Imperial Valley press., 1935-11-16
STATE GOVERNMENT
FORGETS BASIC RULES

VII Jan. L, 1900, CaItofnla owned
S1,5OO,O00 worth of automobiles. The
state and all its various governmental
branches, bureaus and offices now own
S5,000,000 worth of automobiles. State
employees got along with 1410 motorcars
in the early part of 1888, against 1850 at
the present writing. The state govern
ment, evidently, is away ahead of return
ing prosperity. While the taxpayers
struggle to meet their bills, it doesn't
seem that the state has struggled very
seriously to prune down its expenses.
Something is radically wrong with the
picture. For two years the state govern
ment of California has been adding rap
idly to its automotive equipment-and
there was no marked shortage of such
equipment in January of 1888. Earlier
in the same inquiry which disclosed the
sharp increase in the number of state au-
tomobiles was he disclosure that
state employees had been using public
motorcars for private business and pleas
ure. The public buys the gasoline and
keeps the cars in repair. The public, in
the beginning, buys the automobiles. All
the way through, the public pays the
bill. The state only spends the money
If there ever was a time when govern
mental expense should have been cut, for
the good of the government and the peo-
pie it represents, it was during the last
two and a half years. Instead, the ex-
pense has increased. The bewildered
taxpayer is told that he is paying for re-
lief to the unemployed. Certainly every
one of those 2S40 additional automobiles
was not used in administering relief to
the needy-unless it was relief to needy
state employees 1t appears in common
sense that some, at least, of those 2S40
automobiles could have been done with
out.
The man upon whom government de-
pends is the average, unsung individual
who owns his home, claims title to lit
tie piece of property, feeds his family
and pays his grocery bill, and goes his
way attempting frantically every now
and then to have sufficient cash on hand
to meet the taxes. That man has had to
cut his own and his family's expenses in
the recent period of stress. He has bud
geted himself on an economy basis, and
circumstances have forced adherence to
the budget Otherwise, how could he pay
his taxes?
1t is hard for the average man to un-
derstand why, when he is forced to the
Strictest economy, his government should
iiOI 1OIlOW Tic SAINT pIOSI dul. Ile 10 IOlQ
that his increased taxes are caused by
the necessity for relief, and there is no
breakdown in his tax statement to show
him how the division is made between re-
lief agencies and other governmental bu-
reaus. He pays blindly, proud that he is
able to pay. His government, also,
should be proud. Instead, it buys new
automobiles.
Perhaps there is no central figure up
on whom blame rests. Each department
applies for the things it wants. Some of
the departments even need what they ask
for. Somewhere, however, blame must
rest for the lack of economy which has
had its part in boosting the tax rate.
Once that blame is squarely placed, the
person upon whose shoulders it rests
should do his utmost to see that the evil
is corrected.
There is no charge of lavish, reckless
spending here. The charge, rather, is one
dealing with lack of economy. Purchase
of those automobiles between 1888 and
the present day might have added ma
terially to successful operation of the
offices and bureaus to which they were
assigned-yet was the addition sufficient
to warrant the extra burden on an al
ready heavily loaded public?
Economy, too, begins at homeland it
should extend into government.
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