The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-01-27
Frederic Haskin's Letter


"A Government
Washington, D. C., Jan. 26.-The
smokers of the United States alone.
by the taxes they pay through the
Internal Revenue department on
cigars and tobacco. more than sup
port the civil government OF this
country. including all Of its scien-
tific research. Its educational &C
tivities. and its public works, such
as improving rivers and harbors.
retaining lands, building roads.
and the like. For the average an
nual cost Of al these governmental
activities for the last 10 years was
considerably less than the, internal
revenue tax on cigars and tobacco
yielded in 1920
This interesting fact is brought
out by DR.. E. B. Rosa Of the Blu
reau OF Standards, who has set
himself the important task Of find
ing out for the American people
just how the money they spend
for federal taxes is used. He re-
Gently set forth proof that out of
every dollar spent by the federal
government in 1920, SO cents was
spent to pay for past wars or to
prepare for the wars Of the future,
and only Z cents for all civil activ-
tiles. He has now elaborated his
study, setting sorth many facts
which illuminate the current vague
and voluminous discussion of gov
ernmental extravaganza lik e
searchlights in a fog.
Not . Criticism.
DR.. Rosa specifically disavows a
critical attitude toward any group
Of governmental expenditures. lie
does not pretend to discuss wheth-
er it is necessary to spend more
than nine-tenths of all our federal
money on past and future wars
But he does believe that the tax
payer should have the facts about
how his money is used. And he
points out that not only the tax.
payer but journalists and legisla.
tors appear to be lamentably ignor.
ant of these facts. Daily We heal
and read much about the growth
of government expense. We are
daily told that government ex-
penses are increasing. Clerk hire
! the pay of government scientists
the cost of maintaining bureaus are
always mentioned as chief among
the creatures which devour oul
taxes. We are told that in these
bureaus there is much duplication
waste and red tape. Every admin
istration comes in with promise:
Of retrenchment and reforms which
will save the public money b!
cutting down the appropriation!
for government bureaus. and thi:
seems generally to refer to the civ
il government primarily. Army
navy and pensions are seldom men
toned.
DR.. Rosa sets out to show jus
how much this civil government
costs. His method has been to an
alyze the cost of civil government
for 10 years, disregarding wa
costs. By doing this he succeed
in showing that the cost of main
tanning the civil government, in
GLIDING all of its scientific and en-
gineering work. has increased il
actual dollars and cents barely a
fast as the population has increas
ed, and that this increase takes n
account of the falling value of to
said dollars and cents.
This is the important point:
you express the cost of civil gov
eminent in terms Of actual com
modities instead Of dollars. ia
from increasing. it has decrease
more than SO percent. That is. tn
purely civil activities Of the gov
eminent cost, in bushels Of whea
for instance. more than so percen
less in 1920 than they did in 1917
As a result during that perio
much of this civil governments
; activity has become far less e1
fcient. Salaries have become S
low, as the cost of living has rise,
that the bureaus cannot hold the
employees, especially their sclentif
men. The labor turnover is rapi'
1t would ruin any private entel
prise. 1t means that nearly a
Of the civil bureaus are undermar
: ned, and that nearly all Of thel
are becoming merely trainin
schools which men rapidly desc
for more .remunerative places.
Cost of Government Lower.
Thus the figures amply refu'
,, the charge that the cost Of civ
government has greatly increase
, On the contrary. it has greatly d
creased. Our increased tax bu
dens are made necessary by II
burdens which the war visited III
on US, and by the greatly increase
army and navy which We are no
: maintaining. II civil governmel
: were completely abolished it wou
have saved you but Z percent {
> your federal taxes in 1920, and
), all scientific and engineering VOL
u had been suspended it would ha
saved you but percent. Di
= armament is the only thing tn