The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-04-19
ANNUAL BUDGET PRESENTED
SHOWS THAT SUBDUING THE BOERS
COSTS SOME $2OO,OOO,OOO
PER YEAR
MORE TAXES ARE NECESSARY
An Import Duty VIII Be Imposed
on Sugar, While Exporters of
Coal Must Pay a Shilling
Per Ton. -

LONDON. April 1s.-The exceptional in
terest taken in this years budget state
ment was evidenced by the crowded con-
dition of the house of commons when 1t
reassembled today. The attendance of
members was unusually large, while the
appearance of the galleries testified to
the deep interest of the public In the
fresh taxation proposals referred to
meet the expenditure for 1912 which
according to a parliamentary paper is
sued this afternoon totals e1S7 $4,000, in
elusive of war charges, this being an in
crease of eS2, ,9O1, ,000 over last year.
The balance sheet for 1901, as shown
by the same paper, stands as follows:
Revenue o9 '0C 0oO
Expenditures .......''.''.'''' S9z OVS
Mr.. Ralfour, the government leader, IN
dir ectly announced the forthcoming lCaa,
saving he hoped to init oduce a resolu-
ton on the subject tonight if possible.
The charcellor of the cXchequer, elr
Michael Hicks-Bcach, rose at 4:1S T. m,
amidst rounds of cheers, and commenced
the budget statement. His opening SEN
tcnce was not promising. During the
last five years. said the chancellor, we
1lave been invariably able to congratu-
late the house on a general increase IN
the prosperity of the country, bit in 1903,
symptoms cf a change. Our foreign trade
during the year considerably increased,
but in value rather than in volume. II
was mainly derived the chancellor said,
from the high prices of certain articles,
notably COAL which, naturally, must nave
injured important industries, especially
railways Nevertheless, the revenue for
the past year showed no signs of de-
crease and the eXchequer receipts SHOW
ed a surplus of S2, 600 over the eSu-
mates. He was bound to say, however,
that the excess was due to foreStallnent
on dutiable articles. But for this his es-
Inmates would have been barely realized
Much could be said for and against fore
stallment, but it was an unmitigated
nuisance to financial statisticians. The
forestalIments of 1S99-1900 amounted to
6 $4,000, which properly belonged to the
revenue of the last year. The forestall-
ment of the past year was somewhat eX-
ceeded the previous year. He would say
that the consuming power Of the people
was maintained, but there was no ma
teriaI evidence of the expansion of that
power beyond what was fairly attribut-
able to increased population"
SOME ITEMS OF REVENUE.
The chancellor then proceeded to re-
view the various items of revenue, men
tioning that the revenue from beer was
&4,000.000 less than the estimate. That
decrease" said he, lis probably attrtb-
utable to the fact that very many beer
drinkers are in South Africa, and also
to the decrease in the spending power Of
the people, owing to the high price Of
coal Experience has shown that we
have practically reached the limit in the
profitable taxation Of spirits
The receipts from the death duties
were 91, 100000 below those of the preced-
ing year but he had better expectations
for next year.
The prolongation of the war and the
absence of business on the stock ex-
change were responsible for the unsatis-
factory yield from stamps.
In noting that the yield from the in
come tax was e1, 10000 above the esti-
mate the chancellor remarked that in
twelve years the income on which taxa
tion was paid had been increased by no
less than 9120,000,000, a fact that he hoped
the house would remember when he
reached a later part Of his speech. The
only other points of the revenue which
he need touch upon were the exceptional
receipts owing to the mint for silver
coinage and the telegraph receipts, which
compared very unfavorably with the ex-
penditure.
The total receipts amounted to e13O.-
SS5,00O, and the expenditures 91S3 592, ,0c0
of which 965,000,O0O was for the war in
South Africa and 93,O0OOOO for China
4lC NS44SAIs S~OOE EUd,OuU, SION6Q InGL In6V
had paid e15,4130O0 out of the revenue
for the cost of the war The total amount
provided by the state last year agre-
gated the enormous sum of e19S, ,346,COO
ENORMOUS DEBT.
"As to the national debt" said the
chancellor of the exchequer, sit stands
In painful contrast with last year. But
the funded debt had decreased by e1, ,425.-
GEO. April 1, the national debt stood at
&6S75Oo,eGO an increase Of 955, 100000, on
account of the war;
Turning to the present wear the chan
cellor of the eXchequer said that the total
estmated expenditures was f1S7 500 COO
On the existing basis 1t was estimated
thaf the revenue would be G132. .255. .OO
leaving deficit of about e55, 600 GOO.
HOW is this deficit to be met?'' asked
Dir Mlchael, II will never be responsible
Tor the policy Of paying the whole cost
Of the war out of loans. without putting
reasonable amount of the taxpayers
OF the day. The real difficulty. however
is not so much the cost of the war in
South Africa as the operations In China
as they VIII increase our ordinary ex-
pehutufe even II the war came to an end
"ltnn three Or four months (this state
meht caused cheering from the Irish
members) or longer than the honorable
members suppose. Our expenditure
would not permit Of the remittance q,
the additional taxation proposed for war
purposes last year.
WAR MEANS TAXES
The country has reached a point when
IT IS necessary to widen the scope OF
taxation but direct taxpayers must bear
their share of the burden. 1 propose that
twopence shall be added to the income
tax, making one shilling and twopence
IN the pound. The extra two pence will
realize 93,S00,0OO. There will be no ad-
dltion to the beer, wine, tea, spirits or
tobacco duties. I am not disposed to i'm
pose customs duty on manufactured i'm
ported goods. as suggested by Sir How
ard Vincent
The graduate scale of taxation will be
as follows: Refined sugar. which is pol
arized, at s8 and upwards. which repre-
sents two-thirds of the total imports.
would pay the full tax This will di
minish to a minimum of two shillings Der
76. -
'>Molasses, in which are included the
grocery syrups consumed largely by the