New-York tribune., 1918-07-11

pi.ans. Dr. Amster res gned when the
Mayor went over his head and ordered
tne Municipal Civil Service Commits
SION. assisted by the Commissioners of
accounts, to continue the investiGa-
tlon. Civic bodies and prominent ply
sicians warned the Mayor of the peril
VI a'sorganizing the Health Depart
ment bureaus. A committee of twenty
one representing the labor unions, So
clai welfare workers. medical and phil
on. CIV, .,hropic socictics, sought an audience
WIN the Mayor at the City Hall, but
ne refused to sec them The investi-
eatlon started with star chamber pro-
ceedlngs IN the Offices of President
James r. MacBrde OF the Civil Ser
wee Commission, until President Smith
OF me board of Aldermen one day went
TO MacBrlde's office with the declara-
tIon mat he was going to see "what
IN nell 1T was all about" The hear
lngs were thrown open to the public.
ana soon afterward the investigation
was indefinitely postponed. Mr.. Mac
BRIDE handed his RESIGNATION to the
Mayor, to take effect July l. Commis.
s,oner MacBride announced, however,
.nat M ne telt constrained to leave the
CITY service to accept much more re-
munerative business position.
The Mayors pass on for ECONOMY"
did not extend to the organization of
the new Department of Public Mar
kets. The Legis' 'ature in Great ng the
new department. gave the Mayor an op-
portunlty to take care of several more
deserving Democrats." He apparent
ly improved the opportunity to the
limit. Beside tho Commissioner, with
> salary of ST 500. places were created
Tor four deputy commissioners, a gen
eral inspector ard two secretaries. ali
OF whom were forthwith placed in the
exempt class by tho Civil Service Cow,
mission and added $4,000 to the city
payroll ThiS pretcntous Group Of do
partm"nt officials superviscs onlv fifty
subordinates in the department. while
the Cha"ties Done rtment. with more
than 1000 subordinates. has the same
number of donuties, and the Police De-
partmcnt. with its II. 500 mon. needs
only five deruty comm ssioners.
Much Talk-Little Result
The appointment of DR.. Jonathan c.
Uay, formerly of the Labor Temple, to
the head Of this department gave fulj
play to so-callcd Bolshevik practices
IN purchasing fuel and food supplies
with city money for sale to the people
which are just now the target for
strong criticism. The Mayor raised a
hue and cry over the coal situation
last winter. He started his own in
vestlgation and went out to seize coal
Wherever. in his opinion, it was hoard
ed unnecessarily He investigated two
or three piles owned by the gas com
panies, with the result that no coal
was commandeered. and the coal in
vestIgat' on made practically no prog
ress. The matter was finally left in
the hands of the Federal fuel admin
istration where it had been all along
At the Mayors suggestion, however,
citizens who had q surplus supply of
coal took it to the police stations and
the nolice saw that it was delivered to
families who were in need
Economy was not in evidence AGAIN
in the 1919 budget and the consequent
tax rate for this year The current
budget is 1929 l23 759 includi,r thc
state tax, an increase of about $27.OOo.-
600 over the previous year Tho tax
rate in Manhattan shot up 70 2.36. a
jump of 81 points over last wear. Of
course. the Hylan administration con-
tends that it received costly heritage
from the preceding administration,
ministration. The search for surplus
city funds to meet school improve
ments, subway construction emer-
gencies. salary laises and other needs
has not been fruitful despite the sue
cess of the Hylan administration in
getting a bill THROUGH the Legis ature
modifying the Mitchell "pay -you-go"
policy, which was described by the
Democrats in preG' cction times AZ the
bugaboo which stood largely in the way
of available resources. Mavor Mitchell
predicted city budget of $3.50 00oo 600
in 1919, when that policy would reach
its pinnacle and future budgets would
begin to fall off.
'Favorites" Are Rewarded
Mayor Hylan's record of appoint
rnents, when not purely POLITICAL in
cludes many of his "favorites,' close
personal friends or re atives. There
are probably fifty such appointees re-
celving generous salaries in the city
service. Several of the Mayors per-
sona appointments were held up to
strong General criticism.
The Mayors squabblcs with the Pub
lie Service Commiss on have had the
result of holding up important new sub
way construction. The recent strike
on the new subway work was the re
suit of dilato"y and waVering tactics
on the part of the Board Of Estimate
The Mayor has raised one issue that
has met with popular approval. That
is his persistent attacks on the transit
companies, particularly the Brooklyn
Rapid Transit, for poor and inadequate
service. His efforts however, Gu mi
mated chiefly in violent criticism of the
Public Service Commission for not
bringing the companies to time. His
controversy with Comm ssicncr Travis
II. Whitney over the schedules for run
ming time on certain Brooklyn lines
demonstrated the unreasonableness of
some of tho Mayors charges
Mayor Hvlan did not wait until the
end of six months to give pub ic &C
count of his stewardship in office, as
most mayors have done in the past. A
month 400 he sent a letter to the vari-
Gus civic and taxpayers org cations
in the city inviti g fu l criticism nd
suggestions for the first five months
OF the admin stration. He spoke of
the great reforms that had been &C
complished He declared that vice and
crime had been suppressed, tr9 nsit
conditions improved and the Gary
system excluded from the pub ic
schools He referred to an imaginary
"dock trust" havng been broken and
the elimination of "di graceful cond-
t;ons" in the Health Department
Letters Are Unanswered
Most of the civic organ cations have
not vet taken the trouble o answer
the Mayors letter. Two or three real
estate associations returnd purely aca-
dem.c suggestions in regard to p op-
erty and tax matters. The most m
prchcnsive reply received came in he
form Of an open letter from the West
Side taxpayers Association. which
Il. ;oic oiy ,te.t,.