The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-01-25

funding TO the various States OF the Union
the nroduct OF the direct taxes. 1hls was
n purely gratuitous and altogether un-
called-for act. No matter. IL relieVeo sne
bursting Treasury OF some f2,Sp'cD lhe
next scheme was the establishment Vi
bounties on the growth OF sugar. u"uel
which some g. 400 900 has been paid 10 'he
suear-zrovers These, however. were
mere nothings compared to the great
scheme under which an extra tlZ'v'VVD
year wea added to the already ploa.eu p,n-
sion list Of the United States u me;
Congress RENTED taxes on toDacS ''u. anu
sugar, and so lost large biock oi - e.ti
Again. they got rid Of certain "ii iu-iai
connected with the banking system worth
oyer el0 O0D 600. Taking everything INTO
accoun, Mr. Wilson calculates tha1 TIE
Fiftv-frst Congress made DUCKS anu
brakes Of about f70,000.0p. Remember tnat
for the hulk of this money there Is lit
orally nothing TO show-no ships no forts
no military equipments, none OF the great
nublic works on which most extravaganza
nations spend their money. IL was simply
thrown away. and as far as the pensions
are concerned. the waste was entalied LOT
the next twenty or thirty years. me
net result il that. whereas in 1889 the
United States had a surplus of f2l,OO,Vo0
II has now a deficit of N5.OOvD ana
tariff so burdensOme that It's weight Is
felt IN every household and on every
article of consumption.
Al first sight the Republican manage
ncnt of the finances Of the Union seems
huge nascO. If, however, We consider II
from the point Of view OF those VINO us-
signed il. il will be seen TO be great
success. The resources OF the nation were
deliberately squandered by the Harrison
n q "a breast
work of deficit which should defend the
tariff. The protcctionists may say with
bride. I'VE determined to create sub
stantial deficit. and in spite OF every sort
of difficulty we succeeded There Is no
DENYING this success. II the Treasury had
been solvent the party of tarin reform
might at once have tackled the Mckinney
act In earnest. As II is, they fight with one
hand tied They cannot, when there IS
deficit Of 100000, propose to reduce the
revenue still further. All that they can 90
is to loosen the weight Of the tarin AT
the places where il gals the most ana
hope for better times Meantime the
Treasury is occupied with the hOmely
though difficult task Of paying its way.
Instead of its energies being devoted 10
reducing the debt, it is actually contem-
plating an issue Of SO.0o00J0 TO enable IL
to regularize it's position and leave II sol
vent. II any one in 1889 had predicted
that this would be the state Of things IN
1884,. and that il would be reached, not by
a reduction i'm taxation. but after an in
crease of the tariff without parallel in
history, he would have been regarded as
a Iunatic Yet this is what has happened
How Mr. Cleveland and his ministry Will
be able TO raise the necessary n5OWOJJ
remains to be seen. We can only wait
and watch. admirlng meantime the splen-
did inperturbability of a people who have
allowed f7O,O0O,Oc0 of their money 10 be
wasted without getting In the least cX-
cited about it, The cIanks talk Of i'm |
President Cleveland over the |
Sandwich Islands affair. but not the |
crankiest crank in the States would |
think it reasonable to impeach General |
Harrison for having allowed the national |
resources TO be poured out like water.