The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1905-09-15
TARIFF REVISION NECESSARY.
Some Lessons Drawn From the Treas
ury Deficit.
From Railway World

Some Lessons Drawn From the Treas
ury Deficit.
From Railway World.
Serious apprehensions that radical
notifications in the national system
II revenue would be necessary have
been aroused by the increasing deficit
reported by the United States treas
Try department At the close Of bust
hess on August 81 the deficit amount
I'd to $19,OOO,OO0 for the first two
months OF the fiscal year, and there
s no prospect that conditions will
speedily improve.
This situation lends much weight
TO the argument now 50 frequently
and generally repeated, that the tar
n system should be revised in the in
eerest OF a larger and more flexible
revenue As at present constituted,
The main object of the tariff is pro-
lection to domestic industry. Revenue
5 incidental and subsidiary to protec-
don Schedules are framed, not to in
crease imports and swell the treas
ITy receipts, but as far as possible to
exclude them In seasons of extra
ordinary local demand with high
prices, imports rapidly increase and
customs receipts COrrespOndingly ad-
vance Such periOls, however, are
quickly followed by reactions, when,
as at present, the country faces the
prospect Of a deficit and the pOssibiIi-
y OF a loan to maintain the gold re-
serve which Will be encrOached upon
4 the discrepancy between receipts
and expenditures continues much
longer 1t needs no argument to
prove that this situation calls for a
remedy, and the most obvious one is
n the direction Of conservative tariff
81 Il
sufficient revenues but will relieve our
export trade from its present disad-
analogous position in competitive
markets.
The present emergency not only
calls attention to the incOngruity Of
our plan Of tariff duties but suggests
the necessity Of introducing some ele-
ments Of direct taxation into our
scheme of revenue At present, the
receipts Of federal taxation are en-
drely the product of indirect taxes
levied on commodities. Indirect tax
alton has the advantage that it IS
concealed, and that it is paid in the
manner most convenient to the tax
payer, little by little, in the prices Of
commodities. 1t is. however, open to
the serious objection OF uncertainty
and inelesticity Of yield. Only the
posed change in customs duties or in
ternal revenue taxes can be made, and
there is no certainty that an increase
0r a reduction Of these taxes will be
followed by COrrespOndingly changes
Of revenue The effect upon the con-
sumption OF taxed articles following
higher or lower prices resulting from
changes in the taxes upon those COM
mOdities cannot be forseen- 1t is.
therefore, impossible for the United
States to accommodate its revenue to
is expenditures. A surplus or a de-
icit IS always being dealt with by the
treasury Either the secretary OF the
treasury Is bending his energies to get
money out OF the governments pos
session into the channels OF trade
where il is badly needed at such a
time, or he is consulting with bankers
as to the market for government
bonds
A change in the federal system Of
taxation is demanded. and this change
should be the adoption Of some form
II direct taxation whose yield viii be
certain and definite and whose amount
can be increased or diminished to cor
respond with the necessities Of public
expenditure