Evening star., 1936-10-27
Text of Landon's Philadelphia Address
Exravagance Concentration of Power and Destruction of
Local Government Held Threat to American Liberty.

first time. Taxes are paid In the
sweat of every man who labors."
Great Bulk Of All Taxation
Carried ON the Back Of Labor.
1t is not the well-to-do who are
going to pay the piper. They
haven't that much money. II the
Government last year had confis-
Gated every penny of all incomes
above $4,000 1t would not have had
enough to pay the cost of our Fed
eral Government. The bulk of the
money always comes from the men
and women who labor in our work.
shops, on our farms and In our
Offices.
1t is the little fellow who pays.
1t Is the little fellow who suffers
from Government extravaganza. 1t
Is the little fellow who needs the
safeguards of the Constitution
and particularly the safeguards
against waste of the public funds.
One OF the most important OF
these safeguards is the provision
that all revenue legislation be 1niti-
ated in the House Of Representa-
tives. This safeguard was put into
our Constitution for very definite
reason. 1t was put in because the
House of Representatives is the
branch of our Government closest
to the people. 1t was put in
because the men who framed our
Constitution knew the power Of
the purse. They knew that If
injustice was to be prevented, the
people, through their representa-
tives, must control the purse. This
Is as true now as 1t was in 1887.
But under this administration
. revenue bills have not originated
in the House of Representatives.
They have been drafted by the
executive branch of the Govern
ment and driven through Congress
without adequate debate.
Hand in hand with the violation
of this constitutional safeguard has
gone the demand of the President
that Congress transfer to him its
control over the spending of public
funds.
Checks Signed by Congress
Filled in for $4,000, 900, 900.
Year after year the President
has gone to Congress and de-
manded vast sums to be spent at
his discretion. He has demanded
blank checks totaling over $4,000.
600, 900. Congress felt the political
power of these billions. 1t sur
rendered its responsibility over the
public purse-its duty to protect
the peoples money.
And what happened when Con-
gress surrendered this responsible
ity? What kind Of spending did
. we get? To describe the kind OF
spending that deluged the country
we had to invent a new word
"boondoggling."
Public money was spent to count
the trees in the capital OF your
State.
Money was spent to measure the
cubic contents OF buildings.
Public money was spent to build
a giant concrete checker board.
1t seemed to matter little so
long as public money was spent.
We got exactly the kind of
spending the President assured us
we would not get. When he de-
manded a blank check for $4,-
100000, 900 he said it would be
used for useful projects. In fact,
he said, ITO put a thousand men
to work with picks and shovels to
dig up q water, main on one side
OF the highway, and lay it again
on the other side of the highway,
is not only silly project. but 1t
destroys the morale Of the men
who are doing the job"
Resettlement Project Held
Worst Type Of BOondOggling.
The President was right. This
kind OF work does destroy morale.
But taking up water main on
one side Of the highway and lay
ing it down again on the other Is
not as bad as taking up people
from part Of the country and put
ting them down in another. Two
hundred and seventy-five million