Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1943)
Budget Bureau Assumes New Importance to Nation Director Harold D. Smith Responsible Only To President: Real Value Lies in Counsel Given to Nation’s Lawmakers. By BAUKHAGE Setts Analyst and Commentator. WNC Service, 1343 H Street. N-W, Washington, D. C. A budget that bites. That is what the United States gov ernment will have if Harold Dewey Smith, director of the bureau of the budget since April. 1939, when Amer ica started its astronomical spend ing. has his way. He is not concerned with the size of Uncle Sam’s bill alone—his job is to see that the dollars appropriat ed by the congress go to work, that no dollars are appropriated which aren't needed to do the job the con gress wants done, that no two dol lars are doing the same job. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the man who had just given his okeh to the biggest budget in American history while the ink on the report was still damp. So I wended my way up the curling staircase of the solemn old State De partment building to his office (sec ond-floor front) and was ushered into the presence of Mr. Smith, a bland faced gentleman from Kansas with a middlewestem accent like the one which echoes through my natal com fields. The last conversations be tween Mr. Smith and the President were taking place just before the 1943 budget message was complet ed. Mr. Smith, who budgets his own time as well as the government's money, gave me some fiscal philos ophy between pipe-puffs. “A budget should be an adminis trative tool.” he told me quietly, speaking with a happy combination of the poker-faced accountant and the old-shoe comer-store crony. Budgeting for governments—mu nicipal. state, nation—were, the re sult of the efforts of the reformers, he explained. But. as usual, when the reformers had the laws passed they ran 0$ and left them to ad minister themselves. The result was that budgeting dried up into book keeping routine. “I have a new concept of budget ing,” he said with a forthright mod esty that characterizes his remarks about his work, “any clerk can add up figures.” The real job of the budget bureau is to examine the programs of the administrative agencies for which the cash is to be spent, to weigh their significance in terms of economic service—not just publish a report every year as big as a dictionary that serves to con fuse the public. The year before Smith came into office the bureau of the budget had an appropriation of 187 thousand dol lars—30 thousand of that went into the publication of the bound report. In other words, the agency which bottlenecks the spending of billions had 150 thousand to spend on itself. Separate Entity The bureau by law is a separate entity which is under no department. The director is responsible to the President The bureau reports to congress. "It is a staff agency." Smith point ed out "detached, objective, crit ical.” Today in Washington there is no doubt that this detached and objec tive criticism has become a powerful element in the writing of laws of the land. Before a bill is passed it goes under the microscope of the budg eteers. Smith, it is generally admit ted, has as much influence on the President, when it comes to the for mation of policy which is frozen into law. as any man in Washington. He reviews every bill which is passed and advises whether the President should sign it or veto it. But the real, constructive .value of the bureau of the budget which has been given a dynamic force under Smith's direction, is the advice and counsel it can render in advance of the passage of legislation. Proponents of a bill ask the budget bureau's advice before they present their testimony to the committees which pass life or death sentences on a measure. And it is Smith's idea to make this an increasingly positive function; to compile fre quent important technical reports on proposed programs for the guidance of the committees. The budget bureau has always con sulted with the departments and agencies and the common practice of a department head is to ask for more than he expects in the hope he won’t get much less than he wants. Smith's idea is to provide active co operation by obtaining data on bow current programs are functioning be fore renewing or increasing appro priations. Thus the budget becomes a tool of administration. Confusion He gave me an example of one problem he is working on now. "Today there is confusion and con flict between many government de partments and agencies. Examina tion of their methods is clearing this up. There is even conflict and con fusion between agencies and their own field forces. This the budget bureau with a field force of its own can eliminate," Smith believes. “When an agency doesn't like the way we examine the administration of its program and says, ‘you are getting into operation,’ I tell them, ‘No, we are not We don't want to operate but we do intend to be con structively critical.