Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-24
President Counts on House
and Senate Leaders to
Prune Appropriations.
MAKES PLAIN HIS OPINION
ON REVENUE REDUCTION
Apprises Tilson of Danger He Sees
in Running on Too Close Finan-
cial Margin.
By j. RUSSELL YOUNG.


President Coolidge expects Congress
materially to reduce some, II not all,
Of the pending appropriation bills to
offset the big slash made in taxes by
the revenue-reducing bill which 10 ex-
pected to become q law before the end
of the week.
The President has made known his
feelings to party leaders in the Senate
and the House regarding the tax re-
duction. which he has no hesitancy in
declaring is considerably larger than
he thought was practicable or pos
sible. He has directed these party
leaders to use their influence In dis
couraging increased appropriations
and where possible to effect reductions
Word to this effect was carried
away from the White House today by
Representative Tilson of Connecticut
Republican leader OF the House, and
several days ago the President gave
his views to Senator Reed Smoot of
Utah. chairman of the finance COM
mittee Of the Senate. and asked him to
handle this matter in that body.
VIII Sign Tax Measure.
Representative Tilson did not get
the impression that the President
would refuse to sign the tax bill be-
cause II is so much greater In
amount than he wanted, but he did
get the impression that the President
Is very insistent that Congress trim
down the appropriations. The Presi-
dent, he believes, considers the f3S7,-
100000 tax reduction as being so large
as to cause serious reflection, especial
~ 50 If there Is any advance indica.
ton that there Is to be a falling of in
the Governments revenues which are
being counted upon to make this re-
ductton possible. The President has
said on more than one occasion that
it Is not wise for the Government to
operate upon dangerously low
margin such as he contends Is likely
to be the case as result of the pres
ent tax reduction.
Among some Of the appropriations
that are likely to bear the brunt Of
this pruning process in the House and
Senate are the public buildings bill,
increased pensions for veterans, espe-
cially those Of the Spanish War; good
road development and rivers and har-
bors improvements. Besides these
there are any number Of items in the
regular supply bills which call for
appropriations either larger in size
than the amount Of money approved
by the Budget Bureau or else not at
all approved by 1t. These, II totaled
up, would run up into the hundreds
President, could be reduced greatly.
Many Of these items, he contends,
could be very well eliminated entirely.
Would Ban Small Bills.
Added RI fhese poonay.~pandfpr IL
vices there are many individual bills
calling for large and small appropria-
tions or authorizations. These the
President has let it be known should
be put aside entirely
Representative Tilson did not say
whether ne agreed fully with the
President regarding this wholesale
trimming of appropriation bills. but
he did intimate that he considered 1t
advisable to enact the public buildings
bill this year. This measure already
has passed the House and he thinks
it eventually will be passed by tho
Senate. He would make no comment
about the other more or less impor-
tant appropriations which were men
toned by the President during his
conference.
Representative Tilson declared that
during his talk the President was very
complimentary In referring to the
business-like manner in which the
House has progressed with it's regu-
lar business. But at the same time
he was plain in making known his
disappointment at the size of the tax
reduction bill as 1t was finally passed.
Those who are close to the Presi-
dent, however, feel very certain
there Is not the slightest intention
on his part Of declining to sign the
bill, although 1t tmpresses him as
being a trifie large in its tax cut
1t was explained that the President
favors tax reduction and wants 20
see as much Of the burden lifted
from the taxpaying public as posSi-
BILE. but he at the same time does
not want to jeopardize the fiscal cen
ditions Of the National Government.
Fears Contingency.
The Presidents intimates say that
his only fear is that slump in
the business OF the country might
present itself during the year, with
the result that there would be q
following decrease in the revenues, in
which event the present reductions
might bring about q deficit.
During this conference Representa-.
tive Tilson went over briefly with
the President the legislative situation
in the House. He told the President
that the body Of Congress has reached
the point now where it could adjourn
by the first, Of May.