Evening star., 1924-03-06
CAN YOUR TAXES BE CUT?
Series of Articles the Cost of Government
Where the Money Goes, and Why.
BY JOHN r. SINCLAIR,
Author of Can Europe Hold Together?'

er. for working up the ground,
seeding. cutting, threshing and haul
ing to town (four to five months of
hard work), got 21.41 cents. That
was bad enough. 1t just couldn't be
much worse.
Big Drop In Ten Years.
But IT IL. Turn over ten years from
1913. In 1923 the farmer got 1857
cents, the miller 5.31 cents, the rail-
and the grocer 22.22 cents. The rest
miscellaneous. Based on dollars
worth of bread sold in the city of
Washington In. September, 1928, the
farmer received not 21.41 cents, as
he did In 1918, but just 1857 cents.
The grocer received not 20.55 cents as
in 1913. but 22.22 cents.
If we translate these figures into
overy day facts, we should not be
surprised at whole states going bank
dozens, but by the hundreds in the
states affected: at one million far
mers leaving the farms for the city,
at the large increase in suicides.
These facts are only the outward
evidences of an appalling situation
vigorous action on the part of the
government.
Such facts the Department of Agri-
culture found. Now what does all
this cost the federal government?
First. there is the weather bureau.
with the weather man in charge. This
is nation wide, important, and cost
81, 10000 for the fiscal year 1928. This
bureau is asking for an increase OF
approximately $4,000 for 1924.
ht,r Of trYip nj
nomics Is another potentially i'm
portant bureau. This is really the
big marketing investigation bureau
of the department. II sometimes in
vestigates cost of production and
marketing. farm organizations and
allied subjects. 1t sometimes pub
fishes valuable data. With the farm
er getting less and less, and the
men between the farmer and the
consumer more and more, this bureau
effectively with the problem Of how
to decrease this great spread between
producer and consumer. Like many
other nice bureaus in Washington, it
carefully. much useful information
for the student of the future. This
bureau spent s2.44s,000 in 1923. and
this is further increased by approx
mately $4,000 for 1924. ct seems
as though the principal activities of
this bureau are much more closely
related to trade and commerce than
to agriculture).
Extension Service Cut.
The bureau Of plant industry deals
with the whole probleb of plant life.
It handles the problems OF diseases,
pests and weeds. 1t tests new plants
in new climates. This is a useful and
important work. The bureau spent
S3.113000 In 1923 and expects to cut
this by approximately s23O.ooO for
1924
The extension service contributes
to the support of the 5000 county
agents in the United States. For the
fiscal year 1923 it spent sS.7s6,OO0.
but this is cut down to s7,150,0 900
for 1924. This is questionable serv-
ice which might be cut
The bureau of animal industry
deals with all work relating TO the
live stock industry. II deals with
the investigation. control and erfsdi :
cation of diseases of animals, the in =
spection and quarantine of live stock,
products. and dairying. II is an in
tense, thorough. and indispensable
bureau. Altogether this bureau spent
ss.741.o00 in the fiscal year 1923: II
more for 1924.
The forest service has control OF
the national forests. 1t studies forest
conditions and investigates various for
ests and their products. A total of S.
933, 900 was spent on this bureau in 1923.
About the same is asked for 1924
However, this bureau took in $1,000.
600 in receipts for 1929, and estimates
the total receipts for 1924 at $S,14S,o00
OF course. timber depletion must bs
cf %an int
Roads, The First Big Expense.
We now come to the big spending
bureau-that of public roads. Fol
1923 a total of $76,lSo.ooo was spent
The estimate for 1924 is s94,26s, 900
an increase of about $1s.000,000 over
1923.
Here, for the first time in these
ture in our federal government. Thi:
work should be given very careful
scrutiny. If the people of the United
States want taxes cut, here is on'
! place where a cut could be made
This fund is creeping up TOWARD
more information about roads ant
: road making than can be gotten any
where else in the country.
To sum up, then, here Is a grea'
department oi <AE SiHploS
ing 20,261 people, of whom 4,933 ar.
in Washington. The department
spent 1925, 900 in 1923, of which
ST9,24O,0O0 was for good roads. With
out the expense of good roads the de
partment spent approximately SAT,
100000 for the year. This is rela
lively small.
For every dollar spent by the fed
eral government for the fiscal yeal
1923 the Department of Agricultur.
spent for it's work about Y cents
1t is less than the Navy Department
spends every sixty days. 1t is les:
than the Veterans Bureau spend:
every forty-five days. 1t is less thar
the Army spends every sixty days
, The Department of Agriculture il
carrying out our work is not one Of
our large spending departments. TIL,
big cuts must be found elsewhere.
(Copy right, 1924, in O. S. and Great Britati,
by North American Newspaper Alliance
All rights reseryed)
(Tomorrow-The Department of tn,