The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1922-06-23
BY EDWARD G. LOWRY
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD

Secretary Mellon of the treasury. III
letter to Representative Fordney,
chairman of the committee on ways
and means of the house of representa-
lives says: "Ordinary expenditures
for the first three quarters of the fis-
cal year. 1921. have been $3,7S3,771,-
1854, or at the rate of about $1,000
00O,OOO for the year. According
to the latest estimates Of the spending
departments. ordinary eXptndi
lures during the fiscal year, 1922. in
Guiding interest on the public debt,
will he over $4,OO0.O0O,000.
"rhe nation cannot continue to
spend at this shocking rate. AS the
President said in his message, the bur
den Is unbearable. and there are two
avenues Of relief, One Is resistance
IN appropriation and the other is the
utmost economy In administration
r. G. Lefiingwell, formerly an assis
tant secretary Of the treasury. whon
l have quoted previously in these ar.
ticles, and who Is still deeply and ac-
lively interested In securing rrtrench
ment In national expenditures. com
menting on this utterance Of Secretary
Mellon, says: "Why should there be
retrenchment In public expenditure
Why does the secretary of the treas
ury speak Of current and estimated eX
penditures as shocking? What is the
evil that we are discussing and what
Is It's effect?
Government expenditures must be
met from taxes. TO the extent that
they are met promptly from taxes and
from honest taxes directly laid upon
the incomes Of the people and In pro
portion to those Incomes, eXaggeratiOr
of the evil of government expenditure
is avoided. Government expenditure
takes the money Of all the people fol
the supposed benefit of a portion OF
the people, honestly or dishonesty
! equally or unequally, avowedly by di
rect taxation, or surreptitiously by the
indirect taxation which results from
imitation of currency and credit ant
Of the public debt.
Government expenditure takes the
fruits of the earth and the labor OF
the people and diverts them from the
productive and reproductive enter
prises of men, from the natural enjoy
lnent OF the men, who by their pru
dence, foresight and effort, created thu
wealth and made 1t available, to the
sometimes benevolent and sometime,
belligerent, but almost always ecOnOm
ically wasteful. purposes of govern
ment.
Government exploits all of us fOl
the benefit, or supposed benefit, OF
some Of us. Yielding to the vague
aspirations of men for better worlf
or a better distribution of the gOot
things Of this EARTH government i'm
poses upon all Of us ever-increasina
burdens in the effort to benefit vocif
erOus and organized minOrities.
Each Of the executive departments
IL concerned to improve it's service
and to discover new and useful fields
Of service. The entire organization
Of the army. Of the navy, Of each OF
the departments, independent offices
and agencies of the government, is de
tlcuiar function seems of vital use
fulness. even necessity. Experts In
each are alive to its defects and to
the opportunities for usefulness which
have not been awaited Of.
THE secretary. or other head OF
the department, drawn from private
life, perhaps wholly ignorant at the
outset of the nature and extent of its
problems, promptly becomes the advO
cate If the policies and demands of
his permanent assistants and bureau
chiefs II he does not become such
advocate, he may break down the
morale Of his organization and possibly
lose the confidence of his personnel.
Behind It all Is the pressure of or
ganiZed interests In the constituencies,
which are the beneficiaries of specific
expenditures, operating upon politi-
clans, executive departments, senators
and congressman. The strident voice
Of greed Is heard In the market place
and in legislative halls; the voice of
the people is barely audible.
The fact that each project is con-
sldered separately, without reference,
either In executive departments or
congress, to ways and means of financ-
Ing it, prevents concentration o. popu-
lar opinion on the awful totaln All
agree that there must he economy, but
as each item Is presented all seeming
ly agree that thai is not the proper
field for economy. There must be econ
Omy, but there mist be merchant
marine, whatever the cost There must
be economy, but the government must
pay high wages to railroad employees
and furnish transportation on the rail
roads IL less than cost. There must
be economy, hut me World war sol
diers must have their bonus. There
must be economy. nut Civil war pen
siOns must he increased. There must
be economy, but we must prepare for
war, regardless OF expense"
You know this is true. The new
budget law will help very much this
condition. but unless you are interest
ed OntinuOuSly actively openly i'm