Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-06
IMMEDIATE GOOD EFFECTS To Come From Yesterdays Pop ular Bond Subscription. BEST LOAN YET MADE Thoughtful Views of MT. Nat Baxter, Presi- dent of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and
 Railroad Company

The news from Washington concerning the issue of bonds was greeted generally with pleasure in Birmingham. It was an agreeable topic of conversation about the banks, the hotels and other places where business men exchange views.
 A State Herald reporter last night sought the sagacious president of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railway com pany, MT. Nat Baxter, Jr, who arrived yesterday from Nashville. and found him at his room at the Morris.
 Tt is very encouraging he said, when asked what he thought of the news about the bonds.
 Then upon being assured that the State Herald's readers would be interested to note his views MT. Baxter kindly pro- ceeded: Tn common with all other busi- ness men with whom I have come into contact, II have regretted the necessity . of this government borrowing money in a time of peace. It is the first time in the history of the government that such a thing has occurred, as in the last three or four years the borrowing of money in large sums in times of profound peace. The moriey was not needed for coast de- lenses, or naval equipment, the main tenance of armies or for munitions of war. Yet the demand for money for the government Is made at time when there Is superabundance of all productions. NOW, the necessity does not arise, as is generally and popularly supposed, to borrow money to preserve the gold reserve but to meet the cur rent expenses of the government. The democratic party went into power pledg ed to reform the tariff taxes, and in their essay to carry out this promise reduced the revenues of the government to a point below it's expenditures. The result is that during each month there has been a n1n ficit was quite large. The revenues not being equal to the expenditures, the ne- cessity arises to borrow money. Like most reforms, the effort to reduce the tariff revenues went beyond the platform upon which the administra tion went into power. Yet the plea for a revenue tar dm-a tariff raising sufficient revenues to run the government-haS been reiterated in democratic platforms in convention after convention. From this declaration of principle there has been wllful de- parture and an effort to supplement the shortcoming by an income tax Perhaps if this tax had been sustained by the su- preme court of the United States, with the revenues which the law would have afforded the revenues of the government .might have been ample; but the supreme court declared the tax unconstitutional and left us dependent upon an insuffi- cient revenue, obliged to borrow money and so to continue until the governments s dncome became equal to it's expendl- lures. The surprising thing to me has been the apparent unwillingness to rem edy this error on the part of the adminiS- tration. The passage of the income tax act was itself an admission that the ad- minstration's tariff act would not fur nish sufficient revenues. Afterwards it would have been the part of wisdom, it seems to me. for the administra tion to have looked in some other direction for relief by reason of the lost income tax receipts. It will certainly be admitted that there was, necessity for that money, otherwise the income tax would not have been enacted. That same necessity which recommended the passage of the income tax still exists and no provision has been made to meet it."
 ''It is to be hoped" said MT. Baxter coming back to the question as to yes terdays bond subscriptions, .that the $1000O0 900 which have been borrowed will be sufficient to meet the current ex- penses of the government until a new administration has to deal with the sub bect of getting the required amount, either by amendment to the tariff or through revision of the internal revenue laws. By the policy already pursued the good cause of tariff reform has been pnJured. The country has been unnec essariuy subjected to uncertainties, se- r1ously affecting general business. There
 
 gold reserve is held sacred and ear-mark- ed, as it were, for the redemption of greenbacks. The gold reserve Is not separated from the uses of meeting cur rent expenses. It is a mere imaginary line that has been drawn. Current ex- penses have drawn upon the treasury gold to a point to which depleted the rgofd reserve and the secretary avails himself of the law authorizing him to sell bonds for the benefit of the gold re- serve for the reason that there is no other law under which he can sell bonds Eo meet current expenses. To be sure, Do some extent and at different times, greenbacks have been presented for re- Exemption recently-in the past-at all times; and the law controlling the mat ter has been on the statute books for Twenty-Five years. There would be no presentation of notes for redemption in gold if the income of the government bwas equal to it's expenditures, but the government necessities. created by Feason of insufficient revenues and there being no way of supplying that defi- ciency except to sell bonds ostensibly for