Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-11

Gen. Lord Urges Reductions
t atk To Prevent National Deficit

Den. II. M. Lord. Director of the
Bureau of the Budget, spoke as fol-
Jews at the semi-annual business meet
SfiR of the Government last night:
''Mr. President and members of the
business organization of the Govern
nnent:
In preparing the first budgets we
were obsessed by fear of a deficit. The
year 1921 yielded a surplus of only
1855, 723, 771.61, while the outcome for
1922, a year of tax reduction, could
not be forecast with any degree OF
accuracy. So you were urged to re-
yduce your estimates, to cut down your
expenditures, and to make sacrifices
all along the line in the interest of
balanced budget, to prevent the pos
sibility of that repugnant and dis
; tasteful thing, a national deficit. To
that appeal you made loyal response.
; When, however, the year 1922 ended
with surplus of 1913. sol ,651.10, and
when 1923 surprised us with a surplus
of $309, 657, 460.30, the appeal for
sacrifices in order to balance the bud
get lost about 101 per cent of it's
force and effectiveness. 1t must have
seemed to people in the service that
we had been crying Wolf! wolff when
there was no wolf. not even a rabbit.
The appeal, however, was made in
good faith.
Extraordinary transactions, in UNI
usual and unheard of amounts, so
confused the situation that no esti-
mate was safe, and no one could
guarantee a balanced budget. 1t was
evident, however, that a new kind of
appeal was necessary. We were still
spending too much money. The fight
for reduced outlay must go on. Care
full study of Federal activities pointed
to an observation-disclosures but not i'm
possible of attainment-to bring an
nual Federal eXpediture, exclusive OF
debt reduction and postal expenses,
down to or below $4,000, 100000. 1t
meant a desperate fight, but not a
hopeless one. In June, 1923, We in
augurated the -billion-dollar
campaign in the interest of. prog0es-
sive national retrenchment. In. 1923
the expenditure figures tota1ed 1924
627, 200, 900 above our self
imposed limit. We were out to get
that 1894, 000,0 900, and at the same
time be prepared to meet and absorb
additional burdens of millions and
hundreds of millions resulting from
new legislation and from other causes
outside of administrative control.
Reduced Expenditures.
Beginning with 1920 there had
been reductions in expenditure, many
of them in large amounts, made pos
sible in large measure by discontin-
uance of war activities. When this
new campaign began. Federal bust |
ness had settled down to a degree that |
rendered further material reduction |
a matter of careful scrutiny, calling |
for a very high standard of admins |
tration and real sacrifice and courage. |
At the end of 1924-first year of the |
new campaign-we found an expendi |
ture of S3,048, 677, 965.S4, a reduction |
of $245, 949 ,563.82 below the preceding |
year. This saving was reflected in |
what was at that time a record-break |
ing SURPLUS of $5O5, $3.50, 1861. This |
1924 expenditure was $2,067, 249, 1886 |
less than we took from the Treasury |
in 1921. The year 1921 is used for |
comparison because it was the last |
year free from budget control and was |
a year marked by two differing politi- |
cal administrations. In 1925 we had |,
an apparent setback, expenditures
running UP to $3,063, los 1892 .26-an
spite of that we provided a surplus
of 50,505 1858, and that following
another reduction in tax rates, which
wasn't so bad. And 1925 was another |
year Of grievous disappointment, re-
our desperate efforts at re- |
trenchment with an expenditure of |
So ,097 gil, 822.S1, or 1928 ,S57.47 over |
and above what we spent in 1924-at |
that time our low-water mark of ex- |
penditure. Were we discouraged? |
Were we disposed to abandon the fight |
and acknowledge humiliating defeat?
"At that time and whenever since
I have recalled the disheartening re-
suits OF those two hard-fought years, |
there has flashed through my mind
the story of a famous fight between a
Scotchman and an Irishman. They |
were to fight until one Of the two
indicated he had had enough by say
ing sufficient Right royalty they |
fought--backward and forward-up |
and down-in and OUTFLOW upon |
blow--fistwork and footwork-for 5
minutes, l 0minutes, Is minutes, 20
minutes, Is minutes, and then the
Scotchman family but distinctly
rasped sufficient Said the Irishman.
I have been thrying for the last tin
minutes think of that blamed word
In our $4,000, 900, 900 contest we had
fought gloriously, groggy at times,
and at times perplexed, worried and
wearied, but we never could think or
the word sufficient so we carried on
the fight into 1927-the current year.
Economic Claims justified.
"In 1925 and 1925 we spent more
than was expended in 1924. 1t is
absurd, however, to point to these In
creases in annual expenditures as In
dicating that claims for economies in
the Federal service are not justified.
I seem in my illustrations to be drawn
inevitably to the period of my rather
uneventful youth. One day a party OF
boys, including the speaker, embarked
in a small boat on a fishing trip on
the coast of Maine. A heavy wind
stirred up such rough and choppy
sea that the speaker. the youngest OF
the crowd, was ordered to bail out
the boat while the rest of the crew
desperately bent to the oars trying TO
make harbor, before the wind. which
was increasing to a gale, reached ITS
height. With a battered tin the pail
ing was prosecuted feverishly ana
diligently. 1t was impossible to keep
the boat entirely clear OF water as
SPECIAL NOTICE.