Evening star., 1924-11-30
YOU AND UNCLE SAM
Series of Educational articles Telling Hon. Federal Couern
nent Is Organized and Functi0ns-Writtcn
Expressly for School Children.
No. 15-How Uncle Sans Work Has Grown
BY WILL P. KENNEDY

war came demobilization, and after
the armistice of November IL, 1918,
the executive organization OF the
Government began disbanding the
civilian forces recruited during the
war.
Service to Soldiers.
But as a result of the war the Gov
ernment has assumed permanently
some functions which will require
for many years the continuation of
agencies set up during the period Of
hostiiities. The Bureau of War Risk
Insurance, in the Treasury Depart
ment. was, practically speaking, es
tablished during the war for the pur-
pose Of insuring the lives of our
soldiers and sailors, providing them
compensation" for disabilities in
CURED In line of duty and paying
allotments and allowances to their
dependents. This orga nization must
remain in operation for many years,
the third of its original functions
payments of allotments and allow
ances-having been superseded by the
moro perplexing problem of providing
disqualification and rehabilitation to
injured and disabled veterans.
One OF the most important organi-
zation changes occurring since the
war was the establishment of this
bureau as an agency directly respon-
sible to the President, under the name
United States Veterans Bureau, and
the transfer to it of certain functions
previously performed by the Public
Health Service and the Federal Board
for Vocational Education. namely, the
disqualification and rehabilitation of
veterans. This is the one outstanding
example Of the conversion of tenn
porary agencies set up under the war
emergency into permanent establish
ments.
TFeasury's Task Remains.
On the other hand. certain normal
Government functions have been so
enlarged and so increased in impor-
tance as a result of the war as to
necessitate the material expansion Of
the agencies performing them. The
Treasury Department, for instance,
probably never will return to its pre-
war stat tus. The public debt of the
country was increased by the war to
upward Of s26,000.o00. 900. The tasks
connected with floating this debt were
enormous. These tasks are done long
since.
But there remain the problems of
interest payments, redemptions, re-
FINDINGS and the accounting for these
| and other transactions involved in
the normal public debt movement
| The public debt service under the
Treasury, including two pre-war or
ganizations, the office OF the register
of the Treasury and the division of
loans and currency, will remain for
an indefinite period many times larger
than the numerically uninlpo-tant
stans In former days handling the
pre-war debt.
The payaou>
another good illustration. To meet
the tremendous increase in Govern
ment expenditure caused by the war
the income taxes came to be applied
to practically all incomes and busi-
ness profits. and with the enactment
of prohibition legislation, the income
and profits taxes, supplemented by
luxury, amusement and sales taxes,
virtually superseded the old excise
taxes as the source of Federal In
ternal revenue, although these latter
taxes were continued on numerous
commodities, notably tobacco.
The result was the material expan-
sion and the almost complete trans
formation of the Internal Revenue
service, which without, any doubt.
will remain on It's present basis for
many years to come. collecting the
revenues required to care for the vet
VI oaio VI inc war, W pay tQS interest
on the war debt, and gradually to
liquidate that debt. Incidentally, 1t
is worthy of note that the Internal
Revenue Service has been given re-
sponsibility for the enforcement of
the Federal prohibition legislation,
one OF the largest subdivisions being
! the so-called prohibition unit.
Copyright. 1924. by Will p. Kennedy
tThe sixteenth article in this series will be
Inc Library OF Congress. II will be printed
in this paper next Wednesday,