Show where your taxes go how uncle sam spends yo your ur money in conducting your business by EDWARD G LOWRY auth anther blosk tl urn B bank ks end and etc t contributor political mcd economic tr article cje to L dinar periodical tad and a of Act bority on oa ur the GoTt Buti methods Ue thodi newspaper union i 1 EASY COME EASY GO back bach in 1912 when mr taft was president and when the gross expenditures tures of the government were a bout one quarter of what they are now lie he became exercised and concerned about the unscientific disorderly grab bag methods by which your money was expended for public purposes he said theo then what Is equally true now that the activities of the national government are almost as varied as those of the entire business world the operations of the government affect the interest of every person living within the jurisdiction of the united states its organization embraces stations and centers of work I 1 located in every city and in many local subdivisions of the country this vast organization has never been studied ed in detail as one piece of administrative mechanism never have the foundations been laid for a thorough consideration of the relations of all its parts no comprehensive erfort effort has been made to list its multi farious activities of or to group them hem in such a way as to present a clear beir picture of what the government is d doing never lias has a complete description been given of the agencies through which these activities are performed at no time has the attempt been made to study all of these activities and agencies with a view to the assignment sign ment of each activity to the agency best fitted for its performance to the ti avoidance of duplication of plant and work to the integration of all administrative agencies of ule governments government so far as may be practicable into a unified organization for the most effective and economical dispatch of public business this extraordinary and indefensible situation which exists today as fully and completely as it lid did when mr taft portrayed it seven years ago came about quite naturally and simply through our tolerance and s slackness lackness for years and years the government lived and grew and extended it its aa activities tivi tivit ties les on santa claus money its income came as easily as money in a letter for years and years the national income was greater than the expenses every year there was a suri surplus ilus the government was precisely the position pf af the rockefellers Rocke fellers and the carnegles and the its its problem was not how to get money enough to live on hut but how to spend its income it naturally got in the way of throwing some of it to the birds it lived like a remittance man you may remember that back in the time lime of the first cleveland administration one of the problems of public discussion was what shall be done with the surplus then there was a evange cronge of administration and corporal tanner was made commissioner of pensions the whole country was amused and had a hearty laugh when be announced his policy god help the surplus them was the halcyon days I 1 mr gilbert the present undersecretary of the treasury in an address said the estimates for the year tear 1920 show that over a billion dollars of expenditures tures were authorized by the last session of congress in addition to the amount shown in the usual compiled statements of appropriations in fact the practice has reached such proportions as to be almost ii a national scandal and it was vigorously de bounced in the presidents last annual messaged message it has income become the first principle 1 of strategy on the part of people interested te in appropriations for various special purposes to frame the matter so as to authorize the use of the public funds indirectly or hilli in definite terms or by authorization for ex pend ture iture of unexpended balances perhaps appropriated originally for other purposes or by authorizations to divert governa government en t receipts before they ever reach the treasury efforts are arel made to flud find general words which do not peak in terras of appropriations and cannot be readily calculated the last session of the present congress for example authorized additional dit ional expenditures butof balances of prior appropriations and from receipts to the amount of over including over OW for the shipping board the pees sent ses ion aion of congress by similar procedure alles credit for refusing eions for the shipping board but at the same time purposes to authorize tue the expenditure of receipts in amounts that hat may reach as high as OW by the indefinite appropriation for forthe the railroad guaranty about was vas in effect appropriated without appearing in any of the statements of appropriations 1 you see how it goes |