Evening star., 1924-03-17
CAN YOUR TAXES BE CUT?
A Series of Articles the Cost of Government:
Where the Money Goes, and Why. a.4
BY JOHN r. SINCLAIR,
Author Of "Can Europe Hold Together

port grain trade and national wealth
income and debt.
Spoken Of ~ Fighting Arm.
"The fighting forces Of the United
States-this was said in a Washing
ton hotel lobby during the war
Consists Of the Army. the Navy. the
Marine Corps and the Federal Trade
Commission"
It has done some remarkable work.
Recall just a bit Of its history-its
coal report of 1917, that resulted in
the war regulation of fuel, food and
other necessities; its profiteering re-
port in 1913. fearless trumpet blast
gougers; its packer reports in 1918
| and 1919. 1t forced the aluminium
trust to unswallow and disgorge it's
one competitor. the Aluminium Roll
Ing Mills Company OF Cleveland:
| commission just why consumers
prices were not falling commensur-
ately with the fall OF farm prices
and raw materials generally. this
commission pointed out very clearly.
in communication which every
American should read, that trade as
sociations, and particularly the open
price associations of manufacturers
! and dealers. were the most impor-
what the orthodox economists for
| merly called the free market has
largely vanished into memory.
Only month ago the commission
showing the ramifcation and mono
polistic contracts and activities of
| the Radio Corporation of America,
behind which are those gigantic in
| terests, the General Electric Com
pany. the Westinghouse. and by con-
! tract the great American Telegraph
and Telephone Company
AS monopolistic power tends more
and fewer large corporations. the
American people will come to have
, greater and greater need for just
such champion as the Federal Trade
therefore watch it and guard it very
carefully.
For the fiscal year 1929 this COM
| mission spent ss56.000. For 1924 the
bureau of the budget has estimated
the appropriation of this commission
at $ss7, 900, and at $4,000 for 1925.
Fleet Corporation's Work.
| CO. The Emergency Fleet Corpora
ton, another independent bureau.
| began operations April 16, 1917. Its
| duty was to purchase. construct.
equip. lease. charter, maintain and
operate merchant vessels in the COM
| merce OF the United States" The
government plunged into the shipping
business with characteristic dash. In
November, 1918. tho corporation
owned 500 vessels Of about 3,529.0o0
| deadweight tons. But the Shipping
Board moved fast and furious. Ex-
J penses were not considered. 1t would
seem as though any one would under
| stand that business after the war
would not increase but decrease
. This fact was ignored. The war was
| over. but building continued. On
sse Sesses Se @ Of tas asou dead
weight tons. That was the peak.
We had spent more than sS.5o0.0Oo .O00
! getting ready-for what? Then
world wide depression set in. We
to sail. On June 80, 1923. there were
| 4.575,00 gross tons of our vessels tied
up and idle So the corporation
| left to private interests.
| That story some day will be told.
( Here's one example: Two hundred
and twenty-six wooden vessels, which
to construct. were sold to the Western
| Marine and Salvage Company for
$750,000: that is. the United States
got back just 75 cents out of every
vessels were not to be used again as
ocean carriers. but the corporation
removed the machinery and sold the
| hulls to Cuba, Brazil and other for
eign countries, and then sold the
machinery to the same purchasers,
, who promptly reinstalled them and
proceeded to operate the vessels. This
| is one illustration Of how we did it.
potency, mismanagement and sabot-
aging connected with this business
since 1917 is shameful chapter in
our history.
Cost $57.OOO.O 600 in 1928.
On September /. 1928, the corpora
tion still had 1.345 vessels of about
s,261, 900 deadweight tons. MANY ves-
sells since that time have been dis
| posed of to private groups at a frac-
| tion of their original cost. A total of
,41S persons were employed in WASH
ington and 1856 outside Of Washing
! ton, making a grand total of s.054
people working for the corporation
For the fiscal year 1928 the corpo-
ration cost the government, in round
! figures. $56.s93.000. For 1924 the
,s Is sn, at ,bs
! this great national asset has been
squandered and wasted for purely
selfish purposes.
There are many other independent
nected with the conduct of the gov
ernment's business. Many are tenn
porary. They grew up during the
war. Others are the, result of further
regulations. imposed by the govern
ment itself. Undoubtedly there is
much waste and some considerable
duplication in the work. But outside
Of those already enumerated, the
other bureaus are costing relatively
little. Many of them could be merged
with other bureaus and departments.
Some should be abolished.
From the viewpoint of the tax
payer, little immediate saving can
be made along this line, but proper
business methods of economy and eff
! cheney are very urgent and impor-
tant in the growing business of gov
ernment.
| copyright, 1924. in United States and Great
Britain by North American Newspaper
Alliance. All rights reserved)