The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1894-01-20
ELKTON. JANUARY 20, 1894.
SECRETARY OARLISLE's PLEA,

SECRETARY OARLISLE'S PLEA.
Secretary Carlisle has published an
open letter to Senator Voorhees, in
which he confesses that his estimate in
his annual report of little more than a
month ago of a deficit of S2S,ooo,ooo
was mistake. He now declares that
at the present rate of decline in the
receipts, the Treasury Department at
the end of the fiscal year will show an
excess of se0enty eight million dol
lars of its expenditures over its receipts.
which is even higher than ex.Speaker
Reed or any other Republican had
dared to figure it.
Mr.. Carlisle is thus obliged at last
to fall back on his power under the
Resumption act to issue bonds IN order
20 rescue the Treasury from its extraor
binary predicament, There is now,
apparently, no escape from this con-
clusion. Unless the national debt is
increased, the Treasury will be unable
to meet its current obligations without
exhaustlng the gold reserve fund and
even this fund, reduced as 1t has be
come below the point of safety, would
be unable to meet the demand of the
governments creditors.
But Mr.. Carlisle has quibbled and
higgled so much over his legal right to
exercise his power under this act that
it is certain in the present situation that
he will not be permitted to resort to
it without contest in Congress. This
opposition, which will come chiefly
from his own party in its attempt to
force him to coin the silver
seigniorage was toreshadowed in the
introduction by Mr.. Bailey of Ten
nessee, of a resolution declaring it to
be the sense of Congress that the Sec
retay has no power under the act Of
1875 to sell bonds for the purposes Of
raising money to meet current expen.
ses.
This resolution is not unlikely to
receive the support of those Demo
--esess-W who followed the leadership of
the silver men in the extra session, and
the chances are that Mr.. Carlisle will
be obliged, if he wishes to use his
power without defying the expressed
wish of Congress, to call upon the
Republicans for support in his new
bond policy, or in any other bond policy
that he may contemplate for bridging
over the constantly widening chasm
between the debit and credit side OF
the Treasury books.
Yet this condition has been brought
about by the insistence of MIR. Cleve.
land and Mr.. Carlisle on tariff policy
which the Republicans in Congress
repudiate and which they long ago
warned the administration would pro-
duce the results which Mr.. Carlisle is
now driven to his wits end to avoid. 1t
is singular illustration of the imbe-
cility and helplessness of Democratic
craftsmanship that the administration
is now virtully obliged to plead-for
that is the real meaning OF Mr.. Car.
isles letter-with the opponents of its
tariff policy for aid IN relieving it from
the consequences which that policy has
brought about. But if the Republicans
comply with this request and help the
administration out of its dilemma, are
they to receive nothing in return in the
shape OF concessions Are they to
come to the rescue of Mr.. Cleveland
and Mr.. Carlisle in saving them from
their own blunders and from their own
party1 The obnoxious and destruct-
i've Tariff bill which compels Mr.. Car
Isle to acknowledge that he must
increase the national debt to save the
Treasury from bankruptcy is to be
crowded through the House and Sen
ate at all cost against Republicans pro-
tests, and then the Republicans are to
be cody asked to support the tariff
wreckers in the financial exigiences
which they have precipitated in de-
iance of the Republicans.
1t is clear that the Democratic party
is incapable of any sound financial
legislation and that the country will
have to look to the Republican leaders
as in the silver repeal fight, to keep
the national Ire asury on IFS legs.