Evening star., 1923-05-27
CONGRESS FIGHT PLANNED
ON CONTROLLER GENERAL
Anti-Administratio Leaders Say Official
Fails to Better Accounting System
as Law Demands.

of accounts. and concerning such
other matters as he may deem ad-
bursement and application of public
funds and economy or efficiency in
public expenditures"
That is the situation; now regard
ing the facts:
Two Criticisms Made.
Those who are preparing to attack
the controller general say that he has
done little or nothing toward meet
ing two of his fundamental obliga-
tions: % That of prescribing the
.I system of accounting and reporting
requirements of public accounting
and CD of reporting to Congress in
any comprehensive way the results
or his examinations of accounts with
recommendations as to how greater
economy and efficiency might be Sc
cured. They criticize his annual re-
port as a most formal report of the
Internal administration of his own
office and point out that il contains
nothing in the way of an analysis Of
how things might be improved.
This is hardly fair to the controller
general The omission of recon-
mended changes in the only annual
report he has made might well be due
to the fact of his recent appointment
and to the war hangover. The con-
troller general has made a good te
ginning in prescribing a classification
of objects of expenditure for the ad-
ministrative Offices of the government
That he realizes this is only a start
and that there are a good many other
shown by the investigation conducted
under his direction. which he expects
to have completed by July 1. So that
his subsequent reports should be of
far different character, and more
hU oil n
general from now on may be ex-
pected
Need OF Reforms Seen.
That there is a real need for ex-
tensive reforms in the audit and ac-
his characteristic way by Gen. Dawes
in his report on economies and saw
ings in governmental business year
ago. Giving 4 specific instance where
the, sum of s33G67s,235 was allotted
under the transportation act and
where a favorable security market
enabled the railroad administration
to finance itself by the sale of rail-
road securities and to turn into the
Treasury about s56,o00,o00. Gen.
Dawes said:
Under the present system of gov
ernment accounting, which calls the
loan of money to the railroads an
expense and the return of money
lOdneQ receipt, tncSe operations
would have upset the estimated fig
ures for this year to the extent of
about S393,0o0.000. However, the op-
erations in other capital funds came
to the rescue of the balance. for it
was decided that the War Finance
Corporation should loan to the farm
ing and trade interests over s1S9,-
100000. which was gravely marked
down under the accounting system as
an expense instead of a loan. This
81
and the public debt helped TO restore
the balance so seriously upset by the
operations in the capital funds OF
the railroad administration. An ac-
counting situation like this might be
regarded as humorous in a small
business. 1t is nothing short of a
calamity in governmental accounting.
Wide Variation Possible.
This indefensible system of gov
ernmental accounting renders pos
sible the placing of almost any kind
of a misconstruction on the fiscal
figures of government as ordinarily
presented. Until the proper system
of governmental accounting is in
augurated, which Controller Cen
always be difficult to draw proper
conclusions as to real economies,
either from the Treasury figures or
from the departments separately"
Gen. Lord. who succeeded Gen.
Dawes as director Of the budget, also
laid stress on the need for important
changes in the aud:t-accounting sys-
tenn when he addressed the business
organization of the government,
pointing out that:
IF disbursing officer paid for a
pair of shoestrings from the wrong
appropriation. the error was invari-
ably detected. reported and corrected;
but II an unnecessary purchase in
volving millions of. dollars was
effected or ten times too much paid
for made from the proper appropria-
ton, neither the unnecessary expendi-
ture of millions nor the eXtravagant,
improvident price paid for the article
called for action of any sort.
1T is almost incomprehensible that
those charged with the administra-
ton of governmental affairs should
have allowed this lamentable condi-
ton of things to continue for so long.
Long Delay Scored.
Inadequate and inefficient proceed
ures and methods are deplorable when
the amounts involved are confined to
millions, but when millions swell into
billions failure to revise and correct
such methods would be disastrous
and indefensible."
AS an illustration of some of the
matters on which Controller General
McCarl could report to Congress in
the interests of the taxpayers, Will
liam H. Allen, director of the Insti-
tute for Public Service, says:
IF public charges are made that
the Department of Justice wastes
tens of thousands of dollars on a
Cronkhite case, that our foreign serv-
ice is hurting our foreign business
because underfnanced, that our
Shipping Board wastes millions by in
competence, that wasteful methods
are subsidized by the budget director.
the controller general is the only
officer with power, duty and motive
to give the public the truth,
Here is the salient point: For fall
ing to make such reports. on finding
of fact, to Congress the controller
general may be ousted. For telling
ne cannot be removed.