Evening Star Newspaper, January 28, 1923, Page 35

-EDITORIAL SECTION - he Sunday Shat Congress Is Expected to Clear Its Decks And Take Long Rest After Noon, March 4 William J. Bryan and William J. McAdoo did not meet while they were in the eity simultaneously several days ago. Each con- ferred with senators -about democratic af- fairs. Mr. McAdoo discussed candidacies "EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL ARTICLES Part 2—16 Pages UNCLE SAM’S TAXI BILL AMOUNTS TO MILLIONS WOULD FORM COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ BUREAU | Ex-Service Members of House Favor - Transference of Legislation Affecting Their Comrades to a Single Body Senators Planning to Cut Down the Ex- travagant Use of Government Automobiles by Employes. BY N. 0. MESSENGER. IVE weeks from today Congress will adjourn at high noon, and from pres- ent prospects the halls of the national lic improvements and must get money to carry on. Issuance of tax-exempt bonds for road building and city improvements furnish a prolific source wherce to obtain funds. Men of great wealth find in"the purchase BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. NCLE Sam's taxi bill—the cost of providing, maintain- ing and operating passenger automobiles for the officials and employes of the government— has grown to tremendous propor- tions. It has been variously esti- mated by members of Congress to reach the huge total of from $10,- 000,000 to $20,000,000 annually. War on the extravagent use of automoblles for the benefit largely— it is charged—of the employes of the government themselves, rather for the government service has been de- clared by Senator McKellar of Ten- nessee, by Senator Smoot of Utah and others. The word has gone forth that there must be a éurtailment, and that another year is going to see a great reduction in the number of passenger cars operated at the expense ©f the government. The Senate not, long ago adopted a resolution offered by Senator Mc- Kellar, calling for detailed state- ments of the number of passenger cars maintained by all the execullvel departments, the independent bureaus, and the government of the District of Columbia, giving the names of ail the officials and employes to whom these automobiles are assigned. These reports are now coming in. Determined to Cut Expenses. During the consideration of various appropriation bills which have come before the Senate, the Tennessee Senator has offered amendment after amendment. seeking to eliminate appropriations for the purchase of new passenger cars and for their up-| keep. Although his amendments were all defeated, it does not mean at all that the case has been closed against the use of passenger cars by government officials, at govern- ment expense, in Washington and elsewhere. As a matter. of fact Senator Smoot of Utah, a member of the Senate committee on appro- priations, stated flatly that the time had come when Congress would have to adopt some plan to cut down the number of these automobiles. He said that by the time another set ©f appropriation bills has rolled] around, a plan will have been worked out. Senator Curtis of Kansas, another member of the appropriations com- mittee, is also. insistent that some- thing be done to cut down the ex- pense of passenger automobiles for the government. He has said that in his opinion three out of five of the passengers cars now operated by the government could be done away with, without injury to the govern- ment service. When all the reports of the various departments and bureaus have been received, showing what is being ex- pended annually for passengers cars, Senator McKellar expects to direct the matter to the attention of Con- gress again, and if possible to get legislation at the present session of Congress to eliminate many of the cars. He Is of the opinion that by putting through a bill specifying just What officials of the federal govern- ment and the District government may have cars, the matter can be handled and cven though appropria- 1ions have been made for the next fisca] year, the money will be saved, sor it will not be possible to expend it. after the legislation he desires has been put through. Practice Borne of the War. The development of the use of passenger automoblles in the govern- nent service dates really from the war. Prior to that, there were com- paratively few passenger cars pur- chased and operated by the goverp- aent for government employes. But when the United States went Into the war, the government bought thousands and tens of thousands of wutomobiles. Most of these for the War Department. When the war ended the government had these cars on its hands, To have dumped them on the narket” would have recked the auto- mobile industry of the country, it was claimed. Any way, the govern- ment hung on to thousands of these cars. Some of them rotted away, many others were turned over to varlous executive departments of the government.. Employes