The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-10-11

Total. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 81. 02s. s03. I:
The former Governor then undertooH
TO Justify the Increases in approprla.
tons between his first and second years
in office. There was the high. peak ii
prices of supplies for State institutions
! and the S21,000000 appropriated to in
crease the salaries of teachers. Why
he asked. did not Governor Miller get
his expenditures down to the level Of
the first Smith year IL an increase was
unjustified.
ut carries no mputation unfavorabie
to me at all and no imputation ,infavor-
able TO Governor Miller" he said. "ey-
cept the mental dishonesty OF attempt
ing to mislead the electorate into be-
lieying me responsible for the differ
cnce."
sinking Fund Item Cited.
And. the speaker added "In 1920. the
people adopted an amendment to the
constitution readjusting the States pay
nent to the sinking fund for the re-
tirement of State bonds. AS a result of
the amendment. Governor Miller was
required to put only st1, 600 into the
Sinking Fund. whereas under my adj
ministration by constitutional mandate
| was required to pay S155S40O0 This
s4.10SO00 Governor Miller has the ef-
IL
Thus the Comptroler's report dis
closes approximately the same rate u
expenditure for the expenses of the
State under the second year of my adj
minstration and each of the two yea rs
of Miller's administration. despite the
fact that the prices OF all of the necessi-
ties of life have been lower under the
Miller administration than under mine.
For Governor Miller by these devices TO
build up a claim that there was any
substantial difference in rate of expense
between the two administrations as his
Justification for depriving the state OF
the permanent basic and constructive
reorganization of the State Government
is an attempt which cannot b. male
with intellectual candor or honesty and
one wholly unworthy of Nathan i.
Miller
Mr.. Smith continued his hammering,
getting more emphatic as he went on
81 assert without fear of contradic-
ton said he, that Nathan l.. Miller
as counsel for any of the great corpora
lions he represents would never dare to
lay before their boards of directors fig
ures as disingenuously juggled or con-
illusions as speciously conceived as those
here enumerated with which he Is seek
fng to cloud the issue before the cleo
torate of the State of New York.
Tells of Taxation Point.
'If there remains any one still I'M
convinced OF the Governors lack of can
dor and mental honesty let me add this |.
THE Governor has proclaimed that
he relieved the people OF the State Of the
direct tax.
Now the facts are these: The no.
!. AZ.
the local taxing authorities from the
Comptroller of the State was made up
of two sets of items linked together as
one. 1t covered the amount necessary
to pay the soldiers bonus and the
amount necessary to care for the State
debt service.
"These sums were divided little less
than one-third for the State debt service
and little more than two-thirds for the
soldiers bonus. At page XI. of the an
nual report of the Comptroller for the
fiscal year ended June 80. 1921 1t APP
pears that when the bonus bill was de-
clared unconstitutional by the Court Of
Appeals the Attorney General rendered
an opinion that the whole notice to levy
n direct tax became void and that there
fore the localities could not levy the di-
rect tax for the State debt service and
the Attorney General closed his opinion
with these words: The general fund
can, stand this debt service until the
Legislature next meets i'm regular ses-
SION
ComptroIIcr's Act Recalled.
"In other words. Governor Miller's
state Comptroller recognized the neces-
sity of the direct tax and instituted the
proceedings to have 1t levied. He found
that by the decision of the Court of APP
peals his notice became void and there
fore, unable to levy a new direct State
tax. acted under the opinion Of the At
torney-G General and took from the gem
eral fund of the State the amount neces-
sary to pay for the debt service.
The speaker then referred to the con-
troversy between the Governor and the
state Association as to the number of
men on the States payrolls. The former
was quoted as saying 1000 had been
removed The State Association con-
tended there were 9S3 more State en-
ployecs on the last day of Gov. Miller's
first year than on the last day of Smith
last year.
And the candidate ended
rs the Governor of the State of New
York justified in going before the people
with such false and garbled statements
In an attempt to evade the responsibility
which he has directly assumed and
which he himself asserted he was will
ing to assume for the destruction of the
program of State reconstruction uni
versally conceded to be essential to the
betterment of the State ?"