The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-09-30
Frederick Haskin's Letter
PROBLEMS or THE BUDGET

Warrington, D. c. Sept. 29.-The
newly devised American budget
system il facing = crisis which will
determine whether or not our form
Of government IL adaptable to this
method OF scientific finance. For
many years congress has been be-
sieGed with proposals to enact =
budget system as . means Of fnsti-
tuting economies and placing re-
ceiptA and expenditures Of the
treasury in such . form that I'M
certainty would be taken out OF the
government fiscal operations. Such
. system was instituted something
over . year ago and has been in
operation.
General Charles G.. Dawes was
the first director general Of the
budget. With characteristic vigOr
he effected economies In operation
OF the vast government machine,
cutting out Implications and saw
ing waste in scores Of ways. It is
difficult to determine what is saw
ed in governmental operations be-
cause what might have been spent
in so vaguely potential q quantity
that it is not readily susceptible Of
reduction to figures. It is general
ly admitted, however, that General
Dawes administration Of the bud
get cut down waste and extrava-
gance to the extent Of many mil
lions Of dollars.
On the first Of July General
Dawes turned the bureau of the
budget over to General H. M. Lord
General Lord is a man of equal If
not greater vigor. HE has found
some fault with details Of his pred
ecessor's administration and hopes
to make even greater savings. He
has intimated that while much has
been done in the way Of economy,
the big task Of holding the ex-
penses down lies still ahead Of the
bureau of the budget
Recently the several executive
departments, boards, bureaus and
commissions submitted to the bu-
reau estimates OF appropriations
for the ensuing year. These fig
ures we're largely in excess Of what
the director of the budget thinks
safely can be allowed il q balance
is to be maintained between re-
ceipts and expenditures. The es-
Inmates have been sent back for
revision and q maximum figure
quoted to ea.ch department within
which its estimates must stay.
The budget director is proving
obdurate. He will not relent and
give the various department heads
larger allowances. Every execu-
tive in the government has pet
schemes requiring appropriations
and they will all fight equally hard
for them. The director of the bud
get looks the income of the govern
ment squarely in the face and if
the estimates of appropriations ex-
coed the income, he says mo" very
decisively.
May Appeal to Congress.
The next step Of the offended de-
partment executive is to go straight
to congress. The budget bureau
will not allow him funds to carry
on important agricultural expert
ments, for instance. He interests
some members of congress and gets
special bills introduced appropriat-
ing the desired sums. This pro-
cedure is followed all down the
line.
This is where the crisis appears.
The bureau of the budget puts its
o. X. on the restricted, regular
items for maintenance and opera
ton. These expenses are calcu-
lated to take up the whole income
Of the government. Then come
these separate appropriation bills.
with long and often convincing ar
guments in their favor. calling for
millions of dollars in addition.
Will congress hold the expenses
down to the budget estimates or
will it pass the extra appropriation
bills? If the appropriations are
confined to the budget, the budget
system wins. II the extra appro-
priation bills are passed, the bud
get system is practically scrapped
because its effectiveness is render
ed void. The very theory of a bud
get system is to keep within GER
tain fixed limits, balancing income
and expenditure. In such a system
the toes Of good many govern
ment officials are trod upon rather
ruthlessly because items must be
slashed from the estimates to make
the figures balance. II congress
calmly walks around the budget
and adds various kinds OF special
appropriation bills. the whole pur-
pose Of a budget is defeated and the
same situation obtains as before