Willmar tribune., 1909-12-15

OH1I0o 6IdISS tH0 OSnSO 0I Sn0 WS&yO
ute referred to. The great scope and
complexity Of this work. as well 40
the obligation to lend all proper aid
to. our expanding commerce, is met by
the expansion of the bureau of trade
relations as set forth in the estimates
for the department of state.
Government Expenditures and Reve.
nues.
Perhaps the most important question
presented to this administration is that
OF economy in expenditures and suffi-
cheney Of revenue. The deficit of the
last fiscal year, and the certain deficit
OF the current year, prompted congress
to throw a greater responsibility on
treasury than had heretofore been de-
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 Offices, 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 If a probable
deficit is thus shown, 1t 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,G20. If to this deficit is added
the sum to be disbursed for the Pan
| anna Canal, amounting to $4,000, 900,
| and $1,O00,000 to be paid on the public
debt. the deficit of ordinary receipts
and expenditures will be increased to
total deficit of $73O75,62O. This de-
! f1cit the secretary proposes to meet by
khn -
| 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 part at least Of the
burden of the cost of the canal shall
fall upon our posterity who are to en-
| JOY 1t: 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
$297.766,000 instead of $139,705,200, as
( originally estimated. In addition to
engineering and construction, the other
expenses including sanitation and gov
| ernment. and the amount paid for the
properties. the franchise. and the privi-
lege of building the canal. increase the
cost of $75,435, 900, to total of $685.
2O1.000. The increase in the cost of
| engineering and construction is due to
! substantial enlargement of the plan
| of construction by widening the canal
100 feet in the Culebra cut and by in
creasinS 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 a deficit for the
ensuing fiscal year. I directed the
heads of departments in the prepara-
| ton of their estimates to make them
| as low as possible consistent with i'm
| perative governmental necessity The
| result has been, as I am advised by the
secretary of the treasury. that the es-
| Inmates for the expenses of the gov
| ernment for the next fiscal year end
ing June 80, 1911, are less than the ap-
| preparations for this current fiscal
| year by S42.S1S.O00. So far as the Sec
retary of the treasury is able to form
a judgment as to future income and
compare it with the expenditures for
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 $35,931, 900.
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, a
thorough reorganization of bureaus,
Offices and departments would be nec-
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 number of the subor-
dinate employees in the weighing and
other departments We're directly con-
cerned, and in which the beneficiar1es
were the American Sugar Refining Com
pany and others. The frauds consisted
in the payment of duty on underweights
of sugar. The government has recovered
| from the American Sugar Refining Com
| pany all that it 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 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 1t 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, it 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 If the executive finds such
laws and practices not to be unduly 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