The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-02-13
= itoriaI CoIrlrr1ent
on Current Subjects
listen, wAsHINcToNl
from The Baltimore Sun

SHtVM Inc battlmOre Sun.
Mr. Wilson has declared more than
once that no had to get out OF Wash
lneton 10 get in touch with the coun.
Try. Ne advise official washington
aoW TO get out Of its skin and to go
through the United States and listen
10 what IS Icing said IN the great
cities and in the country places, by
high and low alike.
What IS clearly not realized there
~ any considerate number Of Govern
ment servants, either in or out OF
Congress, u the imperative demand
for governmental economy, the grow.
ing restlessness Of the people under
unnecessary tax burdens, the swelling
'idal wave in favor OF all possible f.
lanctal disarmament. The cry Of Con-
gress and the departments is more,
more and give, give" The cry Of
the people Is for retrenchment and a
return to the road that leads to peace
and the expenditures Of peace.
There can be no doubt that untold
millions nave been wasted since April,
1917. There was excuse for much Of
that waste, but there is none now. The
man who wastes the peoples money
now should be regarded as public
enemy-as much as the general who
Tasted human life on the battle field.
Public sentiment will regard Govern.
rent extravaganza as q crime, and the
nan or men who conniye at ii or per-
nit it as criminals.
Money is the nations lifetlcod. The
nation was willing to shed it to the
asst drop for honor and safety. Mil
ions for defense, but not one penny
or graft or waste hencetorth. We have
hcen making the world safe for demo-
cracy, decent place for the oppress
ed elsewhere to live in. Now the peo-
pie Of the United States will demand
that this country be made safe and
tolerab!e Tor the average man to live
i11-be made safe against the vampire
of Government taxation.
Six billions in taxes now, five or six
billions in bonds in a month or two
four billions or so in taxes next year,
On top Of what has already. been ex-
pended-where is this thing to end?
Where is 1t to stop? What does it
mean?
The plain truth Is that nobody
knows, that everybody is guessing,
that we are engaged in a wild and
reckless gamble in the way of ex-
penditures. The dialogue in the SEN
ate between Senator's Kenyon and
Bankhead, quoted in yesterdays SUN,
shows this. For months and months
the primary need Of q budget system
has been urged upon the Administra-
ton and a7on Congress, but the idea
was too primary for the folks at Wash
1ngton, who talk in billions as lightly
as they used to talk in cents. And yet
1t Is no exaggeration to say that there
Is not man in Washington, from the
highest to the lowest, who knows how
close to The actual necessities Of the
Government. or how far from them.
these billton-dollar guesscs are.
We are rushing on blindly to q great
crash, Il the common sense of tho
country i5es cot wake up and force
Washington 10 abandon its Mulberry
Sellers system Of finace, come down
out Of the clouds, and tho realm Of IL
nancial. dreams to the solid earth of
actually.
We have a great and a rich coun.
try, but it's wealth and Its strength are
not inexnaust!ble. Burdens are being
put upon it that may paralyze its re-
Operative energy. We talk Of deyast-
ated France and Belgium, but coun-
try can be devastated by the lunacyi
of extravaganza in high places as cas-
lily as by fire and sword.
Reconstruction, REIMBURSEMENT, &c.
cnomy must form the living creed Of
sane American craftsmanship from to.
day on. Reconstruction, readjustmeut
and econumy-but the greatest Of
these Is Economy.
q