The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-12-08
THE BUDGET IN OPERATION.

IhE4 BOD0EI IN OPEltAIION.
One of the chief duties of the con-
gress which met on Monday is that
of providins5 revenue for the conduct
of the government. Usually this has
occupied a great portion of the. long
session dc to log rolling and political
wire pulling. Much of this delay and
waste Of. time now should disappear.
owing to the fact that for the first
time in the history of the United
States there has been handed to con
gress a budget estimate of expendf-
ture and receipts.
Quoting from President Harding's
message transmitting the budget to
congress:
1t will be noted that the estimated
ordinary expenditures for 1922 show a
reduction of $1,513,537,6S2.2 com
pared with the actual ordinary expedf-
lures for 1921; and that the estimated
ordinary expenditures for 1928 show a
reduction of $447,7O4,239 under 1922,
making the estimated ordinary ex-
penditures under the budget for 1928
S1,961, 241,9 21.20 less than the actual
ordinary expenditures for 1921. IN
Guiding transactions in the principal of
tAAC pobIAC ueDl anu ltlNCSIfile ILS Oh
trust funds, the total estimated ex-
penditures for 1922 show a reduction
under the total actual expenditures for
1921 of $40, lis, $3.50, and the to-
tai estimated expenditures for 1923
show a reduction of S462,167,639 I'M
der the total estimated expenditures
for 1922, making a reduction in total
expenditures in the estimated budget
for 1928, as compared with the total
actual expenditures for 1921, of So
032,2S5, 962.S0. 1t will also be noted
that the total estimated receipts for
1922 are in approximate balance with
the total estimated expenditures, in
Guiding reduction in the principal of
the public debt, and that the total esti-
mated receipts for 1928 are within ap-
proXimately $3.50, 100000 of a balance
with the total estimated expenditures
of that year. Such a discrepancy is
when authorizations of
expenditure are being enacted during
the process of budget closing, but ways
are provided for relatively easy adjust
ment without added taxation.
For the fiscal year ending last June
there was a decrease of more than
$500, OOO,OO in the federal tax collec-
lions from the figures reached in the
previous year. The cost of collecting
each dollar meanwhile increased
enormously. For the present year
the prospects are that the collections
will be still lower and the cost of col
lection per dollar still higher. That
is precisely what every expert told
congress many months ago, but con-
gress has virtually re-enaoted the rev
enue laws which produced these sad
results.
The main hope for taxpayers at
present, apart from the prospect of a
big decrease in military expenditures,
lies in the watchfulness of General
Dawes and his budget bureau. The
national budget system now inaugu-
rated supplies an excellent medium
for forcing economies on congress,
but it will be effective only in so far
as the people whom it is designed to
benefit will back it up by consti-
tuting themselves guardians of the
public purse against the rapacity and
responsibility of politicians.
General Dawes spent months in
of this budget and it
may be assumed that he knows more
about the requirements of the govern
ment than does any member of con
gress. 7, seems, therefore. to be up
to the members to take his word for
it and act accordingly. At least it is
worth trying once.