Evening star., 1932-09-11

May Curtail Building.
The President told his cabinet officers
that a part of their budget savings
could be accomplished by reduction Of
construction activities, now proceeding
at an abnormal pace for the sake of
expanding employment. Mr.. Hoover
took the view that with the beginning
Of the next fiscal year on July /, the
period Of recovery would be well under
way and artificial aid to employment
would be unnecessary.
obviously nothing will more contrib
ute to that recovery than relief from
taxation" the President said.
This reference to taxation led to the
impression that despite the probability
of another Treasury deficit this year
because Of early showings from present
taxes of disappointing nature, the
administration is bent on rescuing the
Federal Government from the red
taxes.
Mr.. Hoover's announcement was
made public in the form Of q letter
sent to all department and bureau
heads. It follows In full:
1.-THE budgets of the different de-
partments and independent agencies for
the year beginning July l, 1888, are
now under discussion with the bureau
Of the budget.
"A study of the preliminary estimates
shows that all parts of the Govern
ment are making great effort toward
economies. I desire, however, that the
responsible heads shall give renewed
study looking to the elimination Of
every expenditure not absolutely es-
sential to these times.
$500, 1000, 900 Cuts Asked.
T have asked the director of the
budget to make every effort to secure
a reduction of at least $500, ,000, 900 in
the estimates of appropriations for the
next year below the appropriations
made for the current year, and the CO.
operation of the responsible admlnlstra-
tive officers is necessary to achieve
this end. A part Of this can be ac-
complished in reduction of conStruc-
ton activities which have been so
greatly Speeded up during the past
few years as an aid to employment.
"I believe we can reasonably pred
icate our budget in the confidence
that such expenditures will be less
necessary for employment purposes
after June of next year. Moreover,
these works by virtue of the enor-
nous outlay since 1880 as a means
of employment will be in many par
ticulars in advance of the countrys
immediate need. Other activities
can well be further curtailed during
the period of recovery. Obviously
nothing will more contribute to that
recovery than relief from taxa
tion.
while the executives can budget
various activities upon the lowest
possible basis, still a large part of
the Government activities are fixed
by law and they must be budgeted
for expenditure. In some of these
cases the whole or part of the
activities can only with the approval
of Congress be suspended. I de-
sire that such possibilities be fully
developed with the director of the
budget with view to preparing de-
tailed recommendation to the Con-
gress for authority to take such ac-
ton.
You will recollect that during
the last session of the Congress the
departments proposed to various
economy committees of the Congress
reductions in expenditures of this
type. which failed of authorization.
Such amounts would be in addition
to the 500000,000 mentioned above
and they should now be again ex-
haustively considered"
The President addressed his letter to
department heads at what is almost the
beginning of the private hearings of
the Budget Bureau into departmental