of the gov- ernment began to ride at government expense as they had never done before. Now these automobiles assigned to the various departments are wear- ing out in many instances. But the employes have the habit. They want new machines, purchase by the gov- ernment, and thls is causing a stew. The purchase of the automobiles, by the way, does not represent the greatest part of the expense. There are chauffeurs to be pald, repairs to be made, gasoline and ofl and parts to be purchased, all swelling the bill Uncle Sam Is paying. In the old days, before the automo- bile came into common use, horse- drawn passenger vehicles used to be provided out of government funds for a very limited number of government officials and employes. The Presi- dent, of course, and the. members of the cabinet were provided with car- riages. But the other employes of the | government for the most part had to travel either in their own carriages or the street cars or “old shanks' mare.” Thousands of U. §. Cars. But today, the critics of the gov- ernment automobile declare, thou- sands of employes are traveling in all kinds of cars for which the govern- ment pays. It has been charged in Congress that many of these cars are used, not for government, but for private purposes, notwithstanding the fact that they have had painted on them in large letters the legend that they are official cars of the federal government or of the District. Senator McKellar recently suggest- ed that the passenger cars, outside of the Whie House cars, be confined to | the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, the general of the Army, the ranking admiral of the Navy and the members of the cabinet, a total of fourteen passenger cars. Cut out all the rest, he says. It is not probable that any such drastic cut will be made, however. For there are officials, it is said, who must have transportation on officlal duties, or else the business of the government will lag. Proposed Government Garage. In some quarters it has been sug- gested that a central garage be es- tablished—or perhaps several gar- ages—in Washington, where govern- ment cars can be held ready at all times to take officials of the govern- ment on business of the government from place to place. In other words, every time it is necessary for a bu- reau chief or some other employe to make @ quick trip to some other office on official business, a call could be put in for a government tax, and a central service so established, which it is contended, would reduce the cost enormously. The abuse of the use of government cars is by no means confined to Wash- ington, it is charged. The various de- partments of the government, It s sald, have many cars operated by of- ficlals in the field, in other cities. Why, Senator McKellar asks, should a government official who goes from his home to his office day after day, and for the most part does not re- quire transportation until he leaves the office to go home, be provided with a government automobile? Yet, he contends, that is what is going on to a considerable extent. D. Government Cars. The report of the District Commis- sloners on automobiles, in reply to the McKellar resolution shows that the District government owns some 112 passenger cars, and that it al- lows government employes monthly from $26 to $40 for the upkeep of their own cars used in the District's business, making a total of 170 pas- senger cars now being used at the ex- pense of the government by the Dis- trict government alone. This is only a drop in the bucket, it is said, how- ever, when it comes to the total num- ber of passenger cars owned and operated for the government here and away from Washington. c. Thrilling Fate of Many Flyers Recalled by Western Tragedy The probable death of the lost avia- tors, Col. F. C. Marshall and Lieut. C. J. Weber, who disappeared on De- cember 7 while on a cross-country flight from San Diego to Tucson, Ariz., recalls similar plights that have hefallen other Army and Navy fliers and the searches that were made for them. While Army officials have long given up hope that the fllers would ‘be found alive, the bellef is still faint- 1y adhered to that their bodles and the wreck of their plane may be eventually recovered. However, de- clare Army officers, who have flown over that wild part of the country, the chances are slim. Either of the two reglons in which the officers may have been forced to land is a desert waste. That section to the east of ‘fucson, where a plane belleved to fiave been theirs was last seen, is ex- tremely rocky and mountainous. earchers could look for months thout coming upon the ravine in hich the wreckage could lie hidden or a long time, they say. The sands ¢t the desert to the west and south £ the city are %o fine that & slight ;r would be sufficient to cover the wwreckage under a dune in a short dime. #;| The hope that the officers could have l been rescued by Indians has also been abandoned because the region is sparse- 1y inhabited end any Indlans who might have found them would certainly have made their presence known long since. For many days a fleet of planes scoured the region, flying as low and as far as was compatible with safety, but no trace of the lost officers was discoyered. The report that their charred bodles were seen lylng in a gorge near the Papago Indian reservation, nesr the border line, was found incorrect by troops of cavalry that alded in the search. Single Hope Remains. 