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Show I'HK I.Kinl'V f.KMI. I HAH .,vnrrtT Al?nTf,A. Budge! Bureau Assumes New Importance to Nation Director Harold D. Smith Responsible Only To President; Real Value Lies in Counsel Given to Nation's Lawmakers. By BAUKIIAGE News A naly tt and Commentator. WNU Service. 1343 II Street. N-W, Washington, D. C. . A budget that bites. " That Is what the United States gov- ernment will have it Harold Dewey Smith, director of the bureau of the budget since April, 1939, when Amer lea started Its astronomical spend ing, has his way. He Is not concerned with the size of Uncle Sam's bill alone his Job is to see that the dollars appropriated appropriat-ed by the congress go to work,,that .no dollars are appropriated which aren't r.eeded to do the Job the con. gress wants done, that no two dollars dol-lars are doing the same job. I thought it would be Interesting to take a look at the man who had just given his okeh to the biggest budget in American history while the ink en the report was still damp. So I wended my way up the curling staircase of the solemn old State De partment building to his office (sec end-floor front) and was ushered into ' the presence of Mr. Smith, a bland-faced bland-faced gentleman from Kansas with middlewestem accent like the one which echoes through my natal corn fields. The last conversations between be-tween Mr. Smith and the President were taking place just before the 1943 budget message was completed. complet-ed. Mr. Smith, who budgets his own time as well as the government's money, gave me some fiscal philosophy philos-ophy between pipe-puffs. "A budget should be an administrative adminis-trative tool," he told me quietly, speaking with a happy combination of the poker-faced accountant and the aid-shoe corner-store crony. Budgeting for governments municipal, mu-nicipal, state, nation were the result re-sult af the efforts of the reformers, he explained. But, as usual, when the reformers had the laws passed they ran oil and left them to administer ad-minister themselves. The result was that budgeting dried up into bookkeeping book-keeping routine. "I have a new concept of budgeting," budget-ing," he said with a forthright modesty mod-esty that characterizes his remarks about his work, "any clerk can add up figures." The' real Job of the budget bureau is to examine the programs of the administrative agencies for which the cash is to be spent, to weigh their significance in terms of economic service not just publish a report every year as big as a dictionary that serves to confuse con-fuse the public. The year before Smith came into office the bureau of the budget had an appropriation of 187 thousand dollars dol-lars 30 thousand of that went into the publication of the bound report In other words, the agency which bottlenecks the spending of billions had 150 thousand to spend on itself. Separate Entity The bureau by law is a separate entity which is under no department. The director is responsible to the President The bureau reports to congress. "It is a staff agency," Smith pointed point-ed out, "detached, objective, critical." crit-ical." Today in Washington there is no doubt that this detached and objective objec-tive criticism has become a powerful element in the writing of laws of the land. Before a bill is passed it goes under the microscope of the budg-eteers. budg-eteers. Smith, it is generally admitted, admit-ted, has as much influence on the President when it comes to the formation for-mation of policy which is frozen into law, as any man in Washington. He reviews every bill which is passed and advises whether the President should sign it or veto it. But the real, constructive value of the bureau of the budget which has been given a dynamic force under Smith's direction, is the advice and counsel tt can render in advance of the passage of legislation. Proponents of a bill ask the budget bureau's advice before they present their testimony to the committees which pass We or death sentences on measure. And it is Smith's idea to make this an increasingly positive function; to compile frequent fre-quent Important technical reports on proposed programs for the guidance of the committees. The budget bureau has always consulted con-sulted with the departments and agencies and the common practice of a department head is to ask for more than he expects in the hope he won't get much less than he wants. Smith's idea is to provide active co BRIEFS The Forest Service has reported to the secretary of agriculture that about 80 per cent of all cutting on private timberlands is "still without conscious regard to perpetuating timber growth." The census director has estimated that 54,000,000 persons In the United States are without legal proof of birth. operation by obtaining data on how current programs are functioning before be-fore renewing or increasing appropriations. appro-priations. Thus the budget becomes a tool of administration. Confusion He gave me an example of one problem he is working on now. "Today there is confusion and conflict con-flict between