The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-10-19
Document o Scandal and
Means Tax Boost to Point
Of COnfiscatiOn.
CRAIG IS COBENEFICIARY
S28,O00,000 for Education Es'
pecially Stirs Wrath Of ..
Citizens Union.

at will be a target at least s4.ooo.oo0
larger than the 1915. 100000 announced
last week. 1t was learned yesterday
that 100000 already has been added
10 the budget in the executive sessions
of the finance and budget committee and
like amount in addition will In all
probability be tackled on before the docu-
ment sees the light OF day.
At the same time Leonard M. Wall
stein, counsel for the City Government
Committee of the Citizens Union, issued
a statement in which he charges that
the budget is packed with salary in
creases for Hylan and Craig favorites,
fleets ofautomobiles and handsome FUR
niture for pet departments and fat sums
for contracts Of all sorts. He charac-
terizes the inclusion of s2s, 100000 for
new construction in the Department OF
Education as scandalous camout1age.
The department, he says, will be wholly
unable to expend any such sum even II
provided as 1t should be by tax notes
rather than through the levy. The Item
has been put in, he says, In order to
make an opening for a later cut which
will divert attention from the fat bits
which are to be left In.
"The situation" he declares, us ag-
gravated by the Mayors crocodile tears
over the huge increase of $6S.50o,000.
He is a member of the budget commit
tee of the Board of Estimate, which pre-.
pared this scandalous estimate. At any
moment while it was being framed
word from him would have prevented
the jobbery which this document con-
tains."
The increases are said to have been
'necessitated" by requests Of depart
ment heads and Borough Presidents for
further sums for the services under their
control Manhattan and Brooklyn re-
quests for increases were disposed Of at
yesterdays session. Oueens's pleas are
being heard to-day and The Bronx and
Richmond win be heard next week.
HyIan and Craig on Job.
The sessions have been held in the Of
fees of Comptroller Craig. AS was true
of previous sessions of the committee, all
Of the members OF the Board of Esti-
mate. including Mayor Hylan and Comp
troller Craig. have attended personally
instead Of delegating this preliminary
work to subordinates. as has been the
case in other years. The Mayor per-
sists in his denunciation of the size of
the tentative budget, Notwithstanding his
per sonal part In its preparation. Un-
less the tax levy becomes oonfiscatory
the total Of the budget will have to be
pared more than s60,00o.o00.
It Is said in City Hall that the adj
ministration is still hoping to find
way out of the tangle through the Legis-
lature, the transit situation and the
deferment Of payments for school and
otLer construction. 1t may be that the
city's intentions with regard to the tran
sit contracts will be revealed in the
course of the conferences before Public
Service Commissioner Nixon which be-
GIN tomorrow.
"A study of the tentative city budget
for 1920 discloses very clearly the reason
for the unprecedented secrecy with
which the Hylan administration
shrouded its preparation. II Is great
many years since the public OF this city
have been SO brazenly nouted by 80 out
rageous distribution of public moneys
among political henchmen. Everybody
has favored the merited Increase of the
salaries of the rank and file OF city en-
ployees. 1t now appears, however, that.
under cover of provision for such in
creases. the Hylan administration pro-
poses to create the opportunity for pro-
Niding a whole crop of new patronage
jobs for passing around big increases in
installed in their berths. for furnishing
a feet of new automobiles and a car load
of commodious arm chairs and swivel
chairs to the favored officials, big and
little, and for providing enormous In
creases in the amounts to be available
for contract work. Every abuse of the
city payroll and II the public funds
against which Mayor Hylan has rallied
in the public press. is. In great profusion,
to be found tucked away among the
thousands OF items In the tentative
budget, which was handed to the public
but moment before they were Invited
TO discuss 1t and which was concocted in
secret conclave OF the members Of the
Board of Estimate.
Craig Co-Benehciary.
1.-THE Comptroller is blaming the law
for the budget increase, but the excuse
which he offers upon the ground OF
statutory provisions and court decisions
IS wholly untenable. Moreover. the ten
tative budget shows that the Comp
troller has joined the Mayor in getting
new political Jobs for his own office and
in boosting the salaries of present ex-
empt appointees. Altogether. It is diff
cult to conceive a more complete
demonstration Of the hypocrisy and dem
agogy that has brought this city admin
istration into public contempt than Is
afforded by this tentative budget"
OF the S2s, 100000 for the Department
OF Education he says:
There is no purpose TO which the peo-
pie of this city would rather see their
taxes devoted than to securing the best
educational advantages for their chill
dreu, both as to teaching and housing
The inclusion, however, OF SZ6.0OO,OO0 III
tho tax levy for new sites and buildings
in single year Is 30 palpebly unJusti-
fed as to warrant the suspicion that that
Item was Included in the tentative budget
for no purpose other than to provide a
huge figure which might be eliminated
while the provisions for new patronage
jobs, higher patronage salaries. new au-
tomobiles and fat contracts were re-
tanned.
IAN experience demonstrates that II
Is absolutely impossible, II only on ac-
count OF limitations of physical plant and
of personnel, for the Department of Edu-
cation TO CXpend any such sum as $685.
O0Q,O0 in a single year for school sites
and school buildings. Probably not
more than s5.O0O.000 TO 100000 can
be expended for that purpose In a single
year. The Department Of Education had
at its disposal this year 100000 900 of
the 1000. 900 which the last admins
tration appropriated, and only q very
small portion OF that sum has actually
been used. Moreover. whatever expen-
ditures the Department OF Education can
and will make during 1920 for this pur-
pose even under the pay as you go"
law can be financed from the proceeds OF
tax notes redeemable in the budget of
1921. This procedure would insure that
no more money was raised than could be