The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-08-15
Continued from First Page.

the Mayors benefit the various impor-
tant improvements under way or con-
templated, cost the taxpayers over
| $50. 900 a year.
Mayor Hylan, supported by his own
Board of Estimate when elected. kept
\ his promise He abolished all of these
useless and inefficient bureaus. The
/ men he could Are he fred and those he
couldn't. through Civil Service reasons,
he shifted to other duties elsewhere or
kept in the secretarys office or the
Board of Estimlte at other tasks. The
activities of the Committees on Educa-
ton and on City Plan were swept into
oblivion and those of the Bureau Of
Contract Supervision scattered. except in
| so far as It was necessary to provide for
| ex-Alderman Francis p. Bent, the
Mayors neighbor and crony In Bush
wick, Job as director at $4,000 q
year
The Bureau OF Personal Service, which
not only looked over the maintenance of
the city's pension list, but had charge
of the regulation and grading of salaries,
was likewise ruthlessly abolished. Mayor
Hylan himself would handle this ques-
ton of regulating and grading salaries.
just as his friend Bent was to watch
| for leaks in the city treasury, and the
1 city would see the result In economies"
But something had to be done about the
| pension system, SO a separate bureau
was created, called the New York City
Employees Retirement System. That
has functioned since Hylan became
Mayor as an Independent part of the
Office OF the Board of Estimate. The
record of Its operation Is curiously Illus
trative OF the entire Hylan scheme OF
/ Economies"
| Under Mitchell the Bureau OF Personal
Service took charge of the pensions and
its cost was merged into the whole cost
of the Board of Estimate though 1t also
had the task OF regulating and grading
salaries. For the year 1918. when Mayor
Hylan took Office, Mayor Mitchell and
his fellow members of the Board OF
Estimate had appropriated s101.56O for
the Personal Service bureau.
For the present year Mayor Hylan
and the present Board of Estimate ap-
propriated s135,295 for the cost of run
ming the pension system, In addition TO
the Pension Fund itself, $450,000. SO
1t Is costing almost $4,000 year more
| to run this little bureau than three years
! ago, although--and this Is the curious
| item-the net total Of pensions handled
in 1917 was s326.434 as against $3.50
| 292 handled In 1921. To do fifteen per
| cent. less work cost thirty-five per cent.
more money.
That. it will be found, has been the
! general result of the Hylan system OF
Economies" BY this scheme of aboi-
ishing central supervision over the at
fairs OF the city the actual budget OF
| the Board OF Estimate and Apportion-
ment has been reduced from total OF
| $4S4,101 In the last budget prepared
| by the Mitchell administration to S3Si,-
! 2S6. the amount appropriated In the cur
rent budget. But there the economies
| begin and end. No other branch Of the
! city government can show anything hut
enormously increased costs In sal
| aries, in supplies, in contracts and IN
contingencies" With the governor OF
the engine has run wild. Mayor hylan
to-day cannot, as he frankly admitted
to Senator Brown, answer even the
| simplest questions concerning the city s
expenditures or the cost Of its a1nin-
isiration and government because he has
! from the first thrown aside every agen-
cy that had been organized and trained
TO provide the Mayor with just such In
| formation and enable him to throttle
down the speeding engine of municipal
1 extravaganza.
! Schools Needs Badly Sighted.
4 The 1921 budget proviesd S345.530. 039
/ to run the city ana pay It's debts. yet
that budget is $4,000, 900 short for the
needs of the Department of Education.
which call for about $7S,000,000. as
against only S50,720,sS0 provided. This
last sum is not even enough to pay the
salaries of the city teachers for the full
year, yet 1t is all the Mayor and Comp
troller Craig could lay hands on after
they had attended to the pressing needs
of their own and their dependent de-
partments and provided for the tmpera-
tive debts of interest on city bonds. re-
demption of notes. &c.
The 1918 budget, prepared by John
Purroy Mitchell and his associates. to-
tailed only S23S.123.739 and omitted
I nothing that had to be provided for.
Here Is a difference of S107 ,406. 900 in
crease in the Hylan budget. an amount
equivalent to more than a dollar In the
city tax rate.
/ And as one examines the two budgets
more striking contrasts are observed
The central administration" branch OF
1 the city budget, the inner mechanism OF
the city government controlled by the
| Mayor, the Comptroller, the City Cham
berain, the Corporation Counsel and the
few other administrative or bureau
finger, tells the tale of "Hylan economy,
of extravagant expenditures in every
possible direction. without supervision
or brake.
How the Board of Estimates budget
has been curtailed has been told, but
what about Mayor Hylans own office
That has grown in expense from $66.3bO
to ss0,2S1 between 1918 and 1921. The
bulk of this increase Is for salaries,
which have risen from s6S.400 to &c.,
ISL in the private office of the Mayor.
Comptroller Craig's budget has
climbed from s1,399.4 400. of which
s1,321,120 was for salaries, to s1,970.-
691 of which s1.Ss6.231 Is for salaries.
Corporation Counsel John p. O'Brien's
office will spend this year s1,152.272. OF
which s1,0S9.047 is for salaries. as
against ss05.57o appropriated for 1918
and only $741,650 for salaries.
Tho Board of Elections cost In 1918
s1.242.177. and this year II Is costing
s2,046.52E
Markets Costing Over Double.
The Department of Public Markets,
In which Edwin J. O'Malley as Com
missioner is the personal representative