The daily times., 1921-06-30
DAWES is IN CHARGE
The Great Need is Not the Re
duction of Personnel of Gov
ernment Workers But to
Catch Up the Wasteful Ex-
penditures of the Govern
ment.
(By David Lawrence) j..


Washington, June 29.-General1
Dawes takes charge today of the bud
get job. He will try to establish de-
finite relationship between the in
come and outgo of government funds.
He has asked the government en-
ployees to meet him in mass meet
ing. That's only small part Of the
drive for economy. The real trouble
is something with which the average
government employee has little to do
namely the method by which Con-
gress appropriates money and fails to
keep track of appropriations spent.
The biggest abuse in government
expenditure today is the so-called
revolving fund" 1t grew up during
the war but is the same in principle
as the practice of Congress in past
years of authorizing specific appro-
priations to be reimbursed by moneys
received from sales of Government
property and supplies.
This automatic increase of funds
available to government departments
without the necessity of reporting to
Congress has been severely criticised
tby students OF government economy.
Both Secretaries Glass and Houston
of the Treasury Department attacked
it and President Wilson gave special
attention to the subject in his last
message to Congress recommending
that Congress discontinue the prac-
tice.
| The revolving fund was necessary
during the war when it was desirable
to grant wide discretion but since
then it has developed into d conven-
lent device for the spending of
money not specifically ordered by
Congress.
! 1t works out this way: supposing
Congress has appropriated $1O0,OOO,-
600 for running expenses to the War
Department. The same act of Con-
gress gives the War Department the
as may come to it through the sale
of property or supplies. Consequently
the $1OO,00O,OO0 fund is automati-
lcally kept intact but what actually
has happened is that Congress has
indirectly given the War Depart
ment the right to spend 100000
if by chance the receipts from the
sale of government property or un-
used supplies should amount to that
much. What may be true of the War
i ic fr11n Of 0fh RI
lments of the government.
: Another menace to economy is in
: the handling of government law suits.
congress always hesitates to auth
lorize the expenditure of large sums of
money for legal talent. Yet the law
yers for the claimants usually get
: big fees ranging all the way from
: $4,000 to 100000. Such fees on
5 the side of the government are un-
known The government therefore is
Frequently outwitted and must pay
millions of dollars in judgments
simply because it will not spend
; the relatively small sums to win
5 lawsuits.
: tion is the tendency to ignore the
!. outcome of government lawsuits be-
r cause Congress always appropriates
l money for the payment of judgments
: Thus a department officer doesn't
: feel that the judgment must be paid
out of his own appropriation for this
year. Usually the lawsuits take years
to settle in the courts. Congress has
f not insisted that any special sums
: be set aside by any department to
t meet adverse judgments in the
! courts. Indeed, it has happened in
r certain cases that a certain depart
8 ment set aside seventy five per cent
2 of the value of certain properties be-
4 cause it thought that was a fair
CONTINUED on page 81