Evening star., 1941-05-22

the era of eX-
trava ganCe is David Lawrence.
unchecked and the same slipshoc
methods of spending the people!
money are being practiced which
have been the political habit il
normal times.
1t would seem that with selectivt
service men serving in the Army al
S21 a month and with taxpayers
being asked to pay taxes up tC
almost the point of confiScation
the Congress would have a more
realistic conception of what is 60
ing on in America than they appear
to have had when they voted to
disregard the Budget Bureaus rec
ommendation and thus created
additional jobs for bureaucracy S
persecution of American industry
The Budget Bureau functions
under the direction of the Presi-
dent. Each department comes be-
fore it and presents estimates. The
antitrust division of the Depart
ment of Justice asked for a bigger
appropriation. 1t was given not all
that 1t sought, but nevertheless
S250,000 more than the previous
year, when it received S1.323, 900.
Budget Bureau Defied.
Under the executive orders of the
President, it is not permissible for
subordinate officials to lobby in
Congress for Appropriations. They
are supposed to abide by the de-
ciSion of the Budget Bureau. In
this instance the Attorney General
head of the Department of Justice
did abide by the rule. But his sub
ordinate, the Assistant Attorney
General, Mr.. Arnold, responding to
an invitation to appear before a
House committee, not only advo-
Gated a higher appropriation, but
persuaded the House committee to
increase it by S750,OOO. This increase
was eliminated by the unanimous
action of the Senate Committee on
Appropriations. Thereupon pande-
monium seemingly broke loose in
the antitrust division of the De-
partment of Justice. Data and
memoranda, extracts from pend
ing court suits and a pile of propa-
ganda Smearing corporations whose
cases are before the Federal courts
we're fed to Senators, who used them
as ammunition almost verbat tim in
their speeches on the Senate floor
Senator McCarran, Democrat, of
Nevada tried in vain to persuade
his fellow Senators to uphold the
Budget Bureau. One of the Sena-
tors openly said: "I do not care
what the Budget Bureau says"
This was the spirit of the spender
group, especially after it was
brought out that the purpose of the
fund was to harass American busi-
ness and industry. Not a single
Senator of the Republican party
supposed to be the opposition party
arose to counteract this type of
attack, much of which was based
on misstatementS and misrepre-
sentation of the facts.
Vital Defense Item.
Senator La Toilette, who wanted
70 see the funds increased, naively
remarked:
Il realize that for many months
It has been popular in the Senate
to dress up in the garb of national
defense all items of appropriation
upon which favorable action is de-
sired. However, after the investi-
cation which I have been able to
make into the issues involved in
the item Of Appropriation under con-
sideration I am firmly convinced
that the s750,000 item involved
here is one of the most vital and
important national defense items
that this Congress has considered
during the present session"
Senator La Toilette, one of the
leading isolationists, has not ex-
hibited much concern about the
defense program in any other ma
jor respect. He never made an in
vestigation of the reasons why
IlEll I1lIul " dS lillJUcu W Uullu
up huge air force while America
slept or, specifically, the reasons why
the Congress of the United States
as late as March, 1910, answered
the request of the Army Air Corps
for 1000 combat planes by furnish
ing only 166 planes. But he be-
lieves now that American industry
should be prosecuted just the same
for having failed, for instance. to
provide aluminium for planes that
the Government itself never
thought of ordering before year
ago.
President Circumvented.
Nothing in the debate reveals
what is to be done for the defense
program with the additional $780,
900 that cannot be done with the
big appropriation previously ap-
proved by the Budget Bureau for
the antitrust division. Senator
McCarran made this statement to
the Senate:
Under the bill as reported, he
fMr. Arnold of the antitrust di-
vision will have $250,0O0 more than
he had for the current year. He
can devote that $25O,000 to taking
care of things that inpinge upon
the welfare of the farmers of Amer
lea. He can employ so lawyers at
$4,000 per annum and go forward.
We have given him the money to
do it, and it is in this bill He can
enforce all the laws that affect all
antitrust matters that touch upon
the farmers, and the American
Farm Bureau Federation will find
itself entirely taken care of by the
S250,000 written into this bill. Fifty
more lawyers added to I'll will not
make bad army to go forward
with the enforcement of the anti
trust laws"
But the Seenate paid no attention
10 these argumets. 1t listened in
stead to the contentious of the
Senators who admitted having been
Influenced by the antitrust division
itself. Thus does a Government
bureau circumvent the President S
own executive order after lobbying
for appropriations.