The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1909-04-02
NEW SENATE COMMITTEE !,
PROPOSED TO CONTRo,
EXPENDITURES
Practically It Would Be a e..
mittee of Comptrollers to Inm,,.
Into Merits of Every Promo,
Appropriation Coming Befo,.
Senate for Action.

WaSnlnGtOl, MdICn lI.-The On,
mittee on committees will recomr MY,
to the senate the creation of na
body charged with supervising ern0. NV
ditures and their relation to reca;a. .
of the government; in other word. :
watchdog committee.
This is regarded as an important e..
ward step in the direction Of curtail;a
appropriations for the expenses Of ~
government SO as to prevent a daos.
in the treasury.
Practically it will be commits.
of comptrollers who will be expectss
to examine into the merits of evs,s
proposed appropriation and avoid ii
duplication Of expenditure author;,sa
by congress. The membership is h.
ing selected with create are. SENATE,
Hale, of Maine, chairman of the COM
mittee on appropriations, will be e,
officio chairman Of this COMMITTEES ~
comptrollers.
Chairmen Of other committees will
also serve ex-oficio. These are Sem.
tors Aldrich of Rhode Island, finance
committee; Frye, of Maine, commith
on commerce; Deliver of Iowa, apri.
culture committee; Gallinger of New
Hampshire, District of Columbia com.
mittee; Cullom, of Illinois, foreign re-.
lations committee; Clapp of Minnesota
committee on Indian affairs; Warren
of Wyoming, committee on militar
affairs; Perkins of California. commit.
te on naval AFFAIRS; McCumber Of
North Dakota, committe on pensions.
Penrose of Pennsylvania, postof6ce
committee, and Scott of West Virginia
committee on public buildings and
grounds.
The new board of comptrollers will
correspond in large measure to the
general budget committees of Euro.
pean parliamentary bodies. 1t is Gus.
tomary in England, as in continental
countries, for the ministry to submit a
budget of desired appropriations for
the support of the government, this
budget being examined and increased
or decreased by committee appointed
for that purpose, which reports back
to the parliamentary body.
Practically the same course will be
pursued by the new senate committee
Estimates of appropriations submitted
by the secretary Of the treasury on the
first day Of each congress session for
his own department and the other de-.
partments of the government will be
referred to the new committe for er
animation. In the same way all gen.
eral appropriation bills which under
the present practice emanate in the
house Of representatives will after
their passage by the house be taken up
by the new senate committee before
being referred to the several commit
tees which will be charged with Their
examination and amendment in detail.
The need Of such a committee has
been recognized for some time by the
wiser heads of the senate, especially in
view of the increasing demand Of the
government on the treasury, the alarm
lang growth of the annual supply bills
and the present growing increase Of ex'
penditures over receipts, which if con.
tinued unchecked would wipe out the
treasury surplus.
Some of the leading members Of the
senate who have been looking into the
matter believe that through the wise
elaboration Of the committee it will
be possible to save an annual waste Of
many millions Of dollars. Concrete
instances of such waste, due to dup[.
cation and other causes, can be cited
and have been cited by senators during
the consideration of the plan to ap'
point the committee in question.