Evening star., 1924-11-23
Capital Sidelights

town and with scores OF House men,
bers fresh from their campaigns, in
which they voctferously told the vot-
eFs about much legislation they are
going to insist on having passed, 1t
is timely to recall Washington's
comment that the Senate would act
as . saucer In which the hot tea of
the House would be cooled.
X
Tho incoming session Of Congress
10 principally for consideration OF
tho appropriation or Government
supply bills. The Budget Bureau is
up to its neck In the final grapple
budget, which must be submitted just
~ soon as Congress convenes.
In searching through the thousand
and more pages of the budget to find
some funds that can be cut out or
cut down in order that. the cost OF
Government may be reduced, Brig.
Gen. Herbert NJ. Lord says he finds
darky who applied for credit at a
country store. The proprietor want
ed to know 'Hhow come" he wanted
credit when he had had a good cot
ton crop.
BOSS, it was dis way. De ducks
got about all dat cotton crop"
what do you mean-the ducks got
ltT,
"wen," explained the old man. T
sent dat cotton up to Memphis. and
dey ducts 10 much for freight,
ducts so much for storage, ducts so
much for faxes. ducts so much for
COMMISSIONERS, sab. de ducts done
got bout all dat cotton"
after we have deducted from the
estimated total expenditures the
grand total of amounts which cannot
be modified and must fairly be re-
garded as constant or fixed charges,
Gen. Lord explains. I'VE ind COM
parative1y little for practical econo-
our two most trenchant weapons
cooperation and coordination. which
spell teamwork and mean economy.
In explaining the scientific and his
toric method of reduction employed
by the Budget Bureau, Gen. Lord re-
calls the story Of the prince and the
painter. To determine the finest piece
in the artists collection the prince
had some of his retainers raise the
cry of fire" in the neighborhood. At
the first alarm the artist seized his
most treasured possession, and thus
the prince located the gem Of the
collection.
This Is the scientific principle ap-
piled by the Bureau of the Budget to
the agencies Of the Government to
make them disclose their priorities.
In most cases il works admirably. in
others not SO weH" said Gen. Lord.
"Some of the departments allocated
the reductions to items that under
the law could not be reduced. or took
advantage Of other methods which
tended to defeat the very purpose of
the procedure. 1t was as If the artist
at the first alarm had said to the
prince: The fire must be up the
street somewhere. Let's sit in the
window and see the crowd go by"
But commenting drily that "a few
new troubles more or less do not
disturb the budget Office" Gen. Lord
philosophizes, in the words of Lloyd
George, that "a change Of troubles is
as good as a vacation"
X y
|, Gen. Lord says he will continue to
preach and practice rigid Federal
economy-"tilI the sun grows cold.
and the stars are old, and the leaves
of the judgment book unfold" which
he interprets thus: THAT economy
has been established as a permanent
policy in Government operation and
preventable waste is not contem-
plated. and will not be countenanced. -
He says: We want economy for the
! love OF 1t, economy because it is
right, economy that is the result of
personal initiative. savings made by
Government servants who are more
interested in the conservation of the
Nations money. supplies and time
than they are in the protection and
care OF their own personal posses
sions. And we have right to expec,
this quality of service, for. as the
; President has stated, public service
| Is a sacred trust and we are the
trustees" Gen. Lord advises those as.
sociated with him In the business or.
gaaization Of the Government.
When Congress gets back, in a few
be made to have installed in the
| House an electro-mechanical auto
matte roll call system, such as Con.
1 gress has been considering for II
years. This was first proposed by
Representative Allan B. walsh OF
New Jersey. an electrical engineer
who was ably supported by some OF
his colleagues. including Representa-
tive Peter G. Ten Eyck. who had
been for many years identified with
the signaling department OF the
New York Central Railroad. There is
still In the House one member OF the
| special committee who studied the
question exhaustively 10.years ago
Representative NJ. Clyde Kelly O,
| Pennsylvania.
Impetus has been given to this pro.
posed economy-eff1ciency improve.
ment in the machinery of Congress
by the fact that such equipment has
just been installed in the House OF
Delegates of the Virginia Legisla,
ture-the product Of young wash.
ington inventor-Marshall F. Thomp.
son.
Electrical voting is no longer ar
experiment. Five State legislatures
have adopted and are now using thi,
modern system of electrical roll
calls while our national legislator.
here in the National Capital continu,
to struggle along with the antiquat
ed. time-wasting. inefficient and in.
accurate system of oral roll call.
Forty-three State legislature:
meet this Winter and in each one o.
them resolutions will be considered
providing for the use Of automati,
roll calls.
Combining the, perfected lout
speaker with automatic roll call, 4
would be possible for a member o.
Congress to sit in his office and lister
to all debate. which he seldom hear,
under present practice, and answer
roll calls on such minor matters a.
q point OF no quorum, without hav
ing to leave his office.
With an automatic system tn,
House could have 35 minutes on eacl
record vote. There are about 5Ol
roll calls during each session, which
consume approximately So days Of
five hours each. The same number
of roll calls could be made by sucf
equipment as is now at work In the
Virginia Legislature in is days. al
lowing members 10 minutes in which
to register their vote.
| Veteran employees Of the House