The Penn's Grove record., 1921-08-05
BUDGET MUST
Be SLICED
Use of Pruning Shears Sure to
Spread DiSmay. but the Move
PleaSeS Jersey Taxpayers.
Jersey Dumping Ground in Illicit Booze
Acknowledgement Disregard of
Law Causes Thoughtful Cisi-
zens Deep Concern.

Notwithstanding shears and great
lamentation promise to figure in the
next session of the New Jersey legiS-
Iature. Governor Edwards has put the
wheels in motion for the pruning proc
ess, and the departments of the state
government, said to be ov~erburdened
with topbeavy payrolls, begin even now
to feel the cutting edge.
The governor called a conference Of
the department heads and made a
speech. He doesn't do much In that
line. His gift is for finance. He was
state comptroller for three years and
for some years has been president Of
' q large and busy bank in his old home
town after moving up from the ranks.
In the year and a half he has occupied
the executive chair he has been, Off
\ eIaIly and by law, head Of the State
Budget Commission, with ample scope
for his powers of observation as to the
income and outgo of the peoples
money.
This knowledge, coupled with the
feeling now widespread over New Jer-
sey that taxes are abnormally high,
that appropriations are at dizzy
heights. that fadS and frills in some OF
the departments have eXacted heavy
tolls from the states revenues and
that the disposition to pump up sal
aries has been growing more and more
apparent. caused the governor to in
sert the first wedge in the crack to
break the big rock standing in the path
of progress.
The governor told the department
heads he had called into the confer
ence that in the l.akeup of next years
budget it will be absolutely necessary
to do some pairing down worth the
term. He very plainly and bluntly told
the aSSemblage that the state salary
roll IS far too big. that some branches
of the government are overlapping,
with consequent additions to the costs,
and that it would not be very difficult
to make cuts in the payrolls without
serious detrimene to efficiency.
Very naturally such a move will
spread no end of dismay among the
army Of patriots who figure in the
state lists. and it is very probable that
every one of the departments will go
the limit il the effort to eyade the is
sue. 1t will he the policy no doubt to
4 "let George do it,"
But the governor was IN deadly
earnest in his eXhOrtatiOn, showing
that in the coming year the income of
the state from several sources will be
materially reduced by the Industrial
depression, which gives little sign of
important Improvement in the near flu
ture, and that it will be necessary to
meet this eXigency by a financial poli-
cy of retrenchment.
There has been little or no effort at
such retrenchment in recent years.
The states revenues have grown with
\ great strides. but the demands for APP
prOpriationS have more than kept pace
with the growth. Probable surplus
funds In the treasury have stimulated
Ithe ideas of the faddists, and it has
been a tremendous task for the APP
prODriatiOns Committee of the legisla-
ture to keep anywhere near these de-
mandS.
The only direct state tax now levied
is that of a mill on the dollar Of valua-
tons for the construction of the high
way system, and that expires with this
wear, DQI IL Will ne ltttSSdIN 10 LAY lIIt
same tax for Il few years to meet the
interest charges on the bonds issued
for the Hudson river tunnel and the
Delaware river bridge as extensions of
the system. That expenditure, how
ever, will be neu<aliZed eventually by
the income from tolls from these two
big projects, which will also retire the
bonds a few years later.
But ambitious plans of schemerS Of
all sorts have laid such heavy burdens
upon the annual appropriations as to
increase the school and other taxes and
prevent the diversions of funds to the
reduction of taxation along other lines.
The school funds come from the taxa
ton of the railroad corporations, and
these tax bills have grown to enor-
nous proportions in recent years, add
ing largely to the necessity for higher
fares and carrying charges.
The income from motor vehicle Ii
cnnses has risen to more than $780,
400 annually, but that is devoted to
road maintenance, beside the regular
annual appropriations for that pur-
nose. The several counties have been
obliged to add to this expense item,
borne by the taxpayers large OUTLAWS
for other roads because the whole
trend of modern affairs appears to be
toward permanent good roads.
Education and highway improve
ment, therefore, have been the princi-
nal items in the rising cost of living
until the tax bill has become a burden
q, the average citizen. to say nothing
of industrial and business enterprise,
In many instances the tax bills of the
individual property owners have lou
BED in six years, and still the demand
1for added revenue has pressed upon
the county and municipal authorities.
II is becoming more and more appar-
ont therefore. that the limit Of endur-
once has about beer reached and that
somebody will have to TAX the lead in