Evening star., 1935-10-06
More Abundant Spending.

The Roosevelt spending program and
the fiscal policies of the present admin
istration were passed in review BY former
President Herbert Hoover last night, as
he addressed the young Republicans of
eleven Western States. Mr.. Hoover called
it this policy of deliberate spending of
public money" and in this gigantic
spending and a continued unbalanced
budget he found the most subtle and
one of the most powerful dangers which
has been set in motion by this admin
3stration."
The picture is not pleasant. The cold
hard figures with the threat of what is
to follow in their wake are enough to
give the American people an ague. Sup
pose that Franklin D. Roosevelt, when
candidate for President in 1882, had
taken the stump and said to the Ameri-
can people: Il promise to increase Gov
ernment expenditures by s14,O00000,000
in the four years of my administration
and to raise the public debt to $35,000,-
OOO,00O promise to increase the number
of civil employees of the Government by
$4,000: I promise to create five thousand
paid committees and commissions;
promise to abandon the gold standard
and to devalue the dollar by Al per cent;
I promise to repudiate Government obli-
cations" What would have been the
effect of such a campaign? Mr.. Hoover
contended that the disclosure at that
time of what the Roosevelt adminiStra-
ton has actually done since it came into
power would have cost the Democrats
millions of votes.
Although these complishmentS OF
the Roosevelt administration were not
forecast by the President in his cam
paign speeches of 1882, they are known
to the American people now. They have
an opportunity to pass upon them in the
election of 1896. And yet there is always
the possibility that the huge bureaucracy
built up Under this program of spending
other peoples money and the hand-out
of public funds to millions Of voters in
all kinds of relief" and New Deal,
expenditures may make bulwark be-
hind which the Roosevelt administra-
ton may win to victory again.
A thorough understanding of the
dangers arising from the fiscal policy
of the Roosevelt New Dealers, Mr..
Hoover insisted, should arouse the peo-
pie. He pointed out that the total taxes
on Americans today, Federal, State and
local, are the highest of any great coun-.
try, except the British, even in propor-
ton to the national income. But while
the British have a balanced budget, the
United States is sinking deeper and
deeper into the morass of debt and
taxation. Pertinently Mr.. Hoover asks
who will pay these taxes. His answer Is
illuminating The rich have already
been soaked" under the Roosevelt
"share- the wealth" tax law Of 1885. From
that law, however, only about $500 1000, 900
added revenue is expected. This still
leaves an annual deficit of some $780,
100000. Who is to meet that deficit?
The answer is, of course, the So-caIled
economic middle class and the poor"
The poor will pay in hidden, indirect
taxes, in everything they buy, and the
middle classes will pay in indirect taxes
and in more and more direct taxes, Mr..
Hoover predicts.
And if the Roosevelt administration
continues to dodge taxation there re-
main the two other routes of liquidating
these debts and balancing the Govern
ment budget, reputation and imitation.
And imitation, Mr.. Hoover says, is more
dangerous to a people than war-as
demonstrated in the history of other
nations
The presumed purpose Of the gigantic
spending of Government funds is re-
covery, in addition to relief. Mr.. Hoover
measures recovery in terms of employ
ment, and shows that in october, 1882,
prior to the Roosevelt election, there were
I1,585,OO0 persons out of work and today
the estimate is 100000. The picture
is not pleasant. What is to happen
when the money runs out?
AS the first step in constructive pro-
gram, Mr.. Hoover proposed a sound
fiscal policy. Why not? Or is the more
abundant spending requisite OF "the
more abundant life"?