Evening star., 1937-02-25
Muddled Authority.

MuOOlcO AutnOf1ty.
Is statutory regulation of the practice
OF beauty culture in the District of Co.
lumbia in accord with the policies of
the President of the United States and
the Democratic administration? What
about the proposal to permit incorpora-
ton of the National Association of State
Librarians? Should the National Rifle
Association of the United States be eX-
empt from taxation under these policies?
Should capital punishment be abolished
In the District? Should changes be per-
mitted in the streets to permit erection
of q new Pan-American Union Building,
or should the streets remain where they
are and the building be constructed on
stills or underground?
These are only few of the weighty
questions which have been referred to
the Budget Bureau by the District Com
nissioners, who have punched all the
local bills introduced at this session Of
Congress and dutifully sent them to the
Budget Bureau for report. There they
will be studied and possibly referred to
the National Emergency Council for more
study. The Nation, of course waits with
bated breath upon the decisions.
The Commissioners, meanwhile, must
under no condition permit their own
views regarding these and other measures
to become known until the pontifical
verdicts of the Budget Bureau have been
announced. Then they may speak. If
their views differ from those Of the
Budget Bureau they may either withhold
them or place themselves in the position
of advocating something in opposition to
the Presidents policy.
This laborious and nonsensical process
Is time-wasting and in itself enough to
destroy initiative in intelligent analysis
and advocacy of local legislation by Dis
trict officials. 1t is more than that. 1t Is
confusing and bewildering, piling up
enough red tape to delight the busy
bureaucrats who have devised the system,
DuL lcdflllS GIlC 4ONoA Cs'Npoy N4o
In a hopeless mo Mans Land" between
the Commissioners and the anonymous
individuals at the Budget Bureau who
reach their decisions behind locked doors.
An example of the confusion under this
system is found in the urgent plea trans
mitted to the Commissioners last October
for deficiency funds to care for great
number of unfortunate individuals whose
part-time employment, not enough to
provide for their support, has at the same
time made them ineligible both for local
and w. p. A. relief Under the Presi-
dents policy of caring for the un-
fortunate, so often and so eloquently
sounded by administration leaders, it
would seem that in the District of Co.
lumbia, under the exclusive control OF
the National Government, something
might be done for these people. But after
four months it is found that nothing
can be done.
An informal" conference, it seems,
with Budget Bureau officials clearly
showed there was no chance of obtaining
Budget Bureau approval of further re-
quests to Congress for funds. And ac-
cording to one of those who took part
in an informal conference, the social
workers asked for bread and were given
a stone in the form of lecture revealing
the personal predictions of the bureau
official whose attitude toward public re-
lief is so plainly contradictory to the an
nounced policies of this administration
that his unwilling audience is left COM
pletely befuddled. The views of an Off
cial of the Budget Bureau on social
workers" and the responsibility of the
churches are not important, but the fact
that an official at the Budget Bureau
has the authority to deliver such dicta
while passing on such questions is i'm
portant.
II is idle to talk of improving the
functioning Of the municipal government
until the Commissioners are given some
authority and the responsibility which
accompanies its exercise. With authority
now divided between the Commissioners
and the Budget Bureau, not to mention
Congress, there is hopelessly divided re-
sponsibility which only encourages in
action and the passing of the buck.