The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-07-15
ATTORNEY GENERAL DENMAN
TALKS ABOUT STATES FUNDS
He Declares There Will Be Very Handsome Surplus In
the Treasury at the End of the Present Fiscal Year
Ohio Senators in Tariff Legislation.

In his address to the state bar as
ISOLATION at Put-in-Bay 1t was claimed
by Attorney General )enman that at
the end Of the fiscal J sar the state
will have a surplus of SS,500,000 with
all debts paid.
This remark is worth remembering
for II was made. by Republican
state official in a public address un-
tainted by partisan prejudice.
Next year, when Republican rancor
gets so strong that Governor Har-
mons administration will be falsely
accused of depicting the state treas
ury IL will come in handy to quote
what the Republican attorney gener-
al said in an address to an audience
Of lawyers in which he was particu-
larly careful to state the plain truth.
The treasury balance is like water
in a cistern, depends on how much
IL rains and how much is pumped out
If none was pumped out the cistern
would always be full. When II Is a
long time between showers, the cis-
tern may be pumped nearly dry be-
fore a replenishing rain fills 1t up
again.
Only a few days ago the state treas
ury surplus showed q heavy shrink
age, and the cry was raised that at
the same rate half the surplus of six
months ago will be wiped out before
the end of the year.
Such statemnt can be both true
and not true. as proved by different
modes Of reasoning. 1t would be true
II all were paid out and none paid in;
and not true because. all the while the
revenues will be paid in from differ
ent sources sufficiently to keep the
cistern from being pumped dry.
The treasury at time when re-
ceipts run low will reduce the sur
plus below the normal balance, but
that doesn't mean that the treasury
Is rushing straight upon the shoals of
bankruptcy. The current expenses
must be met and large appropria-
tions dip into the treasury surplus
from time to time, but the steady in
pour of revenues will replenish the
treasury and restore the normal lev
ell.
Thus the treasury fuctuates be.
tween high and low levels in the or
dinary course. and It is not just to
raise an alarm from a condition so
temporary that 1t may be reversed
next day or within a week or two.
1t is not this fluctuating condition
of day or week, but the horizontal
test of the balance sheet for an entire
fiscal year that counts. The much
boasted balance OF $6,891,140 six
months ago was fictitious because at
that particular time unpaid appropri-I
ations subject to draft amounted to
s4,244,372, which would have re-y
duced the balance to s2,646,776 III
paid at once.
The balance for the fiscal year end
ing November 15, 1907, was $4.096.44;
and for the fiscal year ending Novem-
Der 10, 1908, the balance was s4,476,-
459.65. but little more than the ag-
gregate of unpaid appropriations sub
ject to draft.
The attorney general says that with
all debts paid the balance at the end
of this year, November Is, 1909,
ought to be $3,500,000 and that's tho
important fact to keep in mind.
Even so, balance of $3.500,000
will be almost s1,O00,0O0 short of
last year, which equals the excess of
appropriations by the legislature over
estimated receipts.
Such result takes into account a
loss of 100000 revenues from the
Aiken tax and shrinkage in other
revenues on account of the Roose-
velt panic, compelling the legislature
to dip into the surplus for approxi-