Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-11-08
POLITICAL BOOKKEEPING.


y -.
|, month of three million dollars. Hal
! greater diligence been exercised in wri
|, ting up the books in the Treasurer
Department this deficiency would Ger
tainly have been greater. In Other
words, the public debt and the amount
of outstanding legal tenders are in lex
cess of the figures given by the Secre
tary. sfa,o e8 81 -4e
In one of the semi-officih reports OF
conversations at the Treasury, of which
the Washington special correspondents
give SO many, it was stated that the
Secretary had now got over the begin
ming and worst part Of the fiscal year,
IN which the payments from the Treas
ury are always heaviest, and that here
after the receipts would more closely
correspond with the expenditures. In
fact, the Treasury officials have insisted
all along that the revenues were ample,
and that it would be unnecessary to
make any eonsiderableissueof irredeem-
able paper above the legal
limit of $356,OO0,O0O. As they
expressed it, ''there was no appre-
hension at the Department that the
draft upon the $4,000, 900 would be
very heavy in the ordinary course of
business" On the other hand the
Tribune, weeks before the panic, gave
its reasons for believing that the reve-
nues of the current fiscal year would
fall many millions short of meeting the
enormous appropriations of the Salary
grabbing Congress and the inevitable
Deficiencies, which it will be one of the
| first duties of the incoming Congress
to provide for. Here, then, are we
again at issue with Mr.. Richardson on
! question of fact. Fortunately, the
truth cannot long be concealed.
1t it be the case that the heaviest
expenditures of the Government are in
the first three or four months of the
fiscal year, we have few questions to
put to the friends of the Secretary.
During the first six months of the year
1928 the revenue of the Government
was not affected by any financial dis
turbances. Nevertheless, there was an
element which caused perturbation.
That disordering influence was the
Presidential campaign. The fact will
appear from a comparison of the
changes in the Public Debt before and
after the Presidential elections:
DECREASE OF THE PUBLIC DEBT BEFORE
THE ELECTION.
By statement for August $40, 1856 $50
| By statement for September , 10 327 343
By statement for October. .....,...... 5,228,4T
Total decrease, 3 months. .s26, 90, 1896
INCREASE OF THE PUBLIC DEBT AFTER
Or -s .,.. THE ELECTION. ...-.
/ BV Stampnt November (decraaSeA 1Q2
| By statement for December (increase(. 1,6S4, 1903
BY statement for January (increase).. 4O6,243
| Net increase, 3 months. ........... $780,, 321
We do not deny that the customs re-
ceipts are heavier in August, Septem-
Der and October than they are in No
vember, December and January. The
| difference last year in favor of the three
earlier months was about twenty mil
lion dollars. Yet, if we compare Oc-
| tober with January we shall find that
in these months the customs receipts
are about equal. The quarterly pay
ments, of course, correspond with
each other, the months being the
first of the second and third
quarters respectively. The interest pay
ments do not at all affect either
month, since in every Debt statement
the accrued interest for the preceding
thirty days is reckoned as an addition
to the principal. We see, however, that
while the debt decreased S5,22S,417 in
October it increased S406,4l7 in Janua-
~. Yet we are told that October is a
very bad month for the Treasury, and
that the heaviest payments fall In the
first four months of the fiscal year,
Now let us see how it is this year.
Four months have already elapsed, be-
ing one-third of the fiscal year By
the most careful and liberal estimate we
can make, the revenue of the govern
ment has been as follows:
From Customs, calculated on basis
of receipts at Sub Treasuryi in New
YORK -.-................--.-...S O,OOO,OO0
Internal Revenue, per official state
ment ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 33OOO,OOO
Miscellaneous sources, say............ 100000
Total. .s1O2 900 900
Deduct:
Decrease of Debt, per Off
cial statements. ..........S Sc 900, 900
Four months interest on
Debt, including Pacific
Railroad bonds and COM
mission to Syndicate of
three months interest on
$50. OO0, 600, new 5's......35, 000, 900
Premium on bonds pur-
chased in the panic ....... 100000
Total. ................. Si2 900
Difference. ......S 1900 900
The above sum of S60,000.000 is the
net amount entered on the books as
paid from the Treasury in the four
months for the ordinary expenditures
of the Government, exclusive of the
principal and interest of the Public
Debt. But the aggregate for such ex-
penditures for the fiscal year 1928
was, by an official statement of the |
Treasury Department, over SlS0,000,-
600, and it is well known that the APP
preparations for the current year are |
millions greater than last years One |
third of $500 900 is S60,000,0O0, so
that if the Treasury has really paid out |
in four months more than one-third of |
the cost of Government for |
the year, the payments have |
not yet been adjusted" and entered on |
the Treasury books. 1t appears not to
be generally understood that the Treas
ury calculates its cash on hand from |
the Treasury books, instead of by actual |
count, and that the same method is fol- |
lowed to get at the amount of outstand-
ing legal tenders We therefore re-
gard the following facts as significant,
under the system of political bookkeep-
ing above and oftentimes before de-
scribed in these columns /. That the |
deficiency in revenue, or increase
of the public debt, for Octo-
Der is three million dollars.
II. That the legal-tender circulation
has been expanded already five million
dollars above the maximum limit fixed
by the laws. III. That the dirty rags
which represent fractions of a dollar
have within the past two months been
increased at least six million in num-
Der, and in amount mere than three
million dollars, so-called: ". That |
picayune prize-package scheme of
paying out silver tokens is resorted to
under the pretext of resuming specie
payment in silver, but with the real |
purpose of concealing the condition of
the Treasury, or, at all events, divert
ing attention therefrom until after the