Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-02-04

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
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it's rate making power straight in
to the laps of the politicians.
Of course, the Presidential mes
sage on this point appears on its
face to provide against the end that
I have mentioned but old timers in
congress point out how this wedge,
driven only a little further, will
bring about political domination of
the ICC.
1t is hardly necessary here to set
down all of the potential dangers
~, that can emanate
Potential from political con-
Dangers troll of such a vast
structure as the
railroads of the United States. It
is unlimited in it's possibilities. Dan
gers are inherent in any program
of that kind with which the politi-
clans are identified and it appears
to be a circumstance in which con-
gress, if it is going to serve the
people properly, should call halt.
AS to the general accounting Of
flee and the plant to include it in
the Treasury again under the rule
of an auditor general, the reorgani-
cation scheme simply will set con-
troll of public expenditures back a
quarter of a century. One of the
earlier Presidents made no effort
to conceal the use that could be
made of the auditing unit of the gov
eminent when he said, on an occa-
sion where the chief auditor ruled
an expenditure illegal, that if it
were not possible to change the
ruling under the law, it still was
possible to change the chief auditor.
I am not making a charge that
the present administration desires
to spend congressional appropria-
tions Illegally; but one cannot dodge
the conversations that are taking
place around the Capitol in which
legislators recall how President
Roosevelt criticized John R. Nc Carl
when he was comptroller general
for a decision that prevented use
of public money in manner de-
sired by the President. To sum up
this particular phase of the stu
alton, one hardly need to say more
than that if the auditor general
is a subordinate of the Secretary
of the Treasury, he is likely to take
orders from the Secretary of the
Treasury, whoever that. Secretary
may be. And, since the Secretary
of the Treasury is an appointee of
the President and serves only at
the Presidents pleasure, in my
mind link is established where
by the White House again will con-
troll determination of legality and
Illegally of expenditures.
Congress created the general ac-
counting office in order that it would
have an agency independent of the
Chief Executive and the executive
departments to keep tab on how
those executive agencies expend-
ed the money which congress ap-
propriated. That was the reason
why the office of comptroller gener-
al was made to carry a fifteen
year appointment with removal only
for malfeasance or misfeasance.
Now it is proposed to tear down
that structure and bring the whole
auditing organization under a cab
met officer.
But there is another phase to be
considered. 1t has been my good
fortune to be in Washington dur
ing the entire life of the general
accounting office as we'll as for sew
eral years before. Of my own knowl-
edge, I can say that the general
accounting Office has recovered mil
lions of dollars of illegally disbursed
funds as well as prevented illegal
disbursement of other millions.
There seems to be more support
for inclusion of the civil service
commission in the
CiOA form of a civil
Service service admins
traitor under an
executive department than there is
support for breaking up of the fed
eral trade commission as the Presi-
dent proposed. Neither of these
agencies has such an important
bearing on the public as a whole
as do the other two I have dis