Evening star., 1924-04-22
Continued from First Page.j


! tionS throughout the entire civ
! ilized world had but one main OBJ
iect in view. which was the win
+, ming of the war.
Gave ScoundreIs Chances.
{. They began to make almost
+, every considerable and motive
4 subsidiary to that great effort.
F.! Totally inconceivable amounts of
= money were raised and expended
= with a lavishness which a few
. months before would have been be-
I lieved impossible, and which now
, sesms like some wild nightmare.
,, Notwithstanding the great wave of
= patriotic fervor which swept over
: the land; Notwithstanding the tre-
) mendous sacrifices which the peo-
: pie in every walk of life made, and
stood ready to make; almost un-
; consciously these conditions devel-
! oped, which l mention not for any
: purpose now to criticize, where the
Z least scrupulous became the great
, est gamers and q considerable part
, of our population was thrown into
: morbid financial state of mind,
. which even the best intentIoned
did not wholly escape.
The desire for profits and more
: profits kept on increasing. and the
. quest for easy money became we'll
nigh universal. All of this meant
. an attempt to appropriate the be-
'ongingS of others without render
, ing Il corresponding service.
This condition began to Subside
nearly four years ago, but it left
along its course trial of vicious
and criminal SeltiShness which in
diminishing degree has ever since
Z been attempting to crafty an ap-
tD
through Indulgence. and general
, credulity to rumorS of large sums
of money demanded and paid on
account of every conceivable mo-
tive and action.
Healthy Desire for Reform.
From all of this sordidness the
Z affairs of government, Of course,
suffered. In some of it. a few
public officers were guilty partici-
pants. But the wonder is not that
this was so much or so many,
rather that it has been so little
and so few. The encouraging
: thing at present is the evidence of
a well-nigh complete return to
, normal methods of action and q
sane public opinion. The gravity
. of guilt of this kind is fully real
1 tEtu anu pubIIIly iCpI
, There is an exceedingly healthy
disposition to uproot it altogether,
p and administer punishment wher-
: ever competent evidence of guilt
can be produced. That l am doing
~ and propose to continue.
!" Another phase of lingering eI-
=, trayagance, from which the coun-
.s try has not yet fully recovered. is
g. revealed by a consideration of the
!. bills which are pending before the
u Congress, calling for an expendi-
- ture of public money. Exceeding
= ly great efforts have been put
:, forth to reduce the cost of govern
- ment. Hundreds of thousands of
y public employees have been re-
:. leased, and every department has
= placed under most competent
y financial supervision.
- The country as a whole is de-
- rnanding with great vigor every
. possible relief from the burden of
% every unnecessary public expendi-
ture. Yet notwithstanding this,
(, minority groups of one kind or an
/, other, and organizations, some
y times almost nation wide in their
, ramitications, are making the most
: determined assaults upon the pub
y lie treasury.
y Huge Sums Are Sought.
=. 7 am advised by the director of
q the bureau of the budget that
/. careful computation discloses that
b, there are bills pending THAT are Sc
T, riously pressed for passage, not in
E Guiding the bonus, which would
q increase the expenditures of the
federal government for next year
" by about s3.60o,0O0,0oe. This
!, would mean that outside of the
, Post Office Department which is
practically self sustaining. the
f" present rate of expenditure would
be more than doubled. Each one
of these items taken by itself is
. not large. and it's supporters argue
& that certainly the government can
!, afford TO make this small addition
al payment.
e But taken in the aggregate they
', make the StupendouS sum l have
mentioned, and their assumption
by the government would mean
nothing less than financial disas-
ter to the nation. The law of
service must be applied to this sit
3 Jatlon. Our country is very rich,
10 but were its possessions increased
. many fold, it would not be war
i ranted III paying out money except
Tor value received. Value received
on the part of the government is
estimated by a general considera-
ton of all the attending condi-
T. tions. Al present our country does
/, not need greater outlay of ex-
\ pense, but greater application of
i constructive economy.
Ia The same state of mind is re-
= Tealed again in the determined re-
y sistance which is made tc the
Il adoption of a sound method of
? taxation. The main argument of
. the opposition can all be reduced
4 TO the suppoSition that the gem
I 81 "a n
7 alton and a greater proportion of
. taxes laid on the rich 1 shall not
t examine the soundness of this pro-
. posal, the economic injury which
\ would infiict, or its impossible
I ~ as a working principle. men,
/ ton it as another example of an
Y attempt to minister to a supposed
Il desire to evade the law of service.
il seems as though the public is
: assumed to desire to have the ad-
I out paying its part of the cost of
|, maintaining it. Besides being
|, convinced that such a result is
I, utterly impossible of accomplish
} ment. ] am more firmly of the
/, belief that it misrepresents the
! mind. Moreover, the success of
!, the government does not lie in
I, Yringing all the revenue it can
. from the people, but in making
|, their burden as light and fairly
|, distributed as possible, consistent
i with the proper maintenance of
7 the necessary public functions.
. The government itself, in order
3 10 be successful, and all Of those
i connected with it, must put all of
\ their energy upon what they can
/, do for the people, not upon what
Z they can get out of them.
: Sees Hope for Tax Plea.
There are some reasons which
A, reveal to US why, in our domestic
affairs, we must be possessed of
accurate information of the do
. ings and needs of others, in order
I that we may best serve ourselves
! by serving them through appro-
pirate action. We are all a part