Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-05-11
CLIMBING COSTS
NOT RESTRICTED TO
UNITED STATES

Il
are net restricted to the citizens of
the L. ). 4, but also embrace gov
ernmental activities In all its branch.
es. according 10 the figures prepared
BY Mr., Basby, the Secretary of Uncle
Joe Cannon. who broke into Congress
In 1878 and quit for good on March
1. 1923.
According to Mr.. Rusby's dope
sheet, the total money appropriated
for the two years, 1878 and 1876.
amounted to ss,so0, 900. The total
appropriations made BY the Sixty.
sixth Congress for the years 1921
and 1922 amounted TO $1,000. .oo0, 900.
The total internal revenue collected
by the federal government in 1878
Was Silo, 900. and that was from
taxes on liquor and tohacco--taxes
which President Garfield called yolun.
tary taxes because only men who
drank, smoked or ehewed paid them.
The total internal revenue collected
by the federal government in 1921
was Sa, 800, 90, 900 and in 1922 nearly
$, 500 .oo0. Geo. None Of IL was from
taxes on liquor
''raxes and expenditures measure
the government activities better than
any other yardstick." says Mr.. Busby.
The federal government taxed the
American people forty times as much
In 1921 as in 1878, and the Sixty.
sixth Congress appropriated twelve
times as much money as did the
Forty-third Congress for government
activities. while the population Of the
country little more than doubled in
the same time"
Increased population does not nc.
count Tor the increased expenditures
by the federal government. nor does
the world war which left an interest
charge of nearly a billion dollars.
The increased expenditures are large.
iy due to increased federal activities.
We have added three departments
70 the federal government in MIR.
Cannons Atty years-Agriculture,
Commerce and Iabor-and we have
created eighty commissions with large
powers. The aew departments are
among the large spending depart.
ments OF the government.
In 1881 Congress thought II was
liberal when IL appropriated $3.50, 900
for the promotion of agriculture. Now
Congress appropriates $S6. 100000 for
the Department of Agriculture and
In addition gives that department
more than twice that amount for aid
In building good roads.
From Washington we are now
teaching the farmer how to pull
stumps and kill skunks, and his wife
how TO make cottage cheese and how
TO take care of the babies, to support
coyational schools. and some Of the
experts want to federaiize public
education.
This expansion Of government bust
ness has not been due to aggression
on the part of the federal govern
ment. Much of IL has been forced
upon Congress by what has been
made to appear as the demands OF the
people, and the very people who com
plain most of the cost of government
business.
We hear much of revolutions In
politics and business. III there has
not been a revolution In government
business--and colossal one--since
Mr.. Cannon first entered the Con-
gress of the United States there is
no such thing. His coming and going
in public life are two landmarks In
Washington's business affairs. They
mark the besipiDg and end Of an era
in the nations finances. They sug-
gest more things In finance than they
do In politics, though the finance
seems forgotten and only the politics
remembered at the farewell meetings
in Washington Just now.
When theogovernlment Of 100000.
900 people shall have become one Of
i50,000,000 when the raids on the
treasury shall have had a generation
In which to grow and gather force.
when the cities and states shall have
unloaded more of their duties and
their burdens on the Washington
government. who on earth will be big |
enough to manage the business and |
how many men will be strong enough |
to pay 20 per cent year out Of their
business income into the United
States treasury that still will be
footing the bills?
That Is something to figure on and
reckon with among the men who are
just beginning their business careers.
1t is infinitely more important than
what Is going TO happen after we
pump all the oil or dig all the coal
out of the ground-infinitely more
important than these or any Of the
long distance problems that we find
discussed in the magazines every
month and occasionally between the
covers of ponderous volumes on the
commerce of the nations in 1850.
The question raised, who will be big
enough to handle affairs when the
time comes, is answered by human
ity's experience of the past; the work
ers ranks viii ever supply the neces-
sary brains to keep pace with the
worlds progress, for according TO his
tory, past or present. capital will
likewise play its own familiar role in
the future by degenerating in ability
as wealth purchased luxuries sap It's
strength of body and mind.