Evening star., 1933-04-07
Weighing the Cost of Economy.


with the drastic curtailment Of expendi-
lures in the District appropriation bill
is that nobody, including the District
Commissioners and the members OF the
House who studied the measure. can
accurately foretell the exact results OF
the cuts that have been ordered. They
are proceeding more or less in the dark.
A task confronting the Senators In
their consideration of the bill Is to de-
termine the effect of the cuts. When
they have learned exactly what might
happen to such necessary city functions
as education, public health and public
safety when all the suggested elimtna-
tions of items are made, they will be
in position to Judge whether the re-
sultant savings" justify the cost OF
making them.
For instance, it has been said that
three branch libraries, responsible now
for the annual circulation OF some
225,000 volumes, may have to be
closed by the elimination OF $4,000
in salaries. It has been said that
the school system is faced with in
creased congestion, necessitating double
shifts in some of the senior high
schools; reduced efficiency, closing
of vacation and night schools, and
that the only choice left for the
Board of Education is between alterna-
tives that imply in every case lower
ing of standards and even elimination
Of types of instruction developed
through the years. It has been said
that the reductions in certain public
health items mean that children al
ficted with tuberculosis are to be denied
hospital care. It has been said that
Fairgrounds, wading pools and batning
pools, maintained primarily for those
children whose play places In the hot
summer months are confined to the
trafic-laden city streets. must 60 BY
the board. It has been estimated that
for every $4,000 eliminated from Capital
expenditures-and Capital expenditures
were cut by $4,000. .ooo-one man is de-
MED work that might keep him busy
for a year. aa
Mai. Gotwals, the Engineer Commits
sioner. explained the formula by which
he proposed the reductions ordered by
the Bureau Of the Budget as follows:
NAV say that the formula by which
I approached these estimateS-and
notice the figures have come out the
way started-was to remove all new
construction and make every possible
reduction in maintenance and from
five to ten per cent in all personnel.
That is about the formula that we
followed.
BY following that formula the Com
missioners and Auditor Donovan, sum-
moned to the Budget Bureau and sum-
marily ordered to reduce their esti-
mates to an arbitrary figure. did 30 at
the rate, it was testified. Of about q
million dollars an hour. Afterward,
during the House hearings, they were
asked If they wanted to change their
proposed reductions. They did not. 1t
is to be doubted If they could have
done any better-or any worse-as long
as they were confined in their totals
to an arbitrarily arrived at sum.
The consequence has been to throw into
great confusion the probable results OF
these reductions. They have been
described in general terms. What the
Senators should find interesting are
the specifications. They should be able
to discover how each department Of the
municipal government proposes to
keep within the strict limitation of ex-
penditures, and weigh the effect in un-
employment, reduced standards and
curtailed services against the cost OF
preventing these things. The money,
even If drawn solely from local tax
revenues, excluding the national "con-
tribution," will be available to spend.
There is no problem there. What the
people of Washington vainly seek to
understand Is what benefits are to be
gained by not spending it.
In effect previous Congresses. acting
as the Districts only legislature, are
indicted as making extravagant. waste
ful and unnecessary expenditures Of
local tax money and a small percentage
of national revenue in appropriating
for the maintenance and development
of the National Capital. Can these
Congresses justly be convicted?
Germany may yet find a way to gel
Einstein back home and give Hitler