New-York tribune., 1921-12-13
Miller Proposes
Merger Of Five
State Bureaus
Governor, Here for Foch
Dinner Tonight, Says He
May Ask Legislature to
Amend the Constitution
Suggests Vote ON Bonus
Insists That Expenses Have
Not Been Cut Enough;
Indorses the Direct Tax

Governor Nathan L. Miller. at the
Hotel Plaza last night, said that he wag
seriously considering recommending to
the Legislature constitutional amend
ment looking to the consolidation of
| five state departments into one Office,
to be called the Department of Public
Works. The divisions Of the state gov
| ernment to be merged, if the plan car
ries. is the present Department of Pub
lie Works, the State Engineer, Depart
mcnt of Highways, the Superintendent
of Public Buildings and the State
Architect.
II don't say at this time that these
! should all go into one departm ent.
/ Perhaps two departments would serve
/ better. But they are related, and just
Of work." said the Governor. 81 think
that the thing can be co-ordinated so
that both efficiency and economy could
be effected. That is the one big re-
organization that J. have in mind. I do
not know exactly how much money
would be saved by such consolidation,
but / am sure that it would be sub
stantial"
The Governor, at the close of his
! talk with the newspaper men, took a
playful. dig at the Hylan admin stration
When it was suggested that Mayor
Hylan and his colleagues in the Board
OF Estimate seemed determined to OBJ
struct the program OF tha Interstate
Port Authority, the Governor smiled
and said:
"Why ecnhne their obstruction to
the Port Authority I think it may
safely be assumed that anything con-
structive will have the opposition of
the city administration. have pro-
ceeded on that assumption for some
time. There are some people, you
know, who are more effective as OBJ
ructionists-well, | wouldn't say eff
fective. Obstruction sometimes fur
nishes better vehicle to express their
peculiar ideas Of government"
Favors Vote on Bonus
Asked about soldier bonus legisla-
ton, apropos of the suggestion by
Speaker Machold that the Assembly
would pass q constitutional am end
ment enabling the state to raise money
for a bonus, the Governor said:
II haven't talked with. the Legion
people and I don't know just what they
want. I do not think they are very
keen about bonus. If they do not
care anything about it I certainly shall
not recommend it. I said at the Legion
convention at Jamestown that / should
not favor, and indeed would prevent
if l could, the payment of the bonus
directly out of the treasury-that the
condition Of the state finances put
that out of the question. I did say
that I would favor a constitutional
amendment, the people having voted
overwhelmingly to issue bonds and
the court having held that that Of
Tended the Constitution said that
I would favor submitting the question
wanted that constitutional provision,
which the Court of Appeals said stood
in the way, amended or not
IL also said that / would favor, II
it were needed, issuance by the state
of an appropriation to relieve DIS
tress OF service men, supplemental to
the work which the Federal govern
men is doing. 1 haven't heard from
the Legion directly. I do not know
what they are going to ask for. If
there is demand for submitting a
constitutional amendment, think 1t
is a suitable enough thing to do
Hopes for Further Reduction
Asked about reducing the states ez-
penditures to a point where they would
not exceed the revenues, the Governor
said:
Before the next Legislature ad-
iourns I hone to see the expenditures
of the state brought TO a point wnere
the future revenues of the state Will
not onlv provide for the expenses, but
to a basis where the normal increase
in those revenues will take care OF
the normal increase in expenses OF gov
ernment, because you can't keep on re-
ducing forever. The expenses of gov
the
population and demands increase, but
the normal increase in revenue ought
to take care of the normal increase in
cost of government. We have not yet,
in my Judgment, got the expenses
down to the economical point W
made start. The biggest thing we
did was to stop the increases. We
cannot do without some direct tax. l
do not think it is a good thing TO do
away completely with the direct state
tax When before we did away with
it we became very extravagant.
think it is a good thing for the People
to pav enough so that they notice how
it fuctuates That the direct tax will
be less instead of more / haven't the
slightest doubt"
Asked about reduced expenditures IN
institutions on account of prohibition
the Governor said that, while there
was noticeable falling OF in the
number of inmates in certain of the
correctional institutions Immediately
after the country went dry, there
seemed at present to be an increase
from month to month.
~ have no doubt that prohibition did
have a very marked effect and still is
having its effect in that regard, but /
haven't made a careful analysis of fig
ures enough to want to talk on the
subject said the Governor. he then
added in reply to an inquiry that SO
far as he knew there was no formid-
able demand for change in the Mul-
lan-Gage enforcement law. The Gov
ernor to- night at the Hotel Commodore
will be the host ct dinner given by
the state in honor of Marshal Foch.
Eo~lu VtcEsc,, po:y-fsnuS