The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-08
GOVERNMENT ECONOMY
 IS VERY IMPERATIVE.
Urges Systematic Reorganization {,
 Gain Greater Effieieney.

urges Sy3eonnaEfc tASogSAnIxa1ion 10
 Gain Creator Ef6eieney.
 Before I close may say few words upon two topics much discussed out of doors upon which if ip highly important that our judgments should be clear, definite and steadfast2
 One of these is economy in govern ment expenditures. The duty Of econ. omy is not debatable It Is manifest and imperative In the appropriations we pass we are spending the money of the great people whose servants we are not our own. We are trustees and responsible stewards in the spending The only thing debatable and upon which we should be careful to make our thought and purpose clear Is the kind of economy demanded of us. I assert with the greRtest confidence are not 5eaIohs of the amount their government costs if they are sure that they get what they need and desire for the outlay. that the money Is being spent for objects of which they ap- prove and that 1t Is being applied with good business sense and management
 Governments grow psecemeal both in their tasks and in the means by which those tasks are to be performed, and very few governments are organ ized. I1venture to say. as wise and ex- perienced business men would organize them if they had clean sheet of paper to write upon Certainly the govern, ment of the United States Is not think that 1t is generally agreed that there should be a systematic reorgant zation and reassembling of it's parte so as to secure greater efficiency and effect considerable savings in expense But the amount of money saved in that way would. believe. though no doubt considerable tr itself. running. it may be. into the millions be relatively small-small. mean, in proportion to the total necessary outlays of the gov ernment It would be thoroughly worth effecttng, as every saving would, great or small
 Our duty Is not altered by the scale of the saving. But my point 1B tMat the people of the United States ao not wish to curtan the actfvttias of &his government They wish ratheR, 60 en- large them. and with every enlarge ment, with the mere growth. indeed. of the country itself, there must come, of course. the inevita ble increase of ex. pense. The sort of economy we ought to practice may be effected. and ought to be effected. by careful study and assessment of the tasks to be per formed. and the money spent ought to be made to yield the best possible re- turns in efficiency. and achievement And. like good stewards, we should so account for every dollar of our appro- prtations as to make it perfectly evi- dent what it was spent for and In what way it was spent
 1t is not expenditure but eztrava- ganee that we should fear being crit cised for. not paying for the legiti- mate enterprises and undertakings of 3 great government whose people com mand what 1t. should do, but adding what win benefit only few or pour Ing money out for what need not have been undertaken at all or might have been postponed or better and mora economically conceived and carried put The nation is not niggardiy; 1t is veFy generous It will chide us only If we forget for whom we pay money put and whose money it is we pay. These are large and general standards, but they are not very difficult of appH- cation to particular cases.