Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-09-01
Member Of the Associates Press.
Mr.. Douglas Steps Out.


A little over two years ago Gov.
Roosevelt stood before the convention
at Chicago which had nominated him
for the presidency. Accepting the
nomination, he turned for a few mo-
ments to the subject of taxation and
economy in Government operation.
He said:
Just one word or two on taxes-the
taxes that all of us pay toward the
cost of Government of all kinds.
Well, know something of taxes.
For three long years I have been
going up and down this country
preaching that Government-Federal
State and 1ocal-costs too much. /
shall not stop that preaching AS an
immediate program of action, We
must abolish useless offices. We must
eliminate actual prefunctions of Gov
ernment-functionS, in fact, that are
not definitely essential to the con-
tinuance of Government. We must
merge; we must consolidate subdi-
visions of Government, and, like the
private citizen, give up luxuries We can
no longer afford.
BY our example at Washington
itself, we shall have the opportunity
of pointing the way of economy to
local government, for let us remember
well that out of every tax dollar in
the average State Of this Nation forty
cents enters the Treasury IN Washing
ton, D. c., ten or twelve cents only
20 to the State capitals, and forty
eight cents out of every dollar are
consumed by the costs of local govern
ment in counties, cities and towns.
I propose to you. my friends, end
through you, that Government Of all
kinds, big and little, be made solvent
and that the example be set by the
President Of the United States and
his cabinet.
That was two years ago, July 2,
1882. Yesterdays Star carried the
monthly report of the Civil Service
Commission on Government employ
ment. In the month Of July alone
Ssh new employees we're added to the
rolls, increasing the Governments pay
roll by 100000 a month. Since
February, 1888, little before the
Democratic administration took office,
the army of Government employees in
the executive civil service alone has
increased by more than 100000.
The period between July 2, 1882,
and September 1, 1884. measures the
establishment of Lewis w. Douglas,
the young Arizona Congressman whom
the incoming President selected as his
director of the budget. The increas-
ing army of Federal employees, of
course, does not tell the whole story;
1t is merely symbolic of trend which
will lead no one knows where. Mr..
Douglas, as director Of the budget,
Is in a position to judge where it is
leading. His resignation, reported to-
day is the final gesture of his dissent.
1t is not an unexpected resignation,
and 1t is not believed the Presi-
dent will decline to accept it. He
was one of the few Democrats in
Congress who stood with President
Hoover In the fight to balance the
budget. He was the likely, and APP
proved, choice Of the new President,
one of whose campaign watchwords
was economy in government. The
original economy bill, with its strict
retrenchment features, was credited
to his handiwork. Later, when veterans
features were relaxed, he was found
in disagreement with administration
plans, breach which widened gradu-
ally as the New Deal expenditures on
public works became part Of the
recovery policies. The 1885 budget
was increased in the closing days OF
the last session over his active protest.
His calls at the White House, where,
in the early days of the administra-
ton, he was a daily confdant and
close adviser of the President, became
fewer, and since the adjournment of
Congress he has taken himself out OF
the picture almost entirely.
Mr.. Douglas represented the con-
sentative view in government finance
He chung to the notion that current
revenues should meet both ordinary
and extraordinary Government ex-
penditures. But he and his view;
have been completely out of ster
with administration policies for the
past six months and there was moth.
ing else he could do, gracefully, but
leave the ranks entirely.