Montgomery County sentinel., 1938-01-20

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 say new items, 1 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-
tion to these scads of little items
,,,, that, like so many
WheTe 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 $1,825, 100000. Each of the
various agencies therein has it's
necessary" expenditures to keep
going, and a 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 a permanent
drain on the taxpayers. Unless his
tory is changed, quite a 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 debt that ought not to
be so great. There is not much
chance, therefore, to effect econ
omy in that direction. Thus, it seems
that if the President is sincere about
reducing government expenditures
and if the politicians in congress
have any courage, they had better
start looking at the children that are
growing up. ! mean the children
OF older government agencies as
well as the new children whose par
ents are politicians.
In this connection, let us advert
to that budget mentioned at the
opening of this discussion. The De-
partment of Commerce that year
was getting something like seven
million dollars, as / recall. In this
years budget the appropriation is
for $44, 100000.
Now, / assume some one will point
out that the functions of the Depart
ment of Commerce have expanded
immeasureably. That is true. The
development of aviation has added
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penditure Of that government
agency. In other words, the federal
government has to meet new condi-
tions just like its citizens must meet
new conditions. But the point am
trying to make is this: there are
enough of those necessary expendi-
lures, outgo that cannot be avoided
because they represent real govern
mental functions, without adding q
lot of trick schemes, visionary
ideas, theoretical possibilities to the
functions of the federal government.
There is not space here to list them,
but every one of the older agencies
has been guilty Of biting off new
appropriations through the medium
Of a new child or two or three of
its own every few years. l am not