The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-11

and she light between the. two Houses waxed SO bitter that Congress ad- Journed without making any army ap- propriation. President Hayes was forced to call an extra session to pass the bin.
 Only two years later the same sort of thing happened. For the first time since Buchanan's administration both Houses of Congress were Democratic. The partisan rancor that grew out of the Hayes-Tilden contest was stlll man. fest. and Congress attached anti-ad- ministration "riders to the army bill. and also to the legislative, executive and Judicial appropriation bill which led to their being vetoed by Mir. Hayes. The result was that the government was supposed to exist. but 1t had no funds for maintaining itself. It was absolutely helpless. President Hayes reconvened Congress and 1t finally fur nished the money needed to meet the daily expenses. Thus the Hayes ad-
 ninistration will so down in history s as the only one that has found itself forced to call two extra sessions of Congress during an era of profound peace. sgs &
 Tn the recent talk about breach be- tween the House organization and President-elect Taft, the fact seems to have been lost sight of that it Is the House that would have the last word in case the worst should come. If the administration should attempt to over throw the House organization and fall, that body would have the strategic position in the fight. It is constltu- tionally vested with the sole right of originating tariff Legislation. and 1t likewise can withhold its assent to any appropration bill, thus leading, the ad- mfnistration high and dry upon the hot sands of empty -handedness, It Is the same situation that would confront any executive who chose to openly break with either House of Congress. Sometimes there Is great talk about executive eficroachments on the rights of the legislative branch of the gov ernment but Congress always has the power to successfully oppose such en- croachments. The most helpless thing in the world Is law with the enacting clause stricken out. Next to 1t Is an executive without an appropriation to- carry on the government If he should choose to attempt to run 1t on credit Congress has law which would send him to jail for six months.
 The House Committee on Appropria- tions has prepared q sheet which shows in graphic form the growth of the ex- pendituxes of the government since 1875 When the present session com P4StCB lsS WOEA LNG SlXIleLl congress will have appropriated two billion dol- lars. That is three times as fpuch as was appropriated by the 3rty-third Congress, and twice as much as was appropriated by Athe Fifty-fourth. The Fifty-first Congress appropriated a little over a billion dollars and the country was aghast at such extra~a- ga1lce. The then Speaker. Mir. Reed, defended It's action by saying that this | was billion dollar country. Congress now appropriates more at a single ses- sion than it did then during a whole Congress. It now calls on the average eitizen--rnan, woman and child--for SIP year. Twenty years ago its ap- proprtations amounted to less than sS l per capita.
 What was in those days called un- precedented extravagance isr now free | ly sanctioned by the people. President | Arthur vetoed a river and harbor bill | because 1t was too extravagant. It | carried an appropriation of SIS, ,oo0, 900. l Yet the first session of the Fifty | seventh Congress appropriated $32,O00,- 1 900 for the same purpose. and no one | objected. Twenty years ago the navy | cost the American people S20, ,000, ,000 a | year. The expenditures for the pres | ent fiscal year amount to $i22, 900, 900. | Twenty years ago the army cost $24,- | SsSStSvN a SS@I. AHAS year Ab is SoALluB | s9s.0op,00o. Other appropriations show | almost as great increases during the | brief period of twenty years. |
 The annual expenses of the nations | of the world amount to approximately | nine billion dollars, their aggregate | population being {, J,500, COG, coo. The | United States. with one -nineteenth of | the total population, spends one-ninth | of this worldwide governmental ex- penditure.
 Copyright. 1908, Frederick J. Haskin.y |
 Congregational Appropria- tions Committees.