Milford chronicle., 1920-05-28
UNCLE TED'S
BEDTIME STORIES
Current Events for the Children
and Grown-Ups, Too
A REPUBLICAN PLAN TO SAVE
THE PEOPLES MONEY

les, repned uncle Ted, Repre-
sentative James F. Byrnes Of Sout
Carolina, made 4 speech in the Hous
of Representatives the other day i
which among other things he sal
that in my stories to you kiddies.
always attack the President of th
United States, making false state
ments as to his official acts Nh
Byrnes said I have made false state
ments about Mr.. Wilson's official act
because Mr.. Byrnes doesn't like I,
hear the truth about the Democrat,
party and its present head, Mr.. vii
son. When the truth isn't pleasan.
it hurts.
$50 much for Mr.. Byrnes Tonight
I am going to tell you little about
a plan of the Republicans in Con.
gress which, if made into a law, will
cut out a great waste in the peoples
money. This plan is known as gov
ernmental budget. l will try to tell
you about it in as simple words as
possible.
First of ALL at the present time
each government department, like the
Navy, War, and Agricultural Depart
ments, sends to Congress each year
statement of how much money it
wants Congress to let it have for the
next twelve months. Under this plan
each department asks for money
without knowing anything about what
any other department may ask for or
the effect such request, if granted,
might have on the Treasury. The
budget idea, however, would look
first of all to the condition of the
Treasury, the estimated receipts, and
what would be not only fair for each
department but what would be prac-
tical In a general way, budget is
a detailed estimate of the money COM
ing into the Treasury, and the eX-
penses for the next twelve months, to
be presented to Congress for its con-
sideration."
Has Congress decided on a bill to
make a budget plan?" asked Jack?
NO" answered Uncle Ted, "One
bill has passed the House of Represen-
tatives and another one has passed
the Senate. At the present time mem
bers from both the House and the
Senate are fixing up the little mat
ters in the two bills which do not
agree so that one bill can be made
which will take care of the whole
matter. Congress is almost unani-
nous, that is, nearly all the members
are for this Republican plan of saw
ing money, but certain members do
not agree as to the exact way in
which to present the plan or the way
in which to put it in working order.
They all agree upon one thing, that
is, that the President must be respon-
sible for the estimate of the money to
be expended in the various depart
ments and submit it to Congress The
judgment of the majority of the SEN
ate is that the Secretary of the Treas
ury should be made the Presidents
chief responsible agent in looking af-
ter the preparation of the estimate
each year for the various government
departments. This was the way it
was done in the days when Alexander I
Hamilton was Secretary of the Treas /
ury.
Now I will tell you in a general .
way just exactly how budget law .
would work by the proposed plan. The .
President would call a conference .
with his Cabinet, which you know is
of the heads of the depart
ments of the government, and they
would decide on the amount of mon
ey needed to carry on the business of
the government for the next twelve
months. The Secretary of the Treas
lry would submit his estimate of the
amount of money which would be
coming in to the Treasury for the
same length of time from taxes and
various forms of revenue. The Pres
dent would have to decide whether
he programs outlined by the various
department heads would mean re-
lucing the taxes, keeping them at the
same amount, or whether it would
mean that the taxes would have to be
All of this would be mere
Y the beginning of the plan, or what
would be called a preliminary esti-
nate. A Commissioner of the Bud
ret would be named, and he in per-
on working with the financial secre-
ary' OF the various departments, as
provided in the Budget Bill, would
axe these estimates and decide if
hey were correct in order to carry on
he work of the department for the
.ext twelve months. a
"The biggest thing that would be J
under the Budget Sys-
em would be the stopping of the !
resent practice OF asking more from q
congress than Congress can allow. C
In other words, instead OF allow r
1g each government department all n
he money it wants each year, under c
he budget plan they would all have
D get together and put the expert
nee of the various departments to- /.
ether. and ask for the least possible q
mount of money in order to do the
est work. The President would be r.
esponsible for the amounts asked OF s.
ongress under the Budget plan, and {,
ongress would vote on the entire "a
mount of money needed for the gov i,
-nment for twelve months at one n
me To me, one of the best things II
,out it is that, before the money is y
;ked for, the condition of the Unit h
States Treasury would be looked "
to. and the question Of how much
xes the people are paying would =,
, taken into consideration. Before ~
e war the United States of America ei
ID practically no debts and yet to-
" we owe something like twenty-six d,
ilion dollars, which is nearly twen- p'
five times as much as we owed be-
re the war. Our taxes have in y
eased tremendously. They are at q.
asst five times as much as they were
-e wears ago, and the people are
ffering from this great debt which
o United States has acquired and
Q increased taxation which it means.
"The Republican Congress realizes ~
at unless something is done the II
50 financial