The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1897-03-27

AL DuI ~ 4OAAO"o
For nearly four years the revenue has been
Inadequate to meet the current expenditures
and pay the interest on the war debt. The de-
fciency during this period has been is follows:
Fiscal year ending June 30
o',eO5'-o1
$50 40'"VJ--SO
lSgo 2o,lO3,2io
1891 (estimatedD 6o,vO,WO
Total deficiency. sNS'sII, 30
y continuous deficiency OF revenue for four
years, amounting in the aggregate to more than
SOB. UOU.O JO, or over S5O,OUO.OOU per annum in
time of peace, with the official estimate Of the
late secretary of the treasury, il his last an
nual report That under existing conditions there
viii be Il further deficiency of SO 1000 for the
fiscal year which will begin on the first day OF
July next, and the further fact that the gov
eminent has been Obliged TO obtain means
to pay this deficit by borrowing &-J3.OOO,
UOUn which the people are paying interest,
clearly Justified the cOnvOcatlon Of congress TO
devise Il prompt and adequate remedy. The fact
must not be lost sight of that while the govern
nlcnt has during this time issued and sold bonds
of tine face value OF 9352, 3I5, IOU. from which it has
realized SOB. 4sI. sgi in gold, for the purpose of
paying its demand notes presented for redemp-
tiOn, yet S2U5,U OJ,OUJ OF these notes SO redeemed
have been again paid out to meet the deficiency
and thus made available for 4 second redemption
requiring u second and a third issue OF bonds
Thus il will be seen that in the last analysis
e3Gi. 49, 90, or, including the matured Pacific
railroad bonds, nearly S2l5yOOO,UO of the Ss93,-
100000 Of borrowed gold has been used to sup
ply an iusufficiency of revenue. And worse
still, the practical use Of this revenue, or (what
is the same thing the notes paid from the re-
serve TO meet these continuous deficiencies Of
revenue, has been one Of the potent causes for
the Gistrust which has existed il business Cir
cieS.
Neither does the fact that on the list day of
March there was a cash balance in the treasury
of nearly Slg6.OOO.OOO after deducting the IN
available fractional silver and minor coin
Change the necessity of additional revenue at
the earliest possible day, for the reason that at
least Sl6,OOO,OO of this will be required to meet
the deficiency between March | and July l Of
the current fiscal year, leaving only SlSO,OOO.OOO
in the cash balance on July l next, Of which
SiJO.OOO.OOOiS gold that ought to remain in the
reserve and not be used to pay current ex-
pcnseS. This would leave only go OU,OOO as the
treasury working balance next July, which Is
g. Small as safety permits.
This customs revenue under the act OF 1880 for
the first full fiscal year of its operation was Sl75,-
D 1000. and for the second fiscal year Us93D was
s2p3,OOO,OOJ, with raw sugar on the free list. In
October. iey2. before it was known that radical
reductions Of dates were to be made, the then
secretary OF the treasury estimated that the
customs revenue for the fiscal year 1894 would
b. S22O,UOU,OO. on the basis Of the gradually-in-
creaSIng receipts up TO that time. But in jan
uary. log3, he informed the committee on ways
and means that the anticipation OF a new tariff
with lower duties would inevitably postpone
impOrtatiOnS, diminish the customs revenue by
anticipation. as well a. lnjuriOuSiy affect buSi-
hess. Thus, Notwithstanding the tariff of 1880
remained on the statute book during the fiscal
year 1874, yet the fact that during that year a
lower tariff Was expected several months before
it was finally enacted, united with the arrest OF
industries and consequent reduction of the con-
Stunning power Of our people, caused a postpone
ment or abandonment of impOrtatiOnS to u large
extent anu thus practically partially nuliied the
tariff of lS9OlOng before its actual repeal.
