The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-08-23
MORE BONDS.
Secretary Gage Sees Shortage
of Funds Ahead.
Ready to Avail Himself of the
War Bond Law.
nNH W II " HnnIrNIN
ONLY HALF ISSUED
OF the S4OO,OOO,OOO Provided
For by Congress.
More Taxes and Higher Taxes
Also Contemplated.
Slot Machines and Fire Arms
to Be Taxed.

New York. Aug. 2S.-A special to the
Tribune from Washington says:
Secretary Gage is engaged in the task
of ascertaining whence the funds are
to come with which to pay the largely
increased army recently determined on
by the president and Secretary Root.
This increase makes demands on the
treasury that may we'll cause some con-
Germ among it's chief officials. The re-
ceipts of the government did not meet
the extraordinary expenditures when
the army was smaller and the problem
of how to meet the cost of thirty thOus-
and additional troops gives the treas
ury department some uneasiness.
These increased expenditures can not
even be approximately figured out. The
mere question of pay is easily decided,
but to this must be added the enor-
nous expense of additional transporta-
ton; the greatly increased cost of sub
sistence which, with the army thouS-
ands of miles away, will require the ex-
penditure of millions of dollars; the
added cost of new equipment for thirty
thousand men and the 1nnumerable
items that go to make an effective
fighting army, properly clothed, thor-
oughly equipped for duty and we'll fed;
all these things are expensive and their
cost is more or less cOnjectural. Pay
master General. Bates says it would be
impossible to give a rough idea of the
cost of a regiment or of the military
establishment in the Philippines with
out weeks of careful investigation of
accounts. This is now being done for
the annual report of the secretary and
until definite figures are known, tne
paymaster generals department Will
not make a guess.
With plans matured, therefore, that
involves expenditures running We'll up
into nine figures, Secretary Gage, on
whom is placed the responsibility of
providing funds, has begun to take his
bearings and prepare to meet these
new demands. The administration is
unwilling to make another bond issue,
but if it can not be avoided, this Will
be done.
Secretary Gage has ample authority,
it is asserted, to issue more bonds for
the prosecution of the war in the Phil
ippines. The war revenue law author
lied the issue of $10O 100000 worth of
certificates of Indebtedness and $780,
600, 900 worth of bonds. Two hundred mil
lion dollars worth of these bonds were
offered at popular subscriptions and
subscribed FIVE times over. The law
says that the proceeds of the sales of
those bonds should be used Ito defray
expenditures authorized on account of
the existing war (such proceeds, when
received, to be used only for the pur-
pose of meeting such war expendi-
lures"
1t is held by the law officers of the
government that the insurrection in the
Philippines is to all intents and pur-
poses a part of the existing war with
Spain, for when the law was enacted,
the present condition of affairs may
have been anticipated. Congress, too,
authorized the increase in the army at
ter peace was declared and at a time
when it was known the only use to
which it was to be put was in main
tanning peace in the new possessions
and Quelling instructions. For these
reasons, it has been held that the sec
retary of the treasury has full author
ity still further to encrOach upon the
securities authorized by the war reve-
nue. act.
It can be said on the authority of
treasury officials who have been Civ
ing the matter careful study 1or several
weeks that the Fifty-s1xth congress
will not lessen the war taxes imposed
by the act of June 49, 1898 In some
quarters the clamor for a reduction of
these taxes has already begun, but
the enormous expenditures to be in
Cured in the next two years not only
forbids curtailment of these special
taxes but requires an enlargement of
the general scheme and a stOppage of
the holes through which those supposed
to be taxed have escaped.
From ordinary internal revenue tax
alton last year, the receipts We're. in
round numbers, $113, 600, 600. The war
revenues yielded in round numbers
$100, 900 900. With the customs duties
and miscellaneous receipts added, big
deficit followed at the end of the fiscal
duties ought not to be further increased.
The only source, therefore, from which
additional revenue can be derived is
from war taxes or bonds, or both.
For several weeks data have been
quietly gathered and recommendation
to the secretary are being formulated.
The following are some of the sugges-
tions that find favor among the reve-
nue. officials:
The imposition of a stamp tax on all
patent protected articles. the theory
being that the value of the article is
greatly enhanced by the protection of
the patent laws of the United States
and that, as a war measure purely, the
government would be justified in de-
manding a fractional part of the
profits secured through the esta blish-
ment of a monopoly by virtue of the
patent laws.
It is also proposed to place a stamp
tax on all slot machines in which there
is any element of chance. 1t has been
found that the manufacture of these
machines has attained gigantic proper
tiOns. In each of them, the percentage
of profit to the proprietor is enormous
and the tax would not be oppressive.
OF course this would not strike those
machines which dispense chewing gum,
for in them there is no element of
chance and the gum already pays a
government tax.
Another proposition that has met
with favor at the hands of the treasury
department is one to put a stamp tax
on all firearms, except those used for
national, state or municipal purposes.