Evening star., 1933-02-09
Member of the Associated Press.
The Shannon Report.

On the same day that the volurninou'
findings of the Shannon Committee Of
the House were made public, such find
ings depicting the "pernicious" effect ol
Government competition with private
business, the record of testimony before
the House Subcommittee on District Ap-
preparations revealed criticism by mem
bers of Congress of local officials fol
not using more convict-made bricks
from Occoquan in municipal construc-
ton And the Shannon Committee's
structures on establishment OF Govern
ment restaurants in Government build
ings were made just few days after
the House had approved q $50, 1000 ap-
preparation for maintaining the House
and Senate restaurants, operated under
the dome of the Capitol at an annual
loss to the taxpayers. Again, the
Shannon Committees recommendation
for wider employment of private ply
sicians, dentists and veterinarians comes
on the heels of recent report by
the Committee on the Cost of Medical
Care, recommending an experiment by
Federal and State governments IN So
cialization of medical service and after
the House has approved an annual ap-
preparation for the payment Of ply
sician to treat the members of Congress
and their families.
1t will therefore be enlightening to
learn, by later developments, whether
the Shannon Committees lengthy re-
searches-which necessitated extensive
travel throughout the country last Sum-
mer-are to be filed away in the Capitol
archives as merely another report after
another investigation or whether they
represent a preponderant opinion In
Congress that Government competition
in various lines of private enterprise has
gone too far and that something should
be done about it.
If anything is to be done about it, the
question would be where to begin. The
committee proposes that fundamental
considerations should confine govern
mental business ventures to those die
tated by economy or fiscal and mill
tary expediency." Economy, Of course,
covers a multitude Of sins, and the ques-
ton naturally presents itself as to where
economy ceases to be economy and be-
comes an expense. The House and
Senate restaurants may be an economy
and matter Of conmon-sense conven-
fence to their patrons-by no means
limited to the members of Congress
but they represent an item of no small
expense to the general taxpayer.
A sound recommendation by the
Shannon Committee is that in the
event of the continuance Of government
tal competition" which may be regard
ed as a distinct probability, govern
mental competitors should be forced to
compete upon terms of actual cost"
In other words, when governmental
competition becomes established in any
activity the burden of proof should
be placed upon the Government to
show that its competition with private
business is justified by actual savings
to the taxpayers-not one pet group
of taxpayers, but to all the taxpayers.
'The evidence in general" the COM
mittee found, Indicates that the opera
tions of the Federal Government in the
deld of private enterprise have reached
magnitude and diversity which
threaten to reduce the private initia-
tive, curtan the opportunities and in
fringe upon the earning powers of tax
paying undertakings, while steadily in
creasing the levies upon them"