Evening star., 1902-05-02
FINANCIAL SHOWING
Uncertainty as. to What It
Will Be Next Year.
SURPLUS DECREASING
NOT so GREAT LAST MONTH AS
WAS EXPECTED.
RnnooJ nf no Mor To,rco Crrf-
Repeal of War Taxes May Cause Cut
ting Down of Expenditures-Secre
tary Shaw Not Worried.

| There Is just shade of uncertainty in
| the Treasury Department as to what is go
| ing to be the financial showing of the
| government during the next fiscal year.
| Congress, by repeal of the war revenue
| taxes, has deducted from the income of the
| treasury during the next fiscal year an es-
| timated sum of $75,O0O,O0O, The repeal Of
| these taxes was made on the belief of finan-
cial experts in Congress that the surplus
| for this fiscal year would run anywhere
| from 500 100000 to $1O0,000,000. Assuming
| that the receipts in the next fiscal year
| from all sources would equal those of the
present fiscal year and that the expendi-
| lures would not increase, the idea was gen.
eral that there would be a balance in the
| treasury at the close Of the next fiscal
year of from SIS 5000 600 to 81, 100000
| Neither Secretary Shaw nor former Secre-
| tary Gage approved of so deep cut in the
! revenues of the government, believing that
! the margin between the annual receipts and
| the eXpeditures would be too small to be
comfortable with a cut as large as that
| eventually made by the law-ma King body OF
| the government. The interesting question
now is whether the surplus this fiscal year
! is going to be as large as estimated in Con-
gress and if not what will be the result In
! the treasury. 1nere are good many peo-
| Cannon may yet have to hang around the
bargain counters of Congress to reduce ex-
penditures.
April Surplus Less Than Expected.
The month of April just passed shows
| that the surplus was only $4,416l27. when
a much larger surplus was expected. For
| the ten months of the fiscal year the re-
| ceipts have been s464 21S, ,269 and the eXpen-
ditures $:s'S. ,99, a surplus of SG5.J932Io
There are just two more months for opera
| tion in this fiscal year. These two months
are looked to as showing each heavy sur
plus. 1t Is customary with dlSoursInS or
ficers of the government TO draw the most
of the money going to them long before the
end of the fiscal year. Usually the balances
on the treasury books in their favor are
small in May and June. The consequence
| Is that expenditures are much less in these
months than for average mouths and the
surplus large. In May Of lasf>year the
surplus was about s10,JOo,0O0 and IN June.
the last month of the year. over SIT I.oUoh
A repetition of such an excess of receipts
over expenditures during the coming two
months would make the surplus for the
year reach the expectations of the states
men who did the pairing process IN their
legisla tive ena actmentS. Some treasury Of
ficals do not believe there will be any such
good luck and are awaiting with more than
ordinary concern the outlook for this
| month. Should May and June show sur
pluseS very little above that Of April the
| total surplus for the year would be only
$15 100000 This would make a neck and
neck race during the year between receipts
and expenditures and might keep some re-
publican statesmen busy holding down eX
| penses and finding means of increasing the
revenue.
the outlook now and that is one reason why
| he is keeping such a tight grip on the ex-
pense account. No one knows now how
| much the appropriations for the next fiscal
r,,s1 ha 1n,,% flnra t, npac
for believing that the governmental ex-
pense next year will be any smaller than
for the present year. There Is not much
! reason to think that the various sources of
revenue are going to produce much more
heavily in the future than in the past. The
main reliance hereafter must be the income
from customs. In the ten months of the
present year the total receipts from this
source have been $211 ,029. so. For the same
period of the last year the receipts were
$199, ,355 ,933, not an extraordinary increase
| by any means A falling off in imports,
depression in business would affect these
receipts Internal revenue will be the next
main account. and that ought not to de-
crease except by the falling off from the
| disappearance of the war revenue taxes
The main sources of supply Will probably
continue to produce we'll
Secretary Shaw Not Uneasy.
Secretary Shaw personally expresses no
uneasiness. He Is taking the precautton.
however, to conserve his means. He re-
Gently announced that he would grant to
| national bank depositaries this month
about So, 900, 600 to $4,000, 600 Of government
money and that after this month he will
put out no more government money until
he ascertains something about the opera
tions Of the receipt and expense account
during the next fiscal year
His action is merely a precaution. He
| might change his mind at the last of this
month should the figures demonstrate that
the surplus for the year would be larger
National bank depoSitaries throughout the
ment money, but about $65O0,O00 of this
stands to the credit of the disbursing OFF,
GERS of the government. To the credit Of
the treasurer of the United States there are
$115, ,S5I 1872. In the treasury vaults there
| is balance available of about $6S, 81 ,460
Secretary Shaw believes that $65, ,O90 eco is
| sufficient in the treasury itself to meet the
daily and monthly transactions OF business
wtaen the receipts every month exceed ex-
penditures but he feels that he would like
to start the new year with a bigger sum
| than that. So he will keep in the treasury
the money hereafter instead of putting it
out with the banks. Should there be any
thing like an even break of the income and
outgo account during the next fiscal year
Secretary Shaw would probably let the
| banks hold the money they now have with
out calling 1t In, but in case of use for it
he would be compelled to withdraw some
of the deposits he has made. He hopes
Il
to come.
Demand to Be Depcsitaries.
There Is an enormous demand from ma
tional banks to become depositaries. They
| find that it pays better than issuing circu-
laton of their own. The fact is that the
majority of banks have been decreasing
their circulation for number of months.
The organization Of new national banks IS
about all that has kept the total circula-
tion anywhere near the usual amount The
banks have frequently found it advan-
tageous to withdraw their bonds, deposited
as security for circulation. retire the cir
culation and sell the bonds. United States
bonds have held at high figure for more
than year. The heavy premium to be
paid by banks to secure them, the low
rate of interest the banks realize on their
loans and a combination of circumstances
has given the banks a mighty small profit
on their own circulation. The high prices
of bonds has been a temptation to retire
circulation and sell the bonds Secretary
Shaw realized this when he came In and
made threat that he would not allow de-
posits of money with banks that were re-
tiring circulation.