Evening star., 1932-09-30

necessary for the conduct Of govern
ment. We have too many taxing dis
tricts. The taxpayers literally groan
under layer upon layer Of tax units.
Relief can come only through resolute,
courageous cutting.
1t means still more than this. In
many States We must, through the Leg
islature and even through constitutional
changes, reorganiZe our local govern
ment for the purpose of eliminating
unnecessary machinery and unnecessary
positions, and for the purpose Of con-
solidating functions end concentrating
responsibility in fewer hands.
Some Of you will ask why I, can
didate for President OF the United
States, am talking to you about changes
in local government. 1t is perfectly
clear that the President has no legal
or constitutional control over the local
government under which you live. The
President has, nevertheless, the right
and even the duty of taking moral
leadership in this national task. 1t is
a national problem because in its scope
it covers every State. and any problem
that is national in this broader sense
creates a national moral responsibility
in the President himself.
I conceive the presidency not merely
as an agency in which routine execu-
tive powers are exercised, but as posi-
ton of leadership in which may be
welded an influence for the general
good of our American system Of gov
ernment. No other official, except the
Vice President, is elected by all the
people of the country. No other official
owes such a direct responsibility to all
the people Of the country. He is the
responsible spokesman Of the Nations
policies and the Nations ideals.
1 shall Use this position OF high re-
sponsibility to discuss up and down the
country, in all seasons, at all times,
the duty Of reducing taxes. Of increas-
ing the efficiency of government. Of
cutting out the underbrush around our
governmental structure. Of getting the
most public service for every dollar paid
by taxation. This I pledge you. and
nothing I have said in the campaign
transcends in Importance this covenant
with the taxpayers of this country.
1t Is true that less than Is per cent
of the taxes we pay goes to the support
of State governments. This does not
seem to be large figure, but actually,
as you and I know, the cost of State
government has increased twofold and
even threefold in the past 10 or IS
years. In this field also I believe that
substantial reductions can be made.
While the President rightly has no au-
thority over State budgets, he has the
same moral responsibility Of national
leadership for generally lowered ex-
penses, and therefore for generally low
cred taxes.
The National Expenses.
It is in the field of the Federal Gov
ernment that the Office Of President
can. of course, make itself most directly
and definitely felt. Over 80 per cent of
your tax dollar goes to Washington, and
in this field also immediate reforms can
be accomplished There are, OF course.
items such as the interest on the public
debt which must be paid each year, and
which can be reduced only through
reduction in the debt itself. by the ere
alton Of surplus in the place OF the
present deficit in the National Treas
ury 1t is perhaps worth While that l
should tell you that I spent nearly
eight years in Washington during the
Wilson administration: that during
those eight years I had fair under
standing of the problem OF the national
expenses, and that I knew at first hand
istration of the different departments.
Later in this campaign 1 propose to
analvze the enormous increase In the
growth of bureaucracy. We are not
getting an adequate return for the
money we are spending In Washington,
or to put it another way round, we are
spending altogether too much money
for Government services which are
neither practical nor necessary. In
addition to this We are attempting too
many functions and We need simpl1-
fication of what the Federal Govern
ment is giving to the people.
I accuse the present administration
of being the greatest spending admin
lstration in peace times in all our his
tory-one which had piled bureau on
bureau. commission on commission, and
has failed to anticipate the dire needs
or reduced earning power OF the people.
Bureaus and bureaucrats have been re-
tanned at the expense OF the taxpayer
l read that the President IS at work
on plan to consolidate and slmpllfy
the Federal bureaucracy. -Four long
years ago. in the campaign OF 1923. ne
as candidate proposed to do this.
Today. once more a candidate. he is
still proposing. I leave you to draw
your own inferenceS.
On my part l esk you to assign to me
the task of reducing the annual op-
Grating expenses Of the National Gov
ernment.
Buying Power of the Dollar.
Now I come to the other half CT the
farmers problem. the increase Of the
purchasing power OF the farm dollar
I have already gone at length into the
emergency proposals relating to our
ma jor crops and now I want to discuss
in more detail the tariff and our eco
nomic relationship to the rest OF the
world.
From the beginning of our Govern
ment, one of the most difficult questions
in our economic life has been the tariff
But it is a fact that it is now so inter-
woven with our whole economic struc-
ture. and that structure is such an
intricate and delicate pattern Of cauces
and effects, that tariff revision must be
undertaken with scrupulous care, and
only on the basis of established facts.
Yet there is scarcely major problem
in our national life. agriculture, in
dutsry and labor, merchant marine, in
ternational debt and even disarmament,
that does not involve the question OF
the tariff. I must conf1ne myself, how
ever. at this time to the subject as it
Is more or less directly related to agri-
culture, reserving for some later date
the consideration Of the tariff in its
more general aspects.
In the course of his 1928 campaign
the present Republican candidate for
President with great boldness laid down
the propositions that high tariffs inter-
fere only slightly if at all with our
export trade, that they are necessary to
the success of agriculture and afford
essential farm relief. that they do not
interfere with the payments Of debts
to us. and that they are absolutely
necessary to the economic formula
which he proposed as the road to the
abolition of poverty. I must pause here
to observe that the experience of the
last four years has Unhappily demon
strsted the error of every single one OF
the propositions, that every one OF
them has been one of the effective
causes CT the present depression, and
finally. that no substantial progress to-
ward recovery from the depression either
here or abroad can be had without
for% y irI roro0nit;ov, Of Tho