The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1920-07-19
A STAGGERING EXPENSE ACCOUNT

n UH nationaI government spent yB403,UUOUW m ordinary exc
peoses. during the fiscal year ended June 30 according to a
preliminary treasury statement given out Sunday. This huge
the year including payments upon war and other public debt was
$2S44l,OOOOOO We may leave out of our present calculations the
The ordinary ones are enough TO make us stop short and dc some
recently, forecasted a billion dollar deficit in the ordinary cxpcndi.
lures Of the government for the past fiscal year. II this preliminary
treasury statement is correct that deficit will be closer to two billions
The only means of raising that two billions, which must be raised, is
by = bond issue, or by increasing taxes Selling a bond issue to the
people Just now, with Liberty bonds at 1885 would be a mighty diff
cult job. OF course our government can always increase taxes. no
matter how high or how ineQutably distributed they may he, or how
pay them.
OF course this nation al never go back to the days when a hill.
six and a half billions annually is a jolt that will shock those who
think. The number Of those who think is the number of those who
pay the federal income tax.
What are we going to do about this six and a half billion dollar
expense bHlf There are extraordinary expenses to pay in the pres
emit fiscal year and there will be extraordinary expenses in the years
to come Can W. afford to continue increasing the national outlay
for ordinary expcndiuresf
A fairly good national budget law was killed in the closing hours
Of the recent congress by President WILSON, veto. 1t was not a per-
feet budget law but it was a start II would have worked and it
would nave served to rim materially the staggering outlay of the
various government departments under the present ht-a-miss system.
that il interfered with the constitutional right Of the executive. The
interference occurred in q proyiso %forbiddng the executive to remove
not have put the provision in. The issue was not important. It did
pledged and the demand for which has come from the whole mass Of
thinking people of the nation.
But a budget law, while it win be a mighty help to intelligent
national spending, will not cure the evil that besets us. Wholly aside
from war waste we have drihed or jumped into the custom of prodi-
gal waste in all departments of the national government. We are
not spending too much money on essential things, but We are spend.
ing far too much on non-essentials connected with administration of
the essential things We need to call a halt.
One Of the criticisms opponents of Senator Harding frequently
voice is that he is 'of the Mckinley type" If ever this country
needed a president Of the Mckinley type ii is right now. Conditions
now are not the conditions of Mckinley day, hut character is the
same now as then, so is steadfastness for the right and courage and
clear intelligence. Mckinley was a conservative, but he was intel
lgent about H. He was a mighty influence against unintenigent
spending. All the scandals Of the Spanish war do not detract from
the established record Mckinley made. Had he lived we would have
been working under a national budget law for years. If Harding is
"0f the Mckinley type this nation should elect him by a landslide
because it is that particular type most needed in the present situation
to insure us the speediest return to tranquil, progressive prosperity.
No matter what type of executive Governor Cox may be he is
bound by the democratic platform to stand for the execution of var
ioms policies Of the Wilson administration. at home and in our for
eign relations, which would inevitably involve us in further enormous
extraordinary expenditures in connection with foreign relations and
further increases in the ordinary expenditures in carrying ont these
policies mt home. There is no such word as economy in the financial
policy of the Wilson administration; IL, indeed, that administration
can be said ever 10 have had a financial policy.
The Herald has every confidence in the wisdom Of the city hoard