Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-09-07
MONEY FOR THE POLICEMEN
WITHOUT HIGHER TAX RATE
Alike Demand That the Burden Of
Government Be Made No Heavier

hagen and Associates, acting for the Civil
Service Commission, is likely to be adopted
1t ought to be adopted. When this news
paper urged minimum Of So day for the
policeman it was said in some quarters that
the proposed increase was unreasonable and
was really impractical. The experts who
have been studying the subject have decided
that it is most reasonable and we no longer
hear that the plan cannot be put into prac-
tice.
Its advantages are so evident that they
do not need to be elaborated. 1t would give
living wage to the patrolmen. II would
relieve the men from any possible excuse for
petty grating 1t would attract to the force
better type Of public servant. and make it
possible to weed out the small percentage
of undcsirables who have been retained. not
because they were good officers. but because
they were better than none.
The proposed increase in pay in all ranks
will add about 81 900 900 to the amount
needed for the support of the Police Bureau
next year.
The easy and indoent and inefficient way
to raise this sum would be to increase the
Tux rate: the city administration could not
make n more Srevous blunder than to adopt
this method
The city tax rate is already too high. 1t
was 81 from 1912 to 1916. 1t rose to 81 %
in 1917 and was $1.T5 in 1918 and 1910 and
last year it was lifted to So. 10 for the cur
rent year These figures are exclusive of
the school tax. which was fifty cents in 1917
and for the current year is seventy cents,
making the total tax rate $2.S5, against
81. during the administration of Mayor
Blankenburg.
While the cost of running the govern
ment has been nearly doubled there has not
been the slightest evidence of any effort in
the City Hall to apply those economies, the
lack of which in private business leads di-
rectly to the bankruptcy courts. There are
just as many idle men in the public Offices
as there ever were. 1t has been notorious
for years that jobs were duplicated and
Implicated, not to say quadruplicated. in
order to find places for political workers
The civil service regulations have not pre-
vented it, for they have been manipulated in
the past at the behest of the politicians.
More interest has been shown in keeping a
political machine alive than in preventing
the waste of the money of the taxpayers
We have been governed on the theory that
public Office exists for the benefit Of the
ofiCeholdcrs and that the more of them the
better for the machine.
When the personal registration law was
passed, providing for lot Of registry clerks,
the Office of assessor was not abolished, al
though other officers were created who could
assess the voters just as well. The sum
needed to pay the assessors is not large, but
it is spent needlessly, Cor the reason that the
most difficult reform for a democracy to
bring about is the abolition of an Office once
created.
4 more fagrant instance of indifference to
economy is found in the creation Of the
Municipal Court, nominally to take the place
of the magistrates The power TO spend
money with virtually no limit Is conferred on
the court and it is now costing the city 81,
O00,0 900 year But the magistrates con-
tnue in Office and draw their salaries and
perform their functions about as they did
before the MuniCipal Court was created.
The magistrates are allowed to continue lr-
cause the politicians want the jobs. The
Municipal Court has been allowed to cxppnd
enormous sums because the politicians were
pleased at the creation of a new patronage
dispensing device exempt from the control
of the City Council, with power to man
damus the city treasurer for all its expondi.
lures.
No determined effors has been made to
bring about a consolidation of the city and
county governments because the county
Offices, exempt from the jurisdiction Of the
Civil Service Commission, offer a harbor of
refuge for all the old political hacks who
| could not pass a civil service examination
and because when one faction controlled n
county Office and another faction was in the
saddle in the City Hall. the factionalists
discharged from a city Office could be taken
care Of in county job.
This is practical politics, but it is not
business efficiency. Under it we arc paving
a tax rate of $2.S5, which, in spite of the
! effect Of the war on prices, is largely due to
the absolute indifference Of the politicians
to the conservation of public funds
There is tremendous task awaiting Mayor
Moore and his department heads Then they
make up the budget for next year and send
it to the Council for the basis Of the new
tax rate.
More money will be needed for the schools
| il living wage is to be paid to the
teachers. When the city tax was 81 and the
school tax fifty cents, one third of the
total amount raised was used for the support
of the schools. Less than one quarter OF
the total tax levy has been set apart for the
schools this year. This is one of the reasons
why the school system has been starved
Under the law the school tax for next
year may be eighty cents. That sum will
have to be raised il the school board is tc
keep it's promise to the teachers. Then il
the total tax rate is not to exceed that fol-
the current year the rate for city purposes
must be reduced from $215 to $205.
| This cannot be done without practicins
the most rigid economy in all departments
The superhuous employees will have to b,
discharged. BureaY win have to be con