Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-23

to find behind him the united support
Of the business interests OF the country.
Nevertheless he persisted and with the
tax rates this year the United States
will have returned almost to what might
be termed q normal basis when other
nations that participated In the World
War are still groaning under extraordi-
narily heavy burdens from which they
may not escape for years.
AS chairman Of the commission which
negotiated the foreign debt settlements
Mr.. Mellon had much TO do with the
policy which aimed to provide for such
settlements upon basis satisfactory to
the people of the United States and &C
ceptable to those of the debtor nations.
It was no easy task In some instances
to effect settlement, but today the
amount funded by our borrowers
amounts to about $1l,579, 100000. Dur
ing the fiscal year which ended June 80,
1929, the Treasury received from various
debtor governments the sum of $780,
100000, of which $39,000,000 was for ac-
count of principal and $3.50, 00o. 900 for
interest.
Protects Public Credit.
Mr.. Mellon Is no advocate of sudden
changes in government. He recognizes
that the Nation has become great be-
cause of the initiative Of its people, their
freedom from precedent in the conduct
of their business. But in government he
does not believes in the introduction of
sudden innovations, although he recog-
nizeS that the structure Of governmental
machinery may. be improved.
In Fundamental policies, however, par
ticularly in financial policies, there are
to be found certain guiding principles,
which he says have assumed the force of
tradition. There are not many Of those
policies. The first is keeping the expend-
lures within the revenues; the second,
the payment of the public debt; the
third, the levy Of the lowest taxes con-
SiStent with government requirements.
Another is the support of public credit
so that the financial soundness of gov
eminent may not be questioned or
doubted in times of stress.
The great forward step, in Mr.. Mel
Ions opinion, toward assuring that ex-
penditures be- made to At revenues was
taken when Mr.. Harding succeeded in
getting Congress to pass the law pro-
viding for q Budget Bureau so that
now instead of having each depart
ment scramble to obtain appronrfa-
tons without regard to any other de-
partment the entire field is looked over
and the revenues to be expected kept
continually in view so that all depart
ments may be treated justly.
Debts Promptly Paid.
No part Of the American financial
policy, the Secretary points out, has
been more consistently adhered to than
that OF prompt payment of the public
debt. After the Revolution, when the
debt was $60,000,000 and the interest
charge 100000 and constituted a
grave problem, the new Government set
about to settle that debt After the
Civil War and the World War no other
course was dreamed Of.
Mr.. Mellon has perhaps been criti-
cized oftener In connection with large
refunds Of taxes than for anything else.
But, according to the Treasury Depart
ment figures, since 1917 the Internal
Revenue Bureau has collected almost
$39, 000, 000,0 and has assessed over
$4,000, 600, 900 in back taxes. During
that time 1t has refunded less than ST.
000, 900, 900 or about az per cent of the
amount collected, although there have
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