* ’’ Another constructive job that Smith feels is important is reconcili ation between the government agen cy asking congress for money and congress trying to keep down costs on the one hand, or trying to bring new benefits to its constituencies, on the other. congress nas a xenoency xo sny away from bureaucracy, the bureau heads have a distrust of congress. Congress frequently gets facts mixed with policy. But facts are facts, j Our job is to get the facts and to present them objectively.” Politics doesn’t worry Smith. He served under three governors of Michigan, of highly different tern-1 perament, party and policies and he says that politics entered very little into the decisions made by any of them on the recommendations he made. He said that the same thing ap plies to his experience with Presi dent Roosevelt. “We may not have made all the recommendations we should,” he said, "but 90 per cent of those we have made the President has ac cepted,” Since his college days, when he specialized in engineering, and later in civil administration. Smith has been engaged in some phase of the work he is doing now: regulating the “ways and means” of govern ment. • • • Plans are started which may re sult in many prospective women veterans, the WAACS, the WAVES, the WAFS, and the SPARS, who will have been living under regular mili tary discipline for the duration—a form of existence about as different from anything that home offers, as could possibly be. From a Commentator’a Mail: Draft boards seem ruthless . . . We have four small children under 12 years of age. One a tiny baby and I wonder if I am selfish in need ing his (the father's) advice and help to raise the children.—Colo rado. * The Fish and Game commission rides on rubber. Why cannot their trucks, tires, etc., be turned over to the government?—New York. My husband is classed as 3A and is just 36. He has had both shop and metal experience and follows both as a hobby. He would give anything just now to get into defense j work, but he has 15 years seniority j in one of the biggest insurance com panies. His job is guaranteed if he is drafted , . . but they will not release him to go voluntarily into a vital industry.—California. As farmers, we work from 70 to 100 hours a week and a good deal of this effort is for interest on bor rowed money. Honestly, during wartimes we do not feel that we are a “favored” class but are doing our best to do our share.—Colorado. It is my humble opinion it is time we plant our feet on the ground and eliminate some of this Sunday School letter news and give the peo ple facts.—Louisiana. My husband owns and operates a liquor store . . . Since liquor is non perishable and meat is, 1 can't see why we stay open 3G5 days of the year and a butcher shop closes its doors every Sunday and holiday.— California. During the recent scrap drive I have seen copper toys with rubber tires displayed in store windows. The irony of it!—Louisiana. BRIEFS ... by Bankhage The Forest Service has reported to the secretary of agriculture that about 80 per cent of all cutting on private timberlands is “still without conscious regard to perpetuating timber growth." • • t The census director has estimated that 54,000,000 persons in the United States are without legal proof of birth. * The War Production board has set up an office to handle complaints about its questionnaires. • • • A new floating match box has been i developed for United States soldiers expecting mountain or jungle duty. The new container has an emergen cy compass built in to the top, and it is so strong it will not break if a man falls on it. Released by Western Newspaper Union. First Breech-Loader THE recent announcement that the Smithsonian institution in Washington had acquired the first breech-loading rifle ever used in warfare was an item of particular interest to collectors of old weapons. But it had significance in another field also—that of Anglo-American relations, especially at a time when Americans and Britons are united in fighting a common enemy. This rifle was the personal weap on of Maj. Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Highlanders of the British army. He used it at the Battle of King's Mountain on October 7, 1780, when a force of 900 American fron tiersmen surrounded his army of more than 1,100 British Provincial troops and Loyalist militia. When the battle ended the Americans had killed and wounded 334 of Fergu son’s force, including the command er himself, and taken the remainder prisoners while suffering a loss of only 28 killed and 62 wounded. There was a time when Fergu son's name was anathema to many Americans, principally because of his association with the cruel Brit ish leader. Tarleton, during the cam paigns in the South. But when the passions aroused by fratricidal na ture of the Revolution in that part of the country subsided, there came a more generous attitude toward the memory of the British leaders. One American historian recently assert ed that keeping alive the hatred of Ferguson's name is unjust to a brave and gallant officer. Moreover, he cited one letter in the Ferguson family archives to show that the major deliberately spared the life of George Washing ton at the Battle of Brandywine, IttutfflaifBUsS!1 E[as«8P 1 WUf# ItTSKM 1 in# m *CtM» 0 , WNtS MOUNTAIN WWtfUtCWMUHiO* m aoiTitftJROtw. * HLMM 9F SuWg oin»icrio|*»*o^ «•*• IWiMCMMIAl itNiMTMtcnumir tM UWT18 n*Tfl «f A*i*a fcawyjgeggBKa 1 Ferguson memorial on the Kings Mountain battlefield. when he had it in his power to kill the commander-in-chief of the Con tinental army. In a letter to rela tives in England, Ferguson wrote: We had not lain long when a rebel of ficer, remarkable by a huzzar dress, passed towards our army within 100 yards of our right flank, not perceiving us. He was followed by another dressed In dark green and blue, mounted on a good bay horse, with a remarkable high cocked hat. I ordered three good shots to steal near to them and fire at them, but the Idea disgusted me and 1 recalled the order. The huzzar in returning made a circuit but the other passed within 100 yards of us, upon which I advanced from the wood towards him. Upon my calling he stopped, but after looking at me pro ceeded. I again drew his attention and made signs to him to stop, leveling my piece at him, but he slowly continued his way. As I was in that distance which in the quickest firing I could have half a dozen balls In or about him before he was out of my reach I had only to determine; but It was not pleasant to fire at the back of an unoffending individual who was acquitting himself very coolly of his duty, so I let him alone. The day after I had been telling this story to some wounded officers who lay In the same room with me, when one of our surgeons w'ho had been dressing the wounded rebel officers came in and told us that General Washington was all the morning with the light troops and only attended by a French officer In huzzar dress snd he himself dressed and mount ed In every way as above described. I am not sorry I did not know at the time who it was. §o visitors to the Smithsonian who see the Ferguson rifle may reflect upon the fact that had it not been for a British officer who was too honorable to shoot in the back "an unoffending individual who was ac quitting himself very coolly of his duty" the American Revolution might have had a different ending and George Washington might nev er have become the ‘ Father of His Country”! Significant of the changed attitude toward Ferguson is the inscription on the monument erected during the sesquicentennial celebration of the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1930. It reads; To the memory of Col. Patrick Fergu son. Seventy-First Regiment. Highland Light Infantry Born in Aberdeenshire. Scotland, in 1744 Killed October 7, 1780, in action at Kings Mountain while in command of the British troops. A sol dier of military distinction and of nonor. This memorial is from the citizens of the United Slates in token of their ap preciation of the bonds of friendship and peace between them and the citizens of : »he British Empire. WHO'S NEWS This Week By Lemuel F. Parton Consolidated Feature*.—WNU Release. EW YORK.