Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-08-27
Speech

Il
Continued from Page A-14.)
will suffer the same fate. For a
while there will seem to be no end
to the money which the govern
ment can spend. But in due time
the day of reckoning must come.
Some one, sometime, will have to
pay the bill.
Will o. the Wisp
Financial Policy.
How is it that the Government
has been able to follow such a
will O. the wisp financial policy?
1t is because the public has not
been properly informed.
We have been told that all this
extravaganza will be paid for by
soaking the rich" This is not
possible. The figures of our Treas
ury Department show that if it
confiscated all incomes in excess
of $4,000 a year, it would not be
enough to pay for the cost OF our
Federal Government.
Do not think that we have been
getting something for nothing as
the result of the huge Government
spending of the past three years.
Some of the debt, it is true, has
been shifted to the wealthy but the
major portion of the debt, both the
principal and the interest, is being
charged up against ourselves and
our children. There is no other
group to whom we can shift the
burden and it is burden that
gets heavier and heavier every day
that the present wasteful policies
of the administration are con-
tnued.
The final principle the Govern
ment must follow, is to prepare for
the rainy day. In our own families
we all recognize the Importance of
doing this and We try to build up
individual reserves.
In the case of the Government
the equivalent of these reserves is
the ability to borrow. 1t protects
this ability by keeping its financial
house in the best possible order.
How does it do this? In periods
of good times the Government
pays off its debts, so that if neces-
sary it will be able to borrow
again. 1t keeps its taxes as low as
possible, so that there will be a
reserve of taxpaying ability which
can be called upon to meet emer-
gencies. 1t permits its citizens to
prosper, so that they will not have
to go to the Government for aid
at the first breath of ill-wind.
These are the policies to be fol-
lowed in good times. In bad times
certain changes become necessary.
But a financially responsible ad-
ministration never loses sight Of
the fact that it acts at all times
as a trustee of the people.
1t watches every dollar it spends .
10 be sure that it is used in the
way which will do the most good.
1t borrows no more than is abb
solutely necessary, for it knows
that if we exhaust our borrowing
capacity today, our children will
be helpless should they be called
on to face an emergency.
Common Sense
Principles Neglected.
In my judgment these are the
common-sense principles that our
Federal Government should follow.
Unfortunately they are not the
principles which have been fol-
lowed by the present administra-
ton.
In spite of the repeated assur-
ances about a balanced budget
in October, 1882; after the bank
ing holiday in 1888; in January,
1884; in January, 1885. and in
January, 1936-what has hap
pened?
The administration has contin-
ued to increase expenditures. even
Tor the regular departments, and
carry us deeper and deeper into
debt. The latest assurance volun-
teered only 10 days ago repeats
the old story-"Busines is i'm
proving, revenue increasing. no
new taxes will be necessary to
balance the budget" How can
any one really believe this in the
lace of the record of the present
administration?
{. 1t has piled deficit upon deficit.
1t has increased our public debt
until today the total is equal to
ewo-thirds of the annual income
OF every man, woman and child
In the United States.
It has created an atmosphere of
spendthrift generosity that has
made it impossible for it to restore
economy in Government expendi-
lures.
1t has acted as if it were will
ing to give the whole treasury
away, trying to enrich everybody
BY impoverishing everybody else.
" The time has come to put an
end to these policies. We must
establish system of simple, hon.
est bookkeeping. We must return
10 the principles which we follow
in the handling of our own
finances.
This will give us a government
able to meet every reasonable de-
mand made upon ia govern
ynert fully prepared to assume it's
Increasing financial responsible
ties, a government able to meet
the needs that arise from any
emergency, government that
will leave our children a fair
chance to solve the. problems that
arise in their time.
That is the kind of government
we must have if we are able to get
ria of unemployment by giving our
workers real jobs at good pay.
know that accomplishing all this
Is not a task that can be COM
pleted overnight, and I make no
L..