The Washington herald., 1912-01-31
Economy Not a Political Asset.

The programme of economy in the
House of Representatives is now fairly
under way. 1t has been decided to dis
pense with the public building bill,
which would have necessitated an ex-
penditure of SI6,ooo,ooo, and it has also
been decided not tc construct the pro-
posed new battle ships, thus effecting
a saving of S2o,oooIooo additional
Apart from the desire to keep the ap-
preparations within the lowest possible
limit, If is urged that the Supervising
Architects bureau is already overbur-
dened with work, and that it would be
unwise to provide for buildings which
cannot possibly be erected for some
time TO come. The action based upon
this reasoning is probably justified, even
though many members will regret that
they are not afforded an opportunity TO
strengthen themselves in their districts
by the erection of public buildings. The
fact that the public building bill, like
the rivers and harbors bill. has be-
come more or less log-rolling PROPOSE
ton will reconcile the country to its
abandonment at this session.
In the matter of the battle ships, it
IS asserted that generous provision has
already been made for the navy, and
that as fighting force it is already ade-
quate, especially as a conflict with any
foreign nation is a remote contingency.
There will, however, be a very general
protest throughout the country against
any curtailment of our naval develop
ment, and it is a serious question
whether the Democrats have not in
their desire to be economical, invited
the criticism of the American people
In considering the programme of
economy It must not be forgotten that
the Democratic party has never made
any political headway through an eco
nomical policy The late Representa-
tive Holman, for instance, who posed
as the very embodiment of money
saving statesman, was more of an in
jury than help to his party. When,
under a Republican administration, the
total of appropriations for the first time
aggregated SI,ooooooooo in a single
Congress, the Democrats were unable
to make effective political capital out of
the fact The Fifty-second Congress
was Democratic, but not because of the
previous large budget, and despite the
fact that the Democrats materially re-
duced appropriations in the Fifty-sec-
ond and Fifty-third Congresses, they
could not retain themselves in power,
When the Republicans regained control
they deliberately, year after year, in
creased the expenditures TO a point
which exceeded the estimated revenues
without occasioning a widespread pro-
test. The present Democratic House, it
may be remarked, owes its existence to
causes not associated with the cost of
government.
The fact is that the people of this
country, themselves ealtravagant TO a
fault and accustomed to lavish expendi-
lures in nearly every walk of life, can
not be deeply stirred because the con-
stantly growing government requires an
enormous amount of money for its
operation and maintenance The DEM
ocratic party should, of course, in or
der to redeem its platfom pledges, keep
the appropriations within the figures
reached by the past Republican Con-
gresses, but experience has demonstrate
ed that as purely political asset, econ :
omy has but little value. More than
this, when economy becomes parsimony j
the effect is to the disadvantage of the I
party which is responsible therefor.