Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-05-25
Editorial Comment
The Curtis Deficit" and the Ha'nes
Overplus.
Lewiston JournaD

Lewiston JournaD
We are sorry to see the Kennebec
Journal wasting its time arguing Win
the Portland Argus or anyone else
that moss-covered old falsehood that
there was a $4,000 deficit in the
Haines administration.
That deficit story started from
a reportorial misunderstanding OF an
executive council brain -storm. We
have explained and demonstrated and
proved the whole matter half dozen
times in the Lewiston Journal Gov.
Haines' administration had no def
cts" Some of the smart amateur
financiers subtracted a lot of stuff
from the net State debt and charged
them against the Haines administra
ton exclusively. This is good enough
to argue about but any rational being
isn't bothering his head over it, 1t is
boys play. To take long accrued liza
bility out of a debt and charge it eX
clusively to the latest administration
and find deficit" on that basis is to
make one smile. Each State admins
tration tries to live on a going basis
i. e., it balances it's expenditures
against it's income and tries to make
good. If Gov. Curtis's friends should
have carried out their line of argument
to it's absurd conclusion, they would
have been compelled to charge each of
the other elements of the funded and
floating debts of the State to the
Haines administration and thus, COM
pleting the circle, they arrive at this
inevitable and laughable conclusion
the entire debt of the State, accrued
through all the years from the year
1920; through the Civil War to now
is all a deficit on the Haines admin
istration."
There are reasons enough why Gov.
Curtis administration should have
more money in the treasury today
than the Haines administration had.
though we always thought that the
Haines administration had too much
lying around. doing no work for the
people who supplied it. The Haines'
administration turned over almost
S78O,O00 in cash to the Curtis admins
tration. Bills were cleaned up just as
fast as possible-in other words the
State was eager and willing to pay all
bills it could get in before closing its
books. No one ever had to wait long
upon the Haines administration for
pay for a just and proper bill.
How does it happen that the Curtis
administration has bigger lot of cash
on hand? Very simple. The Curtis
administration has simply taken about
$4,000 more money out of the Folks
than the Haines administration did and
hasn't carried out it's program of per-
iv,or
cash received comes from increased
taxrate and increased valuation. We,
the people, paid it. Gov. Curtis didn't
create it out of nothing. We pulled
our calf-skins for it and the demo-
cratic chieftains at Augusta got it and
they naturally ought to have most of
it. Why not?
And then besides. we can't praise
Gov. Curtis for assiduity in follow
ing out orders of the Legislature.
The State appropriated for the Jack
man -kineo road, Augusta State hos
pital Maine State Prison. Woman's
Reformatory and other similar speci-
fled uses over s25O,000. None of these
things have been done. The admin
istration has the cash and has declined
the expenditure. 1t has been charged
therefore in good reason, with making
those appropriations serve political
purposes exclusively, by taxing us for
them, appropriating them and then
holding up the expenditure in order to
swell balance.
We confess to seeing nothing very
remarkable in a cash balance of ST.
OS6, 26223 on May. LIST in the State
treasury. This is but s30S,0oO more
than Gov. Haines turned over to them
and. with the increased tax rate, in
creased valuation amounting to over
$4,000. this latter is more than ac-
counted for in any calculation or COM
parison.