The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-07-02
Amount of Revenues New Law
Must Bring.
expenses Now Two Million Dol
lars Daily.
VAR. is RESPONSIBLE.
Expenses of Former Wars Were
Insignificant.
Uncle Sam Is Now Experiencing
No Difficulty.

Washington, July 2.-How much
money win be raised by the new war
revenue law is as yet largely a matter
of conjecture, but it will have to be
in excess of s1,O00.OO0 a day if it fully
meets the purpose for which it was
created. Before the war began the
expenses of the government were about
1.0O0. 600 a day. Now, according to the
figures Of government officials who
handle the money, they are twice as
much. 1t is easy to see where the extra
%1,VUOOVU goes, and the wonder is that
with an invading army in Cuba, another
on the way to DeWey's- support IN the
Philippines, three or four fleets of war
vessels to maintain and an army of
100, 900 reserve fighters in various camps
about the country, the expense is not
much greater than it is. Anyone who
has to put 2-cent stamps on his bank
checks after the first of July or con-
tribute to the expense of the war in the
various other ways provided by the new
revenue law, need have no fear that
the government will not need the
money.
Judging from the statistics furnished
in the records of previous wars, Uncle
Sam will have no trouble raising all
the money that will be necessary to
prosecute this one. In 1865, the last
year Of the war Of the rebellion, the
revenue from internal taxes was $780,
226,S15. That amount Of money was
collected, of course, only in the loyal
states, which had at that time only
%, 100000 population. To detray the ex-
penses Of the present war there are
$4,000, 600 people who, at the same ratio
Of taxation-abOut $14 per capita
would raise more than a billion dollars
a year. No such amount will be raised,
Of course, and will not be needed, but
the fact that the United States could
get that amount of money at home,
row a cent either at home or abroad,
even on the most valuable of her few
remaining possessions, seems significant
of the result.
insignificant as compared with the
hnaEcial burdens that may grow out Of
the present one. In the war of 1872,
ending with Jackson's victory at New
Orleans, the United States spent $102,
993, 154- In less than a week nowadays
money enough passes through the Chi
cagO clearing house alone to pay for
the whole war. The government then
relied upon loans to carry on hostile
operations. It borrowed during the four
years of the war $97, 620, 532. The in
ternaI taxes for the period amounted to
only $40 1O1, 55S. Much of the money
was raised on per cent treasury notes.
In 1913 per cent government bonds
sold at SO and in 1914 at 80. How differ
ent it is now. People all over the coun-
try are falling over one another to sub
par and the brokers already offer to
buy them at a premium. Before the sub
sCriptiOn blanks were sent out three
banks in New York offered to take the
entire issue, and but for the povision
that the securities are to be sold to
the people the banks would quickly bid
them up to 1O2 or more. The difference
between a 6 per cent bond at 80 and a 3
per cent bond at par expresses part of
the difference between then and now in
the governments financial ability to
wage a foreign war.
All the money to carry on the MeXi-
can war was raised by loans. The cash
balance in the treasury July l, 1916, was
$50, 194, pa. Six per cent treasury notes
produced SIS, sos. 900. The expenditures
during the war were $125 447, 4S3, but
smaller amount was borrowed. The re-
suit, of course, as deficit and a fnan-
cial burden for the future, which seems
one of the inevitable results of war.
The war of the rebellion was more
serious matter than either Of the other
two and it cost more money. The total
amount spent during the four years of
that conflict was $3,179, 372, $50, which
is an average of 1874, S43, 087 a year. The
largest amount expended in any one
year was $1217, 704 1873 in 1865, and tn
smallest amount $456, 379, S96 in 1862.
The treasury was not as well pre-
pared for war then as it is now. The
cash balance at the start Of the conflict
was 81, 257, 065. It is 100 times greater
now. being about $226,0O0, 600, and
large part OF 1t IN BOtu. DIX per cent
gold bonds Of the United States offered
to the highest bidder in 1861 brought an
average of S9.03. The governments
new per cents" now sell at 125 and
over.
1t took deal Of very adroit financier-
ing to keep the war kettle boiling dur
ing the rebellion, and numerous exped-
tents that will not have to be resOrted
to now were tried In an article in the
Bankers Magazine, Ellis H. Roberts,
treasurer OF the United States, shows
the amounts of loans and currency is
sued during the rebellion to have been
So 143, O19, 526. OF this amount more than
two billions were in bonds, and another
billion and more about equally divided
between coin certificates and govern
ment certificates of Indebtedness. The
public debt reached its height in
August, 1866, at $2,756, 431,571 The prev
ious July gold had gone up to 2S5.
To pay the expenses Of the present
war the bond sale will doubtless prove
sufficient Aferward the war taxes
will help pay off the bonds. The sched-
uIe that was in force during the rebel
lion shows what the people Of the cOun-
try will do to carry on a just war A
S14 per capita tax, which was collected
then. could be collected now with great
er ease. The beauty of the situation SO
far as the United States is concerned is
that Uncle Sam can raise all the money
he needs without going away from
home. The resources available on de-
rnand are practically unlimited, and the
world is our debtor by hundreds of mill
lions.