The Penn's Grove record., 1912-01-12

not render the State a greater service
| than by doing so. Without the very
best administrative organization the
government of the State cannot be ad-
ministered with entire integrity or
with full and candid responsibility to
the people, for unless it is efficient
and responsible it is in constant dan
ger of becoming corrupt. Wasteful-
ness and ~ineficiency r themselves
virtually forms of graft. They afford
fruitful opportunities for every kind
of abuse.
1t is to questions of efficiency and
economy, therefore, that l first invite
your serious attention.
The government of New Jersey, like
the governments of most of the older
States, has developed on it's admins
trative side, not Systematically, but
by patchwork, and mere accretion: by
the multiplication of boards and COM
missions, by the addition Of first this
piece and then that peace to existing
departments. There has been o n
slant addition, no subtraction, no elm
i~nation, no coordination. 1t has grown
very much as the State House itself
has grown, but without the necessity
of at least ONE semblance of archi-
tectural unity, without the connecting
corridors and the common roof which
the State House must of mere physi-
cal necessity be given.
The number and variety of State
boards and commissions is utterly
confusing. One wonders why there
mighgt not be, for example, a depart
ment of public works, in which would
be assembled all the functions affect
ing roads, parks, bridges and water
ways, now divided UP amongst a half
dozen boards and commissions, perma-
nent and temporary; why a depart
ment of public welfare might not serve
as a means of co-ordinating and SIM
plifying the supervision of the public
health, the examination of practition-
ers of medicine, the inspection Of tene-
ment houses, of mills and factories,
and the enforcement of the laws
against child labor; why a department
of conservation might not combine the
work 10y scattered amongst numer-
Gus bodies concerning the preserva-
ton of fish and game, the supervision
and regulation of the oyster industry,
the safeguarding of the water supply
and the disposition of the riparian
rights of the State? Why should
every oyster bed have a commission
of it's own? 1t is necessary to bring
order out of this chaotic miscellany,
not merely to have the satisfaction of
conducting the business of the State
in a businesslike and efficient way,
but to prevent waste and forestall
abuses of many kinds. I suggest,
therefore, the constitution by law of a
commission, not too large, to act
promptly and tremendously, to take
into consideration the whole question
of simplifying and co-ordinating the
administrative agencies of the State
in order that they may be put upon
the best possible basis of economy
and efficiency. In my judgment, the
majority of the commission should be
experienced and trusted business men,
and they should have the benefit of
the advice of men who have made a
special study of scientific efficiency in
practical administration. 1t should
report to the Legislature at as early a
date as possible. Its report would
serve to concentrate public opinion
upon n of the most vital matters of
government, whether looked at from
the point of view of purity or of se--
viceability, and with public criticism
centered upon a particular scheme of
reorganization, satisfactory legislation
could readily be obtained.
The scope of this commissions in
quiry ought to be so wide as to in
clude our whole method of assessing
and equalizing taxes. You have only
to examine the reports of our State
tax boards to realize how unsatisfac-
tory our present methods are. 1t is
not enough that there should be
boards to which individuals can re-
sort to remedy inequalities in taxa
ton and assessment. Powers of cor
rection fall short of accomplishing
what ought to be accomplished. Uni
form standards ought to be establish
ed upon the initiative and authority
of some central board of supervision.
That body ought to have Independent
and exclusive powers of reclassiica-
tinn within onrtain nnonro1 Iivo;+c 40
fined in the law. In several States of
the Union-in Wisconsin, for example,
and in Observation-Disclosures
of this kind have been set up with ex-
ceedingly satisfactory results, whose
powers are powers of active supervi-
sion, and through whose instrumental
ity inequalities and inequities are be-
ing corrected upon a definite plan, not
in individual cases only, not merely for
the persons who can afford to appeal
and protest, but by systematic means
and upon the initiative of the commits
sion itself.
You have only to ask the average
taxpayer whom you meet on the
street what he thinks of the assess
ments to which he is subjected to find
how many varieties of assessment
there are in the State. You have only
to examine the average tax assessors
books to discover how little system
there is and how little he actually
knows of the property he assesses.
How many of the tax districts in the
State are mapped and plotted? How
many assessors can produce definite
evidence and data to support their as
sessments. Undertake to debate with
men from half a dozen counties the
question whether we should continue
to maintain u present system of
county tax boards, and you will at once
discover that in ONE counties they are
valued and deemed efficient; in others
smiled at and regarded as entirely I'll
necessary and unwarrantably expen-
sive. Have the State Board of Asses
cnrc ond A1,y Cfo+a D1a-l g.. IL 49,