Evening star., 1932-03-30

Vi SOlQl6IS dlll
sailors, takes up nearly s2,8OO. 900 OOC
out of our 1000. .00O, 900 budget. OBJ
lection is made to this method of clas-
sification by those who think that ma
| tional defense" should be separated
from the items Of the past. They fee
| that the existence of an army and
navy is an insurance just as vital to
the country as whole as the individual.
life insurance policy may be to family
They argue that in other countries the
| relative cost of such insurance Is even
| higher.
Leaving aside public works and what
| would ordinarily be plant expenditures
| we find that the civil services of the
total only S540, 600, 600 out of budget
of $4,000,000,000 This includes all the
costs of the legislative branch, the judi
cial branch and the executive branch
This form of classification does not
aid us much in understanding exactly
what the Federal funds go for each
year The official method of classiflca-
ton by the Budget Bureau calls for
four main divisions. They are:
l. General functions E. $28o,OOo,o00
2. Military functions :. 1,697,000,000
5. Civil functions 80. 806,200,000
4. Non-functional 49,. 1,158,000,000
Total .............s3 1884 ,2oO, 900
Not a True Picture.
Yet the foregoing does not give a true
picture because under general functions
there is an item of S125,0o0.000 for
public buildings, which is really addi-
tions to plant and equipment. Under
the civil functions we find an item of
Sl55 900. 900 which is the deficit ex-
pected in the Post Office Department
for the fiscal year ending June, 1888.
Also in this same division is another
item of 1929 900 900 for public improve
mentS, such as roads, rivers and har-
bors and flood control, etc. In the So
called non-functional group are the
fixed debt charges, namely public debt
retirement and interest payment,
This again does not give us clue SIS
to exactly what the money goes for, but
there is still another summary known
as estimates classified by character
and object Of expenditure" which tells
in somewhat more detail how the money
is expended 1t is here we find that
the fixed charges of the Government,
including interest and payment on war
debts, pensions and allowances for vet
Grams, amount to total of 50 100000
900 and the current expenses" are
given as s1,128, ,0O0, 600 Out of the
latter sum approximately 100000, ,000
goes for personal services" while the
maintenance of the feet, repairs and
alterations to buildings are all mixed in
with the general current expense. The
only items that throw any light in this
category are those relating to personal
services and those relating to printing
1t is generally believed the item Of
printing, engraving. typewriting, ETC.
is large. The entire bill for the Federal
Government is approximately $1l $780,
000
Where the Money Actually Goes.
How then to arrange the items in the
Federal budget SO that we can definitely
tell the true object of the expense?
Here is classification which this
correspondent has made from a study
of the detailed items of the budget.
l. Debt payments and refunds, In
terest, etc.-$l, ,372, ,000, 900.
2. Welfare, including care OF citizens,
veterans bonuses, allowances, pensions,
etc.-$1 600, 900, 900.
3. National protection, including
Army and Navy-S70l, ,625 900.
4. Economic development, including
all business enterprises, public build
ings, public improvements, promotion
of foreign trade, aid to shipping, aid to
labor, immigration enforcement, etc
S724, ,753 900.
5. General administration-$229 u.s.
600.
6. Cost Of disobedience to law and
civil tigation-$56, ,544, 900.
Total-$3, ,987 900 900.
Looking at the first item it will be
discovered, of course, that the commit
ment to pay interest on Government
bonds and to retire the principal grad
ually is fixed. There can be no cutting
of that item without repudiating gov
ernment credit altogether.
The second item relating to welfare
is made up almost entirely of grants
| given TO veterans. OF this item oi