Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1920-01-08

II have found heavy burdens thru
: upon them Unexpectedly by the 4
i ness OF the President. but It cam
be gainsaid that they are exercislr
an actual power in governmental a
b fairs which never before has falle
n TO the lot OF civilians. Col. Edwai
NJ. House is practically eliminate
as factor, whatever denials ma
be made upon that point.
"The cabinet has gone to pieces
for all practical purposes. for IT can
not agree upon any policy conceive
for the good of the whole peopl
and not one particular class. On
Of its most respected members, tn
secretary of the interior, is on tn
point of leaving II for the ostensibl
and actual reason that he must re
ceive larger income than the sal
airy affords, but also because hi
Ibroadminded view OF public pro
blems meets with little echo in thu
cabinet room and none at all up
stairs Another capable adviser Il
about being transplanted to the sen.
ate. Mr. Glass has proved efficient
as far as he has been able to go. but
IN the matter Of governmental econ.
omy his hands are tied in many
ways, and he can do no more than
inform congress that his Golfers face
a deficit of 3 billion dollars. II the
President has any other capable
man in mind to put in the place Of
Secretary Glass, no one knows 1t;
and 1t is generally suspected that
men big enough to I'LL the jobs of
secretary OF the treasury or secre-
ltary of the interior are unwilling to
serve under the administration rs
now organized--or disorganized
Congress, Of course. is founder
ling around in all this financial mud
die without rudder or compass, as
far as the executive department Is
concerned. Mr.. Wilson never could
function ably in the field Of eco
Monies. and now apparently he can
not function at all One OF the most
direct obligations resting upon the
administration Is to cut down the
number Of clerks who are carried on
the payrolls, because II is notorious
that a great many Of the army is per
forming no service, but no system
attic action along this line has been
taken. In fact, about as many
clerks are being taken on as are be-
ing let go, for the net reduction in
the classified service is less than
four hundred month. When the
war opened about thirty-seven thou
sand clerks were employed In Wash
ington. and now, according to Con-
gresham Madden of Illinois, we
still have one hundred and ten thou
sand. As Mr.. Madden pointed out
to the house the other day, the gov
eminent dropped lot of clerks and
allowed them their railroad fare
home, and some of them took a
pleasure trip and then came back
and had themselves indicted into
the service again. Many of the bu-
reau chiefs are reported unwilling to
reduce their force because they
think their work is the most impor-
tant in tOwn-Of course they are
free to think so, and act according
ly. as long as no budget bureau ex
lists to show them where they ut.
Departmental and bureau heads
have so long INDUCED In an orgy Of
unrestrained expenditure and power
that apparently they dread the So
bering up. But the outstanding fact
remains that the treasury is facing
a deficit of billion dollars and that
in the next year the American peo-
pie must be taxed for Q billion dol
lars.
THE secretary Of state tried to
function as an intelligent and indie
pendent individual, In the absence
Of the President when he started to
call Caranza to account in Mexico
for permitting the prosecution of an
American consular agent on trump
ed-up charges designed to throw
dust in the eyes Of every party to
the disgraceful episode But the
state department unfortunately,
made the mistake Of trying to vindi-
cate the dignity of the United States
in the eyes of the Mexican govern
ment, and this was too serious a de-
parture from the traditional policy
Of the administration to be over
looked, and the President, function
ing as such for a moment, prevent
ed the senate from cooperating with
MFR. Lansing and then allowed the
situation to revert to its former low
estate. The government is now not
only without a Mexican policy, but
lacks any official with the authority
and the nerve to institute one