New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1918-06-21
AN INTIMATE ACCOUNTING

Said the President Of the United
States in his address to Congress.
May 9th, on the necessity of revenue
legislation,
"The elections are at hand, and we
ought as soon as possible to 60 and
render an intimate account OF our
t~rusteeship to the people who delegat-
ed US to act for them in the weighty
and anxious matters that crowd
upon US in these darys of critical
choice and action. But we dare not
go TO the elections until we have
done our duty to the full"
Fine! An intimate account. Then,
we take it, the people are to be in
formed how the colossal sums of
money which have been placed to
the credit Of the administration by
the peoples representatives in Con-
gres have been expended We are to
be told how much went into the air
plane programme, and what it has
produced; how many millions for
foolish experimentation; what has
been expended for ordnance, uni
forget the O spent for some
Fl ZOO, 900 pairs of shoes and l9,O0O,-
600 blankets. We are to have an
itemized statement of George CreeIs
expenditures in the way Of propa-
sanda, politics, and piffle, and the
statement should show who is on
Creel's pay roll. We are to be told
how much has been expended for
the shipping program, but probably
not how much the squabbling cost
he country up to the time that
Schwab stepped into the several
breaches. We are to have the informa-
ton requisite to inform ourselves
on the merits of the cost plus" sys-
tenn, as compared with other meth
DDS of paying for contract work.
Perhaps We will be given a peek at
Mr. McAdoo's railway finances, and
showing assets, their nature, and H.
abilities, their nature. The intimate
account should show how contracts
have been distributed throughout
the country, so that we may COM
pare the taxes paid by the various
sections with the benefits derived
from money which all the people
subscribed. The amount might we'll
include the cost of maintaining in
the ranks of noncombatants, the
thousands of officers and soldiers and
sailors who have the physical quail
ifications, at least, to serve in the
line in order that the people may ex-
press themselves as to whether it
would, or would not, be better to
have older men, anxious and ready
TO serve their country, take over
these less exhausting positions, and
the determination Of the Hun. In
fact the items which this intimate
account should render are legion.
The people will have their conf
dence in the Administration much ex-
banded If they are taken into the
Administration's confidence.
A. to the remark "the people who
delegated US to act for them in the
weighty and anxious matters which
crowd upon u.s. it has been the pre-
vailing opinion in this country that
the delegating was done by the peo-
pie under a misconception that we
had been kept out of the war. Mr.
Wilson told the young voters at his
summer home, just before election,
that, the certain prospect of the
success of the Republican party is
we shall be drawn, in one form
or another, into the ENVIRONMENTS
of the European war;. On Septem-
80, 1916, we were told that "the
of Hughes would mean war"
and the President assured the good
people of Cincinnati hat this is the
last great. war that involves the
thai the United States can
Keep out Of, while some time before .
hat, in an address to Congress, he
declared it "A war with which we .
nothing to do, a war whose 1
;auses do not touch us, and in 1915, /
shall not alter our attitude to-
ward it, because some of us are ner- T
Ious and excited He did alter his s
attitude, thank God! even though q
We declared war first and prepared r
or the way afterward, but does any c
easoring person believe thst, had {
he country beer abb to look for-
five short months the people 2
would have delegated to the present
administration the task Of conduc-
ng our war with Germany?