The customs revenue for the fiscal year 1895,
ten months in which was under the act of 1894,
was raised to Sl52, 0JJ,00O by deferred importa-
tiOns and the restoration of the duty on sugar,
and in the fiscal year 1896, to Si69. 0OO.OOJ, of which
nearly $50, O0O,OUJ was from sugar, that had
been placed on the free list by the tariff of 1899.
The customs revenue under the present tariff
for the fiscal year that will close June 10 next,
was estimated by Secretary Carlisle in his last
annual report 1t $40, OOO.OOO and would have
fallen short Of that amount 1T had not been for
importations and Withdrawals from bond to
avoid the anticipated revision of the tariff. And
in this report Secretary Carlisle estimated the
revenues from customs for the fiscal year that
will begin on the LIST Of July next at only $780,
0O0,OuI.
1t will be seen that while the revenue from
internal taxes has been well maintained, the
annual revenue from duties on imports has de-
clined over S6O.0OO.0O0 since 1888, and nearly
SsU.OOO.O01, compared with what Secretary FOS-
ter estimated in October, 1872, would be the rev.
eHue for 1894 under the tariff of 1890. on the
basis of the increasing receipts OF the year pre-
viouS and the then existing cond~itionS-coadi-
tionS which were revolutiOniZed by the result OF
the national election a snort time after this eS-
tiInate was made, as already explained.
If the customs revenue had continued 10 grad
ually rise after the opening OF 1898. as il had be-
fore. or even if it had maintained the figures of
the fiscal year 1898. the revenue would have been
HmIS TO meet all expenditures, and the govern
menI would have been spared the necessity, not
TO say the humiliation of practically issuing
bonds to meet deficiencies Of current expendi-
lures in time of peace.
The plain duty, therefore,, of congress-a duty
emphasized by the presidents message laid be-
fore the house on the opening day of this ex-
traOrdinary session, is to so revise the tariff as
TO secure an increase of revenue from duties
su substantially equal to what has been lost; first
by the anticipated. and then by the partially re-
allied tariff reductions made by the act OF 1894.
Another imperative duty resting on this con-
RresS is to so adjust duties in such a revision of
taIe IarlH TO SECURE Httd6u revenue 70 carry OH
the government as will better protect the many
industries which have so seriously suffered the
past three years from unequal foreign COMPETE
ton and from the consequent loss of purchas-
ing power OF the masses OF the people, upon
which the demand for products and the pros
perity of every citizen depends.
The feasibility Of uniting in q tariff both rev.
enue and protective qualities has been amply
demonstrated by the results Of the protective
tariffs in force from 1851 to 1893, at which latter
date the tariff Of 1880 was practically nulliied
by the anticipation Of a revision on a nonpro-
tective basis. The working Of the wool and
woolens schedule of the tariff Of 1890
on a protective basis and of the same
schedules in the tariff OF 1894 on anti
protective basis, is exceedingly instructive on
this point. The importations OF clothing wool
In 1898 under the tariff of 1890 was about 40
100000 pounds. and Of manufactures OF wool
about 100000, mainly from the dress worn by
the well-to-do who think it the thing to wear
foreign-made cloth and who are willing TO pay
the duties imposed upon it. From these i'm
portations OF wool and woOlens in 1893 the gov
eminent derived a revenue Of about A.5o0,Oo0
The importations OF clothing woolin the fiscal
year 1895, exceeded 127, 10000 pounds-three
times as much as in 1898, and Of manufactures
of wool, more than twice as many pounds in 1895
as in 1898, and yet the revenue derived by the
enormous increase in the imports of wool and
woOlens in the fiscal year 1895 was only 81. 0o0,-
O0O-a loss of SCI, 900 from that realized In 1893.
In other words, by placing wool on the free list
and reducing the duties on manufactures of
wool the treasury lost 81. 600. coo Of revenue, our
farmers lost a market for the 50. OOO. 900 pounds Of
wool which they raised in 1892 in excess Of what
tbsv raiSad in 1901 7 as we'll as nearly ten rents