The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-01-19
Public Works Department Urged to Stop Huge
Waste IN Government Expenditures

In view of the present agitation for
Z budget system for the handling of
tho United States finances to elimi-
nate the terrific waste now apparent.
this article by Marshall o. Leighton.
chairman of the National Public
Works Department Association, is
teresting. That association is con-
Quoting campaign for the establish
ment of national department of pub
lie works to systematic expenditures
and eliminate waste.-EDITOR.
BY MARSHALL o. LEIGHTON.
Ships always leak. The finest YES
sci afloat must occasionally operate
its bilge pumps. 1t Is expected as
matter of course. Water Is always
coming into the ship. while 1t is afloat,
but it causes no alarm among the
passengers and hardly any comment
among the crew. But let that leak
increase in volume beyond a certain
rate and It becomes the crucial feat
ure of the ships run. Those who
are aware of il are greatly concerned.
In like manner, all ships of state
leak, but the direction of the leakage
is reversed. Money, for which there
is no adequate return to the passen-
gers and crew, seeps through the
seams, even if it does not run out
through open ports. No one takes
a thought so long as the taxpayer is
not pinched to make good the loss.
But, as in the case OF a marine OPP
Grafton, there comes a time when the
leakage becomes so great that the tax
payer takes thought of his IMPROVE
dent ways, and begins to investigate
and protest. ...
Government Always WastefuI.
Our government has always been
wasteful in the conduct of it's bust
ness. This has not been the result
of any wrongful intent. Throughout
. long period of years it has been
accepted by the majority and the oc-
rasions has been sporadic when much
thought has been given to it.
Wealth usually begets thoughless-
ness to small wastes. So long as our
bank balance is large we are not
likely to be yigilant as to the price
we pay. A few cents more per pound,
a few dollars more per yard are paid
without thought of hardship. And this
was particularly true with respect to
government expenditures when we
lived under an indirect system of tax
alton. Waste of $10,000,O00 by the
government was hardly appreciated
when spread over the price of 10000
900 pounds of sugar, 100000 pounds
of wool, and millions of pounds of
everything else we bought in the open
market.
But now our system OF taxation Is
direct. Every individual of more than
nominal earning capacity is presented
by the internal revenue office with
bill for his share. And when our an
nual peace time budget runs up to
SIS, 600, 0O0,0 900, as presented by the
secretary OF the treasury few days
since, we begin to think about that
leakage. We begin to look for open
ports.
That five billion dollar estimate
will be pruned severely pruned.
That means that we must go. without
some things that wise and prudent
men think we need or that it would
be to our advantage to have. Are we
then so poor as all that? No one be-
lieves that We are, and yet our bill
is SO large that it pinches us to pay.
The answer is that we are paying too
much for what we get. The approprla-
tons committee in congress will spend
the greater part of their time for the
next three or four months in pruning
those estimates-a laudible and ne
cessary thing to do under the circum-
stances. But those ha rd-working men
are saving at the spigot and wasting
at the bung-hole. Our organization
is asking them to do the obvious
thing. Give the government bust
ness-like organization. Coordinate
the functions SO that the processes of
government business shall dove-tail
Cut out the wastes and the duplica-
tons. Abolish the rivalry between
the departments. We advocate de-
partment of public work not merely
to secure technical symmetry in our
federal organization, desirable as that
end may be. Our advocacy is in it's
essential features an attempt to close
some Of those open ports.
When this organization was set up
at Chicago I think that none of US
certainly not the writer-had an ade-
quate idea of the scope of the move
ment We saw loose and inefficient
public works organization and divided
and. sub-divided into many different
provinces. AS technical men we
knew how orga nically wrong that was.
OF the wastes and inefficiencies we
for q co-ordinated structure, by vir-
tue of which the technical and semi
technical fields of the government
could be rendered efficient and bust
ness-like we were profoundly impress
sed. But that our effort, our idea, oul
legislative bill would become the cor
nerstone OF structure embodying ef
ficiency in all departments of govern
ment we could hardly foresee. AS an
organization our effort is still focused
On a department of public works and
that alone. But we realize that with