The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-07-17
RAISING WAR REVENUE

UA4o1N0 WAN REVIEW UE
More Than 81 100000 Day Will Be
Needed-No Trouble to Raise It
How much money will be raised by the
new war revenue Laws is as yet largely q
matter of conjecture, but 1t will have to be
In excess of one million dollars a. day IL
1t fully meets, the purpose for which 1t was
created Before the war began the ex-
penses of the government were about one
million dollars 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 one mil
lion dollars goes, and the wonder Is that
with an invading army in Cuba, another on
the way to Dewey's support i'm the Philip.
pines, three or four fleets of war vessels
to maintain and army of 100000 reserve
fighters in various camps about the coun-
try, the expense is not much greater than
it Is Anyone who has to- put two-cent
stamps on his bank checks after the first
of July or contribute 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 tho 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 5000, 226 S15. That amount of money
was collected, of course, only in the loyal
states, which had at that time only twenty
three million population. To defray the
expenses of the present war there are
twenty-five million 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. while Spain finds
it hard worSto borrow cent either at home
or abroad, even on the most valuable Of
her few remaining possessions, seems sgni-
ficant of the result.
Expenditures of former wars seem insig-
nificant as compared with the financial
burdens that may grow out of the present
one In the war of 1872, ending with jack
sons victory at New Orleans, the United
States spent $1O2 1898, 154. In less than a week
nowadays money enough passes through
the Chicago clearing house alone to pay for
the whole war. The government then re-
lieu upOu IOdHS u CARRY vi lIOSCile OpcFI~
tons. 1t borrowed during the four years
Of the war $97, 500 532. The internal taxes
for the period amounted to only $40 1O1, 552
Much of the money was raised on per cent
treasury notes. In 1913 6 per cent govern
ment bonds sold at SS, and in 1914 at 81.
How different it is now! People all over
the country are falling over one another
to subscribe for the new per cent bonds
mar and the brokers already offer IN
buy them at premium. Before the sub
scription blanks were sent out three banks
in New York offered to take the entire Isl
sue, and, but for the provision that the
securities are to be sold to the people, the
banks would quickly bid them up to 102 or
more. The difference between per cent
bond at so and per cent bond at par ex-
presses part of the difference between then
| and now in the governments financial abil-
ity to wage foreign war.
All the money to carry on the Mexican
war was raised by loans. The cash balance
in the treasury July /. 1916, was $36, 1874 ,274.
Six per cent treasury notes produced $751;
500 900. The expenditures during the war
were $125, 447, 4S3, but smaller amount was
borrowed. The result, Of course, was q
deficit and financial burden for the future.
which seems one of the Inevitable results
Of war.
The war of the rebellion was a more seri-
Gus matter than either of the other two and
1t cost more money. The total amount
spent during the four years of that conflict
was 1919 ,372,3 $50, which is an average of
| 1894 S43, OS7 a year. The largest amount ex-
pended in any one year was $1,2l7, 7O4. 1888 IN
1866, and the smallest amount $456 1873. 1906 In
1862. The treasury was not as we'll pre-
pared for war then as it is now The cash
balance at the start Of the conflict was
81 257 ,066 1t is 100 times greater now, being
about 226 million dollars, and a large part Of
| it in gold. Six per cent gold bonds of the
United States. offered to the highest bidder
in 1861 brought on average S9.0S. The
governments new per cents now sell at
| 115 and over.
| 1t took deal of very adroit financierinG
| to keep the war kettle boiling during the
| rebellion, and numerous expedients that VIII
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 amount Of loans and cur
| rency issued during the rebellion to nave
been Sc, LAB, OILS, $685. OF this amount more than
| two billions were in bonds, and another biz
lion and more about equally divided between
coin certificates and government certificates
of indebtedness. The public debt reached
its height in August, 1865, at ~, 765, 431, 57l
| The previous July gold had gone up TO 2S5. i
To pay the expenses of the present war;
the bond sale will doubtless prove sufficient.
Afterward the war taxes will help pay of
the bonds. The schedule that was in force
during the rebellion shows what the people
of the country will do to carry on just war.
A s14 per capita tax, which was collected
then, could be collected now with greater
case. The beauty of the situation so far as J.
the United States is concerned Is that Uncle
Sam can raise all the money he needs with
| out going away from home. The resources
available on demand are practically unlim.
| tied, and the world is our debtor BY huns
dreds of millions.