The New York herald., 1921-08-15
i'Central Administration
Bureaus and Offices In
: crease Budgets i'm Three
i Years $1O7, 7,4O6,30O.
ONE 100000 SAVING
but It, Was Effected Only
at Cost of Millions by
I Ousting the Experts
Mitchell Trained.
NO BRAKES ON SALARIES
Meyer Committee Will Ask
Comptroller Craig for Infor-
nation That Executive
3 Did Not Give.

When Mayor Hylan admitted last
week during his examination by ex-
Senator. Elon r. Brown, counsel for
the Meyer committee, that he had
been unable to live up to his pre-
election promises Of economy but had
permitted the cost of running the city
government to mount to extravagant
heights, he forgot or omitted to take
credit for keeping one of his pledges
and practising strict economy in one
direction. even at the expense Of ex-
travagance in others.
That direction was and is in the
management of the functions of the
Board of Estimate and Apportion-
ment, Of which the Mayor is himself
the chairman and chief directing Of
ficer. The Mayors three votes, to-
gether with those of the Comptroller
and the President of the Board of AL
dermen, constitute majority of the
sixteen votes in the board.
Economy" to the extent of al
most an even $4,000 was practised
by the Hylan administration In re-
ducing the budget OF the Board Of
Estimate from $4S4,101 in 1913 to
1884, ,2S6 in 1921. But as direct con-
sequence there has been an increase
of millions In the budgets OF every
city department under the Mayors
direct control, amounting to total
OF $107.406.300 for the entire city
budget between 1918 and 1921 &
Budgets All show Rises.
In the bureaus and Offices of cen
trail administration" those of the
Mayor and the Comptroller them
selves, the Law Department, the
Board OF Elections and other boards
and bureaus directly under the May
or's control. there has been an in
crease of just so per cent. their joint
budgets rising in three years from
$5,471, 1866 to ss.176.530
Mayor Hylan vowed he would abol.
fish the useless and inefficient" bu-
reaus In the Board OF Estimate which
Mayor Mitchell had established,
vowed he would dismiss any and
every expert" he found in the city's
employ. especially in these bureaus,
and promised that with such an in
slant and sweeping reform in the di-
Iection of the city's affairs under his
own personal control there would re-
suit natural and inescapable series
Of economies In every bureau and de-
partment guided or controlled by the
Mayor.
Mayor Mitchell had been at great
pains to reconstruct the functions OF
the Board Of Estimate. creating spe-
cial bureaus in 1t which specified
for him with special exactitude how
every dollar Of the city's money was
spent. Under him the Board of Esti
mate, with its Bureau OF Contract Su-
pervision, its Bureau of Public I'm
provements, its Bureau of Franchises.
its Bureau of Personal Service and
its committees on Education and on
City Plan-all functioning addition
ally to, and to large extent separ-
ately from, the main Bureau Of Rec
ords and Minutes. really the secre-
tary's office, became the very hub
end centre of every city activity. 1t
was the engine that drove the city
car. the heart that enlivened every
city limb and organism.
One Burcnu Partly Replaced.
IL cost a little money to bring up
the Board of Estimate office. which
heretofore had been largely, as 1t Is
to-day, a recording office. diary Of
the city's doings. to this condition OF
being the city's actuating force. The
Bureau of Personal Service, which
supervised the regulating and grading
OF salaries and also took care OF the
City Employees Retirement Pension
System. cost 100000 n year. The Bu-
reau of Contract Supervision which
checked up, as It's name implies. on
every city contract, whether let by
bid or grated on open order. cost over
s150.000 year.
The Committee on Education gave
IN the Mayor and the other members
or the Board of Estimate an accurate
and full knowledge OF what was goinl
on in the expensive and partly in
dependent Department OF Education.
and 1t cost as much as $4,000 year,
while the Committee ON City Plan.
which had under constant survey for