The Oskaloosa herald., 1909-12-09

4
! treasury than had heretofore been dc
clared by statute. This declaration
imposes upon the secretary OF the
| treasury the duty OF assembling all the
| estimates of the executive departments
bureaus, and ofilces. Of the expendi-
lures necessary In the ensuing fiscal
| year. and of making an estimate of
| the revenues of the government for
the same period; and II q probable
| deficit is thus shown, IL Is made the
| duty of the president to recommend
! the method by which such deficit can
| be met
The report of the secretary shows
| that the ordinary expenditures for the
| current fiscal year ending June 80. 1910.
| will exceed the estimated receipts by
| $34,075.620. II to this deficit is added
| the sum to be disbursed for the Pan
anna Canal, amounting to s3S,000,000,
and s1,00osoo0 to be paid on the public
debt. the deficit of ordinary receipts
and expenditures will be increased to
| total deficit OF s7S.075.62o. This de-
felt the secretary proposes to meet by
| the proceeds of bonds issued to pay
| the cost of constructing the Panama
| Canal. approve this proposal.
The policy of paying for the con-
struction OF the Panama Canal, not out
| of current revenue. but by bond issues.
| was adopted in the Spooner act of
| 1890, and there seems to be no good
| reason for departing from the prin-
! ciple by which a part at least of the
| burden of the cost of the canal shall
| fall upon our posterity who are to en-
| joy it: and there is all the more rea-
| son for this view because the actual
cost to date of the canal. which is now
| half done and which will be completed
| anuary l, 1915, shows that the cost of
| engineering and construction will be
s2s7.7s6,0oo, instead of s1Ss. 7o5.2oo, as
| originally estimated. In addition to
engineering and construction. the other
expenses, including sanitation and gov
eminent, and the amount paid for the
| properties, the franchise. and the priyi-
! lege of building the canal, increase the
| cost of 75,435, 900, to a total of $375,-
| 900. The increase in the cost of
| engineering and construction is due to
a substantial enlargement of the plan
| OF construction by widening the canal
100 feet in the Culebra cut and by in
creasing the dimensions of the locks.
| to the underestimate OF the quantity of
| the work to be done under the orig
inal plan, and to an underestimate of
| the cost Of labor and materials, both of
| which have greatly enhanced in price
| since the original estimate was made.
In order to avoid deficit for the
! ensuing fiscal year, directed the
| heads of departments in the prepara-
| ton of their estimates to make them
| as low as possible consistent with i'm
1 perative governmental necessity. The
| result has been, as l am advised, by the
| secretary of the treasury that the
Inmates for the expenses of the gov
eminent for the next fiscal year end
| ing June 80, 1911, are less than the ap-
propriations for this current fiscal
year by $42.S1S,000. So far as the Sec
rotary of the treasury is able to form
a judgment as to future income and
! t.yith tha TO-
the next fiscal year ending June 80,
1911, and excluding payments on ac-
| count of the Panama Canal, which will
doubtless be taken up by bonds, there
will be a surplus of s35.931,O00.
In the present estimates the needs
of the departments and of the govern
| ment have been cut to the quick, so to
speak. and any assumption on the
| part of congress, so often made in
| times past, that the estimates have
| been prepared with the expectation
that they may be reduced, will result
in seriously hampering proper admin
| istration.
To reduce the cost of permanent
administration, says the president,
thorough reorganization of bureaus,
offices and departments would be nee
essary. An expert accountant has
been making an investigation into this
matter and the result of his work
shows opportunity for both substan-
tial reductions in cost and increase of
efficiency.
Frauds in the Collection Of Customs.
regret to refer to the fact of the dis
| covery OF extensive frauds in the collec-
ton Of the customs revenue at New York
city, in which a number of the subor-
dinate employees in the weighing and
other departments were directly con-
cerned, and in which the beneficiaries
were the American Sugar Refining Com
pany and others. The frauds consisted
| in the payment of duty on underweghts
| Of sugar The government has recovered
from the American Sugar Refining Com
pany all that 1t is shown to have been de-
frauded of. The sum was received in full
| of the amount due, which might have
been recovered by civil suit against the
| beneficiary of the fraud, but there was
| an express reservation In the contract of
! settlement by which the settlement should
] not interfere with, or prevent the Grim
| inal prosecution of everyone who was
| found to be subject to the same.
| Criminal prosecutions are now proceed
! ing against a number of the government
| officers. The treasury department and the
department OF justice are eXerting every
! effort to discover all the wrongdoers, in
| Guiding the officers and employees OF the
companies who may have been privy to
| the fraud. It would seem to me that an
| investigation of the frauds by congress at
| present pending the probing by the treas
| ury department and the department of
| Justice, as proposed, might by giving i'm
munity and otherwise prove an embar-
rassment in securing conviction OF the
guilty parties
Maximum and Minimum Clause In
Tariff Act.
Two features OF the new tariff act call
| for special reference. By virtue of the
| clause known as the maximum and min
| imum" clause. 1t Is the duty of the exec
utive to consider the laws and practices
| of other countries with reference to the
| importation into those countries OF the
products and merchandise of the United
| States, and II the executive finds such
| laws and practices not to be unduy dis
| criminatory against the United States, the
minimum duties provided in the bill are
| to go into force. Unless the president
| makes such a finding, then the maximum
duties provided in the BILL that is, an in
crease of rs per cent. ad valorem over the
minimum duties, are to be in force. Fear
| has been expressed that this power con-
| ferred and duty imposed on the execu-
! tive is likely to lead to a tariff war. l
beg to express the hope and belief that
| no such result need be anticipated.
ha dissertation ora ntpd IN the axacutive