The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-20

Back in the later sixties, when the
nation was struggling with the prob
lem of making good its deprecated
notes, Hugh McCulloch, then secretary
of the treasury, discussing the matter
in the New York Nation, said that the
solution would be much easier and the
problem simp1ifed If men could only
realize that a nation is but an aggre-
cation of individuals, ruled by the same
laws, subject to the same penalties for
their violation, and, in any situation,
must pursue the same methods that
any individual of good Judgment would
pursue under like circumstances in his
own BUSINESS. The complexities Of the
present financial condition ana the
remedies proposed indicate that Nc
Culloch's conception Of a nation and
the limitations on it's government has
not yet gained general acceptance, hut
there is no question of state or "a
tional policy to which his rule does not
apply. Could our people, and especial
1y those charged with the qdministra-
ton Of the affairs of the country,
but fully sense the great truth that
nation is but Ia@ger man, subject to
the same laws and no more capable
than any citizen of pursuing success
fully policy hostile to these laws, we
would not be confronted with 50 many
so-called problems.
But the nations feel the force of mo-
Inentum as we'll as individuals. It. as
well as they, when income exceeds out
go, use the surplus in gratifying desires
depressed or new ones bred of capacity
for qualification. The new rapidly be-
comes habitual; the former luxury gets
soon to be the daily necessity. The in
crease of income has merely lifted
higher the plane of living. Spending
treads closely on the heel of increasing
income. The individual feels no re-
sponsibility to any one for the wealth
his efforts bring him; congress feels no
sense of obligation to the people from
whom the national income is taken so
covertly that they are not aware Of
paying it. The spending habit becomes
fixed in both. But neither can continue
spending when income shrinks The
check comes sharply to the citizen, but,
with rare exceptions, living is continued
on the scale justified by the larger in
come 1t is always easy to let out the
slack. but always difficult to take it up.
Family pride, social station join forces
with habit to persuade the man that
the shrinkage is but temporary, the
storm is but squa1l, and good times
will come again. The appetite for ap-
preparations grows by what it feds
on and congress finds the pressure I'M
diminished, rather increased, if any
thing, when financial depression less
ems revenue. So both men and nation
continue their spread Of canvass. each
confident that the squall will soon
pass.
But the law is memorable. Even
profigate Micawber learned and stated
Ii. On man and nation it operates
with equal certainty of results. Bor-
rowing soon finds the limits of credit
In either case. The nation, luckier than
the individual, with larger resources.
can stand the strain longer, but the
ultimate result is the same. 1t can in
crease taxes on imports, but that in
rreases cost and that lessons individual
capacity to buy, and imports slacken
rs buying falls off, reacting in falling
Income. The end is the same with both
men and nation. Both reach the point
where a REIMBURSEMENT of expense to
Income is no longer deferrable. The
study must be to lessen spending rather
than to increase revenue. Individuals
reached that point long ago. Congress,
under the momentum acquired when
the surplus was an annoyance, en-
larges its appropriations and tries to
enlarge revenue 1t will find that IT
has reached the limit. The measure it
proposes will shrink Instead of swell the
receipts. 1t has not yet learned that
the nation it represents is no more
exempt from natural law than is the
humhlest individual In the land. 1t