The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-09-18
WILLIAM H. ALLEN.
@xcIusive Service The Survey Press
 Bureau)

Conclusive Service The. Survey Press
 Bureau.)
 In few steps may other American cities more safely initiate New York city than in her budget reforms. No matter how small or large, how well or badly managed may be township or city, county or State, its voters must come to see that control over its purse strings and its official action depends more upon budget day than upon cleo tion day 'sIow is our money spent?'' is a more important question than .ssWho is spending it?''
 If New York is the first to see the truth of this, it must be remembered that just because of their larger scale both her evils and her benefits become agination more strongly than similar benefits or injuries in smaller com munities. But there is hardly trou- ble or an ambition which a New York newspaper records that has not it's ssdouble'' in every other newspaper of the country. Since, therefore, New York has found a new short cut to an understanding of things which Amer1- can communities want to do and want to prevent, it behooves other places to try her method.
 The .sshort cut'' is being tried this year, not only by taxpayers and busi- nes mems organizations, but particu- larIy by the clergy and private char1t- able agencies. The 'cut' is the bud get for 1910, the estimates sent in by departments wishing to spend, their reasons the recommendations by the bureau of municipal investigation and statistics to the officers who vote the money, taxpayers hearings, the tenta- tive budget and the final burget. l call it short cut in spite of all these things, because it is the easiest, and in fact the only way, to find out what our city officials want to do with the one hundred and seventy-five millions requested for next year.
 The so-caIled moral forces of the city have, through the short cut, de- termined to influence the kind of gov ernment the city fshan pay for next year, no matter who happens to be elected to office in November. Wniie strictly avoiding politics, these uplfft forces will be carrying on an active educational campaign through October, the very time when municipal election excitement will be highest.
 The two groups of uplift forces have two separate committees, known as the 1910 Budget Conference of Civic and Charitable Agencies, chairman, Franklin B. Kirkbride, United Charf- ties Building, and the Conference of Clergymen on New York's Budget for I910 Bishop D. Fl. Greer, chairman. Both committees are representative Of their fields, two hundred clergymen of all denominations and all boroughs be- Ing in one, and about seventy-five pri- vate uplift agencies in the other.
 What are these uplift conferences going to do? They have undertaken: ID to know before they petition or protest, @ to make known to the public, and more particularly their own associates in church and charity, what they learn, by printed state ments, conferences and letters; (a) to ask the public to oppose budget allow ances for 1910 which will obviously do j1arm and to favor allowances which will stop tuberculosis, ensure correc- tio1l of tenement evils, furnish enough plavground attendants. policemen, pro- bation officers, kindergartens, school nurses. milk inspectors. etc. They are