Evening star., 1926-01-10
Sees Nation Harried by Uplifters

/ Congress has created 100 different
committees, commissions, boards and
| bureaus and within 10 years actually
| expended the appalling sum of S4 900
| 900, the major part OF which has
been squandered in doing for the
people what they could and SHOULD
| have done for themselves.
The entire cost of operating Federal
Government, from the inauguration of
| Washington TO the Civil War, does not
| even approach this colossal hgure.
From 1916 to 1922, exclusive Of all Ell
| penditureS for war purposes, the cost
| of government has risen 500 per cent,
from $231 ,625 ,033 to S1,115.517 .3G6.
| The difference is exactly shown in the
| cost of eXtravagant and unnecessary
commissions and their innumerable
armies of agents and inspectors. Sen
ator Foraker bemoaned in 1908 the
multiplication Of useless offices ana
| officials in his degenerate day" as
| he put il. He cried out against the in
! crease in ten years 'of the little band
of 167 special deputies, agents and in
SpectorS on the Government pay roll
| to Il swollen army of 5000.
:. i x ::
Three thousand There are nearer
| 10000 now. lnquisitorial bureaus and
| commissions have increased thou
| SandfOld. Federal agents and inSpec-
tors filling the highways and byWays
| tread upon each others heels at every
| turn and corner, more numberiesS and
| perniciouS than the fieaS and frogs of
! Egypt. Every business man finds an
| inspector at his elbow and a Federal
sleuth at his heels.
q. What is the remedy for our furl-
| ously Whirling windmill of legislation
! and the type of paid uplifter who up
lifts in the interest OF his own pocket
| book?
\. Well. when people want to con
| duct Il campaign for using only regis
! tered dish towels or for limiting the
| number of hours that Il hen may lay.
! as has been actually proposed, the
| only solution is more insane aSylumS
to handle the increase in the non
| compos mentis.
But to check the food tide of leGis-
/ lation we must 90 back TO an under
standing of the Constitution. our Fed
! eral Government was intended To be
| Il government of delegated powers.
| Its jurisdiction is specifically limited.
: We should begin To observe and en-
force that limited sphere Of power.
/ Apply this test, execute this plan and
our national legislators will be Curbed
| in their tendency toward annual law
manias. Cut down the possibilities FOR
/ madcap legislation and the thOusa nds
today make d profitable living out of
our Legislative liberaIity Will perish au-
tomatiCally. Make these panderers
bring their proposals 10 the State leg
islatureS, where the pitiless rays Of
publicity can beat down upon them
. under the eyes and attention of those
| governments which are closest To the
people.
= =: = =:
Senator STANLEY came toward me.
His clenChed hand was raised high in
gesture, his face was a study in car
! neStneSS and intense conviction a. he
concluded: Both in Your time and in
mine the great problem confronting
the American people will be to resist
the progress of Federal encrGachmcnt
upon the basic principles and indlien
able rights Of the private citizen as
guaranteed TO him by the Constitu
ton. Men seem to harbOr the deluSiun
that so long as every fellow can cast
a vote that somebody else counts the
country and our liberties are safe. A.
the philosopher has we'll SaId. the
price Of liberty is eternal vigilance
and if the vigilance of the American
people is not aroused to Federal hu
reauCraCy and national deSpotism, the
American Republic will go TO pieces.
CC0pvrlEht 1906