Evening Star Newspaper, July 25, 1937, Page 45

Part 4—8 Pages WASHINGTON, FEATURES he Swday St D, O, INDAY MORNING, JULY 25, 1937. Part Four PAGE F-—l NATION’S BILLIONS RUN GANTLET OF VIGILANT CHECKING By Lucy Salamanca. HE newspaper-reading public had just grown accustomed to six ciphers in relief fund fig- ures, some time back, when with a prodigal flourish Congress ex- panded our financial horizon by ap- Propriations that ran into more fig- ures than most of us had ever seen 81l on one line before. Such sums as $3.300,000.000 or $4.880,000000 were tossed off verbally with a nonchalance that left the simpler among us blink- ing where we stood. But as soon as the amounts had ceased to occasion our wonder, there were those among us who felt the good men and true charged With expenditure of such in- eredible amounts must have come up against a poser. “Try spending four billion dollars.”” not a few challenged in their hear nd, what's more, try | keeping track of it!" There were those who referred to | said expenditure as though it rep- resented one vast, unbridled spending | spree, with every one who thought he'd like a little job done on the town pump or in Aunt Hetty’s garden at | the Government's expense just dipping | blithely into the big barrel where all | the billions were, helping himself. ‘Time went on, and the billions eeased to be mentioned in such awe- some tones, We grew more or less sccustomed, as a nation, to speaking in telephone numbers, though it may well be most of us gave up visualizing anything so without our numerical #cope. We let the people who had to spend it worry about it, and the book- keeping didn’t trouble any of us. That 1%, it didn't trouble us unless we hap- pened to find employment in that branch of the United States Govern- ment that is responsible for the stu- pendous task of keeping track of every penny of those incredible sums—the General Accounting Office, presided over by the controller general of the United States. HILE we may blithely have for- gotten the billions that made the headlines when relief appropriations | were being made in Congress, the Gen- eral Accounting Office couldn't forget them. In fact, they stayed by them so faithfully and sedulously that today they can tell you—with no attempt at humor—that 35 cents was spent for a trowel somewhere south of the Mason- Dixon line, or one pick-ax voucher was turned down because they went and used the pick-ax on the highway when, “under the purposes of the act” it had been approved by the President for use in grading the school playground. “l you think any one dipped into those billions without being first forti- fled with requisitions, applications, Treasury warrants, presidential letters, approved specifications, check and double-check Treasury-General Ac- counting Office approvals, disbursing officers’ requisitions, and permission | and authority of the controller general of the United States, you just don't know anything about the way Uncle Bam keeps books, that's all! ‘We were, from time to time, ac- Quainted with the fact that the b spending was going on. Highways, roads and streets, we read, were being built; public buildings were going up all over the land; public utilities were coming into being; flood-control work and conservation work were going forward. Parks and recreational cen- ters and all manner of educational projects were taking shape, and rural rehabilitation There was evidence enough and to spare that, and breadth of the country, the United States was cleaning house, tidving up her towns and cities, ma- terializing the long-harbored dreams the length | for civic betterment of countless com- | munities. All this was due, of course, directly to the billions aforementioned. It began to look as though citizens could do as good & job at spending as Con- gress had done in appropriating. Moreover, with all the face-lifting that was going on, certain psychologi- cal betterment was noted. The spirit of the people perked up, along with the city hall in its new coat of paint, and thousands of men and women from coast to coast and Canada to the Gulf were given an opportunity to earn their daily bread without re- course to the dole. dollars in relief funds. The layout above shows some of the American industries that were given new lease of life by the expenditure of the billions of NGt only were the wheels of mduvtu set turning but men were set to work again in shops and laboratories, contributing to the general recovery. 'HE billions were getting into cir- culation. And as they circulated they had to be accounted for. Here was & bookkeeping assignment to try the mightiest mathematician of them all. The General Accounting Office became one of the busiest spots in Washington. And though they take billions in their stride within the his- ——— ing, that job of' bookkeeping was so stupendous that the manner in which the billions are being spent and the manner in which they are being ac- toric walls of the old Pension Build- | counted for becomes a story in itself, ° ! priating an additional $1.500.000,000. | as important and interesting as the story of the incalculable good the money has accomplished in restora- tion of morale and prosperity. What, then, is the ‘procedure, when & community a little dip into the relief barrel? Before we follow a request through to its natural conclusion, let view some of the facts that this money available There have been three major relief bills in all. The first of these, known as the original recovery appropriation act of 1933, The second, known as the emergency relief appropriation act of 1835, was for $4.880.000,000. And to continue the work launched by these funds the relief act of 1937 was passed, appro- us re- made Under these various acts the spe- cific purposes for which the