The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1941-03-06
Example OF Insincerity
WASHINGTON, March

w aSnmSJ0n, Mafcn L.
In an emergency such as the one VIC
face, very clearly it is vital necessity
that the country as whole have real
confidence in the head Of the nation.
Without that, the national effort to
prepare ourselves and to aid the Brit
ishs cannot be fully effective.
***
1t is regrettable that the present
head of the nation should make it so
unnecessarily difficult for those not
on the Government pay roll, or who in
the past have dissented from his do
mestic policies, to have that kind of
confidence. There are many thousands
of these who are supporting Mr.
Roosevelt's lease-lend bill, his de-
Tense program and his general foreign
policy of all aid to Britain.
##*
Without their help the bill could NOT
pass and the policy would lack force.
These being the indisputable facts, the
Presidents habit of saying one thing
and doing quite another imposes d
strain to which they should not be
subjected Moreover, it makes these
Administration appeals to forget per-
sonalities and put aside prejudices in
the national interests seem hollow and
insincere. An instance of this is the
recent support given by the President
to the bill to increase the approp1ia-
ton of the so-called Office of Gov
eminent Reports from $750,000 annu-
ally to $1,500,000 Considering the
billions being poured out, this seems
a small thing indeed, but it is not
small at all as an example, and it is
anything but trivial when measured
against the Presidents words.
XXX
Last December as a press conference
he spoke of the necessity Of drastic
reductions in all governmental eX-
penses not connected with defense and
declared that he had asked all Gov
eminent agencies to "pare to the
bone" He made similar statements at
other conferences and dwelt upon the
necessity of cutting down in his budget
message. The urgency of economy was
stressed by the Federal Reserve Board,
and Mr.. Roosevelt announced that in
his budget he had effected a saving of
fifteen percent.
Challenging this, Senator Byrd de-
scribed the budget as a trick budget,
asserted that no cut had been made in
anything except relief and that that
was not cut, because no allowance
was made for the inevitable deficiency
appropriations. So far from showing
reduction, Mr.. Byrd contended that
the Presidents own figures prove that
the normal expenses next year will be
increase d instead of decreased.
Though various A m n S I a i n
spokesman promised to answer Mr..
Byrd's charges, none has denied them.
His figures and his statements on the
subject stand entirely uncontradicted.
#*#
This increase sought for the Office
of Government Reports, however, is
so completely at variance with the
principle avowed by the President on
the subject of expenses that it ought
to have general attention. The request
for this one hundred percent increase
comes from Mr.. Lowell Mellett, head
of the agency and one of Mr.. Roose-
velt's administrative assistants" 1t
has complete White House support,
without which it would have no chance
whatever. The President has written
personal letter indorsing the work
of the agency. There seems no doubt
that it will go through.
#**
The Office of Government Reports
succeeded the old National Emergency
Council, created in the early New
Deal days. Curtailment by Congress
of the NEG appropriation was made
several years ago At one time the
NEG had a large payroll, with repre-
sentatives in every State. Its person
mel was reduced, it's scope restricted
and its name changed after the pass
age of the Reorganization Act. There
were plenty who thought it should be
totally abolished-and still do They
regarded it then as a propaganda
agency and, despite Mr. Meleltt's de
NAL, still so regard it. Under Mr.. Mel
lett, it does some useful work in sup
plying information to members of
Congress. 1t keeps an extensive clip
ping bureau. 1t keeps, also, a close
watch on the newspapers and pre-
pares a digest for the President of
what the press is doing.
###
And it does a lot of other things
Mr.. Mellett's assertion of its complete
innocence of propaganda, like his as
sertion that there has been no thought
of censorship in Administration cir
cles, of course, is not taken any more
seriously than the contention that the
multitudinous Government pre- S