The Researcher’s Digest: September Miscellaneous summertime achievements o j the research bureaus include an expos6 of a New Orleans refunding deal, a unique bibliography, and a new figure of speech.

B Y EXPOSING in detail a refunding deal between the Orleans Levee Dis-

trict and an investment firm whereby hun- dreds of thousands of dollars were lost to taxpayers, the Bureau of Governmental Research of New Orleans has been in- strumental in the bringing of a suit by the levee board to regain the money. The New Orleans Times-Picayune published in its entirety the bureau’s findings in a full page spread on August 1st.

The Bureau reported that the refunding contract “was against the public interest, improperly interpreted as to the method of computing compensation of the com- pany, and grossly wasteful of public funds” and urged the Board of Commissioners to take remedial action. Bulwarking its charges with statistical exhibits and other pertinent information, the report charged that “the contract was never given pub- licity. It appears to have been given wholly inadequate consideration. Several vital contract terms are loosely drawn. A number of important powers were vir- tually surrendered to the company. The method of computing the compensation was unbusinesslike and resulted in grossly excessive payments to the company. Final- ly, the conclusion is inescapable that a large part, if not all, of the benefits which should have accrued to New Orleans from the three refunding issues has been lost.”

Fiscal Electric Storm The Princeton Survey of New Jersey

Finance coins a new term in its Public Interest (Folder) Series No. 5. “Tax light- ning” is what it is calling “an erratic tax treatment, which generates ‘tax-ridden’ conditions of certain wealth and income levels with great detriment to business, industry, and employment.” The Survey concludes that “the tax problem in New Jersey is not necessarily more taxes unless

the people demand more services. It is rather stabilized and equalized taxes.” A tabular comparison of the incidence of property and other taxes on similar cor- porations in Ohio, Massachusetts, and New Jersey illustrates “tax lightning” graphi- cally and colorfully (in red ink).

A Bibliography of Growth An excerpt from the foreword to The

Pacific Northwest: A Selected Bibliography 1930-1939 is a succinct advertisement of a unique research adventure by the recently organized Northwest Regional Council:

This volume is an attempt to com- pile a selected bibliography of research dealing with the physical and human resources of the Pacific Northwest. A conscious effort has been made to in- clude a majority of the more signifi- cant contributions to varied aspects of the regional economy. I n order to show trends in research, apparent gaps, and to point the way toward later productive investigations each major subject division carries an interpreta- tive comment prepared by a specialist familiar with the field covered.

The volume is divided into three parts: completed research-published and unpub- lished, research in progress, and contem- plated research. The titles themselves give evidence of the newness of the subject and its very palpable process of growth.

Legislative Councils and Why A report on Legislative Councils and

Commissions by the Bureau of Public Administration of the University of California (1939 Legislative Problems, No. 12) emphasizes the need in California for a legislative staff agency equipped to furnish facts and to draw up a legislative program in advance of the session. The report comprises a thorough-going “con- cise” review of the development, duties,

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658 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW [September

functioning, and experience with legisla- tive councils in the United States.

Research in New Hampshire and South Dakota

Two new university-sponsored bureaus of governmental research were established last month. Both are state institutions and will function under supervision of the departments of government, serving as clearing houses for local and state govern- mental problems. Lashley G . Harvey is executive secretary of the bureau at the University of New Hampshire at Dur- ham. The other is at the University of South Dakota a t Vermillion. The an- nounced purpose of each of the new bu- reaus is also to draft model laws and ordinances for towns and cities, to conduct in-service training classes for government employees, and to supply general informa- tion on government work.

Research Bureau Reports Received

Bibliography The Pacific Northwest: A Selected Bibli-

ography. Northwest Regional Portland, Oregon, 1939. 32 pp.

Cost of Government Combined Cost of Government

ion, Provincial and Municipal).

Council,

(Domin- Citizens’

Research Institute o f Canada. Canadian Taxation, June 14, 1939.

Cost of Government-Fire. Atlantic City Survey Commission, Inc., No. 24, July 14, 1939. 5 pp.

4 pp.

Legislative Councils Legislative Councils and Commissions.

By Grace M. Kneedler. Bureau of Public Administration, University of California, 1939 Legislative Problems, No. 12; May 31, 1939. 34 pp.

Planning Five Years of Planning in the Pacific

Northwest. Speech by Charles McKinley. Northwest Regional Council, Portland, Oregon. May 1939. 27 pp.

Population Trends Vital Statistics. Rochester Bureau o f

Municipal Research. Municipal Research, June 1939. 1 p.

Public Health Public Health Insurance and Medical

Care. By Fern E. Scneder. Bureau of Public Administration, University of Cali- fornia, 1939 Legislative Problems, No. 3, May 29, 1939. 25 pp.

Sewerage Proposed $24,717,000 Metropolitan Sew-

erage Program. Boston Municipal Re- search Bureau, B d e t i n , No. 79. July 19, 1939. 8 pp.

Taxation Municipal Tax Collections. Citizens’

Research Institute o f Canada. Canadian Taxatiom, July 31, 1939. 4 pp.

Tax Lightning. Princeton Survey of New Jersey Finance. Princeton Univer- sity. School of Public and International Affairs. Public Interest (Folder) Series No. 5. June 6, 1939. 4 pp.