Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-08-26
Publication of Budget
Big Step Forward, but
Leaves Trap for Unwary

For citizens who take pride enough in
Indianapolis to consider now and then
how it's municipal affairs are being run
by the present city administration, there
is food for abundant thought in the an
nual budget, published in the abbrevi-
ated form of an appropriation ordinance,
proposed for 1921.
The city council will hold a public
hearing upon the proposed budget and
tax levy ct the city hall, at 7:30 o'clock
on the evening of Friday, Sept. 8, at
which time any taxpayer has the right
to ask questions OF make his views
known.
Robert E. Tracy, director OF the bureau
of municipal research of the Chamber
Of Commerce, is urging each business
club Of the city to send a five-man COM
mittee to the public hearing.
The bureau Is interested in the budget
because this year it embodies some of
the recommendations made after the sur
gey Of indianapolis governmental affairs
conducted under the auspices of~the bu-
reau three years ago.
This is the first time a budget, or even
q condensed form of one, has ever been
officially published in Indiana polls.
Citizens would have known no more
about how the Jewett administration
proposes to spend the various funds IN
der its supervision in 1921 than ever had
not a new law made publication in two
newspapers compulsory.
As a result taxpayers who are gen
timely interested in what the Jewett
forces intend to do with 81, 800, 900 more
money than they asked for last year win
not have to hire a private detective and
q corps of lawyers to get figures out Of
officials before the city council takes
action
The publication, as made early this
week by the city controller and heads
Of other departments whose finances are
Independent of the general city, is not
Rll that might be desired in the way of
real information to the taxpayers, al
though 1t is better than the old>method
Of pushing things through without Civ
Ing the public more than a cursOry
glimpse Of what is going on.
The official publication gives the figures
only Of the most general items, not GO
Ing into such interesting details as to
how much of a deficit the city expects
to have to make up in the operation of
the garbage reduction plant, which Mayor
Jewett predicted several months ago
would pay for itself in five years.
CALCULATED TO WEAR
DOWN ENTHUSIASM.
To get hold of such highly coIorful
figures as this one has to call repeatedly
at various Offices, finally to learn that
they may be obtained from only one
Of them and then to find the responsible
official who might permit examination
OF his records cut and not expected to
retSrn until morning.
few experiences like this wear down
the eager desire to learn the truth in
most citizens, with the result that so
far the general public has been con-
cerned in years gone by city officials.
and most other officials, for that matter
have done just about as they pleased
In financial matters.
The vast majority Of taxpayers know
little of what the figures in a budget
stand for, much less how they can be
twisted and turned and manipulated to
suit the purpose Of political Office hold
ers.
AS a service to citizens who may
want to attend the public hearing on
the budget and tax levy The Times
presents in this article COMPARISONS Of
the amounts asked for in various funds
for 1921 with the amounts asked to
run on this year.
There are plenty of opportunities for
finding things to ask the councilmen
and city officials about in the budget.
One that might be very properly pro-
pounded is:
why is 1t that it is necessary to
ask for S4S, 1886 more for 1921 than in
1920 with which to pay salaries and
maintenance of the ash, street clean
ing and garbage hauling departments
when the board of public health is
asking S5,165.27 less than last year
with which to run the City hos
pital?"
1t is not likely that one could elicit a
direct and real answer to this query
from anybody in the Jewett administra-
ton, since such an explanation would
necessarily involve the admission that
the street cleaning, ash and garbage
hauling departments, under the personal
direction of Tommy Riley Of the board
Of works, Hold many soft berths for po-
litical workers picked with a view not
to their ability to administer the af-
fairs Of these departments cheaplv and
adequately. but rather in consideration
Of the number of votes they can hold true
to the Jewett machine.
FACT NOT GENERALLY
ADMITTED AT CITY HALL.
This is something nobody in the city
hall is in the habit of frankly admitting
Picked for political reasons?
No, the Jewett henchmen cry in hor-
ror, forgetting perhaps, that the inter
rogator may know about several such
circumstantial little incidents as the one
Involving a certain official in the voting
Of repeaters in a negro precinct. in the
election in which Charles w. Jewett was
Ostensibly named mayor
Well, anyway, whether the administra-
tion will or will not admit that 1t has
the wrong men hauling ashes and gar
bage, the fact remains as follows:
The budget compiled last fall shows
that total of 1922. 494 was needed
this year to pay salaries and main
tenance In the street cleaning, ash
and garbage hauling departments,
while the budget for next year calls
for 1911 $3.50 for the same work.
Contrasted with this increase of young
fortune scope is what the board of pub
lie health and charities proposes to do
at the City hospital
The budget for this year called for
1927. 1897 for the operation of the hos
pital, while for next year only s322. 27O
is asked.
How the hospital authorities hope to
batter down the high cost of living so
as to live on less than this years income
is a question the wide world would like
to have answered and an accomplishment
ghich few would lament.
One factor in the answer may lie in
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