—Effervescent Utopi ^ ans talk now and then of the day when homes will be traded in as freely as automobiles. Cheap, de es" ... . mountable and Big Drift Away having a re. From Orthodox sale value ac Houting It Seen cording to age they will, it has been predicted, be swapped tor new and slicker ones as owners tire of them or spurt up the economic ladder from the business coupe to the town sedan rung. When, if and as this happens, happy buyers will do well to toast the memory of John B Blandford Jr., for it cannot happen without a strong drift away from present-day housing and Blandford is the lad whose bellows is helping that drift nowadays. Thirty thousand war workers move into public housing accom modations each month. That's Blandford, the national housing administrator. In the past 12 months 278,000 new war-housing units have flown the green sap ling that means “finished” in the symbolism of builders. That's Blandford, too. And if plans now on the griddle cook to the right turn there will be thou sands more. And the old-fash ioned house that a man bought to raise and marry bis children in, and shelter himself in his slippered retirement will have tough competition. Blandford, only 45, is the gradu ate of Stevens Institute of Technol ogy, called by President Roosevelt a man of “amazing executive abili ty.” A thick, solid amazer with perky ears he smiles his way along as a man should under such praise. FVERY home could use a Dr. *-■' Walter H. Eddy these none too cheerful days. It is luck that he is only professor emeritus of physio v j n • .. logical chem r inas a aright jstrv at Colum Side to All This bia university. War Rationing active list, he has time on his hands as well as “a kind and gentle heart—to comfort friends and foes.” War rationing will make us all pull in our belts but, Dr. Eddy says, we need not worry because the health of Ameri cans should not suffer. Well! May be “foes” carries the comfort far ther than even the doctor w'ould have it go. The Nazis won’t be comforted. Not much! A while back Dr. Eddy was comforting a crowd only a little less needy than today’s butter meat - canned-goods - and - sug ar-shy nation. He told a confer ence that both tea and coffee made for vim and vigor and also helped as much toward sleep as counting sheep. Roth, he said, were stimulating morn ing drinks but at night tended to induce sleep, when taken in moderation. These happy con clusions, and his grand one touching on war rationing, are not those of a Johnny-come-late ly, but of a fellow whose record in his own field almost matches Babe Ruth’s. Now the newly-appointed chair man of the Institute of Dietetics, Dr Eddy was a major in the last war and is an expert consultant to the quartermaster general of the army in this one. COL. MERIAN C. COOPER is back from China, and Washing ton correspondents are left in no doubt about Name a Place and his admira. Col. Cooper Knows tion for his Traffic Cop There *hief’ Jfrig' Gen. Claire Chennault. Colonel Cooper knows just what he wants to say, and says it. Twenty-odd years ago, w’hile the rest of the newspaper reporters were wavering in front of the steam table at Hannon’s restaurant in Min neapolis his mind was always clear. Roast beef! And a good dish, too, for 15 cents. He has eaten better, and worse, since, and China, like Minneapolis, is just another way station in a succession of bounces w'. ich have taken him around the world and to spare. When he was in Abyssinia, Haile Selassie gave him a palace and wanted to throw a bunting party for him, but Cooper didn't have time. Before that he flew a fight ing plane in France with the AEF, and later headed up the barnstorming pilots who rolled across Europe in boxcars to join the Poles, then fighting Red Rus sia. Aitcrward he went explor ing in Asia and India. A couple of motion pictures grew | out of these trel s and so. finally, | he landed in Hollywood. There he stayed until this new’ war. when he again donned a uniform. His wife i was easily one of Hollywood’s pret ! tiest actresses. Cooper wasn't bad looking himself, while he had hair. They have a couple of sons, small ! fry and when one of these wrote to j China that he wanted a pig for a pet he got it with no fuss at all. I Colonel Cooper is 49 now, and the older he grows the worse tobacco I he smokes. General Chennault’s i fliers named his pipe Auld Reekie. (PATTERNS SEW0N6 CDB3CLE ~ Girl’s Jumper Y/I/'HEN she’s the age to be “hard on her clothes’’ and wants to be smartly dressed, too— the answer is a jumper and blouse outfit. The jumper can be of sturdy stuff; flannel, corduroy or corded wool, so that it will wear and wear. Contrasting blouses will give variety and constant charm. * * * 1694-B Barbara Bell Pattern No. 1692-B Is de signed for sizes 8. 10. 12. 14. 16 years. Size 10 jumper requires l3i yards 54-inch ma terial, short sleeve blouse 13,« yards 36 inch material. e* (V rw e* (v (V {'■ (V. (V. (V O— (V, (v* (V. [V. (V. f ASK ME ; ANOTHER \ A General Quiz j The Questions 1. What name is given to a boat that peddles provisions to ships in harbor? 2. If a piece of music is cacoph onous, it is what? 3. In what state is Buncombe county, whose congressman gave the word a new meaning? 