" Without Direction "

By provision of the Budget Act (1920) there is in existence the office of Controller General of the United States. He is appointed for 15 years and can be removed only by Congressional action. His business is to head the General Accounting Office which " controls the pulse beat of Federal expenditures." What is more, he is empowered to exercise his functions " without direction from any other officer." The occupant of this important office is J. R. McCarl, of Nebraska.

The object of Congress in creating this office was to keep in its own hands the control of Federal expenditures. The result is that there is now an executive officer who is not controlled by the Chief Executive. Already there have been several clashes between Mr. McCarl and members of the Cabinet. The latest of these is with Secretary of the Navy Denby, over what is of itself a comparatively minor case.

Mr. McCarl ordered the Navy Department disbursing officer to get back the money involved in an overpayment to an enlisted man in the Navy. Secretary Denby objected on principle to this " interference" in his Department. Naval officers and enlisted men protest that Mr. McCarl, in effect, overrules formal naval orders. Mr. McCarl replied in a letter to Secretary Denby: " There was no authority in such Administrative powers as are given the head of the Navy Department to issue an order annulling a request of this office to protect the fiscal affairs of the United States."

The Controller General also offered to send orders directly to the Secretary of the Navy instead of to the officers concerned.

Mr. Denby, however, objects to taking orders from Mr. McCarl and is prepared to take the case to Attorney General Daugherty for an opinion. If the Controller General is upheld, it means practically that there will be " two chief executives," and in matters of expenditure, at least, Cabinet officers must acknowledge two superiors.

The Secretary of the Navy is not the only Cabinet officer to come in conflict with the Controller General. Before Mr. Fall retired as Secretary of the Interior, he was obliged to bow to Mr. McCarl on several occasions. Army officers have felt themselves abused in a number of instances by Mr. McCarl's rulings. Evidently Mr. Denby now intends to force a " showdown" as to the scope of the Controller General's powers.