The Researcher’s Digest: October Governmental research in action; GRA tells citizens what a research bureau can do for them; research bureau-WPA ordinance codification in Arkansas; Newark’s school population decreasing; Governmental lnstitute in state of Washington.

W I T H Governmental Research in Action as the central theme, the

Governmental Research Association held its annual meeting at Princeton, New Jersey, September 47, 1940. I n at- tendance were about 150 staff members of research bureaus, taxpayers associa- tions, other citizens organizations, gov- ernmental agencies, and universities.

Because of the reorganization of the GRA which has been taking place for the last year, the conference was planned to aid in the process of orienta- tion. Each of the four days of the con- ference was devoted to a major topic related to this general purpose.

Front “A” to “z”

A cross-section of governmental re- search was provided by the first day’s meetings, which revealed the broad scope of problems in which citizen-sup- ported research agencies are interested -running from airports to zoning, and including such matters as budgetary procedure, accounting, civil service, sewage treatment, building code re- vision, traffic, parking, and welfare. A variety of techniques for meeting such problems was disclosed by brief reports in an opening roll call session, a meeting devoted to more detailed case studies in governmental research, and a third group of reports by junior staff members.

The similarities and differences of taxpayers organizations and citizens re- search agencies provided the focal point of the second day’s discussions, which indicated that the differences were in name rather than in substance.

An attempt to “reform the reforms” occupied a third day of the conference,

which was devoted to possihle improve- ments in civil service and budgeting, and a n analysis of proposed reforms in the real property tax.

Present personnel and budgetary prac- tices were charged with a number of shortcomings and weaknesses, partic- ularly on the ground that they do not contribute as effectively a s they might t o better government in the interest of the citizens as a whole. I n reply, rea- sons were advanced for continuing some of the indicted practices, and evidence was submitted of improvements in some jurisdictions which might meet the criticisms.

Means by which various programs of the federal government might be utilized more effectively by citizens agencies and by state and local govern- ments were suggested in another meet- ing. I n particular, the potentialities of WPA as an aid to research, the services of the U. S. Census Bureau, and the opportunity for public service training under the George-Deen act were explored.

Streqgtheit Dcmocracy

Crystallizing a sentiment that seemed t o run through the conference, DeWitt C. Poole, fornierly of the U. S . State Department, and more recently director of the School of Public and Interna- tional Affairs of Princeton University, provided a high light of the conference with a n address on “The Need for Strengthening Democratic Government.” Stressing the urgent need for making citizens acutely aware of governmental problems and of aiding them in a more active, intelligent participation in the

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governmental process, Mr. Poole pre- sented the outlines of a program which he felt would help accomplish this end.

In his address as retiring chairman of the GRA Executive Committee, Dean William E. Mosher of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Af- fairs, Syracuse University, similarly urged that Americans should develop an intense loyalty for their democratic government. He proposed that the GRA should develop an aggressive pro- gram which would help improve public administration, and aid citizens in ap- praising and directing their govern- mental units.

Succeeding Dean Mosher as chairman of the Executive Committee will be Philip Cornick of the Institute of Public Administration, New York City. New members of the committee include Charlton F. Chute, director of the Gov- ernmental Research Institute, St. Louis; J. M. Leonard, research director, Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research ; and W. Earl Weller, director of the Rochester Bureau of Municipal Research. Two other members of the committee whose te rns continue until next year are Wil- liam C. Beyer, director of the Bureau of Municipal Research of Philadelphia, and Norman MacDonald, director of the Massachusetts Federation of Taxpayers Associations.

GRA awards for 1939-1940 were pre- sented a t the meeting. Judged “the most noteworthy piece of research,” a report on Police and Fire Pension Sys- tems of the City of Schenectady, N e w York , won an award for E. E. Mariner and Edward C. Stone of the Sche- nectady Bureau of Municipal Research. An award for “the most effective pres- entation of research studies” was made to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, H. C. Loeffler, secretary.

Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research

LAURENCE MICHELMORE

Cities Need Research To the recurrent question, “Why a

local governmental research bureau?” the Governmental Research Association brings a new, straight-from-headquarters reply in Citizens in the Dark-Cities in the Red, a seventeen-page publication.

Any bewildered citizen could profit from the succinct, intelligent explana- tion of the need for citizen research as expounded by Sherman S. Sheppard in the first half of this pamphlet. The address of the executive secretary of the Bureau of Governmental Research of New Orleans at the 1939 annual meet- ing of the Tampa Chamber of Com- merce, as reproduced here, traces the natural history of the American city, summarizes the troubles that beset our cities in recent years, lists the six great problems that must be faced by govern- ment and citizen alike, and shows in simple language how the research bureau can help solve such problems.

Particularly pointed is Mr. Sheppard’s analysis of those chief six problems: economic insecurity and public relief, planning the unplanned city, the struggle against crime, education, public personnel, and paying the cost. And a backstage fanfare would not be an extravagant accompaniment for his re- strained, simple explanation of what the research bureau can do for citizen and government in this trying situation.

The rest of the pamphlet lists some of the representative governmental re- search agencies and the dates of their establishment, notes some of the re- search bureau publications which have listed bureau accomplishments in the past, and quotes a dozen agencies’ own statements on their aims. Finally, there is reproduced a letter from the secretary of the Governmental Research Associa- tion which gives some practical advice on the financial support necessary to establish a research bureau in cities of various sizes. According to Lent

684 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW [October

Upson: “The absolute minimum for a city, however small, would be a director, a stenographer, office, and facilities for publicity.” With a junior staff member as well, the yearly minimum budget for such an agency comes to $10,000, he estimates.

