The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-05-05
CONGRESS WOULD PUT
III IN PART ON
CABINET
SHAW CANNOT ESCAPE
Must Bear Share of the
Responsibility.

Washington. May 5.--Secretnry I
shaus Efforts to throw the responsi. 4
,nty tor the Treasury deficit which
,an no longer be obscured upon Con
ress. do not please the statesmen Of
ne leeislative house The 5sth con-
sress had lis sins Of commission and
Is sins Of omission to answer for,
.hose men say. and it has been pretty
oundly criticized on both those
aunts But they claim that it IS hard
81 fair or reaonable to hold that body
4 entirely responsible for the deficit
The secretary Of the treasury is re-
luiteS by law to submit to congress /
sach yeas detailed estimates OF all the
i money witch will be required Cor the
4 economical administration of govern I
ment by the various departments. Sec
4 fetary shaw did this last year and the
4 year before. and his estimates for
4 1905. as reported TO congress In De
q cember 1908. amounted to sS30,794,-
\ 206 79 fer The ordinary expenses Of the
government. The total appropriation
hy congress ct that session fell nearly
nifty million short Of the estimates,
arId footed up s7SL574.629.e9 That
was au effort at economy on the parl
E of congress but it was not entirely
Successful. for the Secretary Of the
T-easufy last December estimated
that S35.es0.OO0 would be needed to
.aeet the deficiencies for the year al
ready created IA the various depart
ments. and these items were so urgent
that congress appropriated S31,OOO00O
TO cover them.
In other words, the executive depart
ments. IT, is explained. went forward
conducting the business Of the govern
ment On the estimates they had pre-
pared rather than in accordance with
the appropriations made by congress,
and expended more than thirty million
dollars for which they had no money
70 pay One Of the bureau chiefs was
frank enough. in his hearing before the
House committee on appropriations. TO
say that the deficit in his division was
created because congress had not ap-
propriated as much money as he
thought he needed ana he had gone
ahead Ia his own way and created
deficit, winch congress would have 10
make good
This disposition on the part II exec
utive officers TO set their Judgment up
as supreme say members of congress,
is one of the conditions responsible
for the Increased expenditures with
out regard to the economical efforts
Of congress; and it was this tendency
which provoked congress. in the clos.
ing hours Of The last session, to pass
an act providing the penalties of dis.
missal fine, Imprisonment for execu.
tive chiefs who were responsible for
such practices IN the future
The book Of estimates which secre-
cary Shaw submitted to congress last
December contained estimates that ex-
eeeded BY nearly sl7OOo0OO the APP
pgopriations which were actually
made THIS whiting down Of the esti-
mates when written in the law, was
made IN the face Of strenuous protest.
espec ally froiE. the Navy department,
which demanded not only much larger
appropriations for the year 1906 but
also a much larger authorization for
the future than that given by con
grass
The gap between the buckle Of OK
penditures and the tongue OF revenue. '
as Representative Livingston ex
pressed a. seems to be growing larger
than any one anticipated six months
ago The Treasury department then
predicted that the deficit would
amount 10 about SlsOO00O by the end
of the fiscal year, but it win be larger
Congress was not as economical as II
might have been. bat there were exten
uatng circumstances. The Constitu
ficl directs the president to make rec
ommeudation to congress on the the
DRY that the executive department,
win not ask Tor more money than /.
necessary for economical admmlstra
ton Had 10 appropriation exceede,
the estimates the whole responsibilit,
for extravaganoe could be thrown 0i
congress. but since the appropriation
by the 58th congress fell nearly 500
100000 below the estimates submitte,
by the Secretary Of the Treasury. lead
ers 81 the senate and house think 4
would seem entirely reasonable tha
the executive departments shoul,
share this responsibility.