'The single hope now held by the of- cers’ comrades is that some day they may find the remains to afford them proper burial, ‘The loss of the two officers and the long search for them recalled to Navy aviators the loss in March, 1921, of five men from the Pensacola air station, who set out in a training fiight in a| free balloon. Quartermaster G. K. ‘Wilkinson was pilot and had with him four enlisted flying students. ‘While there was no storm in the vicinity at the time and weather conditions were comparatively good, neither the balloon nor its passengers were ever seen agaln. It was first feared they had been blown out to sea and a squadron-of seaplanes| legislative assembly will resound to no echo until the first Monday in next Decem- ber. President Harding will go with Mrs. Harding for a long rest . ly after the statesmen have departed from the capital. It is generally accepted in con- gressional and official circles that there will be no extra session of Congress. The President, it is known, wi one, even should Congress fail to ratify an agreement for a settlement of the British war debt. * k ¥ ¥ The appropriation bills are well advanced and consideration is progressing that seems likely to obviate the jam of bills in the closing hours sion. Farmers’ relief bills are re vorgble attention, and there is every indica- tion that some legislation. of a tangible and practical nature for the aid of the farmer The ship subsidy bill's will be enacted. chances are diminishing as the and it is thought that only a miracle can save it, President Harding, who regards the bill as of the greatest importance to try, is taking the lessening prospects. of fa- vorable action philosophically. I gress is willing to take the responsibility for defeating the legislation and leaving the mer- chant marine industry on the rocks, he can do no more than he has done. much of the opposition is stress among the early sufferers when carrying trade slips from Amer: into those of foreign monopolists. * ¥ *x X stronger in the Senate than in The western and southern states and eeveral dirigibles, alded by a fleet of vessels scoured the nearby waters for miles without discovering a trace. ‘Then trappers in the everglades re- ported hearing voices in the swamps at night and the searching airships made flights for days over them. but it that region held the secret of the tragedy it refused to deliver it, de- spite a second report of voices heard there. For weeks the search was continued, but no trace was ever |found. Months afterward, what was belleved to be the remains of a wicker balloon basket was sighted far at sea, and it was finally believed that the fate of the fliers had been met there. Investigators are even yet trying to clear the Identity of the man whose bones were found in the evereglades recently, with evidences indicating he may have been an Army filer. No clue has been found, however, and Army.records show no flier lost there who was not recovered. ‘Week in Everglades Perils. Raymond White, who as a student fier, spent almost a week of perils and starvation in the everglades, will never forget his adventure. Flying from Carlstrom Fleld. Fla, on a test flight, he landed at Okeechobee, but on the return was forced down by exhaustion of his gasoline and crashed into the almost impentrable cypress swamps. Seeing no possible landing place, he aimed for a tree, and tumbled to the ground practically unhurt. But that was only the start of his experience. Mosquitoes were 80 thick and voracious he had to cover his face and arms with grease from his ship; he had no matches to build a signal fire, and was forced to take to trees at night to avold animals he heard prowling about. He finally made his way, subsisting on herbs and grasshoppers, to a Seminole Indixn camp and was sent by them to a distant farmhouse where, after 2 week, his comrades found him in an exceedingly weakened condition. Capt. C. W. Dannman and Lieut. E. J. Verhuyden, were two other fliers who'lost their lives in a.free balloon. They started in the national balloon race from St. Louls, in 1919, and were never heard from until their bodies were washed up by the waters of Lake Huron. ‘While many other fiiers, of both the Army and Navy, have been “lost” in various sections of the country for two or three day stretches, all were found, and aviators declars the number of men actually lost is very small, compared with the