The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-02-12

be had every morning at their stand
on First street
-
THE PRESIDENTS MIsNoMBR.
In his special message to congress
President Cleveland said there is now
in the treasury a comfortable surplus
Of more than s6s,OOO,OOO, but 1t is not
in gold and therefore does not meet
our difficulty" An exchange points
out that this statement is misleading,
from the fact that this so-called sur
plus Is made. up Of moneys which the
president admits are not available fol
relieving the emoarrassments Of the
treasury and therefore are Of little
present practical value. 1t was not
Quite candid to use the fact that the
treasury has an amount Of useless or
unavailable cash ON hand as an argu-
ment against legislation to increase the
revenue Of the government, and 1t
would have been wiser to have omitted
any reference to the so-called surplus.
Discussion regarding It has not i'm
proved the public impression as to the
condition Of the treasury, but has per-
haps had the opposite effect. Inquiry
inspired by the presidents statement
has served to show that the financial
department Of the government Is really
worse Off than had been generally sup
posed.
Everybody understands that what the
treasury requires is more revenue-an
income at least sufficient to balance
the outgo. There are the best of rea'
sons for the belief that II such were
the situation all feeling of distrust
would disappear, and with It the diff
Guilty which embarrasses the treasury.
AS was said by Senator Allison
short time since, the all-important mat
ter IS that OF getting more revenue, but
IN order to do this It would be neces-
sary for The party in power to make
some concessions to Republican policy,
and that neither the president nor the
Democrats in congress are disposed to
DO rhey know that thus far their POL
ley has been failure, but they pro-
Tess to believe that It will be a sue.
cess, though they can give no good
reason for such faith. When the tariff
Was enacted the estimates Of It's sup
norters promised not only an ample
revenue, but a surplus. The country
was told that under the new revenue
policy the treasury would at once real
ize a sufficient income to meet all OBJ
LEGATIONS and that as soon as the In
come tax went into effect, the govern
ment would have more revenue than
Il needed. The actual result however
is heavy deficiency, amounting for
the seven months Of the current fiscal
year 70 over sslOoOOOo or close to s5,-
oco.Ooo month, The revenues for this
period were greater by about sl2,OOOOOQ
than FOR the corresponding seven
OF the preceding fiscal year,
which is an encouraging fact, but
largo gain must he made before the
feseipts equal the expenditures. An
additional income of fully s6O,OOo,OOO
per annum is required by the govern
eent, and It ID question whether II
saa set this under tho existing law OF
'ohlse there is the revenue that VIII
ie derived from the duty on sugar and
'he tax on incomes but 1t is doubtful.
sAstler these WI yield the required
mount, at any rate during the present
ear II is possible to make tolerably
accurate estimate Of the revenue 10 b,
iad from sugar. but there can be no
ssree Of certainty regarding what the
acome tax win yield. and there is rea.
on 10 believe that the higher estl-
hatas viii not be realized.
ll IS manifestly a mistake to main
sin chat thess is a comfortable sur
ius7 while a. the same time ad-
iittias that It is practically WORTHLESS
II reliewnr the treasury, and Il is nel
y. 4 nnl..a..s Is assert that the IN.
d auhte feseaues II the government
.,- - aecrs r. produelng apprehen
S.. Il hse very sfeat deal 70 DC
IS ttslh ub he feeling Of dis