The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-06-10
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREA U
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington. d. G.
THE BUDGET BILL.
washington. D. G.


more the budget method for regulat-
ing government expenses is before
congress. and this time in the form
of a bill backed by the maj ority party.
The budget method means simply
that all appropriations for the gov
eminent are prepared and admitted
to congress by one body, having due
regard for the amount of the public
revenue, as well for the needs of
the various departments; just as an
intelligent individual figures up the
amount of his income and then de-
cides how much he can afford to
spend for each of his needs.
Our present method of appropria-
ton is similar to that of a large fam
lily. each member of which has
check book and the right to draw on
the family account. No wonder Uncle
Sam, the worried head of this family,
is always trying to borrow money.
There are eight committees of con-
gress which have the right to appro-
pirate money. Representatives of the
government departments go before
these, and tell the committeeman what
they want. There are two chief rea-
sons for waste. In the first place
each congressman on each committee
is compelled to get as much money as
he can to be spent in his own district.
Hence the ancient scandal of the river
and harbor pork barrel, and the build
ing of superfluous and ornate federal
structures.
In the second place, each govern
ment department gets what 1t can,
rather than what 1t needs. The per-
suasiveness of a cabinet member, or
the personal relations between a cabi
net member and a committee chair
man, may have much to do with the
amount of money appropriated for q
certain department.
OF course, the recommendations of
the committee have to be passed by
congress. but congress as a whole cam
not study each item in the appropria-
ton bills, so that the committees real
ly dominate the public purse.
The need is obvious for some one
Organization. as free as may be from
sectional bias, to coordinate all these
appropriations, to dole out to each
department what it needs, and to see
| that the nation lives within it's in
come.
The bill to provide a national budget
system and an independent audit OF
government accounts, just introduced
by Mr.. Good, chairman of the house
appropriations committee, places the
business of budget-making and audit
| ing in the office of the president.
The president is the chief house
keeper of the nation. Thru his cabi-
net he is held responsible if any gov
| eminent department is extravagant.
| In the old days it was comparatively
easy for a president to keep track OF
| ALI his departments, putting a mild
| check upon their expenditures. In
| deed, until Jackson's administration it
was possible for a president with a
| average memory to call each govern
ment employe by his correct name.
| But these serene days are over. Now
the activities of the department of
| agriculture or the department of the
| interior alone are too extensive and
| complicated for a president to re-
member
| With the war, things have become
even worse. The last congressman
had scarcely cast his vote in favor of
war before dozens of hastily formed
committees and commissions and d.
visions appeared. prepared quietly to
| fit themselves into the scheme of gov
! eminent like pieces of jigsaw puzzle.
Hundreds of determined citizens came
to Washington and insisted upon the
| government employing them at the
rate of dollar a year and incident
ally providing them each with office
space and a fair-sized force of reason
ably attractive young women.
| Not to be outdone by this avalanche
| of new commissions and divisions the
old bureaus of the government began
| to look about for work which might
| be said to appertain to the war, and
for new employees to do it. Divisions
| that had formerly done satisfactory
work in couple of office rooms, with
| the aid of only two or three stenog-
raphers and clerks. now spread out
| into whole suites. with retinues of Of
flee boys and war workers. In addi-
| ton, each commission, committee and
division insisted that it must have its
| own publicity department, and an
armed guard to prevent its secret ac-
tivitfes from being made public.
1t is unnecessary to point out that
| II the government had had an ade-
quate system during this expansive
period, with a division of bookkeepers
| and auditors carefully keeping track
| of all it's expenses, a great deal of
money would have been saved which
now has to be made up in hard earned
| taxes.
A prominent psychologist once de-
| clared that he could think of no better
plan than to have the nation run en-
tirely by bookkeepers. In their alb
sence, however, the government is now
in a distressing state of ignorance as
| to what 1t owes or owns. The ma
chinery of war is breaking up like ice
in river. and part of it disappearing
every week or so. One month divi-
| sion goes out of existence releasing
hundreds of war workers, but the next
month another division declares it is
about to expand, and captures all the
departing workers just as they are
about to board a train for home.
The proposed budget system would
quickly remedy this confusion. The
new bill provides that all depart
ments. bureaus. boards. commissions,
offices or other establishments of the
executive branch of the government
shall furnish to the president such in
formation regarding the powers
duties, activities. organizations. finan-
cial transactions and methods of bust
ness of their respective offices as he
may from time to time require OF
them, and that the director of the
bureau of the budget shall, for
the purpose of securing such informa-
ton. have access to and the right to
examine any books, documents. papers
or records of any such office
1t also provides that at the begin
ming of each regular session of con-
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