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Show MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD Secretary Mellon of the treasury, In a letter to Representative Fordney, chairman of the committee on ways and means of the house of representatives, representa-tives, says: "Ordinary expenditures .'or the first three quarters of the fiscal fis-cal year, 1021, have been $3,7S3,771,-006.74, $3,7S3,771,-006.74, or at the rate of about $5,000,-000,000 $5,000,-000,000 for the year. . . According to the latest estimates of the spending departments. . . ordinary expenditures expendi-tures during the fiscal year, 1922, In (hiding Interest on the public debt, .vtll be over $4,000,000,000. "The nation cannot continue to spend at this shocking rate. As the President said in his message, the bur-3en bur-3en is unbearable, and there are two avenues of relief, 'One Is resistance in appropriation and the other Is the Jtmost economy in administration.' " R. C. Leffingwell. formerly an assistant assis-tant secretary of the treasury, whom I have quoted previously In these articles, ar-ticles, and w ho is still deeply and actively ac-tively interested In securing retrenchment retrench-ment in national expenditures, commenting com-menting on this utterance of Secretary Mellon, says: "Why should there be retrenchment in public expenditure? Wliy does the secretary of the treasury treas-ury speak of current and estimated expenditures ex-penditures as shocking? What Is the evil that we are discussing and what Is Its effect? "Government expenditures must be met from taxes. To the extent that chey are met promptly from taxes and from honett taxes directly laid upon the Incomes of the people, and in proportion pro-portion to those incomes, exaggeration of the evil of government expenditure is avoided. Government expenditure fakes the money of all the people for the supposed benefit of a portion of the people, honestly or dishonestly, equally or unequally, avowedly hy direct di-rect taxation, or surreptitiously by the indirect taxation which results from Inflation of currency and credit and of the public debt. "Government expenditure takes the fruits of the earth and the labor of the people and diverts them from the productive and reproductive enterprises enter-prises "f men. from the natural enjoyment enjoy-ment of the men. who by their prudence, pru-dence, foresight and effort, created the wealth and made it available, to the sometimes benevolent and sometimes belligerent, but almost always economically econom-ically wasteful, purposes of government. govern-ment. "Government exploits ail of us for the benof.t. or supposed beneiit. of some ef us. Yielding to the vagua aspirations of men for a better world or a better distribution of the good things of this earth, government imposes im-poses upon all of us ever-increasing burdens In the effort to benefit vociferous vocif-erous and organized minorities. "Each of the executive departments Is concerned to improve its 6erv!ce ! Rnd to discover now and useful fields of service. The entire organization of the army, of the navy, of each Ol the departments, independent ofHee and agencies of the government, is devoted de-voted to an important task. Its particular par-ticular function seems of vital usefulness, use-fulness, even necessity. Experts In each are alive to its defects and to the opportunities for usefulness which have not been availed of. "The secretary, or other head of the department, drawn from private life, perhaps wholly ignorant at the outset of the nature and extent of its problems, promptly becomes the advocate advo-cate of the policies and demands of his permanent assistants and bureau chiefs. If he does not become such advocate, he may break down the morale of his organization and possibly lose the confidence of his personnel. "Rebind it all is the pressure of organized or-ganized Interests in the constituencies, which are the beneficiaries of specific expenditures, operating upon politicians, politi-cians, executive departments, senators and cougressmen. The strident voice of greed Is heard in the market place and ui legislative hails; the voice of the people Is barely audible. "The fact that each project is considered con-sidered separately, without reference, either in executive departments or congress, to ways and means of financing financ-ing it, prevents concentration of popular popu-lar opinion on the awful total. All agree that there must be economy, but as each Item is presented all seemingly seeming-ly agree that that is not the proper field for economy. There must be economy, econ-omy, but tnere must be a merchant marine, whatever the cost. There must be economy, but the government must pay high wages to raiiroad employees and furnish transportation on the railroads rail-roads at less than cost. There must be economy, but the World war soldiers sol-diers must huve their bonus. There must be economy, but Civil war pensions pen-sions must be increased. There must be economy, but we must prepare for war, regardless of expense." You know this is true. The new budget law will help very much this condition, hut unless you are interest- j ed, continuously, actively, openly in J terested, your money will uot be saved |
