Show Trimming the Gingerbread A A SMALL item In the paper the other day deserves a little special attention because It is a good sign that perhaps at last Washington Washington Washington Wash Wash- ington officialdom is getting down to cases casesi i in the war effort and eliminating a lot of nonessential governmental activities and expenditures expenditures expenditures ex ex- ex- ex so 80 as to concentrate money and man an power on those things which are necessary necessary necessary sary to winning the war The item revealed that President Roosevelt Roosevelt Roosevelt Roose Roose- velt had signed an order terminating the electric home and farm authority a governmental governmental governmental govern govern- mental agency created in 1935 to finance di distribution distribution dis dis- and sale of electric and gas ances Obviously with war limitations on production production pro pro- of such appliances there was no further further fur fur- further ther need for this agency Another good indication of retrenchment in nonessential government activities is a report report re re- report re- re port on the Home Owners' Owners Loan corporation published recently in Business Week maga maga- zine This agency once one of the biggest of the new deal is fast fading out of the picture Whereas in its heyday it had it now has only All state offices have been closed and three of 11 regional offices have been eliminated Of course the H 0 O L C still has considerable considerable considerable consider consider- able leftover business to attend to It has properties taken over from those who failed to make payments and still has loans ou standing outstanding But it t isn't anything like what it used to be In 1936 it had loaned out more than three billion dollars but almost half of that has now been collected Incidentally Incidentally Incidentally tally it is still uncertain how the H HOLC 0 L C Cwill Cwill will finally wind up on the balance sheet To date it nas lost on properties it has had to foreclose on and sell As a partial offset to to- this loss the agency has in reserves and nd they will rise considerably if payments and property values hold up during the next few years The elimination or retrenchment of these two governmental agencies doesn't of course mean that all nonessential government activity activity activity ity and spending has been halted or drastically drastically dras dras- curtailed There is still a lot of unnecessary spending and a lot of wasted man power in the labyrinthine maze of federal government We have so far hardly begun the task of trimming the gingerbread ad off of Uncle Sams Sam's house But at least we have made madea a beginning and there is hope the job which has been so well begun will be continued v J |