New-York tribune., 1918-03-17

""ion VIII not cause the world to feel
an aching void for many a long dav to
come. But NJ. Tontchcff's optimism ;s
probably assumed, for the remainder
OF MS speech certainly did not paint
the future in rosy colors.
Minister Must
! Find More Millions
i am sorry for tne minister" he de-
clared, ."after we will establish the
budgets for 1919 and 1920, for the
revenues he must find will reach q
billion of levs ($2000OO,O O,O0O).
"The service of the public
debt, which amounts to
6,000000,000 levs ISL
2O0,0o0000) will absorb. 800. 900 900
PENSIONS 100, 900 900
Salaries Of officials with
augmentations) 22D, 900 900
Material expenses. .24O. 900 900
The minister will therefore have the
ungrateful task of finding billion
levs Of revenue"
This means that Bulgaria, a country
Of little more than four million popu-
lation, must find each year two hun
dred million dollars in hard cash to
keep the state machine going. In other
words, each inhabitant, men, women
and children, must contribute at least
fifty dollars year in taxes. If the
same proposition was asked from the
United States the Treasury would have
to collect between four and five bill
ion of dollars per annum And then
it must further always be kept in mind
that Bulgaria is a peasant country. If
she had mines and industries there
might be some prospect Of her develop
ing fresh resources, but as things stand
at the present she can do nothing
On Mr.. Tontchetf's own figures,
therefore, Bulgaria is bankrupt.
What Will Happen
After the War
And the views of the Minister of FL
nance are optimistic in comparison
with those of the leaders of the oppo-
sition. Mr.. Todoroff, for instance, re-
preached the minister with having
failed to include number of items of
expenditure. eve can regard our
selves as lucky" he declared, "if after
the war we have not public debt of
over seven billions of levs. Supposing
the exchange on the lev improves 25
Ter cent (the most we can cxpect).
the interest and sinking fund will all
sorb 8,000,000 levs. With the pen-
sions to invalids we will have an ex-
penditure OF 664, 100000 levs. live take
into account the expenditure for the
army, the administration, ETC., we will
have, six months after peace is signed.
budget of ,13O,000,00O levs.
"The war has brought with it many
difficulties which we did not foresee at
the commencement. We supposed we
would only be called OIL to fight the
Serbs and perhaps the Greeks and
Rumanans, but the allies of our enc
mics. the Russians, the French, the
English, the Italians and other over
seas people have risen against US.
though we had no cause of quarrel
with them. The war was thus pro-
longed and We were obliged to consent
to still greater sacrifices and support
insurmountable difficulties It is i'm
possible for us to support all the bur
dens which our front imposes on us.
Our front is really part of the gen
eral front. Our allies should under
stand our moral rights. But we can
still speak of our juridical rights to the
war booty Of the Dobrudia and Ru-
mania: Our allies know the decisive
role played by our Dobrudja armies in
the success of the undertaking and the
very great Importance of our partci-
patton in the advance in Wallachia
Our right to a share of the Rumanian
war booty is incontcstablc. The value
of this booty amounts to several bill
lions, still further augmented by the
new banknotes put in circulation in
Rumania.
Taxation Useless
To Raise Revenue