New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-05

Washington dispatches state That the forth-
coming tariff will probably bP so adjusted as 10
WELD about S60,000,0O0 more revenue from Gus
toms duties than was realized in the last hsca
wear More than once The Tribune has shown
that such an increase in revenue Will be neces
sary TO protect the Government from dlshohor
and the currency from distrust. reckoning on the
basis of past receipts and expenditures IL IS
true that all expect and hope that business Will
revive. so that a new law may yield larger
revenue than it would on the importations or the
last fiscal year. But il is not safe to base on
mere hopes the legislation upon which the honor
and prosperity of the country depend. 1t VIII
not he a difficult matter to lessen revenue wneh
business has so far improved as to justify that
STEP 1t Is also to be considered that unless a
special measure is enacted to prevent heavy I'M
portations while the bill is pending, Government
is certain to be deprived in that way OF part
of the revenue which a new law should yield.
1t Is the favorite claim of the sockless states
men that the expenditures of the Government
can be and ought TO be cut down. No one has
observed that these statesmen are any less
greedy than congressman from other districts
when there are appropriations TO be made Tor
public buildings and for river and harbor i'm
provements. They have in their pockets, when
they come TO Washington, about as large num-
Der Of private pension bills as anybody. and are
never heard to consent that the distribution or
seeds TO their constituents shall be stopped III
the interest of economy. But without crltlclslng
individuals. it may fairly be said that the SER
vices OF the Government to the people have been
enormously increased of recent years, and In
creased in obedience to very strong popular de-
mands. without anything like corresponding
increase of expenditures.
Most people imagine that this Is not the case,
and that the increased expenditures result from
wantonness. extravaganza and jobbery. real
~ wonderful ignorance OF all that Government
has been doing. in obedience TO the wishes of the
people and to increase its usefulness to them,
marks these complaints. Thus men say: Ten
wears ago we expended less than S14,OOo,0OO
for the Navy. and now about twice as much.
But there is no party which would dare TO pro-
pose the abolition of the new Navy. leaving the
fleets of the Nation and its seapOrts at the mercy
of any foreign vessel of modern power. SO ten
years ago the payments for pensions were about
S63,4OO,000. but are now about S13o,40o'Ooo.
Does not every child know that the money thus
expended goes back to the people, saving from
dependence upon others persons whose clalm
upon the Nation is that of those who preserved
its existence? Would any party dare to sug-
gest that the payment of pensions on the t.oader
scale fixed by the present statutes should be
stoned: The defence of seacoasts cost scarcely
anything in former years. but now costs millions.
Where is the man who would have it abandoned?
The postal service costs considerably more than
il once did. because the service has been cheap.
ened and at the same time enormously improved,
and the growth of population and the rapid set
Element of new States would in any case have
involved a very large increase of expenditures
The ordinary expenditures. including interest
on public debt. were about S2GO.OOO,0O0 in time
of peace twelve years ago. and last year We're
about $50 900 OO0-an increase of S920OO,0OO. or
254 per cent. The population has not increased
30 per cent hut the direct services of the Gov
| eminent to the people have certainly increased
in far greater ratio. Nearly the whole increase
in expenditures appears in the single item OF
pensions Ss3.O00OO0, leaving 50 little for all
other increase of service that one wonders how
1t can have been accomplished II has been part
~ by payment of public debt. and reduction or
more than Onc-half in interest under Republican
laws but since Democratic Congress came i'll
the tide has turned the other way. The plain
| truth is that the people must give up some ma
teria part of the Increased benefits they derive
from the Observation-Disclosures which they
would not consent to have administrator the
provision for expenditures must be about as
large AS il Is now Economy should. indeed, be
practsed all jobbery and extravaganza should
be cut off and there is certainly room for some
saving in that way. But when the ablest men
have done their utmost. they will find that the
present efficiency of the Government and It's
present real benefits TO the people, cannot be
continued without revenue nearly or quite as
large as the proposed legislation would insure.