The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1935-07-18

in the World war
FubtIc De6t our government
Mounts had national
debt which was
regarded as large at that time. 1t
was only 81 200 900. 900, but that was
sufficient in those days to cause con-
Germ.
On the first Of July, 1895, the trea-
sury started q new set Of books.
This represented the beginning of
a new financial year for the govern
ment. One of the items 1t had to
enter on those books was public
debt Of about $2S,S00,OO0,000. We
Of today think that is huge debt
and when 1t Is compared with the
outstanding obligations Of the fed
eral government score of years
ago its magnitude seems titanic.
When the treasury closed the fis-
cal year books on June 80 and count
ed the cost of the preceding IL
months of government 1t was found
that there had been expended rough
ly $7,300,0OO, In the same pc
riod It had collected through income
and other forms of taxes, including
duties laid at the customs houses,
a total of approximately $500, 00O,-
0O0 This means that in the last II
months the government operated
with deficit of something over 3d.
500, 100000. In other words, its op-
Grating costs were virtually double
the amount Of revenue it received.
This deficit together with the deficit
that was created during the earlier
months of the Roosevelt administra-
ton added something like $780,
100000 to the national debt. Presi-
dent Hoover while in Office added
about $4,000, 100000 to the national
debt through deficits in the last two
years of his administration. So
there are two outstanding phases in
the financial affairs of the federal
government as it starts the fiscal
year Of 1896, which began July 1.
There is bred these questions:
How long can the federal govern
ment continue to spend money like
water and thus increase It's public
debt, and how long will the Ameri-
can people continue to permit ex-
penditures by their government in
excess Of the revenues 1t collects?
They are related questions. Meth
er can happen without the other.
But 1t seems to me that the time
has come for taxpayers and voters
generally to take note Of the condi-
ton Of the governments finances.
Mr.. Roosevelt justifies these heavy
OUTLAWS under the necessities of an
emergency. He contends that when
prosperity returns and business is
normal, citizens will pay their taxes
without complaint and that these
taxes will be sufficiently large in
their total production to whittle
down the gigantic outstanding debt.
Hence there Is at this moment an
urgent need for examination of the
whole tax structure. This is neces-
sary to maintain the credit of the
United States. If people doubt or
lose faith In government bonds, the
credit Of the government can be said
to be impaired. No nation of self
respecting people desires that thing
to happen. It has long been recog-
nfzed truism that II United States
government bond was not worth its
face value, the money we have and
the rights we exercise as citizens
likewise become impaired In value
and benefit.
Careful analysis of government
finances in the last II months shows
that federal rev.
Finances enues were suffi-
Analyzed cient to cover
what Mr.. Roose-
welt characterizes as ordinary gov
eminent costs. He means by that
the expenses of the regular estab-
lishments Of government and ex-
cludes all Of the so-called emer-
gency agencies. of which there are
now some sixty-odd. This condition
reveals that federal taxes are about
the only item in governmental af-
fairs or In private business that
have completely recovered from de-
preston effects. Recovery has been
sufficient to make the total revenues
virtually the same as those received
under the Hoover administration in
the fiscal year of 1929-1930. It shows
also that Mr.. Roosevelt has not re-
duced the cost Of ordinary running
expenses of the government as he
had planned when he became Presi-
dent.
I mentioned earlier a comparison
Of the public debt now and in 1916.
Let US take another date, namely,
1919. At that time the outstanding
debt was $26, 100000. The an
| nual interest charge on that debt
was Just short Of one billion dollars.
Today with a much larger outstand-
ing debt, the annual interest charge
amounts to only ss2O,0O0.0O0 per
year. +. ,.. ., Il =.
This seems almost paradoxical but
the answer lies in the interest rate
the government is paying. In 1921
the average rate Of interest calcu-