The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-07-27

wise temperance upon which its great
prestige has been SO securely founded.
| -
OUR lNWIELDIYf SURPLUS.
Since 1900 tie net surplus in the
limited States Treasury has aggregated
s2I1 100000, and in all this time there
has been only one year that whlch
1 ended June 80, 1905 in which there was
a deficiency. For the past year, ending
June 80, 1907. the government receipts
in excess of the government expendi-
/ lures were sS6,929.425. These eNtraor-
binary statistics were, made the sub
iect of very thoughtful article by
| Ellis IF. Roberts who was United
states Treasurer from 1897 to 1905.
Taking our population at So,OoO'Ooo
and allowing an average of five per-
sons to family there are 16.O00,OOU
families in this country, each of which
contributed $3.50 more last year than
| was necessary to meet the expenses
of the Federal government. The pos
sibility of SO large an excess tax be-
Ling raised is the fact that we are taxed
| in America by indlrection. Tie Ding
Hey tariff alone has brollEht in over
| s., 900 100000 in The last decade. Enor-
nous revenue IS received by the gov
crnment from the internal revenues on
tobacco and alcohol. and without ap-.
jpreciating the extent to which they
Iare really taxed the American people
4 in the abundance of their prosperity
have gone on piling up this enormous
surplus.
/ Some idea of the amount of our sur
4 plus may be gained by comparing that
sS7 100000 with the total expenditures
: of other countries. For example, Chili's
'Itota expense is only s54.000,O 900; Por-
tugal, with 5,550.00O people spends
only s6o,ooo,oOo; Roumania, with g.
4 100000 population, spends only $i7,
4 100000, and Brazil. that great empire
#Iof South America, with a population
4 of 14.000,000, and with an area Of
3,21S,O0O square miles. or more than
/ that Of the United States, excluding
Alaska and Hawaii, spends only $780,
/ 100000.
The situation is ore or danger If
4 1t We're possible to make a Just or
equitable redistribution of the surplus
upbuilding the situation would not be
so dangerous. Such redistribution is,
y however impossible and as result
the large and growing surplus in
Il Washington is a continued Indictment
} to politicians to demand unreasonable
i and eNtravagant appropriations for
:, their local constituencies.
Meanwhile, according to Mr.. Roberts,
there lies in the government vaults
and banks the enormous sum Of s211,-
I, 100000, earning no interest at all and
: serving, SO far as the government is
concerned, no good purpose. That Is
to say. the American people are los
g ing at the present time s12,0QO.000 a
+ year interest, which is more than the
Y United States government spent In
!, experimentation, viewed in another way
: 1t was one half of the total interest
t on our national debt, or 1t was twice
: the amount that was spent for the to.
r tai Agricultural Department.
e This waste of money is intolerable
e and 1t would not be submitted to FOL
an instant If our government We're rur
IS without respect to the interest of ia
q vorite classes. All that we have to dt
n to- stop this ever-increasing and dan
IS gerous pile of gold in tho Treasury il
o TO reduce the tariff and thereby lesser
J. the revenue. This is what the favored
le interests and the Republican politi
lie clans desire least of all. Meanwhile
= the surplus piles up. the people ar
If overtaxed, foolish and reckless expen
If ditures are incurred. and the ordinar
4 mercantile and industrial enterprise
le OF the country are hampered by fund
It, which are impounded to no good us
A. In the Treasury.
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