The Saint Paul globe., 1896-12-11

THE RIGHT KIND OF ECONOMY.
The bill which Senator Chandler has
| introduced for a reduction of 10 per
cent In the salaries of persons whose
| compensation is paid out of the United
States treasury is a cheap and pitifnl
sort of economy. Whenever retrench-
ment is proposed in city, state or ma
ton. the two -fef-a-nickel reformer
straightway brings in measure to cut
down salaries. This is an obvious and
easy way to save a few dollars, but it
is not the kind of reform that is need
ed in nearly all of our communities
and in the nation itself While there
are always some favored places that
nave attached to them remuneration
out of all proportion to the work that
they require, it is true that as a rule.
our public servants are paid too little
rather than too much. We do not find
in any departments of the federal gov
ernment that the salary list is extrava-
giant. On the contrary, there are work
ing for the nation throughout the coun-
try today thousands of men on pit
tances that are barely sufficient to sup
ply their daily wants. The strong
point, however, is that, whether these
salaries are big or little, they cut an
| Insignificant figure in the total of ex-
penditures, and they do not constitute
the real financial abuses against which
t,
CITY expenditures, for instance. Out
| OF the Immense total the salary list
amounts to barely $4,000 If you could
cut that out altogether and have our
| officials working for nothing. yoI wollld
not have touched the-problem of re-
trenchment. The same is true of the
| United States government All the SAL
aries paid to all the federal EMPLOYEES
OF the country are q mere bagatelIe in
the grand total of over half billion
doilars which we now expend annually
for all purposes. Congress will rush
through, by log-rolling among it's mem
bers, single river and harbor bill
carrying with it obligations greater
than all that could be saved from sal
aries in the next ten wears
This is the place to put in the knife
OF economy. but it is the direction in
which members are least willing to an
ply it. The expenditures of this pow
ernment have grown out-of all propor-
ton either to it's revenue or to its
needs. There is a chorus of demand
from the protection press of the Country
Tor more money to meet the necessities
OF the government. More money is now
being collected by the federal treasury
than would satisfy every legitimate ne
cessity of government economically
administered. The trouble is not with
excessive salaries, but with excessive
appropriations for the departments and
Tor miscellaneous purposes. The worst
precedent established in this country
for generation was set up by the
Mckinley congress, which Increased
appropriations to the limit in ALI III
rectlons as a pretext for imposing un-
just and unnecessary taxes. That
precedent has, as is usual, become q.
law for subsequent legislatures. 1t
does not measure the actual cost of
government in this country. Secretary
Morton has shown, in the depart
ment of agriculture, what can be done
| by man honestly intent upon instf-
tuting and carrying through financial
reforms. Such a policy put in opera
tien in the other departments and car
ried into the framing of appropriation
bills would leave this country a surplus
of at least s5O,O000O0 a year out Of
revenue at present collected. without
impairing the efficiency of the public
service or denying a single legitimate
! demand of the people. 1t is not sala-
ries, but jobs that cost money. 1t is
not in the pay rolls, but in the huge
/ appropriation totals that reductions
ought to be made This is the only
worthy and effective economy. We are
waiting for a congress and an execu-
tive courageous and patriotic enough
/ to apply it.