increasing amount of flying. Records of the Army . air service show more such accidents than do those of the Navy, but this, it is pointed out, is the re- sult of the fact that Army filers have to cover incredibly bad flying country, mountains and desert, while Navy fiying, for the most part, is confined to the coasts where succor generally is near. Most of the Army’s loses of that sort have occurred In the desert sections of the southwest, where the officers are employed in the border patrol. Loss in Rainstorm. The most tragic of these occur- rences in Army record was the loss of Lieuts, F. B. Waterhouse and C. Connolly, who lost their way In a rainstorm while on patrol and were forced to land far south in southern California on the shores of the gulf. For nineteen days they were without food and constantly growing weaker, then, when finally aided by two Mexi- can fishermen, they were taken al- most within sight of food and friends and brutally murdered and robbed. At one time one of the-fleet of resowe “(Continued on Third Page.) The farmers themselves, in w! Doubt is entertained by Senate leaders of favorable action on the constitutional amendment relating to tax-exempt securities. The states’ rights forces are said to be to Florida immediate- tax-exempt bonds is ill not call ment. . of these bonds an easy way of escaping a share of taxation, from which investors in industry cannot escape, and it is argued that every dollar which goes into the buying of from the general diversified industries of the country, but also represents a loss to the fed- eral income for the support of the govern- * % % % Another angle to thg tax-exempt bond proposition was pointed out by Senator proposition not only withdrawn polls to be Fletcher in debate upon the subject in the at .a rate usual log- of the ses- ceiving fa- days pass, the coun- (000,000.” * % f the Con- hose name ed, will be the ocean- ican hands the House. ‘want pub- “AS 1 SEE IT.” Senate, and that is, the profit which will ac- crue to the holders of tax-free bonds already issued and outstanding. He calculated the prospective gift to such holders if the change is made at something like a billion dollars. “It is estimated,” said Senator Fletcher, “that the securities outstanding today that are now tax exempt run from ten to eighteen billion dollars. The minute you impose taxes on al future issues, of course, the value of these tax-free sccurities will at once increase, and I dare say those gentlemen holding them will profit to the amount of nearly $1,000,- Tomorrow will determine whether Sena- tor Borah will re-introduce his resolution, which was withdrawn a few weeks ago, call- ing for an international economic confer- ence. If he does, it will probably be offered as an amendment to the Army appropriation bill, and prolonged debate is likely. President Harding is understood to be un- changed in the opinion he previously ex- pressed that it is unwise to go into such an undertaking at this time. he persists, will again find himself at odds with some of his colleagues with whom he stood shoulder to shoulder in the great fight against the Versailles treaty. tion, as announced by him Saturday, was to bring up the resolution again. ast. to hear the in debates, e “traffic.” the director will be exer! Governm Senator Borah, if His disposi- | | By William Allen W hite. Note.—In publishing this ar- tiele by the brilliant editor of the Emporia Gaszette, The Star does not necessarily indarse the views he expresses. But Mr. ‘White brings to the discussion of current events a fertile mind and an entertaining style, and a discriminating public will place its own valuation upon the opinion he advances. HAT a snap the “outs” have in politics over the “ins.” All the outs have to do is to sit pretty and wait for the ins to make the inevitable mistakes which a wise Providence provides that imperfect humanity ~always shall make. The mistakes elect the outs, who then™ proceed to make other mistakes. And so the world turns over In its appointed course. Which is all preliminary to the dis- cussion about the extra Session of Congress, which the democrats are trying to force upon the republican administration. The situation is most simple.. If the extra session is called the Congress will make enough blun- ders and get into enough rows with a lot of newly hatched radicals in the republican caucus to defeat the party in 1924. If, on the other hand, Mr. Harding does not call the extra session, if we have what the Presi- dent 1s pleased to call “a year of peace”—fine! The people outside of Congress who want relief from one thing or another will ralse enough of a row at the administration’s do- nothing policy to defeat the republi- cans next year. So reason the outs. And they have the logic of events upon their side. ‘Whatever the republicans do is go- ing to be the wrong thing. The king can do no wrong, but the head of a free people is never right. He