Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26
Hoover Economy.

President Hoover in q letter 70 all
heads of executive departments and in
dependent establishments of the Gov
eminent bluntly says that estimates OF
expenditures for the next fiscal year
must be slashed. He implies In the
letter that If his warning is not fol-
lowed out, the Bureau Of the Budget,
to which the estimates go before be-
ing sent to the President for transmits
sion to Congress, will use the pairing
knife without mercy.
The President In the past has warned
eeveral times the Congress against IN
cxeasing appropriations and enacting
laws authorizing new projects which
then must be estimated for by the
Bureau of the Budget. Members OF
Congress have retorted with consider
able rancor that the fault for increased
appropriations and expenditures for the
Federal Government lies not with Con-
Sress. but with the heads OF the execu-
tive departments.
The truth of the matter appears 10
be that both Congress and the execu-
tive departments are responsible tor
the ever-increasing cost OF natlonaI
government to the American taxpayers.
Congress, under the whip and spur OF
organized drives for this or that prof.
ect. under the impelling demand from
their constituents for material improve
ments and more jobs, has yielded again
and again and put through costly prof.
ects and added new wrinkles to prof.
ects already authorized. Therein lies
the fault of Congress in this matter OF
mounting appropriations. In the details
of appropriation, the Congress has cut
down appropriations frequently below
the estimates submitted to them. But
had it not been for the authorization"
made by the Congress, the estimates
could not have been made so large.
Able and experienced oficials OF the
Government in the various executive
departments and in the independent
establishments see, beyond doubt, how
the various services may be improved
and added to, to- the benefit Of the
people. But improvements and addi-
lions to the services mean more money.
They must be paid for. The only way
in which they can be obtained Is by the
expenditure Of more Of the taxpayers
money.
The immediate reason for President
Hoover's present demand for economy
of the strictest kind lies in the fact
that while the estimates for the next
fiscal year are mounting higher, the
revenues continue to fall of. At the
close of the last fiscal year, June 30
the Treasury was faced with q deficit
of more than 100000. The Presi-
dent has rightly taken the position that
the onward march Of expenditures must
be halted. The President in repeated
conferences with heads of the executive
departments in recent weeks has gone
over the situation. Nevertheless, In
his letter now made public, the Presi-
dent calls attention to the fact that the
estimates as Of July 1 are higher than
those of June and higher, too, than
the estimates of expenditures actually
made during the fiscal year which
ended June 80, 1881. This seems in
credible, in view Of the repeated de-
mands for economy in the Government
service.
In his letter to the department heads
and heads of the Independent estab-
lishmentS the President calls for
statement Of appropriations available
during the current and future fiscal
years. And pending the receipt by the
President of that statement he calls
upon the Government officials to re-
frain from actually obligating this
money available for expenditures ex-
cept in cases where such postponement
or Examinations will clearly be to tho
detriment of the public welfare. II
saving can be made in the present fis-
cal year, by action Of the executive
branch, the President will demand
that they be made, it is clear.
This Government has gone aheac
with its increased expenditures until
the appropriation Of four or five billion
dollars a year has become the regularly
accepted thing. The time has surely
come for a halt on the increases az
the President has rightly said both tc
Congress and to his subordinate execu-
tive officials.