The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-11-09

n few months ago. Take in Phladel-
phia which Is very wealthy place 'he
feeling Is much better. That city mas
many large banking institutions. loan
and trust companies. and other enter
prses for the deposit and investment
OF earnings ! presume that the numDer
OF people whose money Is deposited VIII
those Institutions would aggregate Sp,v',,
Most OF the deDositt are III si'"'
amounts and had the cry for cheap
money prevailed. think OF the loss u.s. ILL.,
poor people would have suffered Inc
savings institutions which had thelr
money loaned out would have returned
to their depositors nifty or sixty cents
on the dollar
THE bankers and others saw inc IN
evitabe result. and well knew that ~
case the currency was debased, the SUI
ferers would be the poor, not the Iae"'
IA they can take care OF tneHS'IseS.
The men who handle money ior o'ne!S
became alarmed at this ana began ~
Instruct the people. the result Deihs ''ae
the great body of the people nave pen
brought TO see that debasing currency
means loss TO every one who mas saNeu
ANYTHING from the results OF hohtS'
labor. The tendency year ago 10 lesls-
late IA favor Of silver currency ana Tree
coinage at rs TO i diminished, ana 'he
danger passed. And II has passed. 10,
In the interest Of the great bankers anu
bondholders. but in the interest OF people
Of small means.
That is sound sense well put Inc
rest Of what he said contains much 'hat
We entirely approve of, but some Things
are suggested that we do not so enureiy
applaud. lie continued:
Congress must touch or the financial
question this year. but only so far as
the question OF obtaining revenue u
concerned. \ country with SUCH L.
sources as ours cannot keep on Dor
rowing money, but must devise means
to raise enough revenue 10 meet exc
pcnditures. ] think that there must De
a diminution of expenditures IN various
WAYS. We must cut off internal improve
ments for = while. Then we will nave
| TO diminish what, in the present state
| Of affairs over the world, l snail be
sorry for-that is, the enlargement anu
| Improvement Of our navy ana the
STRENGTHENING OF our military defences'
OF course. besides this, there should be
| as much economy as possible in all the
departments ] do not mean by THIS that
| the present expenditures are extravaganza
| hut the Government. like an INDIVIDUAL
, when short Of money, must deny many
! expenditures that are just and hseiui;
81 hardly think that the tariff VIII De
| touched, unless 1T is necessary 10 40 %
\ in order 10 raise 1fNthh'- ~
mont can Increase the internal taxes
and thereby increase its revenue matefl-
auv as does England when in need OF
| funds"
We should not stop appropriations Tor
our navy for one moment until we get
| enough modern SHIPS 10 aioiu
perfect protection TO our seapor's
| against any attacks that are IKE
~ to he made upon them. but
we most heartily applaud Mr.. Edmunds
suggestion Of economy as the true soiu-
! tion of the Governments difficulty ABOUT
revenues. and in saying this. we differ
with him about our present expendi-
lures. We think that all of our present
expenditures are extravagant
| II is OF course not TO be expected that
| th3 outrageous appropriations to pen
| sions will be diminished, and we must
continue our annual payment of some
Thing like 100000 for interest. But
! these two items amount to less thdH
| s175 900 000. How do we spend the other
! $500. 900 900 that we annually disburse?
In 1861 our annual expenses were only
about s75.0o0o.0o0. What have we done
| IN make 500 10000 necessary when
s75 Ooooo then sufiiced? Our population
| has doubled, it is true. but that does
not necessitate doubling expenses. The
! framework Of the Government remains
! exactly what il was and the only add
ton to il that requires money is the ad-
! ditionai Offices necessary for f0'WoVO Of
| people over what were necessary for
| aO000 900. But we think that we would
be safe in saying that the salaries Tor
| these additional offices would be covered,
| perhaps by ten millions of dollars. Our
| army is of the same size as in 1851; our
, navy is not much more expensive than
IL then was and we are now saved all
| the cost of the Indian wars so trouble
| some TO us then. Where is the necessi-
~ for spending the Sg55, 10000 that we
| annually spend over what We spent in
| 1851? The great increase is the legacy
/ which the war left us, and it makes
| a great corruption-fund for politicians TO
| quarrel and trade over. The expenditures
! of the Government should be cut down
until they are made reasonable. and we
were delighted to see this announcement
from so distinguished a Republican as Mr..
Edmunds. That is the way to increase
the Governments available revenues
! ont down its unnecessary expenses.