many government departments de-partments and agencies. Examination Examina-tion of their methods Is clparing this up. There is even conflict and confusion con-fusion between agencies and their own field forces. This the budget bureau with a field force of its own can eliminate," Smith believes. "When an agency doesn't like the way we examine the administration of its program and says, 'you are getting into operation,' I tell them, 'No, we are not. We don't want to operate but we do intend to be constructively con-structively critical.'" ' Another constructive Job that Smith feels is important is reconciliation reconcili-ation between the government agen cy asking congress for money and congress trying to keep down costs on the one hand, or trying to bring new benefits to its constituencies, on the other. "Congress has a tendency to shy away from bureaucracy, the bureau heads 'have a distrust of congress. Congress frequently gets facts mixed with policy. But facts are facts. Our job is to get the facts and to present them objectively." Politics doesn't worry Smith. He served under three governors of Michigan, of highly different temperament tem-perament party aid policies and he says that politics entered very little into the decisions made by any of them on the recommendations he made. He said that the same thing ap plies to his experience with Presi dent Roosevelt "We may not have made all the recommendations we shoiild," he said, "but 90 per cent of those we have made uie resident nas ac cepted." Since his college days, when he specialized in engineering, and later in civil administration, Smith has been engaged in some phase of the work he is doing now: regulating the "ways and means" of government. govern-ment. 1 . Plans are started which may result re-sult In many prospective women veterans, the WAACS, the WAVES, the WAFS, and the SPARS, who will have been living under regular military mili-tary discipline for the duration a form of existence about as different from anything that home offers, as could possibly be. From a Commentator's Mail: Draft boards seem ruthless ... We have four small children under 12 years of age. One a tiny baby and I wonder if I am selfish in needing need-ing his (the father's) advice and help to raise the children. Colorado. Colo-rado. Tbe Fish and Game commission rides on rubber. Why cannot their trucks, tires, etc., be turned over to the government? New York. My husband is classed as 3A and is just 36. He has had both shop and metal experience and follows both as a hobby. He would give anything Just now to get into defense work, but he has 15 years seniority in one of the biggest insurance companies. com-panies. His job is guaranteed if he is drafted . . but they will not release him to go voluntarily into a vital industry. California. As farmers, we work from 70 to 100 hours a week and a good deal of this effort Is for Interest on borrowed bor-rowed money. Honestly, daring wartimes we do not feel that we are a "favored" class but are doing our best to do onr share. Colorado. It is my humble opinion it is time we plant our feet on the ground and eliminate some of this Sunday School letter news and give the people peo-ple facts. Louisiana. My husband owns and operates a liquor store ... Since liquor Is non-perishable non-perishable and meat is, I can't see why we stay open JG5 days of the year and a butcher shop closes Its doors every Sunday and holiday. California. During the recent scrap drive I have seen copper toys with rubber tires displayed in store windows The irony of It! Louisiana. by Baukhage The War Production board has set up an office to handle complaints about its questionnaires. A new floating match box has been developed for United States soldiers expecting mountain or jungle duty. The new container has an emergency emergen-cy compass built in to the top. and it is so strong it will not break if a man falls on it WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Corn Ceiling Aids Livestock Producers; 51 Billion Tax Bill Will Help Nation Meet War Budget and Defeat Inflation; U. S.-Britain Relinquish China Rights Releaud by Weitern Newipaper Union. f; - PPKh&2h ,yW'V, ' D..IMI.. .." ...ill In Wur RninAK Is all tiart nf thft dav's Work for American army engineers. This particular 'road under construction near Port Moresby, main Allied base in New Guinea, Is so steep that the men must bold on to ropes to keep from falling backward. The grade drops about 65 degrees behind them. CORN CEILINGS: Spur Meat Production Although Food Administrator Claude Wickard had been" steadily urging farmers to increase meat dairy, poultry and egg production to meet war demands, the price of corn bad been rising to a point where farmers found it more profitable to sell than to use the grain to feed cattle, hogs and chickens. Moving to stabilize corn prices the OPA under instructions from Stabi lization Director James F. Byrnes imposed a ceiling at January 8th to 12th prices for 60 days, promising permanent ceilings later. Declaring Declar-ing that these ceiling prices were in excess of 100 per