The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-04

The treasury statement for the
month of July tells us just where the
difficulty is, and what we nave to ex-
pect in the matter of revenue and
surplus or deficit for months and years
to come. The importations during that
month were excessive. Everything pos
sibIe to be brought through the custom
house was rushed in at the last moment
to escape the payment of the new and
excessive taxes of the Dingley bill.
The internal revenue payments were
also very heavy, and the increased re-
ceipts from these two sources were
about $40, 900, 900 for the month. Not
witAstanding this, we find that the def
icit V,oots up over $11, 900, 900. This is
due Il simply enormous expenditures
for t~he\:nonth. which the Washington
dispatches tenderly set down as lab
normal and due to the beginning of
the fiscal year: but which, in fact, are
permanent and continuing, and grow
out of the extravaganza of congress-.
The treasury is feeling the drain Of
the frightful river and harbor bill
passed by the asst congress-, of the cold
steal of one-third of the entire amount
In the sundry civil bill, carrying over
$50, 600, 900, and of the increased ex-
penditures in pensions. From these
sources zones an addition to our ex-
penses to the amount of $4,000, 900 q
month, or at the rate of about $1OO, OO0,-
600 per annum. AS future reports will
show, this is not abnormal" nor ex-
c~essive. nor unusual. 1t will be re-
peated in the treasury statements OF
the months and years to come.
The cutting down of revenue by the
new tariff, making duties, in many
cases, prohibitive, is less serious in It's
effect upon the national finances; or,
at least, is aggravated beyond remedy
by a corresponding policy of e~xtrava-
gance in expenditure all along the
line. The cost of running this gov
eminent, making due allowance for
every possible legitimate need, should
not exceed the 1000, coo per month,
or $3.50, 900, 900 a year, that was account
ed sufficient less .han ten years @
Instead Of that, we are spending from
$3.50, 0OO, 900 to $500, 0OO, 900 a year over
that amount. Nor is there my sign
Of cessation or check in the stream OF
prodigality. The appropriation bills Of
the next congress will be heavier than
those Of the last. Most of the burdens
imposed in the alleged interest of river
and harbor Improvement are perma-
nent, since contracts have been made
by authority of congress for years to
come, and the assignments under them
must be paid.
Still heavier will be the drain from
pension payments. For twenty wears
we have been assured time after time
that pension appropriations had now
reached their highest point" and must
therefore decrease annually as the
veterans dropped away; and the only
progress toward realizing that promise
is the Q~uadrupling Of the annual pen
sion count. How many persons are
there who realize that, of the entire
amount Of money received at all the
custom houses in the United States
from duties on imports from every
country in the world, nine-tenths is
paid out to settle our@pension bills
alone? The whole country is con-
vulsed over the tariff question as a
matter of revenue, and then practical
" the whole income under the tariff
1s used for pension purposes. More
over, there is going to be a very heavy
Increase once more in the pension bill.
President Cleveland and his much
abused commissioner of pensions, with
out denying to a single old soldier any
right, did clear away a lot of fraudu-
lent claims, and stood between the
pension agent robbers and the treas
ury. We may now expect a period of
four years of unrestricted ~looting. AL.
ready we have official notice that the
rules Of the pension office are here
after to be construed 'liberally." That