The New York herald., 1922-12-25
BUDGET PLAN PROVES
AN EFFECTIVE CHECK
AGAINST LOCROLL|NG
System Is Admitted in Con-
gress to Be an Unquali-
fled Success.
ROUGH EDGES ARE OFF
Appropriation Bills Now
Passed After Only Brief
Consideration.
RIDERS ALSO ELIMINATED
Gen. Dawes's Policies Fol
lowed in Dealing With Gov
ernment Expenses. !.
BY LOUIS sEIBoLp.
speoioI Dispatch to THE NEw York HEALp
New York Herald Bureau.
Washington. ID. c.. Dec. "a.

speoio1 Dispatch to THE Nrw YORK HEsALp.
New York Herald Bureau,
Washington. ID. c.. Dec. "a.
The conversion OF logrolling Con-
gressmen to the virtues OF the budget
system Is !egislatively admitted to be
almost rs much OF a miracle as the
coming Of the mountain to Mohammed.
Despite Congressional skepticism as
to the value Of the reform proposed
by President Harding in making pro-
vision for Government needs the
budget system is admitted to be an
unqualified success.
Some of the rough edges encountered
when the budget was adopted last
year have been satisfactorily smoothed
out as a result Of the suggestions
made by Brig. Gen. Charles a. Dawes
OF Hell Maria" fame and his sue
cessor, Brig. Gen. Herbert NJ. Lord.
Gen. Dawes probably will go down
In history as the daddy Of the budget
He organized it with admirable busi-
ness sagacity and put back of 1t those
dynamic forces which successfully
feounteracted hostile influences gen.
Grated by obsolete practices due te
traditional prejudice.
Complete Indorsement Provided.
Congress itself has provided COM
plcte Endorsement cf tie scheme for
meeting the national Government
needs formulated BY Gen. Dawes az
the suggestion Of President Harding
In the old days dozen committees
OF Congress divided the responsibility
for making provision for the ten ex-
ecutlve and tnirtytwo subordinate
bureaus OF the Government. The
processes of ironing out the quarrels
and conforming TO individual !egisla-
tive theories required from three tc
seven months under the old scheme
and provoked spirited conflicts be-
tween the heads OF departments and
Congressional casuists.
The difference between the old and
the new methods of providing the
Government needs is concretely re-
yealed in the Congressional treatment
of the new budget system. The Com
merce and Labor appropriation bills
were passed in twenty-five minutes
Consideration of the Treasury appro-
priation bill was limited TO two hours
The Department OF Justice appropria-
ton bill got through in an hour and q
half.
Unless an unexpected filibuster
breaks out in Congress all the appro-
priation bills will be disposed OF be-
fore the end Of January. Under the
old system Of making appropriations
Congressional committees held exten-
sive hearings that at times stretched
out into weeks and in some instances
even months. The new budget OBJ
viates the necessity for such hearings
as the needs OF all the Government
departments are thoroughly canvassed
and estimates reduced or increased by
the budget commission after thor
ough investigation.
Long Considerntton Not Required.
II is not necessary for Congress 70
devote very much time 10 the consid-
Grafton of the budget estimates be-
cause that is done in advance. Before
the coming OF the budget many of the
Government departments were COM
PEELED TO set aside routine business to
comply with the demands of Congress
sional committees for more complete
information and justification for de-
rorfrnopfaI nacpeeitfes
Ono of the chief evils OF this prac-
tice was that the heads Of. Govern
ment bureaus spent most of their time
at tho Capitol buttonholing members
Continued on Page Thirteen.