The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1902-01-23
PAYING OFF THE DEBT.

\ good deal u debt paying by the
governmen; is under way, unknown to
the country. The treasury had a large
surplus throughout 1901. bu, {, was
kept down by the process q buying
interest bearing bonds ana canceling
them. thus exunguiShing correspond
ing amount OF debt, The government 5
income exceeded its ordinary outgo in
the calendar year 1901 TO the extent
OF about aolo,O.CoN To store this hig
sum OF extra cash in the treasury in
such a period Of business activity
would send the rates for money up to
cxorbi,an, figures and be seri JUS
menace to the trade. Secretary Gage
avoided this peril by paying out large
sums for bonds not vet due thus re-
ducing the governments obligations
From ;he beginning OF April 1901, 20
the end of December 'he par value OF
the bonds bought by Secretary Gage
was. in round figures. s-sNo5oo and
to purchase these he had g, pay OUT
S7sOOoo.o on account Of the big pre-
MUM which bonds bear at the present
time. The deb, was thus cu; down
S5sc1o.ooo and the surplus was reduced
S72.e5o.ool a monetary syr!ngency was
ayerted in this way, and At the same
time the peoples deb, burdens were
reduced. The amount OF the cash in
the treasury is kept at a figure which
makes the government master Il the
situation. 50 far as regards its ability
10 meet all sorts OF demands which
can be made upon it at any time
while an abundance Of money is lef, in
trade channels to meet the necessities
Of an active and constantly Increasing
business all over the country
Naturally the cash in the hands II
the people has increased 20 a large ex-
tent in the past few years. The mints
arr busy and in most years the e1un-
try gets from ,he outside world more
gold than 1t gives up The circulation
on March l,s- three days before -he
Republican party entered rouer nas
sl6--s+e5s. and this sum was ez-
rand-i 70 S-.--o.-5s-o9 a, the b.gn-
ming OF December Iea1 This Increase
was far faster than has ge-n he
growth in population. The per capita
circulation at The earlier dlte was
S23l4 while it was g2S.-2 at .te latter
time. seven weeks ago. Of course he
circulation is even greater than this
now. for the treasury disbursements
and the activity Of the min,s amount
to several times the loss of money
which has been occasionei by the re-
cent gold expectation. This is a con-
dition on which the country can fellcl- 7
tate itself At the same time the
steady increase Of the governments F.
income over its outgo IS an unnatural T.
condition, which congress would -
well to end as soon as possible Both .
the president and the secretary Of the f.
treasury have called the attention of .
congress to the necessity for the re-
ductlon Of the revenues. Secretary .
Gage has shown the reasons for this
in an effective way. Representative
Bartholdt has introduced a bill for the
abolition Of the remainder Of the war
revenue act Of 1898, which IS meeting
the favor Of the Republican leaders
in the house and which is champloned
by many prominent newspapers, Re-
publican and Democrat. Bond buying
is one way 10 keep down the treasury
surplus. but a wiser course would be
10 keep down the surplus by reducing
tavariyp