The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-03-19
FRANK 3. HOWE, Editor and PubIisAs
Thai ALLEGED DEFICIT.

I TAIN AHNAE Will UN A0 AtMAAA III AuN
state treasury i'm view of the present
anticipated sources of revenue; that
| the increases in salaries by the late
legislature were entirely proper and
/ necessary; that there was nothing the
matter with the constitutiOnality of
/ the legislatures act in raising its own
salary, and that before signing the bill
| he had secured an opinion on that
subject from Acknowledgement Sar
gent The legislature of 1908 certain
ly cannot be accused of lodging an
increase when it loomed in sight; and
! the people of the state will hope the
HgoyernOr is correct when he is guess
ing there will be no deficit-for a de
hcit would be an inconvenient thing
to remember when the next campaign
came round.
IL is matter of common knowledge
among those cOnversant with proceed
ings at Montpelier. that several mem
bers of the ways and means commit
tee favored a state tax as the only
means of ayerting a threatened de-
felt of some 100000, and that the
governor and the state commissioner
Of taxes practically assumed the re-
sponsibility of setting entirely aside
the state tax proposition and attempt
ing to Danish the deficit spectre by an
ticipatiOns of an increase Of revenue
during this, biennial term-Ludlow
Tribune.
The above reference to a threatened
deficit of some 100000 is about the
widest piece of misinformation we
have recently seen circulated in Yer
mont 1t really isn't as bad as that,
and the Tribune's statement was
doubles a slip of the pen, though, un
fortunately, it has been quoted seri-
ously by some of the anvil chorus.
We rather expect deficit but it
won't be 100000 or a tenth of that
sum and there was no more need Of
assessing a state tax at the recent
session of the legislature than there
will be of providing wings for the
future of some Of the newspaper edi-
tors Of Vermont if they are compelled
to answer for the wrong stories they
have been misled into telling on this
and kindred subjects.
With the balance in the treasury at
the beginning of the present fiscal
year there will be no difficulty in pay
ing all bills for the next year and
half and, if there is a deficit enough
to require a state tax it will be
problem for the legislature of 1910 to
solve The legislature of 1908 was
faced by no deficit else it would have
provided for IT, Anybody who says it
didn't have the nerve to assess state
tax If it had found one necessary,
doesn't know the legislature of 1908.
OF course a deficit is a serious mat
ter though not as serious for state
treasury as for a private pocketbook
Any old Legislature can replenish the
state treasury but it isn't customary
to do it until the deficit is an actual
fact. 1t would have been a silly thing
for the legislature of 1908 to have i'm
posed a state tax just because there
might be a deficit in 1910 or 1911.
In this discussion over an expected
deficit history is repeating itself.
Some four centuries back America
was discovered and exploited by the
Spaniards. Of all the people who
came to the new world the Spaniards
were the only ones who left conditions
worse than they found them. They
destroyed the ancient Aztec civiliza-
ton in Mexico and the mild and ben
Efficient rule of the Incas of Peru. In
place of peace and gradual progress
they left anarchy, corruption, slavery.
debauchery and ruin. The history OF
the Spaniards for four hundred years
was always the same. They tore
down but never built up.
Now there appear to be a few Span
iards in the newspaper business in
Vermont. For selfish ends they have
attacked the good name Of the state.
In a vain attempt to lift themselves
into power they have wrongfully ac-
cused some of the highest and most
respected citizens of Vermont. Some
of them are doing it wilfully and NAL
iciously but others have been led into
It by not giving sufficient considera.
ton to the actual facts.
There is a possibility of small de-
felt two years hence. Even this pos.
sibility is denied by people in better
position to judge than we are, but for
the sake of argument we WIN admit
the possibility The Spaniards snarl
at the heels Of Ex-Governor Proctor,
Governor Prouty and their friends, the
socalled administration leaders of Yer
mont and incidentally at the recent
session Of the legislature
They hold up these figures 100000
and label it deficit and howl in Choir
us. They forget to tell the voters
that Of this sum 100000 is a legacy
\, from the old cattle test law which the
recent legislature repealed at the ur.
| gent demand of the nresent govarnor