4. When was music first printed? 5. The Irish potato originated where? 6. For every 1,000 one-dollar bills how many other small de nomination bills are there? 7. How many wives did Napo leon Bonaparte have? 8. Seven states are visible from the top of Lookout mountain in Tennessee. Which states? The Answers 1. Bumboat. 2. Discordant. 3.. North Carolina. 4. Music was first printed in 1465, the notes being hand lettered. 5. The Irish potato originated in Peru, the name potato being a corruption of the Indian name ba tatas. 6. For every 1,000 one-dollar bills in this country today, there are 33 two-dollar bills, 400 five dollar bills, 427 ten-dollar bills and 208 twenty-dollar bills. 7. Two—Josephine Beauharnais and Marie Louise of Austria. 8. Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee. Midwinter Frock PLAN a frock now, in bold striped material or fabric of vi brant solid color, to wear under your winter coat ... it will brighten your entire outlook on the snowy season! And, what bet ter style could you pick, for a dress to make at home, than this shirtwaist—with its straight, sim ple cut and few fussy details? • • • Barbara Bell Pattern No. 1694-B is de signed for sizes 34, 36, 38, 40, 42. 44. 46, 48. Size 36, short sleeves, requires 4 yards. 39-inch material. Send your order to: SEWING CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT. 530 South Weils St. Chicago. Enclose 20 cents in coins for each pattern desired. Pattern No. Size. Name . Address . •r. i rtY* T .557 Vfc 5 W >/ 7 Perfect Likeness Grimes (viewing painting of friend) —It’s like him. Painter—Yes, but he hasn’t paid me for it yet. Grimes—That’s very like him. Entirely Accidental Mistress—Oh, Mary, how did you break that vase? Maid—I’m very sorry, mum; I was accidentally dusting. The only way to change the views of some people is to agree with them. Where It Goes “I haven’t been feeling at all well,” said Green to his doctor. ‘‘But you’re looking perfectly splendid,” said the doctor. ‘‘I know. But it takes all my strength to keep up appearances.” IT PAYS YOU1 TO BUY WAR BONDS! (1) They are the safest place in all tha world for your savings. (2) They are a written promise from tha United States of America to pay you back every penny you put in. (3) They pay you back $4 for every $3 you put in, at the end of ten years... pay you interest at the rate of 2.9%, (4) You may turn them in and get your cash back at any time after 60 days. The longer you hold them, the mora they're worth. (5) They are never worth less than tha money you invested in them. They can’t go down in price. That’s a promise from the financially strong est institution in the world: The United States of America. BUY WAR BONDS REGULARLY This advertisement contributed in coop eration with the Drug, Cosmetic and Allied Industries, by the makers of DR. CALDWELL’S Th» Sum contwiwd in SyrupPgpsiw HOUSEWIVES: ★ ★ ★. Your Waste Kitchen Are Needed for Explosive TURN ’EM IN! ★ ★ 1 -^ ova to water tumr si Ye*. GROVE'S Vit«min* ere priced emezingly low . . . less than tHc a day when purchased in the large sire. Unit for unit you can't buy finer quality vitamins. Quality and potency guar anteed! Get GROVE’S Vita mins at your druggist today! Greatest Fault The greatest fault is to be con scious of none.—Carlyle. - -..< SNAPPY FACTS ABOUT RUBBER Driven under 35 miles an hoar, properly Inflated and on a car with wheel* In alignment war tires of reclaimed rubber should return up to 10,000 or more miles of service. Care should be the watchword of the "war tire" user I Rubber is considered one of Ihe three most important strategic materials in war by officers in the Army's ordnance department. Progress In reverse Is the re opening of a street car line In Brooklyn, N. Y., that had been converted to motor buses sev eral years ago. A war measure that will save 1,300,000 bus mile* a year —and of course a relative amount of rubber. Caster, camber, toe-in and king-pin inclination are factors in wheel alignment tire users are going to hear about now that periodic tire inspections are mandatory. They mean much to tire conservation. |B.EGoodrich xNi IN THE PARATROOPS they say: t "UMBRELLA" for parachute ' "HIT THE SILK" for jumping ( “WHIPPING SILK" for shaking ’chute V to remove dirt and air pockets "CAMEL" for the favorite cigarette with men in the service FIRST IN THE SERVICE The favorite cigarette with men in the Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard is Camel. (Based on actual sales records in Post Exchanges and Canteens.) CAMEL FIRST WITH ME ON EVERY COUNT. > THEY'RE MILD—AND THEY HAVE PLENTY OF RICH FLAVOR
