The Cordova daily times., 1921-04-25
ANNUAL BUDGET SYSTEM TO BE
 REORCANLzED
BY COL. WINFIELD JONES

This is one of the principal plans concerned with the proposed reorgan- l ization of the whole federal govern
 ment, which has been urged by Presi- dent Harding.
 An administrative code would, for the first time in the history of our government, clearly set forth just what the law is concerning every bu- reau, division, department and other
 subdivisions of the huge Washington
 machine which directs the federal affairs of the republic.
 Such code has long been needed
 -as badly as budget system. Handling of all appropriation bills by a single congressional committee, according to the statement of some members of congress who want to go back to the old system of hap hazard appropriations, because under
 the old system they would be able to grab more appropriations for their districts out of the pork barrel"
 has not been the success that it was
 claimed it would be- The trouble
 with the single committee on ap-
 propriations method is that when
 an item of new legislation concerning
 any appropriation by the senate is
 inserted in bill the item has to go | back to the house and be accepted be- 1 fore it can be finally included in the appropriations. There has to be a separate vote on such an item be- | fore it can be included in the con- ference report on any appropriation 1 bill.
 Most of the opposition to a single appropriations committee in tie
 house can easily be traced to these members who have lost some author | ity of one kind or another through the change from the old hi5-and miss method of making appropriations. The senate has determined. in the extra session, to put all appropria- tions under a single committee, as such now exists in the house.
 Congressional leaders who are more concerned with saving the money of the people than with securing "pcrk" for their states or districts are q unit in declaring that the single appropriations committee has been | a success in the house, and has saved vast sums to the federal treas l ury. This is the opinion, too, of i business leaders in all walks of life
 Both congressional leaders and busi ness leaders are firmly convinced that
 a single appropriations committee | is absolutely essential in order to carry into effect any budget system The budget system, in brief, con 1 templates a single document to be presented to congress by the presi- dent, in which is contained in de-
 tail all the annual estimated expendi- lures and all the revenues. Under
 the old system of appropriations the
 congressional committees considered
 only the proposed expenditures and appropriated blindly without taking
 into consideration what the approxi-
 mate revenues would be for any ifs
 cal year Under the budget system | if any budget should show an excess
 of proposed expenditures over prob
 able revenues the president submit
 ting the budget to congress would
 have to explain just how the addi-
 tional revenue was to be obtained
 whether by taxes, tariff, or by an
 increase in the public debt-in other words, a deficit Any budget that
 showed a deficit would be cut down l by congress to where the proposed
 expenditures about balanced the esti-
 mate revenues for that year
 i Any president, under such condi-
 tions, would necessarily be under great pressure of public opinion to
 keep the annual budget not only less
 than the estimated revenues, but he
 would also feel tmpelled to try to nave Inc IShS4luC0 III SGI Judh IIlG | expenditures, so that a surplus would
 appear to apply on the public debt
 A budget of this kind would of
 course meet the hearty approval of
 the people and congress, and this
 approval would be the big incentive to
 the president to be as economical as
 possible in his budget making. A
 budget, in short, would make for
 great economies in the federal gov
 erument where heretofore there has
 been great waste in the other method
 of making the annual appropriations.
 There is actually today, in every country in the world, except the
 United States, budget system in
 operation.
 Criticisms of the single appropria. | 4.