The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-29
GREAT EXPECTATIONS.

The gentleman who furnishes the
Associated Press with the comments
on the treasury statements at Wash
ington is a Veritable Mark Tapley. He
is able to extract comfort from the
most discouraging situations, and in
his hands the nettle deficit blossoms
swiftly into the flower surplus AS
the product of a bright and cheerful
disposition, his remarks on the Sep
TENDER showing are simply beautiful.
He prefaces them by telling us that
the revenue conditions are in every
way satisfactory; as, of course, they
must be, the precious Dingley bill be-
ing now in operation. AS one item of
this comfortable showing we learn that
the excess of expenditures over re-
ceipts for the present month is s., $780,
coo. This, however, is a mere trif1e;
and he tells us that cit is expected
that by Oct. l this excess will have
been reduced to $4,000, 600 or less, maxi
ing the deficit for the first quarter of
the fiscal year about SIS, 000, 600" When,
under the Cleveland administration
there was, in the worst year known, a
deficit of something less than $7G,G00-
coo, it was considered by our Repub-
lican brethren to be great enough for
the subject of incessant preachment,
and to cause the administration to be
known as a breeder of deficits Now
we have a shortage of SIS, 900 00O for
the first quarter, which is at the rate
of $112, 100000 a year. This, being I'M
der the Mckinley administration, and,
of course, during the reign of pros
perity," is no cause for surprise or dis
appointment or apprehension.
We learn further as rejecting the out
look fer the future, that "the receipts
from customs 50 far show no material
gain, nor is it expected that any SUBJ
stantial improvement will be shown
until after the first Of the year" Therc
is really no reason to expect any gain
then. The only ground offered for the
is that sugar lis expected to figure
prominently in the receipts. and also
that much is expected from wool int-
ports" Why our protection friends
should count upon anything tangible
from wool imports we do not under
stand. 1t was part of the bargain with
the free silver men from the Western
states, we believe, by whose votes the
i Dingiey act was passed, that its wool
rate should be such as to exclude i'm
ports. If it answers that purpose, it
will not produce revenue. If it pro-
duces revenue at a rate to swell re-
ceipts materially, it will not be ade-
quately protective"
In any and all events, the future Of
the treasury, as seen through Repubh-
can spectacles, is wholly a matter Of
great expectations. We must remind
again the prophets of Republicanism,
who told us that the tariff question
came before the financial question, be-
cause adequate revenue must be pro-
vided for the government and deficits
stopped, that they have not fulfilled d
single premise. AS a revenue producer
the Dingley bill must be a fiat failure
When we compare the least favorable
period of the operation of the German
act with this Mckinley deficit Of SOS,
000,0C0 in three months, we get a bet
ter idea of the nature of Repub-
lican boasts. Secretary Gage Told the
truth when he said that protection ana
revenue are mutually destructive.
What the Republican party told, when
it said that it was going to turn ..
deficit into a surplus and do it by
means of raising the tariff, it would
not be polite to say.