The National tribune., 1882-11-16
The Impending Danger.

| thing. 1hey seem to lear that any thlnS
like inactivity on their part would argue
against the necessity of their existence. The
first thing the raw Congressman has an itch
ing to do upon his arrival in Washington Is
to inaugurate some great financial reform
and correct the affairs of the Treasury; all
last session there was a consuming desire to
do something in the way of financial
legislation and it became the fashion to
decry the abundance of money in the Treas
ury. The anomalous position was taken
that it was dangerous for the income of the
Government TO be large enough to leave a
good healthy margin over expenses. A sur
plus in the Treasury was denounced as the
bane of our National existence.
1t was considered dangerous. 1t would
bring on extravaganza All the evils for
hidden in the decalOgue were as nothing
compared to the mere crime of an admins
tration of the Nation which lived within its
income.
The people would have been excusable for
understanding from the arguments of these
statesmen that the latter would have re-
garded it as wise policy to cut down the
receipts to point less than the expend-
itures of the Government. Indeed, this is
exactly what the last Congress was in immi-
nent danger of doing, and it is what the coun-
try has to fear from the approaching session.
"The reduction of taxation" a phrase
whose meaning no one stops to inquire, is
the cry of the hour. Congressmen's ears are
always pricl1ed up ready to catch the faint
est watchword which floats indistinctly in
the air.
The same eagerness to do something has
existed before, and the history of the coun-
try has recorded the result in its annals of
bitterness, distress and woe. At other times
there has been an overlooking Treasury.
There was the same Wild resort to reckless
expedient by Congress to dispose of what it
regarded as dangerous accumulation Of
wealth. Times were prosperous as they are
to-day. Business was good. Public credit
was equal to what it is at this time. We
were rich, proud, and little dreamed of ap-
preaching calamity.
Trouble was brought then upon the country
in a moment, as it were, and may be again, by
this burning thirst on the part of Congress
men to do something. The country was
going on well enough Temporarily there
was little spare money in the Treasury.
This, in the eyes of pseudo-statesmen was the
great evil to be disposed of. Financial legis-
ton innocent and simple in appearance re-
suited The effect was ruin, hard times, and
years of struggling to repair the damage so
easily done.
The history of the country affords many
examples of this kind of legislation and its
consequences.
In 1886 the country had been for several
years passing through period of remarkable
prosperity The debt had been reduced to
practically nothing. Claims to the amount
of but few thousand dollars were out
standing, and to meet this demand money
in the Treasury was set aside. These liabili-
ties had not been settled simply because the
funds to meet them, which had been de-
posted in the United States Bank, had not
| been called for. At the same time the
estimate of the receipts and expenditures
showed the probability of surplus of at
least $4,000 600 in the Treasury at the close
of the year 1886. This estimate was, indeed
exceeded, and the surplus for that year was
over $33OO0,0OO.
In order to dispose of this troublesome
surplus scheme was inaugurated, and
under an act approved June %, 1886, it was
decided to distribute the money accumu-
lated in the National Treasury among the
various States 1t did not seem possible to
and passed the law that times would ever
change and it was supposed that safe
remedy had been happily discovered for an
ever-embarrassing plethora. So the money
went out and the Treasury was relieved OF
nearly $3OOOO,OOO, which was scattered
broadcast among the States.
In 1897, however, every thing had changed
The flush times of 1885 sc had been sue
ceeded by gloomy depression and extraor-
binary panic. Business was at a standstill
everywhere Most of the banks suspended
specie payment. Staunch firms reeled and
collapsed in the general ruin. The sale of
public land stopped. 1t was impossible
even 20 collect duties on imported goods.
Instead of an OVERLOOKING Treasury, there
was now an empty one.
A bill was passed to postpone the payment
of the fourth installment to the States, and
even at that moment the expenses of the
Government were 100000 in arrears. In
the same breath, upon the recommendation
of the Secretary Of the Treasury, a bill was
passed by Congress authorizing the Presi-
dent to cause the issue of six per cent. loan