The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1943-09-29
Washington
Column
By JAMES THR

No, your glasses don,t
changing, and it's no nois4., nsed
the printers. You read II i@N TO- Of
the first time. The United s tsgat
government, with the b,goest 9Ia'es
get and the biggest nationsi 9 9aC
in history, is saving mon lone "s0'
1t isn't saving much, to ba
But you can take the solemn pr1e
OF MIR. Harold D, Smith. dire @%so
Of the Bureau of the Budget 'e W.
Uncle Sam is mana PING ~ Aas
a little away. It is the B,,5 Sa,s
Bureaus job to see that he r T
Maybe you thought tbe b,' uoeS'
spent its tine in adding ~, ~'ea u
the money that everybody in oo AL
eminent wants, and in nras eoY'
ing the staggering sum to Congrana' '
in weighty annual volume 0 oeS
ed THE U. S. Budget" Wen I'l !,
does that, of course. B1t ~. II
its other functions is TO brjns
about more efficient and economi'
cal conduct of government "
Along these lines, Mr.. Smith 49,,
his staff are constantly cbeckin a
On various government operat;ons
to see if time and manpower ,rS
material resources, as wei, ~.
money, can't be saved
Mr.. Smith thinks that The ro,
eminent is setting good s srt
inflationary example, even tbmsh
he is "keenly aware that mf sA
takes have been made and FIJI.
ures have occurred, and frankly
some mistakes and fumbling will
occur in the future
| He points out that, While NJ,
present danger of initiation is qreat.
er than it was in the last war
we have so far done a better ioh
of economic sterilization, If iv.
ing costs then had been pegged
at 1941 levels Gnstead of more Than
doubling themselves by June, 1920
as happened, Mr.. Smith estimates
that one-third of the war cost
could have been saved,
What the Budget Bureau is do.
ing today is not too big Or Compli.
Gated for the ordinary citizen 10
understand. the director feels In
fact, he thinks that this same
citizen can cut the bureaus ex.
ample down to his own size and
Igain few valuable pointers, both
On how to stretch available sup.
plies as far as possible, and how
to save money to invest in War
Bonds and fight the rising cost
of living.
Take that money, for instance,
The Budget Bureau is the fiscal
Year 1913 held S341 1000, 600 in re.
serve from various Departments
and agencies. This is to be saw
ed or, if necessary, used in an
emergency. Of course, 34l NIL
lions isn't lot of money, as gov.
eminent money goes. 1t wouldn't
even run the war for two days
But it might come in handy, And
you, the budget director points
out, can do likewise.
Also you might poke about in
your attic and closets and come
up with something disable. You
can't quite expect 10 find such
treasures as the Budget Bureau
did; they unearthed, among other
things, several cases Of light bulbs
and paper clips, consignment
of office desks. 10 carloads Of
nails, and one railroad locan@
tive. Still, it's worth try.
The business man might Na
pointer or two from the way III
bureau goes after problems "
personal management, working e.
ficiency and employe morale HERE
says Mr.. Smith, the obiectlve
are "to simplify and eliminate as
many records, procedures anu
other pencil-pushing activities as
possible, and to help superVlSos
manage employees properly 50 'Na'
the government will get maxi
mum amount of work at the lea"
cost.
The bureau cuts corners IN
lot of other ways, too. 1t pu' w
squeeze on printing and use
government letterheads, ana sa
ed some 9,5o0,OOO pounds Of ps'
per and S2,000,OOO a year 1t 81,
ed 100000 square feet OF 'va"
Washington office space by @.
ing 41,881 federal employ"
other cities. NJ!
1t quickly shipped Leftover NM
and CCC facilities to help o',,
military airfields and the A-''1l
Highway. It studied Operations II,
nrivate truck lines, and saved a'
government motor fleets al I
mated $50, 900 gallons of oil. IN t1n'
mating two proposed invs' '@.5
ton programs, the bureau mt
the work of 1000 persons III Ne
instance, and ST 500, ooo !"
other