The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-10-15
DAWES PRAISES HARDING
AS MAN BEHIND ECONOMY

l(Applause,) Now. as a matter of fact.
he has got the strength TO face them
All that was agreed upon.
Now let me tell you why the Cabinet
never have been and never can be
proper administrative ce-presidents of
the routine business organization OF
Government Take any one of these
Cabinet members; as far as this is con-
cerned, take any one in the past. He
comes in here, he is suddenly put at
the head of an organization employing
tens of thousands of men,, He is en-
gagged in the most diversified and tech
nical activities and then he has got
these questions of policy, national poll
/ icy. international policy to advise the
| President upon. and then he has got his
| reviews TO make, of the troops If he is
/ Secretary of War and if he is Secretary
of the Navy--Ciod save the mark he
! has to inspect the ships and then he
/ has got his patronage. and then he has
! got his speeches to make.
! Know Nothing of Routine.
"What does he know about the routine
business of that great administration?
! He doesn't know anything, and you
can't get man who will know any
thing that is worth while in the few
years that he stays there with all those
distractions And I soon found out that
! If | wanted information | had to go to
these men who stayed with these organ
izations, the bureau chiefs. They are
the men who are determining the bust
ness policy of their different depart
ments.
And on the Congressional appropria-
tions if anybody would tell me that they
can get a member Of the Cabinet TO talk
we would all run riot at the FIRST meet
ing and then start on the examinations
of the bureau chiers-and what are
those members of the Cabinet? They
are not the conduits for the transmits
sion of an executive plan made in the
: interests of the Government as a whole
for the body of business organization.
They never have been. they never will
be and they are not.
Used a Club, Not Soft Talk.
and if you think we have changed
that status o. one hundred and thirty
two years by soft talk and the budget
law you are mistaken. We did it with
club. 1t as the only-wa 1t could
be done, and If man had stood against
aim he would have left the Cabinet of
the United States!
I'VE took the tentative estimates a
year ago-and my successor Gen Lord,
has taken a step in advance over any
thing that | did in that connection
but the idea was to keep the expendi-
lures of the Government down to the
receipts of the Government. We go,
the tentative estimates of the expendi-
lures for the next year and we got
! from the Secretary of the Treasury
what the receipts would probably be.
and 1t then became my painful duty
to persuade the Cabinet that they could
cut their estimates to accord with those
total receipts.
Notwithstanding the fact that after
we had called the body of the business
organization together, after we had
swung the axe after we had both en-
couraged nd threatened, l succeeded in
getting. L think, about s114,O00,0OO for
the further reduction in the estimates
before they went to Congress. but
had to prove to the heads of the Cabi-
net that they could do it.
Plan Now More Arbitrary.
Now this year { en-. Lord has taken
step in advance. He got his tentative
estimates, he took them to the Presi-
dent He got from the Secretary Of
the Treasury his prospective receipts
and they found the probable deficiency
and then acting under the instructions
of President Harding Gen. Lord made
an arbitrary allotment of the percentag
of that deficiency which must be me.
by each department.
And then Instructions were given by
the President that they put in their
estimates within that allotment or show
why. In other words, the burden of
proof was put upon the Cabinet member
to show that he couldn't run his de-
partment on that reduced amount That
is great step but they don't say any
thing about that in the papers.
You don't know anything about the
temper of some of these members of the
Cabinet under those conditionsA Yo,,
don't know what they talk about with
each other in connection with threat
ened revolt against this imposition of
a unified plan by the President Of the
United States and all of that | know
something about IL for am keeping
In touch with that and 1 can talk about
1t now that / am out.
Hopes Cabinet VIII Make I..ue.
IF the President of the United States
had frowned whenever my name or the
name of Gen. Lord was mentioned be-
fore that Cabinet in thirty days they
would have torn our organization TO
pieces! sometimes hope for the
benefit of the budget system. that the
members of the Cabinet will have a
chance to test public sentiment upon
that question by resigning on that issue
that the interest of their particular
deLartment is greater han the interest
of the plan made by the President of
tho United States for the Government
as n whole.
They wouldn't set any public SUD-
| port Let them resign on that issue. IL
anyone cuts himself off from the Ad-
ministration on that issue, the Admins
tration under which alone he Yields au-
thority, his protest will be like the plain
tive piping of a little, lonely frog in the
midst OF vast and unresponsive mo-
rass
They haven't got any chance. But
human nature Is human nature, and. as
long as human nature is what IL is.
tell you that the Cabinet Is the nat
u-al enemy of the budget system and