The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1905-01-04
WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 4. 1906.
Where Money Should Go.

The cost Of running the Government,
is matter about which the average
citizen gives himself little concern
Yet it is his Government. His money
goes to the support OF it. He has a
right to feel a personal interest The
officials who administer affairs are
acting for him
The individual who maintains a
home has to watch out for expendi-
lures If he builds a house he pays
more for living room than for orna-
meEtatiOn of the front gate, or he
shows extremely poor judgment.
The Government is huge family af-
fair. There is as much occasion for
drawing a line between luxury and
necessity in the Government as in the
domestic establishment
For the fiscal year ending with
June of 1905. the different depart
ments asked total appropriations of
1924 500. 1867 This was SO scaled
down by Congress as to aggregate
$751;, 548, 937. 03. For the year for
which the present Congress must pro-
vide there is estimated the need for
$619 .669, 1921. That this will to some
extent De pared is a certainty The
question is as to the point at which
to ply the knife. Each department,
following a natural instinct, desires
as much as it can get. for EACH, to
the head of it, assumes peculiar inn
portance.
There are four departments, Treas
ury, War, Navy, and Interior, that
make, respectively, the following de-
mands, $40. SAT, 000.1 s1o9, 019, 3067
SIT. 549, 34S.34; S162, 1924 .425. OF. This
quartet of items constitutes an i'm
pressive whole, being $500. 040, 074.15
OF the entire estimate Compared
with these the requirements Of other
departments. some of them indis-
pensable and the others highly use
ful, seem modest, and thus exempt.
Is the apportionment wise? This is
the problem Congress faces. The ma
ton is at peace, an advocate OF peace,
and yet to sustain its army and navy
on the approved footing, is solicited to
set aside the stupendous amount OF
s226, 568, 649.01. The Treasury and the
Interior Departments are SO vast, each
being q group of minor but essential
departments, that no way appears for
a material reduction as to them
They are no. marked by extfavagance
or fancy salaries The lesser esti-
mates are for absolute requirements,
executive, legislative, judicial. Clear
ly the cut, if cut must be. will fall on
the army and navy, with particular
weight on the latter.
For the expansion of the navy there
is wanted, in round numbers, S104,-
100000 A member of the House Com
mittee on Naval Affairs, after extend
ed scrutiny, says this cannot be made
less than 100000 900. owing to obliga-
tons already incurred and other ex-
penditures made imperative by cir
cumstances. To q-ote the aphorism
made familiar by use: 1T is not a
theory, but e condition, that confronts
u.s.
Claim is made that the millions that
go into ships and naval equipment
represent an investment and not. like
the other millions that go into pen
sions, frank donation. True as this
may be, the pension list must soon
grow appreciably smaller, while as to
the navy there is no end in sight.
Consider that the appropriations
will approximate s61s, 00e 900; that out
of this s226. 600, geo are desired for the
army and navy. Is it wise housekeep-
Jig? Is not the front gate being Or
namented TO the loss OF the living
ROOM