Show where your taxes go how uncle sam spends nus your I 1 money in conducting your business by EDWARD G LOWRY author Wh lato chioso upa BL biala B and sy tm etc C contributor butor political bad economic fo F o ic article Arti cieS to and a writer ot of recognized authority on an tho nonal dab bonnes methods C N cpr union X I 1 CHANCE TO FIND OUT just now a belated effort Is under way war to find out some of the facts about goern government ment business and government ern ment employment the bureau of the budget has been organized organ led and Is in operation under the directs direction on of charles G dawes both houses of congress are working on the problem of reclassification of government positions and salaries the veterans bureau has been organized and has taken over the bureau of war risk insurance that part of the public health service which had to do with veterans et erans and all of tile the work of the federal board for vocational education except that part which had to do with the treatment of persons injured in the industries there is also the inquiry being made by tile lie joint committee on oil the reorganization of the administrative branch of the government of the two house of coil congress gress of which I 1 have spoken walter F brown bronn n of ohio Is chairman of tills this committee representing president kaiding Ua I iding ane members of the committee are on the part of the senate senators smoot of utah I 1 harrlson harrison of mississippi and wadsworth of new york the members on the palt pai t af of the ie lio house U S eie are 1 representatives senta tives reavis of nebraska temple ot PC anns and T IN booie ja c of virginia the job of this joint committee Is to make inake a survey of the administrative services of the government for the purpose of securing all pertinent nent facts regarding their powers and duties their distribution among the several executive departments and the overlapping and duplication of authority in reporting the ie solution from the judiciary committee to the house the members were nacre told it Is a matter of common knowledge that millions of dollars are wasted by the goer government by tho the almost endless duplication of activities there lias has been no fundamental change in tho the administrative activities since the organization was as de devised ased by ale alexander xander hamilton and the afie result is that activities entirely out of harmony with the functions of depart ments have grown with the passing years until the government of the united states has become not only the biggest business in the world but the worlds worst managed bu business iness the purpose of the resolution la is to ei ascertain bo far as possible the extent of the oer overlapping lapping and duplication of activities tivi ties with nith the view that numerous commissions and bureaus maa ma be eliminated and a great saving effected in the e governmental expenditures the commit teo tee feels that no more construct constructive he legislation Is possible under existing conditions than the legislation proposed by the resolution u tion with the present condition of the nations finances and the burdens the people suffer because of excessive taxation any legislative measure looking to real economy should commend itself to the sympathetic ic attention of the house bouse and we feel that the passage of this resolution and the work of the committee which will ill be done under its authority will result in the saving of millions annually it can be predicted with considerable assurance that nothing will come of this his proposed voyage of discovery unless we the shareholders in the enterprise maintain an active lively sustained int interest inte iest elest in ill it one thing is always as title tine of tho the house of depre tentative it is af we lienthe warmly upon it it glows if we me aie indifferent it bec becomes onies cold this the nisi time that a plan lias has been set in III motion to find out something about how the governments s s tu business siness is conducted on ducted the car earliest liest inquiry into the ad methods of the executive departments was mail made e by tile the Coc kiell commission in esst six years later in ill 1893 a 1 joint colilli ll slon of which dochery was chairman was vas appointed to examine the status of tile laws organizing the departments pre provident adent roosevelt in 1005 0 1 named an committee of which C 11 II keep assistant tary of tile the treasury was nas chairman to consider department methods president tatt taft in turn in 1910 named danied a commission on economy and cui clency of which frederick cleveland was chairman broadly and generally peaking nothing nine came of these enterprises antei arises you and I 1 commonly and vaguely known as the public were not interested n te and nel delther ther was congress that ended it but just now at this moment we have ill the e best chance we ever had to k i find out about our common business ind and how to improve ini proe it and lesson lesen its cost to us the burden of supporting gi sit lt is heavier than ever before you will perhaps perli aps notice all through these thee articles that the supplied me about the sen gen ral leis of government employment and government business are in erins cerms of estimates and approximations I 1 Is one of the defects of government eminent organization it Is so large and so formless and its parti paro so unrelated that exact and pr precise ellse information about the whole Is virtually unobtainable tai it is of the greatest urgency and need that the people shall know about their government but they will find it to learn I 1 until the government knows about abou t itself |