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Show Public Funds Wasted A classic Illustration of the habitual ha-bitual waste of public funds at the beginning ' of the bureaucrats and their Congressional supporters was presented a few days ago by Senator Sena-tor Fess of Ohio, in referring to the valuation bureau of the Interstate Commerce Commission. This bureau was organized in pursuance of an act of Congress ; approved March 1, 1913, for the avowed purpose of determining the value of all railroad property in the United Slates, in order that such valuation might be used for rate-making rate-making purposes; also to disclose whether the railroads were paying dividends on watered stock. Referring to this 17-year-old bureau, bu-reau, Senator Fess said: "To date the bureau has accomplished almost al-most nothing and the cost has been upwards of $100,000,000. It is true that the oureau lias placed valuations valua-tions on many or the railroads as of the year 1914, but what good does that do us in the year 1930, when so many changes have taken place that the old valuations are useless?" use-less?" The hundred million of expense noted by me senator refers only to the cost of the government. Even greater expense has been placed upon up-on the railroad lines themselves, through requiring them to furnish massive volumes of data which were obsolete almost before they could be finally compiler. AH of this expense was ultimately borne by the public, or course, either through taxation or railroad rates. Still new bureaus are created and the old ones are extended by every Congress, to keep pace with the insatiable demand of certain groups for more regulation, inspection and investigation of the harassed citizen and taxpayer. And no end to this sort of thing appears to be in sight. |