Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1923-01-03

washington. Jan 3.--'rhYs years /,
budcet--our nrst national budget hay !
ing tho force ~ law behind a.. last /
years budget having been submitted |
merely "a an alternative 10 the old |
apr priaiion system, FOR Congress -
laocept or reject ~ u chose has
come and gone. That IL, u has been
submitted 20 Congress by the Presi-
dent. A. had lie bflcf moment u pub
uc attention. ana now n is before the
lAppruprlatlons Committee being con-
slderer item by Item. The average
newspaper gave up about column ~
} space % tell about %. Thus with
little acclaim wss launched what the
President In his message called the
greatest reform in our hhancial MS
tory"
But the budget r. more than the
brief tabular reoapitulation which The
newspapers gave to g. Much more
3 n fills large quarto volume ~ over
900 pages ~ practically cold tabular
, matter. The Index alcne spreads over
: more than 30 Of them. Here on these
pages Ia the ipmlzed account ~ every
penny the Government wants 90
spend during the next fiscal year.
down 10 the wages expected 90 boz paid
n 10 the last day laborer. The pro
posed expenditure items total some
o. thing m,re than f31s0 100000
The budget ls stli more than a col
70 lection ~ tables ~ proposed expen-
dlturee. ~ ls also n statement ~ 'he
o expected revenues IN THE lies what
n Mr.. Harding meant when ne called r.
IL our greatest financial reform. FOR "a
nation, juei as for an individual J. g
y salutary when spending money %
keep on eve 90 income. The time
IS honored way for our government %
y DO was 90 e. ON appropriating money
until some watchdog 0t the Treasury
~ barked that we were hf,dinE toward
n deficit. Tho budget works on a
different plan. r. estimates the
- revenue first. and then adjusts ~
~. penditurss 20 tho revenue.
10 This IL tremendous stride .u fhs
B, direction ~ prudent manageruert o.
public affairs. hut f.. has ono rsu't
e. The revenues arc moro or less rfzi1
and g fs conceivable thai lmpor'sn
~ governmental activities nigh. have
a. 10 10 curtailed or dropped s'togethe
~ for, lark r money. Tho ideal tDHar,
10 which tho hudgefarv refDrrrrra an
working ls a eighty dirorort piar
T. By this system tho government o~oul,
first estimate the roe' ~ rverrfhfri
he fhaf - ought 70 do. Then 70 voul
II revise tho taxation and adjust Do
revenue each year 10 provide iuz. ~
q necessary income That le fre Fnriisl
NJ budget system
IN cne~t tho bulge q .le a,t~t.s
?. financial report from ,ho presiGer
vs. tn tho board ~ D'ro-fore.- Congress
o. ard tho common s'ortnoIdere-'h
peope-of fhi- going concern -hir
we call Tho United s'7're The bus
., mess "a 90 vast that 10 takes a thou
sand largo pages = Gno 'ype 'o 20
sh b. forth IN tabular form u. order 2
bring homo Tho CHIEF facts - fh
no budget and enable fha stockho'der
iad % understand them ~ glance. n
or budget makers have adorned fbe
NJ. work his year with several graph
w. charts showing how sach sveras
rst dollar conlee into the Treasury an
ic- how % is spent out ~ a.
- Many Interesting Facts.
as out ~ thoss pages - figures ma
nd 10 culled dozens % little known hl
,g- Interesting facts about the govern
he ment. For instance no average DO
tcs son thinks ~ he governments Ee
r. ling 80 revenue entirely ihrous
M taxation. or almost entirely so I
-uo ~ mo graphic charts elbows M
10 cents % each dollar the governrne
sources outside ~ 'azatiou. sin
The total estimated receipts for q
coming fiscal year are above 1885,
900 600 tho government in 1923-24 y
lake In more than $500 900 900 viii
No TAX c-liector will over handle.
49, examination ~ che tables shows N
the government has several hundr
revenue sources besides income TAI
arr and customs duties. and some
? these sources are odd and unusual
ia For instance. there is nc pers
who buys from the postofice a macr
w. order WHOA - never presented
payment. The order Is lost or
the stroyed and no claim - ever ma
One would not suspect that "a
and would he many such cases. vet q
amount 20 Well over 81 600. 900 a -
Valuable mail FOR which the COVE
FOUR ment can find ~ owner IA auot
little reveaue Eetter. Bringing
sure something ike quarter Of mEl
dollars annually.
De- In working with averages az "a
as those contributed hy the popt
re- uop 81 ihs United States. the bud
makers are able 90 make some
the tonishing predictions. The COVE
ment decent need 30 - q
eacn ciairvoyant % kaow how much mo
Is going 10 DC given 90 % IS free
Vas nation from i,s citizens. The e
majors from past experience can
y ~ culate closely thai the gifts FOR
current year VII am-unt 20 SOL
4''pe 600. which 70 a tidy sum g.. he ri
20 anybody. Conscience money
but a small part ~ this. but 10
-.,, probably include the gift of
~ nv