al- ways has a minority on his hands. And too often the minority develops into a killing majority. Our beloved President, who has escaped most happily the personal shafts which stung President Wilson into cynicism, goaded President Taft into folly and produced many a barbaric yawp from President Roosevelt, has none the less grief on his hands aplenty; not personal grief, but party trouble. The progressive wing of his party i growing strong; it threatens to do the flying for the whole bird. If he binds the wing with a refusal to call Congre! in extra session, the ac- cumulated energy of the progressives may cause a paralyzing blood pres- sure. 1t he calls an extra session, the wild men of Borneo, with an election before them, are liable to take over Congress and run it. In the meantime the democrats feel that they are sitting on the moon. They have the grand delusion which is the occupational disease of the outs. They. think they have the world by the tall with a down-hill pull. But the elephant shéds its tail easily, and it may come off In the democratic hands, leaving them nothing worth while. Everything in politics is uncertain but Harding’s does notneed wisdom. And the democrats who have lots of brains but no luck should -never forget that even the easy game of the outs may be lost. An Idea Is a Monkey Wrench. “works admirably to punish or- dinary crimes of greed and lust and! common criminal malice. But the government jams when an idea is thrown into our institutions. An idea is a monkey wrench thrown into the mlqh]nery of government. Wit~ ness Herrin, and look at Harrison, Ark. C The idea which has clogged the processes of law is that the workman has a sort of property right in his Job. A million or so workmen hold the idea in some form or other, rather vaguely and without much logic back of their idea. They feel that their skill as workmen and thelr knowl- edge of the shop or mine or road, their time of service in it, gives them a right to work there so long as the place is a going concern, and they regard that right as just as sacred as the right of the property owner to- his interest. They consider the right to strike on the job does not violate their right to their job, any more than the business man’s discus- sion of rates or interest and the price of service violates his right to those things at the end of the discussion. These workmen contend that the strike Is merely a discussion of wages and not an abrogation of right to work. Y This idea is deeply revolutionary. It runs counter to about everything ‘that middle-class Americans have been taught to believe. Yet in Her- rin, 1L, the whole community was willing to commit murder to defend that idea. In Harrison, Ark. an- other section of the community was willing to commit murder to wipe out the same ides. And government is powerless. The Herrin murderer was as brazen as the German soldler in Belglum. The Arkansas lynchers were | open in their crime as the minute men at Concord. And, public senti- ment controlling, the court canmot punish the offenders. The monkey wrench of an idea has stalled the machinery of government. The idea has produced what we call industrial war in this country, and it is a bitter and ruthless conflict. But force is not getting the country its uncertainty. A man with luck lke]| nearer to a solution than it was a generation ago. The tighter we turn on the screws, the worse the machine is wrecked. Herrin acquits one mob. Arkansas will acquit the other. The idea is embedded in the wheels of industry. What are we going to do about, it? N'S watchful waiting seems 4 to be matched by Harding's happy hoping in his foreign policy. The administration is sitting in a house by the side of the road watching the world go 'by. And it's a hard and thankless job.. We seem to be trying to stand still in a mob. In- spite of ourselves we are rushed along by it to some unknown tragedy, some great world catastrophe. Day unto day uttereth piffie, and night unto night showeth folly, and we'are getting no- where. But, If it comes to that, who knows where to go?- It is all very well to shoot the planist, but who can”play better? Suppose the President is han- dicapped by his past utterances and his low company in the Senate three years ago. What of it? It is 50 easy to pick flaws in the day’s work; butl and Mr. Bryan policies. Mr. Bryan is very much interested in the to change the date of inaugura- tion and to advance the assembling of newly elected congresses. of the will of the people as shown at the He wants the reaction expressed in legislation more promptly than is possible under the existing system. When the next Congress assembles, with its increased representation of demo- crats and progressives, Mr. Bryan hopes to get action on the proposed change. * k % % Radio control legislation now pending in Congress should interest every radio enthus The bill is unfinished business before the House and leader Mondell