The Washington herald., 1911-03-26
AS Chairman of Commit.
tee on Appropriations
He Will Have Charge
of Issue.
By JAMES b. MORROW.

the month, John Joseph Fitzgerald point
ed to a group photograph Of a mother
and her six children.
''Those are the youngsters" he said.
mixing some pride and considerable af-
fection with his smile, who keep me
busy with the fundamental questions Of
life. They are ultimate consumers, and
their appetites, l am glad to say, couldn't
be improved
In appearance, John Joseph looks
enough like Theodore Roosevelt to be
his younger and smaller brother. though
his mustache is redder, his hair is blonder
and thinner. and his eyes are grayer. but
not so round or large. While he lacks
Roosevelt's vocal energy and fiuency, hS
is a ready man of flaming words, and
will be heard all over the land from now
on until after the campaign of 1872
The Democrats will center their voices
and efforts next year on tariff reform,
the cost of living. and the tyranny Of
the trusts. Economy. however. as reg
ular quadrennial issue will not be over
looked. Fitzgerald, as chairman Of the
Committee on Appropriations in the
House OF Representatives. will attempt
to reduce national expenses during the
first regular session of the SiXty-second
Congress. which convenes in December,
and to prove by figures that the Repub-
licans and Democrats have been extrava-
CANT, but he will omit the latter from
his censure. Underwood. of Alabama,
will write the campaign tariff bills. Fitz-
gerald. of New York. will try to excite
the country with his tables of dire sta
H-- Co. 80
the auctioneer on the front steps of the
National Treasury.
knows Value of Money.
Aside from political ambitions and out
side of political considerat tons. it is well
to have poor man with six children at
the head of the House Committee on
Appropriations. Such a man has a prac-
tical knowledge of the value of money.
His own mathematics are reduced to
cents, and the price of shoes becomes
personal problem. The word millions"
is instinctively associated with himself,
even while he is financing for his coun-
try and is thinking of battle ships, har-
bors. and public buildings. Tawney. of
Minnesota, formerly a blacksmith, now
a lawyer without property, who is to be
displaced by Fitzgerald, has fought
bravely and intelligently against prodi-
gality. Holman, of Indiana, weasel-eyed,
chewing necessarily, an economical per
son in rusty black. was called a skim
flint and was generally despised, but he
saved the United States many millions
of dollars by his unwearied and rasping
objections. The Serate. heretofore led
by millionaires, has increased appropria-
tions. and not reduced them.
This is a billion-dollar country"
Thomas B. Reed exclaimed, in excusing
the money bills of the Fifty-frst Con-
gress. Since then it has grown to be
O-billion-dollar country, and Tawney
predicts that it will be a four-billion-
dollar country within a few years if the
pressure for public funds continues. The
matter is brought home to every man or
woman, whether a worker or an owner Of
property, by the certainty that if ex-
penses are not kept in check new taxes
will have to be laid and collected. It
does not follow that a tax on incomes will
be paid by the rich and weIl-to-do
exclusively.
One OF the accepted principles of
respectable existence is that every one
should pay for what he enjoys or uses.
The principle is strongly established in
Congress. No man of spirit, it is argued,
wants his food, clothing. or rent for
nothing Nor should he accept govern
ment as a gift from any class of his
fellow-citizens. Government can be a
form of charity, as bread is given to the
needy. but the recipient parts with his
independence and identity. The men who
pay for government will control govern
ment finally. republic could be turned
into an aristocracy by methods of tax
alton. An income tax, and ii seems to
he sure If expenditures keep increasing,
may include the lawyer and doctor as
well as the mechanic and day laborer-
graded, of course, with respect TO earn
ings, but payable by everybody. So the
finances of the national government con-
Germ all workers and all capitalists.
Will Be in LimeIfght.
Just noU Fitzgerald is potential by
reason of his position. Presumably, he
will deliver a good many stump speeches
in Congress. 1t is probable that he will
pare his supply bills to the bone for
political effect, knowing that a Repub-
lican Senate will mark his figures up.
notwithstanding his show of disgust and
thunder-like protest Doubtless such a
man as Tawney would undertake the
same performance were political condi-
tions reversed. Congress is always a
chessboard previous to the solemn ef-
forts of the electorate TO choose a Presi-
dent. However, Fitzgerald will make
the real economy issue of his party next
year. no matter what may be said of his
motives, and Fitzgerald, parlamentarian
and Democrat, thoroughly understands
his business He has been studying gov
eminent finances for twelve years, be
ginning at the very outset of his career
in the House of Representatives. Coming
10 Congress at the age of twenty-six, he
Sc he says, that the men of
influence understood parlia-
law-that is, how and when to
get things done-and how the money of
the government is obtained and distrib-
uted. Thus he Immediately specialized
in rules and appropriations.
II remembered something that Fox
said about his self-training in the House
of Commons. Fitzgerald told me, walk
ing away from the mantelpiece and the
group photograph and sitting down at
his desk. Fox owned UP to speaking
each night but two during his first five
years in Parliament, and, looking back,
was sorry that he had not spoken every
night So followed Fox in one respect,
at least, and was regarded, i know, as
nuisance. Old members are indulgent
when a new member merely wants to
take the floor and make a speech, but IL \
he attempts to help run the business of
the House he is thought to be an unbear-
able upstart ignorantly trampled on ira
ditions and became a bore, now realize;
bit by daily practice learned q good
deal abort lawmaking'
The elder Fitzgerald, who came from
Ireland when a child. and Hugh Nc
Laughlin. the boss Of Brooklyn, worked
together in politics. Dying, fitzgerald
left his family IN lean circumstances.
John Joeeph was SIX wears old s.I was