The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1895-07-20
TREASURY JUGGLING.

The prediction that the treasury bal.
ance would be rapidly forced down
with the beginning of the new fiscal
year is being verified with rush, the
San Francisco Chronicle remarks. 1t
is reported in the Washington dis
pitches that.the. expenditures for the
first two days Of the month amounted
to over $4,000, 900, an excess of not less
than "a ZOO. 900 above the receipts. But
Of course, this was inevitable from the
Juggling to which the treasury depart
ment resorted toward the end of the
fiscal year for the sole purpose of max
ing favorable showing in the annual
statement. The government, as the
Washington telegram says, practically
suspended payments for the time being.
It is said that not less than $40, 100000
Of accounts that should have been
settled were thus allowed to accumu-
late. u
Should national bank resort to the
same kind of trickery, suggests the
Washington dispatch, for the purpose
OF obtaining fictitious balance sheet,
the governor would promptly close
the doors Of the concern. But why,
then, should the treasury officials be
allowed to conduct the finances of the
nation in way that would not be
counsenanced in private or quasi.
public institution?
No pretense was made that there
was not money enough on hand to
meet all matured obligations. There
in fact. over 800, ,00O. 900 Cf available
cash in the treasury, in addition to
the gold reserve of sl0O,OO0,oOO. Why,
then, was it considered necessary or
advisable to make it appear in the an
nual statement that the deficit for the
fiscal year was only about s42, 600, 900,
whereas, in fact, it was over $50, ,0OO,- :
900? This is question that will or
should be asked in congress.
! OF course there is the explanation
that the administration naturally de-
sires to make as favorable a financial
showing for the year as possible. A
prominent Democratic contemporary
takes this view Of the matter, and
asserts that Secretary Foster did the
same thing toward the end of the
Harrison administration. The answer
is that there is no similarity in the
conditions. During Harrison's term
the public debt was largely reduced,
and no attempt was made to maintain
useless surplus. When Cleveland
was reelected in November, 1892, and
it was seen that congress would be
Democratic in both branches, the
country became panic-stricken. There
was prevalent fear that the free
traders would attempt to carry out
their threats to repeal the tariff.
Importations fell off at once. and be-
fore Cleveland was inaugurated. the
treasury, which had been in healthy
condition during the whole of Harri-
sons term, became embarrassed. 1t
is impossible that Secretary Foster did
withhold disbursements for the time.
being, in order not to encroach upon
the reserve.
The recent practices of Secretary
Carlisle, however, were altogether
different. Ample funds were avail.
able, as already said. The object was
not to economize for fear of shortage
in the available cash, but to force
fictitions balance.
Perhaps the party exigencies sug.
gested had less to do with treasury
juggling than certain other considera-
tions. It will be the annual report of
the Secretary Of treasury for the fis-
cal year just closed that will be laid
before congress at the meeting in De-
cember. The question will arise
whether the tariff and other fiscal leg
islation.passed by the Fifty-third con-
gress has produced or can produce
sufficient revenue to meet necessary
expenditures. The Republicans in
the Fifty-fourth congress will contend,
as they did in the Fifty-third, that
the Democratic revenue bill is a
lamentable failure. They will point
to the deficit as proof.
The most probable explanation of
Secretary Carlisle's disgraceful manip-
ulation of the balance-sheet for the
fiscial year lies in the evident desire
Of the administration and of the Demo
cratic leaders to break the force of the
Inevitable criticism of the Wilson bill.