Evening star., 1924-03-18
CAN YOUR TAXES BE CUT?
A Series of Articles the Cost of Government;
Where the Money Goes, and Why.
2 BY JOHN r. SINCLAIR,
Author Of "Can Europe Hold Togetherr

plants to do what one can do much
more effectively. True. their field ac-
tfvities are and should be independ-
mt. but that does not affect the issue
stance. right now. is maintaining as
branch of itself a larger army
force than the United States main
aimed previous to the Spanish war.
That Is the Marine Corps. which is
ably the most efficient army corps in
the service of the United States to-
day.
The second major point Of agree
ment between these two studies is
the conversion of the existing Inte-
rior Department into what in effect
Is Department of Public Works
end Public Domain, though the
Brown report retains the name
Interior.
Take the engineering activities of
the government as present exam
pie Of overlapping. U The work on
the rivers and harbors which cost
the United States $49.000.000 in 1928.
is under the Jurisdiction of the War
Depar ment. (2) Construction Of pub
lic bui dings for the government is
In charge of the supervising archi-
tect in the Treasury Department.
'3) The Commission Of Fine Arts has
certain supervisory powers over GER
tain puDllC puilulnSS anu
"a Construction of irrigation works.
and the construction and operation
of railroads in Alaska are under the
supervision of the Interior Depart
ment. t5) The building of roads is
under the direction of the Depart
ment of Agriculture. All these are
merged under one bureau in the new
arrangement.
Public Domain CsatroI Scattered.
Or take the control of the public
domain. The administration of the
public domain is in charge of the
general land Office, In the Department
of the Interior; but the geological
survey. the national park service, the
forest service, in the Department. OF
Agriculture; the military parks COM
mission, in the War Department, and
the Federal Power Commission, an in
dependent body, all help to regulate
the public domain.
Both the Brown and Willoughby
plans merge all those activities into
one department. Willoughby says:
The basic arguments in favor Of the
which have been repeatedly given,
bringing together under a common
direction services having the same
general function. or whose activities
are OF such a character that the
services performing them should
maintain close working relations with
each other"
The third major point of similarity
between these two plans is. that both
advocate new Department of Educa =
ton, with cabinet member in charge.
The Brown report asks for a Depart
ment of Education and Welfare, and
! to have four major divisions-educa-
lion, health, social service, veterans
, are taken from the Department. of
the Interior-the bureau OF education,
Indian schools, Howard University,
St. E'izabeth's Hospital. Freedmen's
two from the Department of Labor
the womans bureau (parD and the
children's bureau (part: one from
the Department of Justice-the office
independent establishments - Smith
sonian Institution, Federal Board for
Vocational Education, National Home
for Disabled Soldiers, Columbian In
stitution for the Deaf and the Vet
erans' Bureau.
Research Provided For.
The Willoughby report recommends
a new Department of Education and
Science, under cabinet member.
This report insists that the govern
ment is now engaged in the prosecu-
tion of scientific research on very
wide scale. This work should be
only by the recognition of scientific
research as one of the specific func-
tions of the national government and
the creation of a separate department
to have IL in charge. This report
would have all research institutions
of the government transferred to this
department, but no administrative
work. There has developed some op-
y,t ~ hut ra
to the Brown type than to the Will
! loughby type.
The willoughby report adds one
more department, that of Public
health of the people would be in
, cluded under its jurisdiction.
Only those departments or bureaus
which are by their very nature quasi
/ judicial or quasi-legislative in char
acter would be left independent and
free from departmental control. such
as the Civil Service Commission. Fed
eral Trade Commission, Tarin Commits
sion, Federal Reserve Board War
Finance Corporation, budget bureau.
Railroad Administration and also the
government printing office.
Then, this is a summary OF what
| is being discussed in the government
reorganization today. Will it save
accomplished? In the future prob
ably very great deal, but for the
present very little.
But let Mr.. Brown himself tell us
what he thinks: 81 would do away
with every scrap. of duplication.
every shadow of overlapping. / would
reorganize the departmental service
in accordance with the best prac-
tices of modern. business. I would
have the people get full returns on
every penny expended in running the
government offices. but what I want
you to understand, and understand
clearly, is that, whittle away as we
may, we can only reduce the total
public expenditures by perhaps a
fraction of ! per cent"
This is probably an understatement.
but the fact remains that little saw
ing, relative to the total expenses
of the government. can be made in
this way.
,Copyr,ght. 1924, in United States and Grea,
Britain BY North American Newspaper
Alliance. All rights reserved.l