hopes to get it through next Wednesday. to enlarge the service of general broadcast- ing stations and to restrict the use of the air by irresponsible senders. It sounds queer The bill aims expression “the lanes of the air” but it is now recognized that some governmental control must be exer- cised over lanes of the air to prevent col- lisions of sound and a general mix-up of The bill makes the Secretary of Commerce of the use of radio communica- tion and broadcasters will have to obtain a license to operate. The bill is regarded as of such importance, in view of the marvelous increase in radio activity, that utmost effort ted to get it through the Senate at this session. * % %k % ent employes may take comfort in the possibility—somewhat attenuated to be sure, but still alive—of the passage of some kind of a reclassification bill. The pro- ponents are working now upon a compro- mise bill, and if the two sides can agree, it is thought that the bill can be passed and signed before March 4. assuming a situation as it was in 1921, not as it should have been, then assuming that the golden moment for powerful participation in world af- fairs passed four years ago, how should we better ourselves by taking 2 header into them now? The thirty-one republicans who signed the manifesto during the cam- paign which pledged Harding to take a part in the solution of the problems of the world have been as active and as effective as a similar group of pro-league democrats could have been. The Senate is what it is, and the Senate, not the President, decides what the country shall do about the league. Mr. Cox could have got no further than Mr. Harding is going. And desplte the fact that he is stand- ing still, Europe ls coming nearer and nearer to us. So the relative re- sult is the same. We are going into the world court established by the league of natlons, and our observer. Mr. Boyden, told Europe what we think, even though he was officlally repudiated in a quite pickwickian sense. We are edging into European affairs. No one is so lonesome as an isolationist. Happy hoping gets us just as far as watchful waiting. And probably the hoper and the waiter assumed thelr attitude because they reflected publioc sentiment. Partles and Presidents may change but the temper of the American people re- mains about the same, and in the end public sentiment has its way. It had its way when we stayed out of war, when we got in, and when we stood still after the war and let Europe come surging toward us. The Impatience of Youth. A lolddierknl' the legion was parading om the ock, His pants were draped at half- it and he ‘only wore one sock. “I left my other leg in France," the broken soldler wailed. “I gave it for democracy, Which rather went and failed, “I also gave it for the war, to end all war,” hecried, *And now I'm’ waiting for & boat to seek the other side. “T want To'go to San Mibtel! Ob, take me there, 2 For some one surely stung me and I'm gonna get my leg! The Silver Lining. OR a generation the liberals of the ‘west have clamored for a change in the Constitution which would per- mit a popular referendum upon con- stitutional amendments of the Con- stitution of the United States. And for an equal length of time, the in- crusted reactionaries of the conserva- tive cast have declared that such a referendum would be an appeal to the mob. They have bemoaned, bewailed and bedamned any movement that would drag the Constitution into the dirt of a common plebiscite. The Constitution, the oracles declared, was not conceived by the mob; it is not written to the low level of mob in- telligence. It should never be amended by the mob, but by the representa- tives of the people, who in their sober second thought and exceptional in- telligence, can say whether or not a proposed amendment carries with it the spirit of liberty checking equality which the fathers breathed into the sacred document. Then Along Came Prohibition. WELL the advocates of prohibition, insinuating themselves into the political lives of legislators, encom- passed the adoption of the federal prohibition amendment ~ exactly the same way that the conservatives sup- posed” the representatives of special privilege might influence - legislature against the mob. So we find all over the east, where opposition to prohi- bition is most virulent, a feeling is organizing itself into a cult demanding that amendments to_the federal con- (Continued on Third Page.) BY WILL P. KENNEDY. HE setting up of a new stand- ing committee in the House and Senate, respectively, to consider legislation affecting the veterans of the world war is being considered seriously. The be- hind-the-scenes motive is to provide a closer legislative hold upon the United States Veterans' Bureau, which is now dishursing annually funds far in excess of what the Con- stitution contemplated should ever be handled by an independent establish- ment of the government not presided over by a