The New York herald., 1921-06-04

and again. but they captivate nobody,
and least of all do they alarm the heed
less participants In the spending revel.
! This may sound like generalization.
It is generalization. But let anybody
| who would put 1t in more specific terms
or who would frame detailed indict-
ment, try to dig into the labyrinth of
government finance and he will find
that for every dollar of public funds
wasted there are dozen subterfuges
and excuses to cover it up or make it
look like a dollar saved. For every
bureau. every board and every commits
sion; for every appropriation and every
authorization there is well thought out
reason. always on tap, ready to be
handed out instantly in extenuation of
the expense incurred.
Every bureau or board is sure Of its
own prime Importance. although each is
not so sure of the others Yet 1t is plain
on the face Of the figures themselves
that better management and closer su-
pervision would save at least two or
three hundred millions out of the 81, 700,-
O00, 900 the army and navy are costing
now as compared with the combined cost
of $500. .0o0, 900 in 1914.
1t is equally plain that at least a half
billion additional could be saved out OF
to Government activities. or the three
or four billions after allowing for debt
interest and war obligations. and now
spent by departments which were run
on s700. .00O. 900 in 1914.
Unless these economies are effected
the nations tax bill cannot be reduced :;
IL cannot even stand still There would
be no hope for a reduction in the ma
tional debt and before long the Treas
ury would be paying out compound in
terest upon interest already accunyu-
lated and 1t would be compelled to con-
tinue borrowing as it has In the last
year to pay current obligations.
There is remedy for this overspend-
ing. however and 1t may be said with
some satisfaction that the remedy is
specific. The budget system OF calcu-
lating Government receipts and dis
bursements Is expected TO accomplish
this reform.
To Expose. Not Remedy Evils.
1t will be we'll not to pin too much
hope to this system as an instrument
which OF itself will effect great savings
BY coordination of purchases and by
preventing overlapping in various ac-
tivities IL will automatically result in
some saving. 1t will show In other
places where unnecessary expenditures
are being made or where the Govern
ment is paying for more than 1t re-
ceives in return. although IL will not OF
itself remedy these evils. But 1t VIII
set before the country a plain statement
OF fact about Government income and
outgo. II will put an end to the Jug
Cling OF the figures the indefinite ap-
propriations and the reappropriations
from previous years which are set down
under the present system in nebuous
quantities as If they did not come out
OF the taxpayers pockets. but we're ex-
| tracted from the air.
Until the new system is put into effect
the specific recommendations. which can
be made by combing through appropris-
tions and expenditures as now author
| lied must OF necessity be more or less
general and unsatisfactory. And at this
stage 1t Is equally difficult to Ak specific
and definite responsibility for the squan-
der made possible at the present time
by appropriations passed last year and
this year by Republican Congress and
signed by Democratic President The
responsibility. like the spending mania
itself. Is well nigh universal. so far as
the past II concerned.
But the layout for the future is diff
ferent. President Harding was elected
on a pledge or economy The present
Congress, controlled by an ample Re-
publican majority. went In with prom
ise To make every nickel OF public money
do its bit. The war now nearly three
years in retrospect. Is no longer useful
as an extenuating plea for continued
extravaganza. The budget system, ac-
oompanied by the imperative measures
OF Government reorga nization. which the
Republican leaders are planning to put
through will place responsibility for
extravaganza exactly where II belongs
on the shoulders OF Congress and the
President. where It will be felt and
where II will be seen There will be no
crawling from under
So the path to genuine economy Is
fairly Sclesr. War as an excuse and
| ca camoufaged disbursements as an ex-
pedient for condoning waste will have
gone TO the boneyard. The budget sys-
tenn will have put the last hidden card on
the table. After that II the public, the
newspapers. the legislators and even the
official spenders themselves. to save
their own skins, do not set up a vehe-
ment cry for economy and lower taxes
demand as full of meaning and as ir-
resistible as the silence Of the past was
empty and embarrassing--it will he only
because lower taxes and economy Nave
become accomplished facts.