Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1946-11-22
Very Little Waste
In State Spending
In Present 5et-Up
BY LYNN INSECT
Daily Dispatch Bureau

expression .for answering charges
mat there was a lot OF money "wast
ed during the war. He says lit is i'm
possible to fight Il fire without vast
ing some water" The expression is
apropos to currently circulated state
ments that if the State didn't waste
so much money it could pay teachers
and other employees more adeuuate
salaries. 1t is not assumed that anv
man or group is wise enough to
spend sixty-eight million dollars
Without making some mistakes, but
II Is believed that study of the record
approximate 68 million dollars a
or claims that vast sums could be
saved by curtailing State operations
in some fields.
Breakdown of the distribution
among various State services of the
geenral fund receipts show that ex-
year currently being spent out of
poses takes little more than three
cept Tor normal leaks in handling
such large sums there has been no
waste; and no chance to switch mon
eyS except by detracting from vital
social services. An editorial in the
Asheville Citizen one day last week
served as Il Springboard for double
checking some figures with some
what surprising results.
First, let's look at the thing from
percentage viewpoint and then get
10 dollars and cents. The one abso-
| iutely necessary item is cost of COL
lectlng taxes. On this item the State
SHOWS up remarkably well. The cost
OF collecting, auditing and disbursine
10 proper agencies the IS million dol
lars amounts to one and one-half per
| cent. Commercial collection fees
range from three to twenty per cent,
ana legal allowance on many estate
settlements is five per cent in and
i've per cent out. So the one and a
nall charge is almost phcnomenalIy
low and cannot be expected to be
less. No saving III prospect there.
| Public education gets little bet
| ter than 30 per cent OF the total. This
includes, in round figures, Al million
ior the nine months public school
| 1--we million for the institutions OF
hlsher education, and more than two
million paid into the retirement fund
! Tor pubic school teachers and COL
lege professors.
| Public health came next with
ABOUT eight per cent of the total. This
| included approximately four million
! 'ot lWO-
| thirds of million for tubercular hos
pitfalls and about half million for
activities Of the State Board of
Health. (Thc board of health. deal
ing mainly with preventive measures
gets less than one per cent, while
the hospitals get a little more than
Seven.)
! Social services such as old age as
sistance, aid to dependent children
ana the blind, INDECENT patients care
III general hospitals and similar DUR
closed. So the question comes back
per cent. Much OF this appropriation
IS based on matching funds with
FEDERAL and county governments. blu,
the states share runs to more than
two and half million dollars.
Whlic there may be no proper So
clal connection between orphans and
children committed to correctional
| institutions, on the general PROPOSE
ton that they represent unfortunate
children they are grouped for DUR
pose OF this study. They get approxi-
mate one per cent of the total 68
million general fund Spendings for
this year.
Inc foregoing ALLEGATIONS add I'D
10 20 IL per cent, leaving six and
one-half per cent for all other f,Inc-
lions OF State government charge
aDle 10 the general fund. These fl,nc-
,,oiS include maintenance of the
governors office, the secretary of
state department., the department of
JUSTICE, me department of labor, the
department of insurance, the supreme
ana superior courtS-including SAL
aries OF all judges, solicitors. steno-
0rlDhPr lnH rlnrical
These figures are almost STARTLING
in their implication. They mean thai
II every court above the level of
local recorder or police courts wo,,Id
suspend operations for a year: if tho
governors office and half the others
around Capitol Square would close
up Tor year if all the elective and
appointive officials, stenographer and
clerks in these departments were
taken of the payroll for year. and
all their expense accounts for travel
OF DINER services were disallowcd.
ana II the legislature did not con-
Vene, the saving" would be approx-
imately four and half million dol
lars-almost enough to raise the nav
OF employees in public schools and
other State departments still func-
tioning 10 per cent
Obviously these offices cannot he
closerd. So the question comes back
20 where can the savings be made:
where is the waste? In the bic
TENS of public education and health
The demand is for much more. rather
han less, spending. The State could
discontinue aid OF the INDECENT aged
ne blind, the unfortunate children
the sick--mcntal and physical: sus,
pend police protection now provided
IT'S citizens and otherwise cut corn
ars: Nobody had suggested that and
IL is believed nobody wants that TO
happen. Since education. health and
social services now take more than
10 per cent of all State money. il is
obvious that any material reductions
must come in these classifications
But the insistent demands for more
spending are in these fields. II will
take wiser man than has yet an
peared on the scene TO provide The
to this problem.
All the foregoing figures are pcn.
cral and approximate rather than nc-
curatc TO the final dollar. They pre-
ent only a partial picture of State
governmental nncrnfinr. Ill.,.