Evening star., 1951-12-02
Governmental Waste
An Election Issue
Writer Sees Change Needed
To Prevent Disaster
By Fronk R. Kent

The really awful thing in this Gov.
ernment is waste. 1t constitutes the
greatest of all threats to the health
and permanency of the Republic-to
the well-being of its citizens. Nothing
else is SO hard to contend with. so
demoralizing and rulnous.
Some waste, of course, is inseparable
from our form Of government and our
kind of politics. but nothing approach
ing the waste of today ever was dreamed
of previously in this or any other coun-
try. Many thoughtful men believe the
door to unrestrained waste really was
opened when universal, unrestricted
suffrage became fact. In Nation as
vast as this that diminishes the
weight of the intelligent voters and
vastly enhanced that of the uninformed
and unintelligent whose votes are in
fiuenced solely by emotion and preju-
dice. But, most will agree that the real
start of the present period of unchecked
waste began in 1884 when the New
Deal spending policies were launched
and the great rush to get on the Fed
eral payrolls began.
At that time an astute and exceed
ingly clear-headed man-now dead
who knew both politics and history.
said: I'VE have started something in
this country we cannot STOP" These
were prophetic words, indeed. Steadily,
the army of jobholders has increased,
the Treasury spigots have opened wider
and wider, the number of those receiv-
ing Federal funds has multiplied and
the orgy of waste began. Today one in
every 26 persons is receiving relief in
some form-and this in period of high
prosperity and full employment. Years
ago men like Senator Byrd of Vir-
ginia called attention to the danger.
But they were powerleSs against the
appetites to which the spending policies
appealed and against the politicians,
from President down, who had found a
formula for political success through
the use of public instead of private
funds. Never was this as graphically
expressed as by the late Harry Hop
kins in his famous utterance-"We are
going to tax, tax, tax, spend, spend,
spend, elect, elect. elect"
That told the story cynically but with
complete truth. After II years, the
result is stupendouss Federal machine
manned by more than million payroll
employees and an enormously expanded
system of subsidies. pensions and hand
outs. Almost unbelievable waste, in
efficiency and corruption have ensued.
All efforts to stem the tide have proved
futile. Even now when we must spend
many billions for defense, there has been
no administration move to curtail nom
defense expenditures. though it has been
shown that ST billion a year could be
saved without crippling the defense pro-
gram or any vital governmental agency.
AS of today. the Federal debt and
deficit have become unmanageable; Fed
eral finances are out of control and the
President has made it clear there will
be no abandonment of New Deal-Fair
Deal spending policies if the Democrats
continue in power. This declaration has
surprised no one, it being clear that the
great voting groups upon which the ad-
ministration depends hinge their sup
port on these policies. That astute
statesman was right. There simply is
no stopping for the Democratic Party
as now constituted. It has to go to the
end. Few men capable of detached
Judgment think the inevitable collapse
can be averted another four years-if
the tax, spend, elect" formula again is
successful. That is why so many
thoughtful Democrats feel the only
hope for national safety is in a change.