Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1936-06-18

%$S~UT~110lit
ment Then came the nublic rel;os
programs for which larger sums-to
be exact, $3,50OOOOOOO in one year and
$4'ooO,OOO,OOO in another year-were
appropriated and spent. Thus. we see
In the last three years that the debt
OF the nation has grown from approx-
imately $21 ,OO0,O00,0OO to approximate
ly $3200OOO0OO0, and each persons
snare, as stated previously, is about
$245.
Now, the figures here set out tell
much more Of story than Just that
mu, an enormous and in
eH tne comprehensive num-
Story Der Of dollars have
been spent, millions
OF them needlessly. They tell more of
story, indeed, than just the fact that
within another year there will have
been Approximately $3,OOO,OOO,OOO more
expended and that the debt then will
have been increased something like
$l3,OOO'OO0,000 since the Roosevelt cam
paign of spending began.
To understand the situation in which
the United States government and,
therefore, the people, find themselves,
1t might be better to picture what
would happen to an individual in the
same circumstance. Hundreds of thou
sands OF individuals are in debt but
nearly all of them seriously try to
avoid getting in debt beyond their
capacity to pay off their obligations.
If sickness or poor crops or poor bust
ness or any one of many other afflic-
lions overtake that individual, even
though his personal debts might be
iquidated under normal conditions, he
is-well, he just sinks.
Our government differs from that in
dividual only in the fact that its citizens
regard the governments credit as
virtually limitless. 1t can continue to
borrow and people will accept govern
ment bonds in exchange for their
money for quite a while. But let us
attempt to visualize In our minds eve
what would happen should our govern
ment be called upon to meet some ex-
traordinary conditions that would be
comparable to the loss Of a Job by the
individual who is in debt.
Just how would our government
meet the requirements Of another war,
for example? Just how would it be
able to care for the destitute and the
jobless, for another example, If our
economic conditions would go into an
other tailspin and we would find our
selves in another depression? The an
swer seems fairly obvious.
So, I cannot help asking which is
the wiser policy-to prepare for future
emergencies or to indulge in reckless
spending with no thought beyond the
present?
It seems to me that the Roosevelt
administration has followed the latter
course on the opti-
100 mistic base, entirely
Optimistic too optimistic it ap-
pears sand hasplunged
this country too deeply into debt.
do not mean to imply that govern
ment securities are not good any
longer. Far from it. / maintain that
as long as our money is any good, our
governments bonds are good. Yet,
it must be apparent to every thinking
person that we cannot continue to
spend at the rate that marks the last
three years.
prefer, as against the present
spending policies, the policies of Pres
ident Andrew Jackson, who fought al
ways against excessive costs of gov
eminent; who demanded consistently
that the expense of government be
raised regularly for each years pay
ments and that there be little extra
put away for the proverbial rainy day
when the government was called upon
for emergency payments. The policies
Of Andrew Jackson were so effective
that during his administration In 1887.
the public debt was wiped out and
there was actually cash in the treasury
besides.
Supporters Of the present spending
policies will say, of course, that the
public debt of those days was in no
way comparable to that Of 1886. That
Is true but neither were the resources
of the United States in those days
comparable to the resources and the
wealth producing capacity of the pres
ent-day United States. Likewise, the
population of the United States In An
drew Jackson's term in the White
House was only mere handful COM
pared to the nearly 13000OO00 of 1885.
So, answering the inquiry as to what
the public debt means to the individual
citizen, the answer must be a relation
of the fact that his family's share as
we start new fiscal year in the gov
eminent approximates $1,000. 1t means,