New-York tribune., 1908-07-03
FEDERAL "EITR4TAGANCE."

The viewers with alarm are pusy Slo"unS
over the Treasurys deficit of So9,ooo,ooo LOT the
fiscal wear 1907-0S. They have gladly seized on
this excess of expenditure over income as
nroof of Republican extravaganza and misman-
agement. Said 1.-The New York Evening POST
on Wednesday
Few business men. comparing their balance
sheets of July l. 1908, and July l. 1907. can have
faced a more dsagreeable showing than the
Treasury at Washington. year ago there was was
p surplus on the years operations OF $S4,Ooo,Voo
TODAY there is a deficit of $60,000,000- Net
showing TO the bad S144.00000O In private af-
fairs such a black result would raise an IN
stant demand for the most severe economies.
And "rTbe New York Times compares the
Treasury's failure to make ends meet this year
with the Russian governments issue OF loan
of S1OOOOQOOO to cover a shortage in current
revenues.
Evidently The Evening Post and 'Ihe
Times" intend to bring a charge Of improvl-
dence against the administration. They consider
the overspending of the governments income
for the last wear by $50 665, 900 a "black record
1t should be said in justice to the Congress
which made this overdraft on the Treasurys
resources that the appropriations for 1907'OS
were made In February, 1907 At that time the
Governments income was rapidly mounting.
surplus Of more than SS0,00O,000 for l9oo-o
was already foreshadowed, and the Secretary OF
the Treasury had felt justified in estimating a
surplus Of S400OO,000 for 1901'OS. Congress
could not have been expected to foresee the
financial and commercial disturbances of the
following autumn, which caused falling Off
in income for the year 1907-OS Of S65,5o0,0oo.
That shrinkage alone more than covered the
$50. .665. 900 deficit.
Rut Congress and the administration cannot
he convicted of improvidence on a single years
showing-and that year an abnormal one III
which a panic upset all ordinary calculations.
If living within ones income is merltorlous, the
Roosevelt administration is entitled on its seven
wears record to praise instead of censure The
President took office in September, 1901. Since
then the annual surpluses reported have been
sol 2S7375 in 19O1-'O2. $54,2 ,297, ,667 IN 19O2-O3,
s25 66g. 500 in 1905-0G and $S6945,542 in
1906 6t07-in round numbers S257000000 The
deficits have been 81, ,77O,571 in 1903'04, $23-
o04 2oS in 19O4'O5 and S59,655,992 in 1907 0S
i'm round numbers $124O000O0 For the
seven years the net surplus has been Sls5,-
100000 and more than S75,000,000 has been
paid out III cash i'll that period for the lsthmlan
Canal project Even if there should be deficit
of S5GO00000 in 190Sf09 the Roosevelt ad-
ministration would close with a liberal balance
TO its credit in savings out Of current income
Both THE Post" and THE Times have COM
plained bitterly in the past about the excessive
surpluses piled up in the Treasury Said The
Times" Yesterday: "A small deficit is more
| wholesome both politically and economically,
than an abnormal surplus" Yet the large sur
plus held by the Treasury last fall was factor
of prime importance in checking the panic. The
governments resources cast into the scale re-
vived confidence and quieted apprehension. Had
the Treasury been in the weak condition in
which il was during the panic of 1893, last fails
situation would have been much more Ominous.
The Post" indeed, recognizes what bulwark
against decentralization the Treasury surplus of
1907 was for ii complained yesterday of the
Scant notice taken in the Chicago platform "Of
"NIr CorLelyous really great achievement his
prompt use Of the public surplus to stop a
general plunge into insolvency after the Hnick-
'erbocker failure" 1t is queer logic to depre-
cate the accumulation Of surplus and at the
same time to admit the saving value Of the
role Dlayed last fall by that same surplus-tO
charge the administration with making
.bIack record" Of improvdence and then have
to admit that In its seven wears it has managed
the finances 80 Us to produce an average yearly
credit balance of S1900o000.
There has been under President RoOsevelts s
administration no lack Of adaptation OF outlay
ia income If The Times" and THE POST
are Gisposed to argue that both income and
outlay have been too great, that Is another ques-
ton In that case it is incumbent on the OPP
what respect expenditure can be reduced with
out injury to national efficiency We shall look