cent of parity when taking into consideration AAA benefit payments, officials said the ceilings would establish price rela tionships at which farmers would find it profitable to feed, thus preventing pre-venting shortages of vitally needed foods. As observers had expected, the government action produced repercussions. reper-cussions. Livestock feeders were pleased, since grain prices were stabilized; sta-bilized; corn growers, whose profit incentive for maintaining record production was reduced, expressed displeasure. CHINESE FREEDOM: Real but Deferred China was too busy fighting Japs to take time off to celebrate the treaty by which Great Britain and the United States abolished extraterritorial extrater-ritorial rights. But this action meant that once the Japs were ousted, China would enjoy real and unqualified unquali-fied freedom for the first time in a century. The agreements, subject to favorable favor-able XL S. senate action will do away with political, military, commercial and judicial preferences under which Britain and America hold jurisdiction jurisdic-tion over their own shipping in Chinese Chi-nese ports, their own special law courts in Shanghai, their international internation-al settlements and their right to maintain troops in China. Months,, and , perhaps years remained re-mained to complete the readjustments, readjust-ments, but the march for Chinese freedom had begun. NAVAL LOSSES: U. S. Lists Names "Reasons of military security" no longer made secrecy necessary, so the navy announced the names of 11 warships previously reported as lost in three battles of the Solomons. The list included the 20,000-ton aircraft air-craft carrier Hornet and two of the nation's fastest and newest light cruisers, the Juneau and Atlanta and the heavy cruiser Northampton. Likewise reported as sunk were seven destroyers, the Cushing, Preston, Pres-ton, Benham, Walke, Monssen, Laf-fey Laf-fey and Barton. Commanders of five of the ships were listed as missing, while the skippers of the other six, including Rear Adm. Charles P. Mason of the Hornet were reported safe. Greatest losses were in the epic sea battle off Guadalcanal in November when all seven destroyers and both light cruisers were sunk. In this batUe, 28 Jap ships were destroyed. HIGHLIGHTS LONDON: Fresh eggs, as priceless price-less as thick sirloin steaks, returned to the ordinary British consumer's diet on at least a token basis, it was announced officially here. Ordinary consumers were scheduled to get one fresh egg a month. Priority classes, including nursing mothers, invalids and infants will get a dozen a month. Powdered egg rations remained a dozen a person a month. BUDGET: Asks 109 Billions Plenty of headaches for Hitler and Hirohito were inherent in the epochal $109,000,000,000 total war budget for the 1943-44 fiscal year which congress con-gress was scanning studiously. Largest budget in world history, the total would devote $100,000,000,000 to war activities, the remainder to domestic do-mestic government expense and interest in-terest on the national debt which by July, 1944, would reach $210,000,000.-000. $210,000,000.-000. . Plenty of wrinkles furrowed the brows of fiscal experts as they contemplated con-templated the stupendous budget. The mere act of spending such sums meant bringing nearer the specter of inflation. With more money jingling jin-gling in American pockets because of war-boosted income and fewer goods to buy because of necessary war . rationing the nation faced a supreme economic test. Antidote to the inflation threat was President Rosevelt's dual-purpose recommendation: Syphon off $16,-000,000,000 $16,-000,000,000 in new taxes or forced savings from national income; add this to the present $35,000,000,000 tax bill and thus provide $51,000,000,000 which would pay about half the war costs and be a potent checkmate to inflation. And to- enable wage earners earn-ers to meet the steadily mounting bill, moves had been speeded to provide pro-vide pay-as-you-go machinery for collecting the new levies. RUSSIA: Decision at Rostov? Military strategists eyed Rostov, key communications city at the mouth of the Don river. Here, they felt, history would be written in weeks to come that would deter mine whether Hitler's Russian adventure ad-venture would be a Complete rout or merely disaster deferred. Toward Rostov converged the re treating Nazi armies from the south, east and north. Toward Rostov, too, moved the advancing Russian ar mies whose successful winter'offen- sives had badly upset Nazi tactical calculations. Here the struggle would reach decisive stages. Continued gains of the Russians in the Caucasus south of Rostov-gains Rostov-gains which carried them beyond the strategic rail city of Georgieysk in incredibly short period? suggested suggest-ed to some observers that the German Ger-man armies were retiring with virtually vir-tually no resistance to the Rostov area. These observers pointed out that at Rostov the Nazis might make as bitterly stubborn a resistance as the Reds had at Stalingrad northwest north-west on the Volga. SUPREME COURT: