The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1891-04-24
The Democratic Surplus and the Re
publican Deficit.

publican Deficit.
The Republican, leaders have got throue
trying TO get away from the facts about tn
billion dollar congress, and are intentl
watching Secretary Foster rs he tries to fin
some way out of the hole into which th
mad extravaganza of last year led the &C
ministration. The fact Is, and no effort
longer made to deny It, that the treasury
in worse shape than 1t has been before sine
the war, certainly since the panic wreckag
of 1876. The leading REPUBLICAN organ o
the country the New York Tribune, dole
fully faces the situation when II says, W
a full quarter of the former customs revenue
removed and heavy expenditures required
by appropriations at the last session." some
thing must be done. The event Is proving
that the Republican ex-senator and chair
man of the last national convention, J. b
Henderson OF Missouri, did not ex'
aggerate when he declared after the ad.
journment of the late congress that II mac
left the treasury in about the condition the
Democratic congress did which adjourned on
the eve of the rebellion.
Secretary Foster is a f%ar-sighted business
man, and sees the necessity of providing
against the deficit that Is even nearer than
the Democrats have been predicting. He pro.
poses to utilize, partly by Iecoinage and
partly by paying 1t out again, the $2O,OOO,OOO
of worn and long disused fractional silver
coins stored for many years as an unavailable
asset. Then he proposes to utilize the profits
from silver coinage to the utmost limit, to re-
coin the trade d liar bullion, and issue certifi-
Gates upon the new coins, and by this means
coinage, to add S12, 0O0, 900 or $15, 000, 900 more
to the treasury resources to meet the heavy
drafts of the next few months. Then he pro-
poses to give up trying to meet the $5O,OOo,-
900 of four and one.half per cent bonds that
fall due September LIST, but to renew them at
a lower rate of interest, perhaps not more
than two PEI cent. Some $50, 600 ,0C0 of tnem
are held as security for the national bank cir
culation and this extension, If it can be Sc
cured, will serve the double purpose Of STAY
ing off the debt, and preventing a contraction
of the currency that might be disastrous. As
a further relief he proposes to call on the
banks for ss,O0O,OO 0 or $4,000, 900 of the de-
posits of public funds.
1t is now seen and admitted that the pen
sion payments to be made before July Will
about all that Is left of the available
treasury surplus above a fair working mar.
gin, and compel this virtual borrowing. For
at the most these expedients are only tempo
rary to tide over tie difficulty until
Congress meets again to authorize the Issue
Of more longtime bonds or the creation of a
The law requires the use of $40, 000,0 0 year.
" for the purchase CT bonds for the sinking
fund but 1t has got to be disre garded; there
S no other way. Secretary Window in bis
lnnual report only last December expected
o meet this re quirement by paying the 4 IL
surplus by July l from the fiscal operations
f the year of $15, 147, 900 (which, added to
be available balance at the beginning of the
ear of $50 900, 900, will make a total Of $67,-
II 900 available for the redemption of the
IL per cent. bonds falling due September /,
SOL"
Place this prediction by the side of the fact
) it turns out, and it measures the evil of the
lllion dollar congress. Party leaders have been
rying ever since congress adjourned to make
ne people believe that the appropriations
'ere not much more than was necessary aud .
But Fosters action shows that
ley were $G7, 147. 900 more than so good a !
lancier as Mr.. Window believed they could !!
,ssibly be. Nay more. Mr.. Window took O
account of the fractional silver and minor
ms which Mr.. Foster thinks he has got to
e 10 meet the situation. And over and be.
nd all this there are $4,000, 900 to be paid =
r sugar bounties after July LIST, besides the y
avy drafts on account of the direct tax, the d
ench spoliation claims and the Indian dep. U
dation claims, and still further there Is still y"
other debt In the bank note redemption p'
nd, trust money that was taken to get II
ong last year, that must be met as the notes 1T
In for cancellation. al
is no wonder that this billion dollar con- L
ess was repudiated by a million majority of u
people. The majority would have been VI W
II heavier II the voters could have seen the III
1Ole of 1t before rendering the verdict. al