Evening star., 1918-12-04
FINANCIAL ANGLE
OF WARTS TOLD
MIR. McAdoo's Report Shows
How Billions Raised and
Expended.

Tho financial history of Americas
part in the war is set forth by Sec
retary McAdoo in his annual report.
drafted before his resignation and
made public today by the Treasury.
1t Is the history Of how the American
people paid billions Of taxes, raised
four great liberty loans and created
L tremendous pool Of credit with
which the Treasury through it's many
war agencies paid the bills Of the
lrmy and Navy. the Whipping Board
and other government departments.
loaned billions to the allies and mil
ions to war industries, helped sup
port the families of soldiers and sail
,rs and tided farmers over periods Of
financial strinEency.
Expenses for Fifteen Months
For the fifteen months ending last
Juno 80 Secretary McAdoo estimated
that the actual cost of the war. with
allowances for the governments or
binary expenses in ordinary times.
amounted TO s1s s22; ;9ao o6o oo9 aoa Nearly
into permanent investments In the
form of ships. shipyards. war vcs-
sells. Army camps, buildings and in
loans to allies or to American war
industries. OF the. years expenses
316 per cent came from taxation.
The civil establishment Of the gov
,rnment during the year spent $1,-
507,000.000. while the War Depart
nent spent 5.684.000.000 and the
Navy s1.a6s. 100000. For support Of
n A oil nj
out s4.412.ooO,ooo The naval expen-
ditures included the construction Of
new vessels, machinery. armament,
equipment and improvements at navy
yards; Total ordinary disburssmsnts III ~ scr aan
900 and the ordinary receipts. ex-
Guiding money received from liberty
loans. amounted to- $4.174.ooo.o 900.
Loans to allies during the year
to $4.73s,eoo.oeo additioaal III aaa
found great difficulty in ferecasting
expenditures for the current fiscal
year, which ends next June 80. on ac-
count Of the sudden coming OF peace.
:"r".s expenditures for this year at
0.6S7 100000 for government pur-
poses and 81 315, 100000 for loans to
allies and s2,540.000,000 for redemp--
tion of outstanding certificates and
other debt cancellation: Total esti-
were put at s27,71s,0oo.o0o.
Receipts Are Calculated.
MT. McAdoo calculated that the
government will receive about $5.o00.-
100000 before the end of the fiscal
year next June 90. from income and
taxes, s1so,ooO.o0o from customs and
sources. including $4,000. go from in.
creased postage. making estimated
receipts from ordinary sources So.
on a little more than S5,0oo.-
OOo. 900 from further issues of liberty
bonds and $1,000. 100000 from war
savings. These figures added to re-
ceipts from liberty loan bonds already
popular borrowings expected during
the year. On this basis. total estt-
mated receipts would be vi, ,022 900 900,
or $6, 695, ,e00. eco less than tentative esti-
mates of disbursements. Actual de-
are expected to change
these calculations greatly.
Public Debt Increased.
The United States public debt last
June 30 was $12.396. 100000, without
taking into consideration the $1,319.-
600, 900 free balance in the Treasury
to partially offset the debt. The
public debt has been increased since
nearly $7.00o.o00.00o and BY Treasury
certificates Of indebtedness amounting
to several hundred million dollars.
The report disclosed for the first
time the activities Of the Treasury's
sinking fund to buy up liberty bonds
falling far below par. Up to Novenl-
ber /. it is shown. $244,0S6,50o worth
of bonds. face value. had been pur-
chased on the open market for $234.-
100000. or at an average price OF
about s6 per cent. and subsequently
SITE, c,446,0o0 were second liberty loan
bonds, Of both and ~ per cent
issues: $70.925, 900 were third liberty loan
bonds. and $656.000 were first liberty
loan converted bonds.
Mr.. McAdoo took the occasion to
again the importance OF
enactment Of the revenue
bill now pending in Congress. "Un-
less the measure becomes law in
the near future" he said. 1T will
Treasury to frame the necessary reg
ulations and to print and distribute
the necessary forms before the re-
turns and taxes will be que. The
enforcement of the law will neces-
sarily he imperiled."
practices OF the year. including tho
floating of short-term certificates Of
indebtedness in advance Of every Nb-
erty loan to prevent the disturbing
of the money marke. by the loans and
to obtain the money needed by the
Treasury in advance Of loan receipts.
He said the war-savings movement
had resulted not only in gathering In
1894, 100000 for war purposes up to
November 1. but 1t had helped to teach
the American people thrift and
economy.
The report explained at length that
a feature of the Treasurys policy in
distributing the $s.171 200. 900 credits
TO allies during the year has been
to stabilize foreign exchange rates
and bring the dollar nearer par In
European countries. but did not men,
tion the specific acts undertaken by
the Treasury to accomp!ish this. In
exchange for credits. France gave the
United States credit In France Of
s631, ,275,00O for Army purchases Great
Britain esta blished similar credits Of
$f15. .6s3. zoo and Italy $685. 900.
Turning to the enormous task Of
collecting $685., $4,000 in taxes dur
ing the last fiscal year, or moro than
four times The record collection Of
the year previous. the Secretary EN-.
phasizes that this had been accom-.
plished largely through the oo-opera-
tion Of business interests and indiyid.