funds | forth so that there could be no question of should be spent were set final disposition. Nor was there op- portunity for personal interpretation A stated sum was to be spent “highways, roads, crossing elimination™; sum was to be spent for habilitation and relief “rural re- in vation, transmountain water div and irrigation and reclamation.” definite amount was apportioned for | and there were respectively, rural electrification, various &llocations for, WOMEN DISCOVER HOW TO MAKE SWEET CHARITY SWEETER Listen, Gitls: Group Mo Style Is Not Only Painless but Is Right Good Fun. By Stanley Moreau. ROUP money-raising used to be an arduous, thankless task, but now it has become a joyous round of revelry. It is more fun than a Sunday school picnic. There is relief from the monotony of housework. There are free bus rides into the country and, most appreciated of all, there is food without red ants. The wonder of it is that everybody isn’t raising money this new and delightful way. A group of 59 women recently wished to raise $132. They did it in one month, using four evenings, four half days and one dinner session at 6 o'clock. Now they wish they had a need to raise more money, because they know of more ways to do it than ever before. Mrs. Dolittle said: “Before we moved to the city we belonged to a small community church and we were forever having to raise money for it. If the outside of it didn’t need paint, the roof of the carriage shed would need reshingling. “We would hold a bake sale. Fifty women would each bake a cake, I suppose the cakes cost 50 cents apiece to make. We would take them to the hall and sell the cakes to ourselves at a dollar each. That would put $50 in the treasury at a cost to us of $75. ney-Raising in the Current The extra $25 was the cost of satisfy- ing human nature.” Mrs. Dolittle is now one of a group | of 50 women™in Washington who have | the same old problem but solve it in & different way. They discovered a bread company which makes a standing offer to any organization of 30 people or more. It is all in fun—or advertising, if you must be technical about it. The com- pany will pay the secretary of the group 25 cents per person, for every member present, on an expedition through the bakery, simply to see how bread is made. Fifty housewives stacked their dishes one morning and sallied forth en masse. Those who used their cars would have had to go shop- ping for groceries anyway, so there was no extra charge for transportation. ’I‘HEY spent about an hour and a half in learning just how each loaf was made to look so like another, and how it was sliced. They sam- pled new kinds of breadstuffs and | cakes, There were rumors at home to the effect that even coffee was served with the coffee cake. A week later a check arrived for the organi- zation in the amount of $12.50. That was only the beginning. In the same week they went as & group to & gas company demonstra« | Jocal office. | all at the same time. tion, held at night in the company’s . They sat comfortably in chairs while they watched an “expert” cook a complete meal, including cake, There was no advertising talk, but there was & dis- cussion about baking problems. If the members of the organization started to yearn for & new range, it cost them nothing to yearn. The check, this time, at the almost standard price of 25 cents each, again amounted to | $12.50. The joke to this trip was that | when another group was short of members, Group 2 borrowed from Group 1, so that some yearners had the pleasure of yearning twice. The company doegn't care. The meal was cooked to within 10 minutes of its proper time, Names were written on forms (which painlessly asked if the lady was using old-fashioned gas ap- pliances) and were then shaken in a hat. The hat belonged to a salesman who was hovering near, but he ‘didn’t speak unless spoken to. To the first lady whose name was pulled from the hat went the nearly cooked meal. To the second lady went the cake. Out of falrness, Mrs. Dolittle tele- phoned the electric company apout the privilege of group sight-seeing. The company was not to be outdone and responded gallantly to the tune of another check for $12.50, These sal- lies had become a wonderful new game to the ladies and not a girl was missing from her place that night. It was for dear old alma ego and for the charitable purpose, too. The procedure was much the same as at the gas company, and the girls were able to compare the two different ways of cooking. ANOTHER night Mrs. Dolittle had | A] You Have To Do Is Watch Demonstrations of This all the girls gather in her home for a surprise party. The surprise | Was & MAan, & VAacuum sweeper man, who gave a demonstration. Mrs, Do~ little was very much embarrassed at the amount of dirt he was able to take from her rug. even though she had used § vacuum sweeper on it that very day. The joke turned on the | demonstrator a little later in the eve- | ning, however,. He started to show how he could clean the wall paper with his gadget. He tried every place he could think off, but not a speck of dirt could he gather. He blushed even more than she had done, and she broke down and confessed. The wall paper was brand-new, so new it wasn't even dry and it couldn’t have any dirt on it. At 50 cents per person in this case the check was for $25, A week later the traveling sorority visited an'ice cream plant in the aft- ernoon. After they had seen just how ice ‘cream was made, they sat down to eat plate after plate of the delicacy, with cookies and cakes on the side. That meant another check for the fund in the usual amount. In the third week the ever busy Mrs. Dolittle gathered her crowd together with the warning that they must bring sandwilhes with them. They were going for & bus ride into the country. In fact, two buses would be supplied free of charge. A dairy distributor wanted the ladies to see from just what kind of farms thuir fresh milk was coming. They left at 9 o'clock in the morning. At the end of their |of the girls had never seen a cow journey into Virginia they alighted at the door of & modern dairy bera. and That (No Obli igations), and the Checks Come Home. It was a grand day and just right to give them that carefree feeling. Some milked before and they joked about placing a bottle before the cow when they asked for 1 quart of grade “A.” The dairy furnished all the milk they could drink while they munched their sandwiches. . A check from the dairy followed them home. Since all 50 members were present, it meant an- other $12.50 for them. