Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-09-05
THE TREASURY SURPLUS.
Under Republicans Control the Gov
ernment Golfers Are Ful
to Overfowing

or congress, and then they triumphant
ly said that they had abolished the
surplus. The country at the time was
inclined to believe them. 1t has turned
out recently that they were mistaken.
The surplus has not been annihilated,
but is coming up again in rather por-
tentous shape. Receipts largely ex-
ceeded expenditures in July, the first
month of the fiscal year, which is an
unusual circumstance, as July is a
month of heavy treasury payments
for bond interest and other things.
August thus far has continued July's
record Clearly, if this thing keeps on
congress will be called on to make an
other attack on the surplus next win
ter in the direction of cutting off more
of the revenues. Most of the war taxes
of 1898 were swept away by the recent
cut in revenues, and one issue which
the democrats thought would be of
service to them vanished. Some more
taxes will apparently have to be abol-
ished within the next year or two.
1t will be observed that, though we
have revenue problem on hand at
the present time, and had one last
winter, these are different from the
troubles which confronted the demo-
Gratis. President McKinley's problem
is to keep the revenue from pouring
out of the tops of the treasury vaults.
President Cleveland's problem was to
get enough money to cover the bot
toms of the vaults. Secretary Gage is
hnyriprr
keep the surplus down. Secretary Car
Isle sold bonds so as to avert deficit
which would send the country down TO
the silver or greenback basis. There
have been several complaints from
treasury officials in the past year or
two that the gold stock was getting so
high that it was becoming a burden.
The plant in Cleveland's second term
was that not only was there not enough
gold in the treasury to keep the fund
up to the greenback redemption line
of 500, 100000, but that there was such
difficulty in getting gold that the
government was virtually It the mercy
of the money changers. The terms to
which the government had to submit
in getting some of its gold in Cleve-
lands days did much to discredit that
statesman in his own party, and aided
to roll up the big republican majority
cast in 1896.
Or course, as the present Gen.
Grant once remarked, it is easier to
manage a surplus than deficit. The
fact that the deficit of the demo-
cratic days has been succeeded by a
surplus in this republican period
shows one of the differences between
the financiering and the statesman
ship of these two parties. The de-
mocracy creates deficits and debts.
The republican party accumulates
surpluses and cuts down debts or
abolishes them. When the republic
ans came into power in the national
government in 1861 they found the
treasury empty, although there had
been profound peace throughout the
United States for more than dozen
years, or since the treaty with Mex
leo in 1S4S. Not only was there no
money in the treasury, but the demo-
cratic attempts to get money in the
last year of Buchanan's administra-
tion were a humiliating failure. The
democrats of 1861 not only be-
queathed an empty treasury to the
republicans, but they handed over
war which lasted four years and
which cost more than any other con-
fiict in the whole history of the world.
The republicans, although new to
power, raised money enough to car
ry on the war to successful termina-
ton, and then they started in to pay
off the obligations which the war en-
tailed. These obligations were re-
duced to low figure when the calam-
ity of Cleveland's second election
came, which resulted, in time of
peace, in an increase of S262,000,00o
in the bearing debt. The re-
publicans are reducing this debt, and
also the burdens caused by the Span
ish war. Webs ter's magnificent trib-
ute to Hamilton as revenue pro-
ducer-"he smote the rock of the ma
tional resources and abundant
streams of revenue gushed forth he
touched the dead corpse of the public
credit and it sprung upon its feet"
could truthfully be applied to more
than one of the republican party's
treasury chiefs.-St. Louis Globe
Democrat.
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