The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-07-06
Copyright, Western Newspaper Union
ALI,
A X YOUR VOICE HEARD

Secretary Mellon of the treasury, in
chairman of the committee on ways
and means of the house Of representa-
tives, says: "Ordinary expenditures
for the first three quarters of the ifs
cal year, 1927, have been So, 1888 IT.
996.74, or at the rate of about $5,OO0,-
100000 for the year. . According
to the latest estimates of the spending
departments. ordinary expendi.
lures during the fiscal year, 1922, in
Guiding interest on the public debt,
will he over $4,000 O0, 600.
The nation cannot continue to
spend at this shocking rate. AS the
President said in his message, the bur
den is vulnerable, and there are two
avenues of relief, One is resistance
ID appropriation and the other Is the
utmost economy In administrations
R. 9. L~efiingwell, formerly an assis-
tant secretary of the treasury, whom
| have quoted previously in these ar
ticleS. and who Is still deeply and ac-
lively interested in securing retrench-
ment in national expenditures, COM
Itrnting on this utterunce Of Secretary
Mellon, says: why should there be.
r~ctrenchment In public expenditure?
Why does the secretary of the treas
ury speak of current and estimated ex-:
penditures as shocking! What is. the
evil tina! We are discussing and what
is its effect?
"G"vrrnment expenditures must be
+ met from taxes. To the extent that:
they arr met promptly from taxes and
from honest axes directly laid upon
the incomes Of the people, and In pro-
portion to those incomes, eXaggeration
Of the evil IF government expenditure.
is avoided. Government expenditure.
takes the money Of all the people for
the supposed benefit of q portion OF
the people, honestly or dishonesty,
equally OF uneQually, avowedly by d.
rect taxation, or surreptitiously by the
indirect taxation which results from
imitation Of currency and credit and
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
prtses Of men, from the natural enjoy
ment of the men, who by their pru-
dence, foresight and effort, created the
wealth and made it available, to the
sometimes benevolent and sometimes
belligerent, but almost always econom
ically wasteful, purposes of govern
ment.
Government exploits all of us for
the benefit, or supposed benefit, of
some Of us. Yielding to the vague
aspirations OF men for a better world
or a better distribution of the good
things Of this earth, government i'm
poses upon all Of us ever-increasing
burdens III the effort to benefit vocif-
erous and organized minorities.
Each Of the executive departments
is 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-
voted to an important task. Its par
ticular function seems Of vital use
fuIness, wen necessity. Experts In
each are alive to it's 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 ct the
outset OF the nature and extent Of its
problems, promptly becomes the adyo-
cate OF the policies and demands OF
his permanent assistants and bureau
chiefs. IL he does not become such
advocate. he may break down the
morale Qf his organization and possibly
lose the conndenee N hs personnel
Behind HI m i The pressure Of On
eanized Interests III the constituencies.
which are tbe benes1ciaries of specific
sxDenditurss GENERATING upon politt-
cieIls, executive departments, senators|
"a e~enErslsneny me slrLaent voice