The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1938-01-20

upon to write the lead" or general
story about the annual estimates of
expenditures sent to congress that
day. The late L. c. Probert was
my chief. He read my story and
ordered me to rewrite the first para
graph, saying: "You ought to stress
that total more; make it read some
thing to the effect that billion dol
lar congress has arrived Show
where these government expendi-
lures are heading"
The circumstance impressed me
for some reason. I can recall the
incident as wildly as though it were
yesterday: ''The era of billion dol
lar congresses appears to be upon
us" but it was one of those incidents
that was just a good story to a
writer. Little did I realize then
what it would mean when viewed
from the perspective, say, OF 1898,
for only the other day President
Roosevelt submitted the annual es-
Inmates, now called the budget, for
the next fiscal year. The call was
for Sc, 1868, 043 900. That was not all.
He said there likely would be addi-
tional requests for money later
and he added a most significant
expression or observation that prob
ably we can expect the annual
federal budget to run around seven
billion dollars in the future.
In truth, where are these govern
ment expenses heading? And what
do they mean in the lives of pres
ent and future citizens and taxpay-
! ers? What does it mean in taxa
ton and especially when one con-
siders that besides this list of sched-
uled expenditures, there is little
matter of thirty-eight billion dol
lars in national debt? Then, we
ought to remember there has been
deficit for nine successive years
nine years during which the gov
eminent has spent more than it re-
ceived in income, and there probab-
ly will be at least one more.
AS the figures were approved by
the President and sent to the capitol,
the government will spend $3.50, 000,-
600 (its defcits) more during the
fiscal year that starts next July
than taxes will bring into the
treasury. That means, Of course,
more borrowing and more borrow
ing means an increase in the public
debt. Onward and upward! Or
should we say it in a revised form:
| upward-and upwardi
Most of the newspapers made
headlines out of several items be-
cause they were huge, immense.
Attention was called to the fact that
the appropriation for national de-
fense-the army, the navy, the ma
rine corps-was 1891 100000. That
was the greatest peacetime total in
history. They also referred at length
to billion dollar appropriation for
relief, and to an item of $976, 000,-
600 in interest on the public debt,
and to $685., O00,0 900 for pensions to
veterans of wars.
These are startling in their size.
They should occasion comment.
Sometimes I think it requires stag
gering totals to cause people to stop
and think bit. Maybe these will
do that. But in any event, the
budget just submitted to me seems to
carry some additional significance,
matters that deserve more thought
than the size of those items men,
toned. I refer to the general trend
as exemplified by the Presidents
remark that we may expect seven
billion dollar budgets in the future.
AS to that indication, is it not
about time to call halt? Through
out the nearly twelve hundred pages
of figures in the budget, as printed,
everywhere one can point to new
items or expansion of old ones.
When I say new items, I refer to
expenditures that have come along
in the last six or eight years.
Scores of them have bobbed up in
the last four or five years in the
great war on the depression; 9TH
ers have just bobbed up.
I prefer, therefore, to call atten-
ton to these scads of little items
80, that, like so many
Where holes in a tank,
Danger Lies are allowing pub
lie money to flow
away without trace or benefit. That
is why I think there should be a
good deal of attention paid to the
general heading in the budget Sin
dependent units" Because, tucked
away in the list is where the dam
gers lie.
The total for the independent units
of the federal government is in ex-
cess of 81 1926, 0O0,000 Each of the
various agencies therein has its
necessary" expenditures to keep
going, and good many of them,
about half a dozen, certainly have
their value to the country as a
whole. But the new children in that
family are growing up. They are
funny looking children in some
cases. What they will grow out to
be, their proud parents surely cam
not forecast. Who knows whether
they will develop their own clan and
| become rooted as permanent
drain on the taxpayers. Unless his
tory is changed, quite number of
them will have children of their own
in the shape Of new bureaus and
new duties as the politicians find
new ways of spending money.
1t is made to appear that we can
not avoid such expenditures as
those for national defense, those
for veterans who have served their
country well, those in payment of
interest on a debt that ought not to
be so great. There is not much