Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1919 — Uncle Samuel Is Unbusinesslike and Needs a National Budget System [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Uncle Samuel Is Unbusinesslike and Needs a National Budget System

By G. B. CORTELYOU.

Former Secretary at the Treasury

The government of the United States for more than one hundred years has been conducted upon financial principles which would have bankrupted a private corporation within a few months. No public officer has been directly responsible for the adjustment of expenditures to receipts. No public officer has direct control over the estimates of the different departments. A distinguished gentleman in 1909 was credited with the statement that 30 per cent of the government’s entire revenue —a sum totaling $300,000,000 —was

wasted annually. I cannot attempt with any degree of accuracy to name the exact -unount of money spent needlessly during any one fiscal year. It is no exaggeration, however, to say that the figures will run into millions of dollars.- This same condition holds today. I desire to point out that the distribution of immense sums raised mainly by taxation should be subjected to the closest scrutiny, classification and co-ordination. The present method of dealing with money matters is entirely lacking in system. There is probably no other civilized government—certainly no government which is truly representative—where there has been such a complete lack of supervision of the budget as in the United States. With a war debt of $25,000,000,000 hanging over us it is no longer practicable to meet an annual deficit by an assessment upon the nation’q stockholders —its citizens.

Even the United States, with a total estimated wealth of more than two hundred billion dollars, is not so rich or so powerful that it can afford to disregard the principles of business efficiency or fail to provide itself with a carefully mapped out budgetary plan.