The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-22
GROWING NEED OF
 FEDERAL BUDGET
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 meuts, arc themselves m!uutely sub divided, and particularly as the Com Eress iusistcut on Nutns the exact salaries oven for minor employees. This minute subdivision might have tO be lesseusd # single committees in Congress are to handle the whole of che vast financial legislation. How over. if tho budget committees at large, and subcommiJtees dealing with special appropriations are aD- pointvd. it is probable that most of tho detail could gtiu be carried. {.
 Iargyr Departmental Discretion.
 IL would seem desire bIe. however. jhat larger discretion should be elvc- Co tho executive departments lp the employment of funds appropriated Co them than is now tho caec. Where populations are l.-.ds for year in advance, with exact amounts spe- 'tficd for each particular need. it uasily happens that there is a short age in the appropriation for one pur- pose and surplus over actual needs for other purposes. AS bureau chiefs haVo no discretion to transfer funds from one uso to another, the tendcu- Cy is for them ta spend far each uso aN that Congrcss has aunrapriat- ed, lest Jho Congress finIiuE thc uu- vNDcpGvd fund. should ruxt year con v}udc that too much has been asked Cor and cut down jhc aDorUDviatiou, Op the other hand, trcy frc0ueu.ly ask for supplementary funds fvc those NU~posCS f0E which che appropriation was inadequate. Tac -g9,em uf min ute appropriations. tbercco-y. makes fog oXtrayaEancc,. While st Is not de- airaN}c that executive discretion should be allowed Co increase appro- priauonS OF to transfer funds dcs5g- hated by thc CNuEvgSs Tn~ one use 10 another usc, k would sonr. IuStrabIc that tbs tio7-as hc made larger and less Spcctrir, aHt that lavEor discre- mcuts and bslrcsa;1S su tho utilization of funds, IF this svorc done, moreover. the labors Of budget vDwmiftrc would be much more manaroahIc.
 The scheme outlined abovp involves the surrender of some authority now exercised by Congress, and of a very cnDSt3c~2h hlo degree of the power of individual srsC-ssbass. An offset mi-ht 3a touaJ !n the cre3ste1 of an officer elected by the House ,t Epprcsau- tativcS, Independent of tnc Executive, and appointed for a sufficiently long Jcrm of wears to mako him indopen- dent of tHc wh5ms uf the House, who would Iuis- the accounts Of the cx- CsuJg-c departments This should not replace the work now performed by thC Comptroller of the Treasury and and Departmental Auditors. IL may be a check on their work. but ir should primarily aim at giving a comprehensive view of the whole sys- tenn uf expenditures, Existing audits arc concerned with making sure that expenditures arc in accordance with law. a Congressional audit should be concerned with question of policy and with the wisdom of different items of expenditure, such an officer exists in EnEl0nd. independent of the Treas ury. and responsible only tu the House of Commons. outiiving in his term of ofhCe Jhe Ministry or a par Lcular House. There now exist com uirtcsa Cf the House of Representa- lives charged with examining the ac- counts of various executive depart uenrs, but they are largely iueffcc- tive. If thora were however. one Housf Comuirrss zo which this audi Tor of che Fousp made reports. and if this aud11o- were supplied with a sufficient body of able assistants so 5hag ho could really eNamino the ac- rouuts of thc various departments fuudanautall. thc control of the 1F0uso over lhr aCtu81 expenditure of funds Egaull la subs-au-lally great c~ than 5I is today
 Tho pra5ent division or responsi- hI1i-y iu tha House of Ilen~eacnta 1tyes has grown out of historical causes DrlElually,, Inc House had a Etn-to committee tha1 on Ways and Means FrezHure of work led tO the creation of a separate committee on Appropriations in 1865. as the mum hor of Items to loo dealt with grew The Appropriation Blu of 17Sg had contained only four items but the r-row1ng practice of subdzvldfns funds Erantcd made the burden at last very heavy In 1SS3. The Committee on TtIvers and Harburs was created with power 60 bring in appropriation bllls in that connection
 Two or three years later. a special incident led to tho creation of a mum bcr of further committees which took over many of the powers of The Ap- propr-tatduns CUrlrutttee-a political cxpedignr of an uufurtunate sort for which no good reason from the stand point of House organization existed Committees on Foreign Affairs, Mil 1tary Affairs Naval Affairs Indian Affairs, ana ETrE- 'fLIlt- ana IO5l Roads. took over the duties Of pre- pairing apprJprlatipn bills for these various serv5cea. while the Committee on Ayprorr-iai5iUns itself retained jur- isdjLtlon over executive. adTu1nistra- tive, judicial. the pension the Dis rric1 of CDlumb1a. the efficiency and the permanent appropriation bills It wUuld have been better to enlarge the COLnLaitleo on Ways and Means in 1865, making possible the creation of various aub--cUmLn1ttees but 1eay- ing a single main committee on Ways and Means. The subdivision of a appropriations which has come EInce that time has had no valid basis
 The foregoing discussion and suE- l,esytfUns are not intended to be in any way dog1natlc. The plans outlined will doubtless need modification in various particulars before they would be ac- .cepta-ble 1o the different interests in- 'volNed The plan of budsetaTy reform must be one which will be accepta- ble to the Executive, to tils House and to the Senate. One of the most inperative needs, that of checking log rolling, under which individual members of one section of the coun- try make trades with members from another section. whererby each sec ton gets additional post offices or