FDR Sets Record George Washington had appointed the original six members of the Supreme Su-preme court and filled seven vacancies vacan-cies during his two terms. Franklin D. Roosevelt set a record for the number named by one President since Washington's time when he selected Judge Wiley B. Rutledge as his eighth appointee to the tribu-naL tribu-naL , As the court is now constituted Owen J. Roberts, appointed by Pres ident Hoover, is. the only justice on the court not named by Roosevelt in the week's news PAniS: Because he attempted to oppose tee Germans when they completed com-pleted their occupation of France last November, Maj. Gen. De Lattre Tass:'gny was sentenced to 10 years impriscr ment by a special court the Vichy radio reported. General Tas-signy Tas-signy was in command of the Mont-pelier Mont-pelier district and led his men in a short and abortive revolt At one time he was a Tunisian commander. Mud Enemy No. 1 Mud and recurrent tropical rains had continued to make anything but air activity virtually Impossible on the Tunisian North Africa front While optimistic estimates predicted better weather by early February, other forecasts lengthened the rainy season until March. But a four-way threat to the narrowing nar-rowing African coastal region still in Axis hands was steadily developing develop-ing as Allied aircraft attacked German Ger-man and Italian bases over a 600-mile 600-mile area. From Tunisia a French column was reported to have cut across into Tripolitania some 300 miles below Tripoli. Another French column from the Lake Chad area was moving mov-ing north. On the east the British eighth army under Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery was pressing the remnants rem-nants of Marshal Rommel's forces, while in Tunisia the American, British Brit-ish and French forces were preparing prepar-ing for the time when the weather would permit them to take the offensive of-fensive against Bizerte and Tunis, remaining Axis strongholds on the African Mediterranean coast SO. WESTERN PACIFIC: New Guinea Struggle The Japs were determined to give up their remaining footholds in New Guinea only at the same stubborn cost at which they had yielded the Gona-Buna area. It had taken nearly near-ly four months to wipe out the Jap beachhead in this sector. Still in Nipponese hands were Sanananda, Lae, Salamaua and Madang. Closest Clos-est in was Sanananda and here a three - pronged Allied drive had hemmed in the last survivors and cut off all hope of reinforcement The subjugation of remaining Lae, Salamaua and Madang presented another story. Their successful assault as-sault meant overcoming the same complex problems of supply that impeded and delayed the offensive against the Japanese at Buna and Gona. And until these New Guinea positions were wiped out, the United Nations would be unable to launch any offensive to extend Allied control con-trol on to New Britain. Guadalcanal In the Solomons, reinforced American Amer-ican troops were reported moving against only spasmodic Jap resistance. resist-ance. While the Americans had been able to land additional forces to augment their units on Guadal canal, reports persisted that ' the Japs had been able also to strengthen strength-en their positions. Observers believed that if U. S. army units in force had reinforced and relieved the marine garrisons on Guadalcanal, the next step would be a concentrated move to push American occupation further to the north in the Solomons with the ultimate ulti-mate goal of completely ejecting the Japs. RECIPROCAL TRADE: Hull Girds for Fight Tennessee-bred Secretary of State Cordell Hull who never backs away from a fight prepared to wage a vigorous battle to preserve his re ciprocal trade agreements from the onslaughts of opposing congressmen Although the presidential authority over reciprocal trade agreements does not expire until June, a bill to terminate them already had been introduced by Representative Harold Knutson of Minnesota and referred CORDELL HULL . . . Fights for treaties. to the house ways and means committee. com-mittee. In addition to considering this proposal pro-posal to terminate the agreements now in effect between this country and 25 others, the committee also will have to pass on leeislatinn in extend the President's authority to make such agreements. Congressional Congres-sional observers believe the extension exten-sion proposal will be bitterlv fought by certain groups. Strongly cham pioning the measures will be Secretary Secre-tary HuIL who was their original sponsor. 6,000,000 WOMEN: In War Work More than 30 per cent of the nation's na-tion's war production workers will be women by the end of 1943 and a proportionately larger number will be employed in essential civilian trades and services, it was predicted predict-ed by Paul V. McNutt chairman of the War Manpower commission. Mr. McNutt estimated that 4,000.-000 4,000.