Republican farmer., 1919-08-08
WILD ORGY OF
 WASTE LAID TO
 U. s. BY CAPPER
Says Money Squandered During War Would Bury Washington in Aval-
 anche of Gold.
HOT ATTACK ON
 INSURANCE BOARD
OversIpply of Workers Hin dered Rather Than Helped
 Winning, He Declares.

Washington, Aug. Reckless spending and waste of money in Washington hindered the winning of the war. instead of keeping, Senator Arthur Capper. of Kansas, charged in a signed article in one of his papers which has just reached Washington. The Kansas Senator lines up squarely with Senator Shoot, of Utah, repre- senting the opposite pole of political thought inside the Republican party, in his fight to eliminate waste His signed article, which is headed Uncle Sarl's Padded Expense Ac- count is in part as follows:
 "1 have no sort of doubt enough money has been wasted in Washing ton every year for the last three years to bury the city deeper than Herculaneum was buried by Mount Vesuvius if these wasted dollars could have been dumped on the capi- tai. And this, notwithstanding the new Congress has just, sliced off nearly $3.00O.O0o.o0O mainly from appropriations the old Congress was unable to pass before it's adjournment because five Senators went on a strike with a filibuster. A lucky strike for Uncle Sam's taxpayers, for it re- suited in the greatest saving ever
 
 world began.
 Uncle Sam's record as a spender during the war, and for months after. is world record we shall never see beaten unless there should come an- other great war. For instance, our total cost of government for 12S years between 17S9 and 1917 was $20, ,0O0.000,0OO. But between 1917 and 1919 we spent s25, 900, 900. .ooo-a mountain of wealth higher than any mountain peak in existence. Accord ing to the army's chief statistician. who ought to know. we spent more than s1,ooo,0oo an hour for two years during hostilities.
 'The people wanted all the money spent that was needed. We now are finding that in many instances ex- penditure was so lavish that it great ly hindered instead of helping win the struggle. The wretched break down of the Bureau of War Risk In- surance is laid to this cause by Sen ator Shoots investigating commit tee. This is why we had such trouble and endured such heart-breaktng sus- pense in finding out the condition of our wounded soldiers, and also was the cause of no end of suffering through failure to pay allotments to families and dependents of soldiers and insurance to the beneficiaries of the dead.
 director of this bureau to see how many employees he could obtain ire spectfve of the work to be accom- plished. He had nearly 1s,ooo, and every girl that could be induced to come here from any part of the coun- try was added to the list. That is why the bureau collapsed.
 hay fr Senator Shoots report, when 1t was so crowded with girls that they were falling over one another. I do not believe the girls in that bureau did as much work in a hour day as could have been done. and done much het- ter. by competent employees in an hour and a half
 the information collected in the be ginning, and the records kept by the War Risk Bureau, were worse than useless and had to be done away with entirely, because Information was incorrect.
 Every visitor to Washington is irn- pressed with the number and size of the government buildings.- Yet all over Washington buildings are rented for government offices despite the great number of structures erected for the governments use during the war. Uncle Sam's office rental the last year in Washington was just under a mill lion dollars. This seemed 50 enor- nous that Congress created a public buildings commission In March. with Senator Shoot, of Utah. as chairman. This com mission effected a saving of 1856, ,5s0 in the rent bill for the fiscal year beginning July 1, but Senator Smoot who attributes much of this waste to the employment of too many clerks by departments and bureaus. says the evil will not be corrected until Congress gives a commission au- thortty to discharge useless clerks.
 with such a situation existing, and more than 100000 government em- ployes in Washington alone, one can understand why in these days Con- gress is compelled to appropriate money by billions instead of by mil lions.