Per capita computation is also a con- venient method of determining the cost of running a bureau, advises Dr. Upson: “For cities of 50,000 population probably there should be a budget of twenty-five cents per capita or $12,500. For cities of over one million population a n ade- quate program could be financed at five cents per capita or $50,000 or more.” And he sadly adds: “Few bureaus have this amount, b u t always their programs must be held t o only the most pressing problems.”

To add point t o this remark, Dr. Upson presents figures on the average actual budgets for bureaus in cities of various sizes. The average budget for a bureau in a city over one million in population (on the basis of actual budgets in three cities) is $31,500; an average for cities of 500,000 to 1,000,ooO is, on the basis of the budgets of five bureaus, $20,500: in nine cities between lO0,OOO and 500,000, the average budget is 814,000; two cities under 100,OOO have an average budget of 8,500.

Legal Humor I n Arkansas the Bureau of Municipal

Research of the University of Arkansas and the Arkansas Municipal League are sponsoring WPA Project No. 6447-9. What the project is trying to do is ex- plained to the mayors of Arkansas with considerable humor in a mimeographed pamphlet soberly titled Codification and Iitdcxirig of City Ordiiiaiices.

Since February 1940 WPL4 workers have been engaged in indexing and codifying the ordinances of Arkansas cities and towns. “Already the staff is working on the ordinances of eight

cities. Contracts have been completed with six additional municipalities t o codify their laws. Nine other cities are now in the process of making arrange- ments to contract for the codification of their ordinances.”

Apparently, this pamphlet is intended as a method of making the rest of the busy mayors of the state sit up and take notice, for i t is piquantly illus- trated by drawings of Mr. Mayor (com- plete with clip-on spectacles, black shirt, and black pocket handkerchief) in the process of wondering about the project and of finding out. And t o give point t o the need for the codification job, the authors list choice samples of obsolete laws which they found in their excavations into local law. To quote a few:

Yes sir, one town had an ordin- ance which required that “all side- walks on Front Street shall be built eight and one half feet high and ten feet wide .”

Here is an 1878 speed law. “Any person who shall furiously or un- necessarily ride, drive, or run any horse or other animal on any street or alley of this town, or who shall cause same to be done a t a gait or pace greater than six miles per hour, or aid in so doing, shall be fined in any sum not less than one nor more than twenty-five dollars for each such offense.”

In another city, the following was found in one of the ordinance books: “Any person using the town pump to wash any buggy, hack, wagon, or other vehicle will be charged a fee of twenty-five cents.”

The illustrations provided by the WPA are similarly choice.

Statistics on Schools Because the number of children in

school determines so many vital ques- tions of school finance, construction, administration, and personnel, the Newark Bureau of Municipal Research made a statistica1 study of past ex-

19401 THE RESEA4RCHER’S DIGEST: OCTOBER 685

perience with grade enrollment and yearly births in order to find out what Newark is to expect in the way of school enrollment during the next six or seven years.

Some significant findings of the bureau, as presented in Notes on Newark, (No. 4) :

Decreased numbers entering the schools have progressed as a steady wave, year by year, to higher grades.

Elementary enrollment continues to decrease . . . appears to be reach- ing its bottom, will level out in the next three to four years.

Intermediate enrollment reached its peak two years ago . . . has started declining . . . will drop more in the next five years, and continue to decline thereafter.

The peak of increasingly larger waves entering high school is past. . . . The drop should be particularly rapid in two more years.

Total school population five years ago of 75,000 . . . can be expected to drop to 62,000 in the next five years.

“Wise planning,” advocates the bureau, “would indicate adjustment of policy to these facts.”

West Coast Conference Law enforcement and traffic control

and safety, personnel administration, public library administration, planning, school finance, public health and taxa- tion were the discussion topics which drew over seven hundred officials, civic leaders, and professional men and women to the annual Institute of Government sponsored by the Bureau of Governmental Research of the Uni- versity of Washington in July on the university campus. A report in the August, 1940, issue of Western City covers the highlights of the three-day conference.

Research Bureau Reports Received

Budget8 Budget Improvements in Boston.

Boston Municipal Research Bureau, Rulletin, August 9. 1940. 4 pp.

Codifhation of Ordinances Codification and Indexing of Clty

Ordinances. Little Rock, University of Arkansas Bureau of Municipal Re- search and Arkansas Municipal League, 1940. 4 pp. mimeo.

C06t of Governmenr Cost Comparison of Police Depart-

ments in Six Representative Cities, State Tax Collections, Per Capita cost of Various Departments of County Government Refigured on Basis of 1940 Census, Governmental Expenditures for 1939-40. Oklahoma City Research In- stitute, Inc., July 29, 1940. 4 pp. mimeo.

Gasoline Tax Gasoline and Liquid Fuel Tax Collec-

tions in Ohio. Dayton Research As- sociation, Facts, August 26, 1940. 2 pp. mimeo.

Governmental Research Citizens in the Dark-Cfties in the

Red. Detroit, Governmental Research Association, August 1940. 17 pp. mimeo.

Schools About an Ebb Tide. Newark, New

Jersey, Bureau of Municipal Research, Notes 0% Newark, June 1940. 3 pp.