may
no longer exceed by moro than one-tve elfth
tho amount Of their weekly and monthly
pay rolls In any month without coming
before the Board Of Estimate and the
public. confessing the fact. explaining
the reason and obtaining authority.
It is now possible for the fret time to
start spending q budget with methods
that furnish evidence as to where that
spending 10 improper or wasted Next
week IL 10 expected that the Board OF
Estimate viii take another step and pass
resolutions requiring time sheets and
service records and q permanent COM
mittee Of engineers to standardize repairs.
supplies. etc.
ments known as humanitarian or social
health. Bellevue. charities. corrections.
To these, a. President Coler has urged.
should be added departments no less
humanitarian because not associated
with private philanthropy. such "a water.
street cleaning, etc TheTenementH House
Department is put IN position where
II cannot attribute any part Of its failure
to carry out the tenement house law 10
the opposition Of landlords. While va
rious taxpaying organizations opposed
the gross increase Of $Iee.oo for that
department. they made II clear that az
landlords and a. men they want school
sinks and dark rooms removed at onoe.
tenement houses inspected twice year
all of this however with an efficient. prsc-
tical administration Of the tenement
house law Hence one may safely look
forward to an entirely new method oi
cooperation betw cen the Tenement House
Department and those owning tenemen,
houses, both Of which parties should
use every effort 10 secure from the Cor
poration Counsel prompt action upon
| violations.
The education budget was cut, but moi
until taxpayers had It clearly explained
that the educational authorities have
this, year. as well as in previous years
failed to deal candidly with the taxpayer
with the Board Of Estimate and Appor.
tionment and with their own responsi.
bility. Hundreds Of thousands OF dol.
lars have been included In budget esti,
mates and advertised as indispensable
to maintaining the minimum of educa.
tional facilities which. as disclosed IL
this years budget, could not be justifiec
In ethics or In fact. No one could reac
Of the diversion Of funds from the ele.
| mentary schools to purposes not adver
tised and contrary to pledges made b,
the Board Of Education. OF the failure te
use money for attendance officers, Of tn,
inclusion in the budget Of vast sums no
needed for alleged automatic increase OF
Of the dsproportion Of repairs among th,
various borouRhs without realizing thal
Greater New York needs q different kinc
Of attention given to the business side oI
i n deDartp1ent ep0ndinR nearly AN mn M.