-000 of the present 17.000,000 war workers are women and forecast e.000.000 by the end of 1943 it This Is the Army (By the Soldiers in Irving Berlin's Show for Army Emergency Relief.) According to the pay rate for American soldiers as compared with the wages the average Jap soldier gets, Uncle Sam considers the American Amer-ican private to be worth 167 Japs . . . Soldiers are flooding the Fifth Ave. Public Library with requests for books, about Germany, Japan and Italy especially the points of interest inter-est in those countries. They're so confident the U. S. will take over they want to be prepared for a bit of sightseeing. Tbe Quartermasters Department at Philadelphia has asked manufacturers manufac-turers of medallions and decorations to bid on the manufacture of between be-tween 500,000 and one million decorations deco-rations to be worn by the soldiers of the Army occupying Germany after the present war . . . The U. S. Army tells its men: "It is commonly supposed sup-posed that the first duty of a good soldeir is to die for his country. This is a mistake. The first duty of a soldier is to make his enemies die for theirs." The U. S. Army runs the largest movie chain In the world 500 theaters thea-ters at camps throughout the country coun-try .. . The Army soon won't have any dish-breaking problems in its mess halls. The Quartermaster Corps has developed a new shatterproof glass that will bounce like a golf ball when dropped . . . One of the Army's special services for its men is providing members of the A.E.F. with an opportunity to acquire an education via correspondence courses. WALTER WINCHELL is en a (our oi duty outside Continental V. S. During his tbsence. contributors will substitute. Our average soldier is more than a half Inch taller and nearly 10 pounds heavier than the men of 1917, according to the war department . . . Glider pilots are referred to as the "G-Men of the Air" . . . The speed limit for all Army vehicles is 30 miles per hour, regardless of the civil speed limit. The Army wants its vehicles driven in a manner that will set an example for civilians . . . The men who load the bombs on Uncle Sam's planes refer to them as "Bundles for Berlin." As the result of a survey made by the Quartermaster Corps, all government gov-ernment issues of Army trousers, in the future, will be more roomy around the seat ... A Negro private, pri-vate, after being issued his Army clothing at Fort Sill recently, was asked about the fit of his new uniform. uni-form. "Why, these duds fits fine, sa'gint" he replied, "but do you mind if I buys another pair of pants for jitterbugging?" Although the new steel helmet is slightly heavier than the 1917 model, the soldiers don't mind the extra weight , They claim the new helmet is a hair-restorer because it stimulates stimu-lates the scalp by bouncing around on the head. , During the Army's recent maneuvers, maneu-vers, the boys discovered lots of uses for their new steel helmets. It makes a good seat just outside the pup tent sort of a front stoop. It's an excellent excel-lent container for the things a soldier sol-dier takes out of his pockets before be-fore going to sleep. It can be used for taking baths. And it's the finest outdoor washtub ever designed it holds at least two shirts and a couple of pairs of socks. Army Slang: Insects are "mechanized "mech-anized freekles" ... A wastebasket is known as "File 13," and the nut house is "Section Eight" ... Nurses are "Snow Whites," and a letter from the girl friend is a "sugar report" re-port" ... The guardhouse is' the "Cross-bar hotel," and woollen underwear un-derwear are "Superman drawers" . . . The bugler is "Gabriel," money is "E Pluribus," and a garbage truck Is a "honey wagon." . A girl In Sebring, Fla., whose boy friend is on duty in the Pacific war zone, recently received a letter from him.- On opening the letter, the girl found only a narrow slip of paper on which was written: "Your boy friend still loves you, but he talks too much." It was signed "Censor." When Gen. Jimmy Doolittle recently recent-ly made a breathtaking steep takeoff with an observer, he turned around and chuckled: "Bet 95 per cent of the people down there thought we'd crash" ... The observer replied: "Only 50 per cent up here thought so." U. S. troops In Australia have a bit tune of their own titled, "The Aussie and the Yanks Are Here." It was written by Pvt Johnny Nauer of Michigan, while aboard his troopship bound for Australia ... Swimming is a compulsory activity for recruits at the Army Air Force training center cen-ter at Miami Beach, Florida . The shortest movie review ever printed appeared recently in the Fort Leavenworth Reception Center News. The picture was a War Department training film on "Sanitation." The comment was: "Good clean fun. it ager, i Kg tbe That isn't an . for thi .ul V c tions for the luxuri0lls J shown. You'll u. hted chenille JZ? even more vn JSPSS estine stit.r .fe Th6 flllMtvafcul . . quarter and ffffi blocks may be useS whnl h k.n u,...' w Ma Snots KSsTSM cents. brinniwrtkKriT1 K ndnuttea-oHEj AUNT MABTH4 Box 166-W k,.. Enclose IS cenU for eack J Hi Name ........;,. Address .......,,, YOU CAN'T BUYASPI that can do mote for you fa a AsDirin. Whv nav more? 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