New-York tribune., 1919-02-13

y
they had made so much money during
the war that they did not want to
work and did not have to.
Anyway, they could not be expected
to get back TO their former associa-
tions in a day. Labor had shifted
during the war and it would take time
to readjust the situation. Returning
/ soldiers did not want to go to work
immediately and were entitled to lay
( off for time while they were feted
and admired by the home folks.
Now, over in the House." he con-
tinued, there is little proposition
from MIR. Lever to appropriate 81 ,O0O,-
600. No, | see | am mistaken; it is to
appropriate 1000 600, 900, to make good
the folly and dilettantisms of Hoover
IN his administration Of the food ques-
ton. We are told by the Senator from
Oklahoma that this price regulation
has cost the farmers $900,0O0,000, and
now the government must spend
$1,000, 100000 or $3.50 900 900 on wheat
to make good its mistakes"
Having covered about So 600 600 900
up TO this point Senator Penrose said
that about $4,000 100000 more was
asked for by somebody or other. Among
the bills he condemned was one to re-
duce llliteracy which "came right out
in the open" and asked for S13. 900 OO0
spent in locating the illterates." An
other was to appropriate $1,000 900 for
the acquisition of the District of CO.
lumbia's telephone system.
Attacks Railway Rule
Assisted by Senator Kellogg, of Min
nesota, Senator Penrose then got into a
sparring match with Senator'S Lewis and
Shafroth in regard to the railways, in
which he bitterly denounced their pres
ent inefficiency, as we'll as that of the
telegraph and post Office, and declared
he now 'abhorred the railways" so much
that he stayed away from them as
much as possible.
Another appropriation measure that
excited Senator Penrose's anger was
the one to spend S100,000,O0O relieving
the distress of labor, (Which is mostly
hallucination." Still "another ingenious
project provided s100,000,0OO for the
reclamation Of swamp lands wherever
found There was nothing sectional
about it and it merely asked for the
modest sum of 100000, ,000' to reclaim
swamp lands, "even if they had to be
advertised for" A colleague from Penn
syvanla, who was, however, a Democrat,
wanted to spend $1,000,000 distributing
war trophies. Senator Thomas inter
posed to say that he thought that the
next step would be to manufacture them.
The President had fund of $780,
100000 and the Secretary of the Navy
had one for S50,00O,O0O that ought to
be audited and accounted for and the
balances covered into the Treasury, he
asserted. 1t was costing S159, 100000
annually to pay the 274 900 extra office
holders, go to 70 per cent of them
needless"
Senator Smoot said he understood
that from $40,000,0O0 to S50.OOO.O0O
of the residential fund remained five
months ago, but that he could not
say how much had been spent since.
He said if itemzied accounts had been
kept anywhere he had been unable to
get them.
Calls for Presidential Audit
Then" said Senator Penrose, 81
think the sooner Congress passes law
rendering the secret archives of this
enormous fund available to the Con-
gress and to the American people, the
better it will be for the government
and for this Administration, and | do
not intend to sit idly by and permit
$lo0,000,o00 Of the peoples money to
be expended between here and Paris,
and for every kind of unauthorized
project, without having some informa-
ton as to how the money has been
spent The war is over, and why any
legitimate purpose can be subserved
by an ability to squander $40 0,O00,0O0
OF S30,OOO,OO0 is beyond my comprehen-
SION, and think will be utterly bevond
the comprehension of any American
citizen when he wakes up and realizes
what IS going on"
About S2,000,000 900, mostly waste.
The Senator said, had been spent by the
Shlpping Board, which had wasted the
q
Hog island, instead of encouraging pri-
Vate shlpbullding; $l62 500 900 had
been been spent in food and fuel control:
$oO,ooO,O0O had been appropriated for
Z "chlmerical scheme" to stimulate
mineral production. There were, he
continued, many other raids on the
Treasury Floating around" such as
one for SIT 1,000,0 600 for agricultural re-
lief, said relief being from squirrels,
gophers and coyotes.
Property Values DESTROYED
Moreover there had been a great de-
structlon Of property values. Prohibi |
ton would wipe out about S2,OOO.OOO
600 TO $1,000, 100000, besides taking
more than $l,000.000OO0 from the rev
enues. The destruction of the Mer-
chants and Miners transportation Line
along the Atlantic coast by the rail
way administration was cited bv Mr.. |
Penrose as an example of public !
destruction of private property. The |
"blunderng and inefficiencv" of the |
railway administration would cost the
country S800,o00,000; military hospitals
would require s300O0,0o annual in |
terest on the public debt. 81 100000
900; merchant marine, $3.50 900, 900; de- |
mo Utilization, $500000, 600; aircraft. /
$50 100000; government contracts, ST.
5O0000000; war risk, S55O0O0,0 600, etc. /
Beyond all necessary expenditures
there was, Senator Penrose said, "a
carnival Of waste" To meet it the
government would have to borrow and
issue bonds to "the limit of tolcra-