The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-04-19
BILLION DOLLAR
SESSION CERTAIN
Members Will Not Consider a
Policy of Econ0my--.Brake
Being Applied.
By Ernest G. Walker.


| WASHINGTON, April 4.-The wisest
and most experienced legislators at the
| Capitol do not expect any retreneh-
ment that viii make ssthe bilsion-dol-
lar session. nfisnomer. They will
| try to put on the brakes. but in the
aggregate the saving win be small.
| There is no deep-seated sentiment for
Federal economy. The people think of
but one thing at time. Economy has
not yet had its turn. Public senti-
| ment, if sufficiently earnest, could halt
their Legislators in the voting of APP
preparations. A President could do
much, because he could compel the ex-
eeutive departments to frame their an
nual estimates on careful lines.
The blame for extravaganza during
the last decade rests in considerable
! part upon these departments. There
has been little sense of responsibility
in that regard among cabinet heads.
Congress has forced upon them some
corrective measures. 1t has killed the
practise of piling up deficiencies, by
which officials ran their departments on
the basis of annual estimates. rather
than upon annual appropriations. The
creation Of deficit, except in specific
instances, was made prison offense
The real deficiency appropriations of
the last session of Congress We're less
than s7,oo0.0o0 The remaining 3d.
100000 and more carried on the urgent
deficiency and the regular deficiency
bills was ehargeable 10 insufficient APP
preparations to meet authorization of
previous sessions Of Congress, such as
the pay of Army and Navy officers and
enlisted men.
A further step toward placing re-
sponsibility upon members of the eabi-
net has been taken in a provision re-
curing the Executive hereafter when
the annual estimates exceed the total
of estimated revenues to point out
where the estimates could with least
injury to the public service be reduced
SO as to bring them within the revenues
or else; if IN his Judgment such esti
mates can not be reduced without I'M
due injury to the public service, to
recommend TO Congress such loans or
news taxes as may be necessary to cover
the resulting deficiency"
But in spite of such precautions. Con-
gress will probably not retrench. A few
years ago it was almost unthought of
that an appropriation bill should ex-
coed the estimates. 1t was taken for
granted that the bill would be mate
rally less than the estimates The
labors of committees, that have the
preparation of supply bills, was devoted
to cutting down, not building up totals.
In the session of Congress just closed
three appropriation bills for the In
dams, the Navy and the Postal services.
respectively, were Ill excess of what
the Indian Bureau, the Navy Depart
ment, and the Postoffice Department,
respectively. asked for
There is every prospect that appro-
priations for the Navy viii increase as
rapidly during the next decade as in
the past decade. appropriations for
the army will grow less slowly. The
army is recruited up to its authorized
strength. Before long the expendi-
lures for coast defenses. as far as the
installation of material is concerned,
will become comparatively small. But,
with the present military spirit of the
people, the elam5r for a much larger
standing army can not be resisted.
The Coast defenses must be provided
with at least one manning detail. which
means over $4,000 soldiers. The move
ment for organizing a very large mill
tia force, which is popular, will entail
enormous expenses. 1t will not be
many years before the demand for a
retired list for militia officers will be
ir-9-es iS|5 4 fol
lay of $3.50, 100000 for the army and
S200. 100000 for the navy is not far
away. The cost of pensions. S16l 900,
600 for the year that begins July /,
viii not fall much below that figure
for some time. These and other mill
tary items, including Notifications. in
terest on the public debt and the sink
ing fund, promise before long to make
an aggregate of over 5000. 0g0. 900 every
year.
Some men, even Republicans, argue
that no great check can come in gov
eminent expenditures till there is a
Democratic House of Representatives
A House of the opposite political party
from the administration can better re-
sist appeals from the executive and
strated in the matter of appropriations
several times in the last forty years. |
The last half of the second Grant ad |
ministration furnished a pertinent IL |
lustration. The Ard Congress, which |
expired March 3, 1873. had more than
a two-thirds majority of Republicans /
It had been voting $500, 100000 a year |
to run the Federal Government, less |
than third the amount voted at |
present.
4 great cry of extravaganza had /
been raised. Much to the surprise of
both Democrats and Republicans, the |
election of 1874 brought in Demo
cratic House by majority of almost
two-thirds At its first session that
Democratic House voted a total of only /
s24o, 100000 on original bills, and after
a hot summer Of fighting between the
Democratic House and Republican