Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-24
TAFT CONFESSES
RULE EXPENSIVE
PRESIDENT ADMITS GOVERN
MENT COSTS TOO MUCH
SAYS EMPLOYEES SHOULD REM
DER BETTER SERVICES
Chief Executive and Senator Lodge
Speak at Banquet of Newark
Board of Trade on Federal
Questions
tcontinued from Page onel

tC0nttnued from rage One)
The same thing is true of the i'm
provement of the Mississippi from st
Paul to st. Louis, and the same river
from st. Louis to Cairo, and of the
Missouri river from Kansas City tc
ST. Louis. These projects seem to be
warranted by the traffic in sight.
Cost Greater Than Anticipated
while I am dealing with the Pan
anna canal, however, l ought to reter
to the discrepancy between the estl-
mated cost of the enterprise ana lne
| actual cost, as we are now aDle 10
fix it with considerable accuracy WIN WIN
in four or five years of its completlon'
1.-The estimated cost of the engineer
ing and construction of the canal was
S19e 700 900. It's actual cost for en-
gineering and construction will be
S297. O00, 900, an increase of $157, 100000.
you know that the great work or
exeavating in the canal is called the
Culebra cut. This is where the back
bone of the continent reduced to low
est height, is cut, and through fiVe
miles of that cut. which is about nlne
miles long. for purposes of economy,
the original plan and estimate hade
the bottom of the canal in the roCk
200 feet wide. This would not enable
two of the largest steamers 10 pass
ITO avoid this it has been thought
wise to increase the bottom width from
200 to 300 feet in a place and material
! that of course makes the change most
expensive.
$50. too, that the canal may be
| adapted to the largest sizes of steamers
the dimensions of the six locks nave
been increased from 900 to 1000 feet
usable length and 10 feet wide. Ih1s
was done at the instance of the navy
department, which predicts vessels OF
| a beam exceeding 100 feet
Hints at Surplus
"To return to the state of finances,
I repeat that the surplus for the year
/ ending June 80, 1911, for which we are
not making provision in this congress
bv appropriation, will be about $685.
900 600 if the estimates made by the de-
partments and transmitted by the sec
retary of the treasury to congress are
not exceeded. and if the revenue from
| the tariff bill equals that which the
secretary of the treasury has estimated
| it as likely to be. This surplus is also
upon the supposition that the 3S,OOO,-
! 900 necessary annually in the construc-
tion of the Panama canal will be met
/ by bonds
! In view of the threatened shortage
for the year ending June 80, 1911, di-
rected the heads of departments in
making their estimates to cut them to
| the quick and to avail themselves of
every possible economy and reduction.
The result was that the total of es-
Inmates forwarded by the secretary of
the treasury was $42,S1S,000 less than
the total of the appropriations for the
previous year ending June 30, 1910
"A river and harbor bill has now
been introduced and has passed the
| house, which appropriates nearly S4O-
| 000 600. This is a large increase over
the amount estimated by the secretary
of the treasury. In addition to this,
| If building bill passes congress ap-
propriating $15,O00,OO0 or $200O0,000 for
the coming fiscal year there may still
be a deficit unless the receipts from
the tariff bill and the corporation tax
exceed what was originally expected
from them. I am bound to say that
the receipts of the tariff bill thus far
indicate a considerable increase over
the estimate of the secretary.
Estimates Cut Down
"Now, 1 would like for moment to
go into the question of what it was
that we cut down in our estimates for
the coming year in the departments.
1.-THE reduction in the estimate of the
war department below the appropria-
! tfon of last year amounted to $10,000-
! 900. The reduction in the estimate of
the navy department for the expenses
of the year for the year ending June
| 80, 1911, also amounted to 100000
The reduction in the interior depart
ment for 1911, below the appropria-
tions for 1910, amounted to $4,000, 900.
The reduction in the treasury and in
the postoffice department made up the
balance of the $42 10000.
For some time it has been said that
we have billion dollar congresses.
! The statement, in itself, is an ujust
one, because it is generally construed
to mean that the total expense of the
departments to be paid out of taxation
amounts to a billion dollars a year.
This is quite an error, for the reason
that in making up the billion dollars,
the expenses for the postoffice depart
ment are always included, whereas the
expenses of the postoffice department
are not paid for out of the proceeds of
taxes. They are paid for out of re-
ceipts of that department, from the
sale of stamps, with the exception of
| S17, 100000, which was the excess of
| the cost of the postoffice department
last year over it's receipts. This, there
fore, reduces the cost of taxation of
the government each year to something
like $75O0OO,00O.
To Investigate Expenses
"It is now proposed to appoint
congressional committee to look into
| the question of a general reorganiza-
tion of the government departments,
with a view of reducing expenses.
"It has been stated on the floor of
the senate that it would be possible to
reduce the cost of administering the
government, $1O0000,0OO a year and
that, If free hand were given to
a business man the reduction in the
expense of administration might be
doubled, or tripled I am unable to
confirm these statements, as to exact
/ No.