The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-08-08

of the republican stand patters. who
almost without exception voted agains:
It. Among these men are the famil-
Jar names Of Senators Lodge. Penrose
and Suioot, inside senate cabal respon-
sible for The existing status In the
leadership Of their party. The federal
reserve act is admitted to he the
most constructive monetary legisla-
ton in history. AT a stroke it trans
TERED the power over money and
credit and all they represent, from
one financial district out into the
keeping of the people themselves and
instead of one center to which all
naid tribute, there are i2 citadels OF
financial freedom where every citizen
has an equal right and where the
principle that the credit Of American
business shall be free is the basis Of
administration.
Every citizen should be alert to
guard this great Institution which IS
his guarantee of credit independence,
1t shoul dkeep from the hands OF
those who have never been its friends
and who by changes in a few OBJ
scure phrases could translate 1t into
a greater power for evil than II ever
has been for good. 1t is almost unnec-
essary to speak Of the federal re-
serve system in connection with the
winning of the war, as, next. to the
conservation of our manhood and
womanhood itself, the greatest factor
was the marshalling into one unit
through the federal reserve banks OF
the s%tupendous wealth OF America.
To those of vision who look out
beyond our shores into that CONNER
cial domain where we are so justly
entitled to enter in a time of peace.
latent power of the federal reserve
system can be seen promoting in every
quarter of the globe an ever-widen-
ing flow of American We
will soon have a merchant marine
fleet of II 600 900 tons aggregate every
ship flying the Amrican flag and car
! rying in American bottoms the pro-
ducts of mill and mine and factory
and farm. This would seem to be
a guarantee of continued prosperity.
Our facilities for exchange and credit.
however, in foreign parts, should be
enlarged and under the federal re-
serve system, banks should be estab-
lished in important trading centers.
| am impressed also, with the import
ance Of improving, II not reorgan-
izing our consular service. This
suggests another change. Our am
bassadors to foreign countries have
had assigned to them a military and
a naval attache. The staff should be
enlarged so as to include an officer
of the government whose exclusive
dutr would be to make observations
and report development and improve
ment in educational and social prob
lens generally.
Business i'm Government
Government bureaus during the wal
had close contact with the business
organization of the country. That ex-
perience revealed the modern need Of
reorganization along purely business
lines. The advantages of a demo
cracy in government need not be
%recounted. 1t has been held by experts
that it involves the disadvantage Of
disbursements. authorized by the law
making power without sufficient know
ledge of the need of the service, or
the possibilities of extravaganza. The
answer to this is the budget system.
No successful business enterprise OF
any size a operate without it For
a hundred years, the federal unit,
and the states as well. made appro-
priations without determining the
difference between department nee1
little attention to the relation as be-
tween income and expense.
Budget System Effective
Many of the states have adopted a
budget system, and with a success
that carries no exception. Efficiency
has been improved-departmentsl
responsibility has been centered, and
economies have been effected. The
same "a be done by the federal gov
eminent. The system will reveal al
once, as it did in the states, a vast
%surplusage Of employees. 1t awakens
individual interest, encourages greater
effort. and gives opportunity for
talent to assert itself. The normal
curse of least resistance. develops in
government bureaus a h~ardpan. which
retards progress. When the reorgan.
ization is made, pay should be com
mensurate with service. Many federal
departments whose ramifications touch
the country generally, have lost val
liable men to business. This has badly
crippled postoffices. the railway mail
service and other branches.
] am convinced after considerable
study of the subject hat the expense
Of the government can, without loss
OF efficiency. be reduced to a maxi
mum Of four billion dollars, including
sinking fund and interest on the
national debt. When we enter the
league of nations, we should at the
same time diminish our cost for arma-
ment. To continue expenditures in
either the war or the navy depart.
ments on a vast scale. once u men,
bership in the league is assured, would
seem to be a very definite refutation
of the advantages of the world plan
which we believe it possesses. An
appealing fundamental in the league
method, is the reduction of arma
ments. We cannot afford to do ii,
until other nations do likewise. II
we do not enter the league, hundreds
Of millions of dollars must be spent
for ornaments. II we go in, and /
telieve the people Will insist on IT,
then We can count on economies.
World War Discussed
Since the national conventions OF
the two great parties, a world war
has been fought, historic, unprece'
dented. For many, many months,
civilization hung in the balance. In
the despair Of dark hours, it seemed
as though a world dictator was inevi-
table, ard that henceforth men and