cabinet member. This proposal was made at a repub- lican conference last Monday im the form of a resolution presented by, Representative Royal C. Johnson of South Dakota, Tepresenting the ex- service members of the House. Ac- tion was thwarted by the absence of a quorum. “A petition is now being circulated for another caucus which is to be held early this week. The ex-service men and their or- ganized comrades in the House are urging the resolution for a standing committee of seventeen on veterans’ legislation on the ground that fifty- two bllls affecting the veterans are awaiting hearings in committees of the House and Senate, while Congress is getting ready to adjourn for nine months. They stress that the ma- jority of these bills “are slumbering in the Interstate and foreign com- merce committee of the House, which has not had a public hearing on vet- erans’ legislation since 1921.” Others prominent in the republican councils are ready to support a reso- lution for such a committee on broader grounds, pointing out that it is the general policy of Congress to have standing committees on special Jegislation of a continuing character, that it was only by chance that the world war veterans' legislation got into the jurisdiction of the House committee on interstate and foreign commerce, and that that committee already is in charge of other legisl: tion of importance sufficient to monop- olize its time. Committee Burdened With Bills. During the war when it was found necessary to create a marine war risk insurance bureau to function in the Treasury Department this bill proper- 1y was considered by the committee on interstata:and forelgn commerce, bes cause it rélated to marine insurance. Then later, when it was found desir- able to establish a war risk Insurance bureau for soldiers and sailors the committee on interstate and foreign commerce was also glven jurisdic- tion of the bill because of its former jurisdiction over the marine insur- ance bill. Another reason assigned was that ‘Willlam Gibbs McAdoo, then Secre- tary of the Treasury, foresaw the political potentialities of having this soldiers’ bureau under his wing in the Treasury Department. It was charg- ed the other day on the floor of the House that Mr. McAdoo is now get- ting lists of veterans with a view to his (denied) candidacy for the pres! dency in 1924. Then the soldiers' rellef agencies grew until nearly every department had one or more, and they were functioning separately. These were all brought together under the law establishing the Veterans' Bureau as an independent establishment in August, 1921. The scope of the Vet- erans’ Bureau s extraordinary for an.independent establishment. Creation of Veterans’ Bureau. ‘The bureau of war risk insurance ‘was .abolished by the act creating the Veterans' Bureau and the powers and duties pertaining to the director of war risk {nsurance were trans- ferred to the Veterans’ Bureau, to- gether with the functions, powers and duties conferred upon the federal board for vocational educatlon by the act of June 27, 1918, and all person- nel, properties, etc, of the United States public health service, as pr scribed and provided in a written order of the Secretary of the Treas- ury on April 19, 1921, relating to the transfer of certain activities. Bt- fective May 1, 1822, those hospitals of the public health service having to do with the care of ex-service Stamp Sales Soar To Billion Over Like Period in ’22 The biggest demand for stamps and other postal stamped paper in the history of the government is in full swing and is taken by the Post Office Department as an Indi- cation of healthier business condl- tions. A billion more stamps were is- sued in the last six months than in that period & year ago, and values showed a $30,000,000 increase, leading postal officials to believe there will be no deficit from pos- tal operations when the fiscal year closes June 30. A year ago the deficit amounted to $60,815,400, Orders for postal cards in car- load lots have been received, the demand being larger than ever be- fore for a similar period. One firm bought 11,000,000 precanceled stamps, Demand for stamps is so heavy it has been impossible to keep up with it, and as a result the reserve supply has fallen 200,- 000,000 below the figure set as a safe margin. In addition to the increased de- mand for stamps, there has been a rapld increase in the use of the postage metering device, which re- quires no stamps. T [n men, together with their personnel, were transferred to the Veterang’ Bureau. The bureau of war risk insurance was created by act of Congress ap- proved September 2, 1914, to insure American vessels and their cargoes against the risks of war. By an act approved June 12, 1917, Congress add- ed the duty of insuring the lives of masters and crews of American ves- sels. On October 6, 1917, the most important provisions of the war risk act were added. These provided for payment