New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-10-30
BEYOND HIS DEPTH.

Judge Parker does not shine as an apOlogist.
He does not seem to believe that honest con-
fessiOn is good for the soul. Caught in an
egregiOus error, he will not admit his fault but
seeks to cover it by fresh evaslons and mis-
statements On Friday at EsOpus the Demo
cratic candidate endeavOred to explain away
the ridiculous blunder into which he fell the
week before when he charged that the Treas
Ury Department was refusing the public any
| knowledge Of its daily fiscal operations. Said
Judge Parker on October 81:
IN the first sixty days OF this fiscal year the
expenditures exceeded the revenues by S24.OOO'"
COO How much more we have run behind since
we are unable to state, owing to administrative
orders forbidding government officers from max
ing public any statement Of estimates on whlcn
future appropriations are based. 1t is safe TO
assume from the making OF the orders that tneI ,
has been no improvement. Otherwise the pubic
would not be denied Csic) all information pend
Ing the campaign.
This is a plain charge that since August %
the Treasury has been concealing its daily re-
ceipts and expenditures. By administrative
orders" Judge Parker alleges curtain OF Sc
crecy has been drawn about the operations or
the Treasury. Yet we are astonlshed TO ma
evidences in Fridays address that some later
information about daily receipts and expendi-
lures has really leaked out, and has even pene-
trated as far as Esopus. Said Judge Parker on
October IS:
The deficit for the present fiscal year to octo-
Der 20 is over $21. 100000
Where did the Judge get this startling in
formation? Who has lifted the ban Of secrecy
of which he complained so touchingly on Octo-
her 2l? How. In spite of administration or
ders." has he been able to discover what he de-
clared 10 be undiscoverable? The Democratic
candidate fails to tell us. He has not the can
dor TO admit that his earlier suppression charge
was a grotesque and childish contest of ig-
norance He lacks the courage to say that he
was utterly and foolishIy mistaken. Evidently
he has discovered since that the Treasury issues
a daily statement showing its receipts and eX-
penditures for the day. for the month and for
the current fiscal year. In fact, he uses this
statement in giving the net deficit up to Octo-
Der %. But though he thus refutes himself.
he will not openly withdraw the indictment he
so rashIy and ignorantly framed against the
administration.
No: he prefers to bolster up his first impossi-
BILE charge with another almost as futile and
ridiculous He now asserts, in reply to crlu-
cisms Of his first statement that he was justl-
fed in making It because orders were actually
issued to chiefs Of bureaus in the Treasury
and IN other departments not to make public
their provisional estimates Of expenses for the
fiscal wear 19O5-'o6. But those estimates have
no official character and have little or no value
as a means of forecasting the expenditures
which vii! be finally authorized by Congress
for the next fiscal year. The bureau chiefs SUD-
NIT figures for the guidance Of the heads OF
the departments, who must send formal est-
mates to Congress in December. These esti'
mates are freely published as soon as made,
and they then undergo a rigid scrutiny in the
Appropriations Committee of the House Of Rep
resentatives, in the House itself, in the Senate
Committee on Appropriations and in the Sen
ate AS a matter Of fact. they are hardly rec
ognizable in the completed appropriation bills.
When Judge Parker complains Of the suppress
sion Of the first rough estimates of the bureau
chiefs, he complains of practice established
in the interest Of good administration. Every
chief insists on the largest possible appropria-
tions for his own special work. and the heads
of departments are often obliged TO reduce the
figures originally submitted by from % to 30
per cent. The revised estimates are, Of course,
made public fully six months before the appro-
priations asked for can become available by
law
THE New YORK Evening Posts" correspond
ence from Washington yesterday contained this
comment on Judge Parker's latest criticism OF
Treasury methods:
II Is of course well known that this has been
the practice for years and that no bureau officer
of good manners ever gives out his preliminary
estimates before they have been approved at
headquarters. The approved estimates have this
year been given out in regular course, and in
some cases commented on in these dispatches,
notably the postoflce estimates. President
Roosevelts order on the preliminarles however
occasioned some misunderstanding at the time.
These preliminary or other estimates for the
wear ending June 80 1905 should not be con-
fused with current expenditures. which are given
out every twenty-four hours
It is painfully evident that Judge Parker
lacks either the capacity or the industry to
master the problems toward which he presumes
10 pose as faithful student or caustic critic.