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon when buses pulled up at the starting point. ATING OUT” pleased the girls so much that Mrs. Dolittle con- tacted a hotel. The agreement here was a little different than the others. There was a limit to the number of guests the hotel could accommodate in their dining room and also a speci- fied hour. In order to go the limit, which was 63, 13 protesting husbands were dragged along to & very fine dinner served at' 6 o'clock .in the evening. It was a seven-course meal and it cost only 50 cents per plate. The ladies paid gladly, because they knew that all charges over the number of 24 would be returned to the group. The girls ate their way into an earning power of $19.50 that night. The check was duly paid by the hotel. Why the ladies ever went to the all- electric farm one afternoon is still a mystery, unless they went just for the free bus ride. It was a fine ride and they did see how flies can be elec- trocuted when they come to rest on an electrified screen door. That was on a Saturday afternoon and the check for the fund was as usual. By this time the habit was so strong in them that they turned out quite willingly to visit a funeral parlor one evening. They found that a funeral parlor is a beautiful place. They learned what a crematory was and why some people preferred to think of ‘using one. Check, as usual. If you will look back, you will see that they had already earned the money the group needed and there was no justification for further trips. They had $132 in the fund. The cam- paign was a success. But there is still Mrs. Dolittle, who will not let matters rest there. She says there is one trip they must all make sooner or later and there is no reason why they cannot all go to the same place. She has found a company which sells lots in & cemetery. For each good prospect which the com- pany is later able to sell, the sum of $10 will be paid to the group treas- ury. Mrs. Dolittle argues that since each member is & prospect for a ceme- tery lot, there is no reason why the treasury should not berefit by $500. r feels a desire to take | was for $3.300.000.000. | for | streets and grade- | another stated | stricken | agricultural areas, and water conser- tance for educatioral, ! ofessional and clerical persons” Civilian Conservation Corpe.” and s on down the long list of projects that, after the W. P. A, was hed in | 1935 became the active ef work-relief program of the adminise tration. | Today the General “housil E! Accounting Of- fice reports with pride that every cent of the money has been administered in a manner that fulfills both ree quirements of the act-—that “in order to provide relief, work-re! | and to increase emplovment by pro- | viding for useful projects.” Moreover, | there has been the iny of every expenditure, and, despite painse taking investigati speedy dis= bursement, in order to meet the emergency nature of the situation. OF‘ THE funds available, some ree | main unobligated, although proje ects approved in the last two or thres months will no doubt allocate the money remaining under the earlier acts. The second relief act was to remain alive until July 1 of this year, but the new appropriation of this year for $1.500.000.000 really consti- tutes an extension of the act of 1935 and will assure the projects being continued until June 30, 1939, the date | fixed by Congress. By that time it isj likely that the great bulk of the fun¢4 osest se will have been spent, although th President earlier expressed the wish' than $500,000.000 might be held in reserve to meet employment condi- tions as recovery got more firmly under way. To administer these vast sums of money it has been necessary for the General Accounting Office to expand its force and operate on funds pro= vided in the bill for expenses incure red or necessitated by “administra~ tion” of the acts themselves.” The normal force of the General Account= ing Office was expanded by 2.000 ad- ditional employes. In 1932 Congress had reduced all Government appro= | priations from 10 to 20 per cent. Therefore the force at the General Accounting Office at the beginning of 1933 consisted of 1,893 people. ‘The staff grew as the program got under way, until it reached a peak of 5,500 members, about 3,000 of whom were employed from emergency relief allocations. About half the expenses of this branch are now paid from ale locations. ‘The heaviest part of the work has been during the last 12 months, for in this period most projects have been approved. The General Ac- counting Office informs me that last Summer and Fall were very busy periods especially, with a great many projects under way. | It is interesting to remember that even when all the routine of applica- tion and approval has been gons through with there yet remains to the General Accbunting Office the great task of bookkeeping in connec- tion with every single expenditure. In other words, as the work progresses and checks are drawn against the allocation this necessitates 8 come (Continued on Third Page.)