Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-07-14


garbage department In 1906 the sum
of $23,5 was expended to maintain
this branch of the local government
against $24,140 in 1913, or an increase
of only 2 per cent, as against the in
crease in population of Honolulu OF
80 per cent the comparison of OPP,
Grating expenses Of the office of coun-
; ty physician, by years, from 1910 to
1918, is difficult one. as number
of duties have been added since the
former year, although it might be
stated that the cost of operation has
been equitably proportioned.
Man With Pick and Shovel Blamed
for Extravaganza.
The statement has been repeatedly
made to me, both on Hawaii and
Oahu, that by far the greater per
centage of waste in the handling of
our public funds would be found in
road expenditures; that is to say that
the men who had worked en- the
roads had shirked their work to such
an extent that the maintenance and
other road OUTLAWS had brought COM
paratiyely small returns. This is a
very poor excuse to saddle the bur
den of waste on the man with the
pick. and shovel The truth Of the
matter is that after all claims for
exploiting the public treasury have
been provided for the remainder has
been set aside to meet the all-import-
ant question of road betterments,
and the laborer is then blamed for
not performing miracles of strategy
at a dollar and half to two dollars
a day. 49,.
Loading up of Overhead Charges.
There is no gainsaying the fact that
due to this systematic loading up of
overhead charges, our roads are now
in such condition that mere patch
ing will not suffice to hold them to-
gether; the result is that we shall be
called upon, in the very near future,
to replace them with new construc-
ton at very considerable cost We
are running our local government on
the hit or miss plan, with the misses
far outnumbering the hits. No at
tempt has been made to compare the
cost of operation of departmental
units with results obtained, and, con-
sequently, there never has been any
equitable distribution of expenses or
overhead charges. Those who are re-
sponsible for the disbursing of our
public funds are not expected to man.
age the business of the people on a
dividend-pay basis, but the taXpay-
ers, if they appreciate their rights,
should insist on a reasonable return
for expenditures made. Unlike trad
ing corporation, the citizens cannot
seek a remedy in bankruptcy court
for abuses in the management OF
their affairs, and the burden of ex-
travagance must inevitably rest on
the shoulders of the taxpayers.
Public Financial and Administrative
Problems Similar.
While the financial problem and
the operative policy of a municipal
corporation differ widely from those
of private corporation, the admins
trative problem is the same. The
same sort of judgments must be
made The same considerations are
before the superintendent of NUM-
cipal water works as confront the SUI
perintendent of a private water
works. The same is true of the man
agement of schools, hospitals. fire
stations, repair shops, construction,
the cleaning of streets, etc, etc. The
heads of departments In our county
governments have been charged with
the executive direction of diverse,
technical and complex branches OF
business. with little or nc provision
for current knowledge of detail or OF
results. Boards have been reSpon"
sible for granting appropriations
without the means of previously in
forming themselves with respect to
corporate needs Auditors have been
auditing claims without evidence
competent to prove their business and
to supervise the fiscal concerns OF
our public corporation without the
instruments of official intelligence
which have been found to be abso
lutely necessary to the exercise OF
official discretion in private business.
To make the experience growing out
of the operations OF a municipality
of the greatest possible value as
basis for efficient administration. it
should be collected classified and
in such manner that re-
suits may be readily available to
busy man We are absolutely with
out any such information in any of
our branches OF government in this
Banner Year in Hawaii 1907.
Ia the county of Hawaii. after | had
70 classified the annual costs OF oper-