of allotments and allow- ances to the dependent families of members of the military, forces of the United States, payment of com- pensation for death or disability and the writing of term policies of in- surance by the federal government against death or total disability. Several amendments to this act have been made since, notably the amend- i ments approved December 1921, which greatly decreased the restri tion on reinstatement of lapsed in- surance by disabled ex-service men and the furnishing of hospital and other medical treatment for disabled members of the military and naval forces, and which transferred the duty of furnishing vocational train- ing to disabled members of the mili; tary and naval forces from the Fed- eral Board for Vocational Education to the Veterans' Bureau Enormous Bureau Expenditures. Director Forbes of the Veteans' Bureau recently made the statement that his independent establishment was actually spending nine-tenths of the total appropriations made for all the activities of the federal govern- ment. John Thomas Taylor, vice chalrman of the national legislative committe of the American Legion, claims that “the Veterans' Bureau now expends a greater sum annually |than the combined expenditures of the Departments of Agriculture, Com- merce, Labor, State and the Post Office Department. In addition, it spends more than the Army, the Navy, the Treasury or the Interior Department —more than any other department of the government.” Chairman Madden of the House ap- propriations committee explains that | the appropriation of the Veterans' Bureau for the next fiscal vear is 1$428,160,775, with about 30,000 em- ployes, while the largest appropria- tion for any government department —the Post Office Department—is $585,000,000, and this covers 325,000 employes. It was never contemplated by the Constitution of the United States, say those in Congress who have made a close study of this subject, that there should ever be such an independent establishment disbursing sums of money larger than executive depart- ments. The Constitution contem- plated that all of the prineipal func- tions of the government should be performed under the heads of execu- tive departments, whom we now call cabinet members, We've gone so far afield that we even have a bill which appropriates for independent establishments of the government, including the Veterans' Bureau, none of which are responsi- ble to @ head of an executive depart- ment. The Veterans’ Bureau is under a directorship. The pension bureau, which during the course of its exist- ence has disbursed pensions totaling billions of dollars, Is subordinated to the Secretary of the Interior, to whom appeals are made from the decisions of the pension bureau. ‘Proposed Change. Now this resolution introduced by Representative Royal G Johnson for the organization of former service men in the House, for the creation of a new standing committee to be styled the committee on veterans' leg- islation, proposes that all leglslation affecting veterans who served in the world war shall be referred to the committes, except proposed pension legislation. At the present time there are some four or five committess to which have been referred bills af- fecting the veterans of the wcrld war —such as the adjusted comnensation or bonus bill to the ways and means i committee, the hospitalization prono- sitions to the committee on [ :iiid bulldings and grounds, bills a¥ecting soldiers’ public land rights to the committes on public lands and irri- gation ‘of arid lands, bills affecting veterans with respect to farm loans to the committee on banking and cur- rency. It is not understood to be the pur- pose of the ex-service men's resolu- tion that a new standing committee should embrace withta its jurisdic- tion all of these legislative propesi- tions, but only such as ars directly embraced within the functions and authority of the Vetorans' Bureau. And yet the resolution jtself says that all proposiions affecting the veterans of the world war should bs referred to the committee. That's where the rub comes. Com- mittees now in possession of juris. diction over various matters concern- ing the veterans, to which some con+ sideration has been given, are loathe’ to divest themselves of this jurisdic- tion and power and lodge it in this proposed committee. It is though that it a simple prop- osition, clearly defining the proposed jurisdiction of the new committee, o that it will be understood that it to have control over such matte only as relate to the administration of the Veterans' Bureau, to soldiers’ insurance, compensation, allowances, vocational and physical rehabllitation, and the like, there would probably’ be less opposition. As matter of fact such a resolu+ tion now being drafted, which wiH be tried out when the republicans hold a caucus early this week. This" simplified resolution should be help= ful also in bringing: about closer party harmony.