OCR Text |
Show CHESS ILL APPWLMKES Expected to Wield Axe On The Administrative Demands For Unlimited Cash. i I THE FISCAL FINANCIAL SITUATION IS SERIOUS Republican Senators Resolved to Protect Taxpayers From Unnecessary Burdens. Washington, Jan. 14, "The tax payers of this country simply won't stand for such expenditures, that's all there i to it. We've got to cut down such estimates as have been given us, there's no other way out of it. " Such are the declarations of Senator Reed Smoot, who is a member mem-ber of both the finance and appropriation appropria-tion committies of the Senate. Senator Smoot has made the statement state-ment that he expects to see $1,500,-000,000 $1,500,-000,000 cut from the estimates of the executive departments for the period ending June 30, 1921. This is one of the big problems facing the present Congress. Judging from the views expressed by Senator Smoot Congress is going to take the lawmaking bit into its teeth and overlde the extrav-j extrav-j agance of the executive branch of the government in order to carry out the Republican program of economy. Congress on its rvassemhing after the holiday recess determined to meet a most serious fiscal situation and weild the axe of economy right and left. Senator Smoot is not alone in his ideas of preventing extravagance extrava-gance for the Senate is planning to pay closer attention this year than ever before to all appropriation bills that are sent over from the House end of the Capitol. Expenditures will be cut to the bone by the Senate and only absolutly necessery expenditures expend-itures will be reported by the Senate committees. The sum of $1,600,000,000 which Senator Smoot and others hope can be saved to the taxpayers, is 50 per cent in excews of the total annual J national expenditure of this- country at the time of its entrance into the I European war. And it ia known that there are expenditures that have been fc-ver-looked or not yet known in making up the estimates. Nothing has been estimated for taking care of the railroad deficit on account of the government management, manage-ment, or mismanagement, which amounts am-ounts to $(100,000,000 and Congress cannot lose sight of this fact. The Secretary of the Treasury has admitted ad-mitted that the deficit will be $3,155,-888,543 $3,155,-888,543 by June 30, 1920. Senator Smoot, xvho has been working continually contin-ually on thx question during the congressional recess places his estimate es-timate on the deficit by that date at i;:',,'i.ill,000,000. |