The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-01-17

l i The jurat does not add to the value of 1 the return. involves persons travelling i in much annoyance and trouble in go-
 ing before an officer competent to ad-
 minister oaths, while every disciplina-
 " result is obtained through certiica- ] ton under the law prescribing pen | aIty for the falsihcation of accounts | A discontinuance of the jurat in all cases would result in a direct saving i of about $60.O00 per annum.
 Other Expenditures to Be Investigated.
 Before economy in government trad
 ing can be adequately covered such subjects as the following must be sys- i tematicaIly inquired into-viz: Subsist- ence and support Of persons: subsist-
 ence and care for animals and the stor- /! age and care of vehicles; telephone. ! telegraph and commercial messenger service: printing. engraving. litho- graphing and binding; advertising and 1 the publication of notices: heat. light. power and electricity purchased; re
 pairs by contract and open market or der: building and other materials; | drafting. scientific and stationery sup ] plies: fuel: mechanics. engineering and
 electricians supplies; cleaning and | toilet supplies; wearing apparel and
 hand sewing supplies: forage and oth- i CT supplies for animals: provisions; ex-
 plosives and pyrotechnic supplies; heat. light. power and electrical equipment; I live stock: furniture and furnishings;
 educational and scientific equipment
 From what has been already ascertain ed concerning certain Of these differ
 ent objects of government expenditure | 1t Is evident that large savings will re-
 suit from such an examination.
 Reports at Present Required by Con- oress.
 The commission has made a study of
 the present requirements of law relat- 1 ing to reports which are in whole or in part financial in character from the various departments and establish meuts. There are more than ninety
 acts of congress which annually re- quire reports of this character. These
 requirements of the law result in near
 Iy 200 printed reports relating to f1nan-l cial matters, which must be submitted annually to the congress by the vari-
 ouS departments and establishments.
 Studies of these reports and compari-
 sons of the classification of expend4-
 lures as set forth therein have been
 made by the commission to the end
 that. so far as practicable. uniformity
 of classification of objects of expendi-
 ture may be recommended and identi-
 cal terminology adopted.
 Tn due time shall transmit to the congress such recommendations for
 changes in the present laws relating to
 these annual reports as appear to be
 pertinent and necessary.
 Ne NationaI Budget.
 l, The United States is the only great nation whose government is operated without a budget. This fact seems to
 be more striking when 1t is consid-
 cred that budgets and budget proce- dures are the outgrowth of democratic
 doctrines and have had an important part in the development of modern constitutional rights The American commonwealth has suffered much from irresponsibility on the part of it's governing agencies. The constitutional purpose of budget is to make gov ernment responsive to public opinion and responsible for Its acts.
 A budget should be the means for getting before the legislative branch. before the press and before the peo pie a definite annual program lof bl
 ness to be financed. It should be tl- the nature of a prospectus both of revenues and expenditures. II should
 comprehend every relation of the gov ernment to the people. whether with reference to- the raising of revenues or the rendering of service.
 Tn many foreign countries the an- nual budget program is discussed with special reference to the revenue to be
 raised. the thought being that the rais- Ing of revenue bears more direct rela- ton to welfare than does government
 expenditure Around questions of
 source of revenue political parties have been organized. and on such
 questions voters in the United States have taken sides since the first rev enue law was proposed.
 Ci4ixens' lnterest in Expenditures. Tn political controversy 1t has been assumed generally that the individual citizen has little interest in what the government spends. In my opinion.
 this has been a serious mistake. one
 which is becoming more serious each
 year. Now that population has be come more dense. that large cities
 have developed. that people are re quired to lixe in congested centers. that
 the national resources frequently are
 the subject of private ownership and
 private control and that transportation and other public service facilities are
 held and operated by large corpora tions, what the government does with
 nearly $1.OOO. 100000 each year is of as
 much concern to the average citizen as is the manner of obtaining this amount
 of money for public use In the pres | ent inquiry special attention has been given to the expenditure side.
 We want economy and efficiency. We
 want saving and saving for a purpose. We want to save money to enable the government to go into some of the beneficial projects which we are de- barred from taking up now because we cannot increase our expenditures. Projects affecting the pull health. l new public works and othF beneficial