National Affairs: Squeals

BUDGET

Many fingers are crushed, many toes trod upon every year when the time comes for making out the Government’s budget of expenditures. General Lord, Director of the Budget, is in the midst

of that work at the present time. From this quarter can be heard a moan, from that quarter comes a squeal, and from somewhere else comes a vigorous objection. Two outcries were heard last week:

1) In paring the budget down to $3,080,000,000, Director Lord had planned a cut of $20,000,000 for the War Department. A number of Senators voiced a belief that this would be going too far, that military appropriations had already been cut to the bone. For the present year, the appropriation is $341,000,000, of which $262,000,000 is strictly military, $70,000,000 is for rivers and harbors and nearly $9,000,000 for the Panama Canal. If the cut comes out of Rivers and Harbors, many hankerers after local improvements must gounsatisfied. If it comes out of the strictly military expenses, the Senate Military Affairs Committee is likely to object. Said Senator Wadsworth, Chairman (Republican of N. Y.) : “A further reduction would be suicide”; said Senator Fletcher of Florida, ranking Democrat : “There is such a thing as going too far.” 2) In the case of the Shipping Board, repeated attempts have been made to reduce its operating expenses which were not long ago as high as $50,000,000 a year. Last year it got an appropriation of $30,000,000. This year it received $24,000,000. Admiral Palmer, President of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (actual operator of the Government merchant marine) estimated he would need $18,000,000 to cover losses next year. The Shipping Board, with more grandiose ideas, raised this estimate to $22,000,000, and tacked on $540,000 for its own expenses. General Lord made answer in effect: “You can expect not more than $15,300,000 all told.” Admiral Palmer took Director Lord’s ultimatum philosophically. The Board itself, more volatile, was expected to be less resigned, more irate at the reduction. The form that the first protest of the Board took was a statement by Chairman O’Connor that, if General Lord’s allowance were not increased, the Leviathan would probably have to retire from service.