Evening star., 1936-05-23
Two for One.


A staggering computation of spending
by the Roosevelt administration has
been made by Representative Bertrand
H. Smell Of New York, Republican leader
OF the House. The figures, Mr.. Smell
says, are taken from tbe books Of the
Treasury Department itself. They show
that up to May lS last the Federal Gov.
ernment, under the administration OF
President Roosevelt, has expended the
colossal sum of S22,54l .245,376. All OF
this money has been put out by the
Government since March 4, 1888. The
computation ranges not for the Gov
ernment's fiscal years, but from March
of each year until March Of the next,
and from March this year up to May I8.
Twenty-Five billions of dollars is twen-
ty-two thousand million dollars. 1t rep
resents q large proportion of the total
wealth of the country, measured in dol
lars and cents. To expend such . sum
in three years and two months is some
The expenditure of this amount of
money becomes a more terrible. a more
terrifying affair when 1t Is understood
that the Government has been spending
more than 50 for 81 Of revenue 1t has
taken In.
This spending Is on the increase, not
hn al
States Treasury continue to put out 81
for every dollar 1t takes in? How long
can any business, or any individual.
maintain such a pace and continue
to exist? For three years this has been
going on-not for q brief space of time.
And there seems no present sign of any
let-up In this spending; no sign that
there is to be an end, or that there is
to be q real effort to bring expenditures
down to the amount Of revenues or of
any effort to bring revenues up to the
total of expenditures.
The administration Is In hot spot.
It is unwilling, II not afraid, to cut
expenditures now. 1t is equally unwill-
ing and probably very much afraid to
impose the added taxes which would be
required to bring the revenues even with
expenditures If they are not cut. 1t is
about to 60 into a national election.
What is 1t going to do after the election
IL it be successful in retaining control
of the Government? If its future is to
be judged by its past performance the
spending will continue, its experiments
will continue and the American people
will finally have to pay terrible bill.
The policy of reckless spending, now
charged against the Roosevelt adminis-
tration, is to become one of the major
issues of the coming political campaign.
It is a financial policy that leads to
ruin. The American people must deter
mine whether they wish 1t continued.
Relief expenditures necessarily must be
But they should be main-
tanned without waste. Billions OF doll
lars expended by the Government have
not gone for relief. They have gone
for new hundreds of thousands OF Gov
ernment employees, for the bureaucrats.
and they have been expended to put
into effect not recovery measures, but
reforms, so-called, patterned by the
brain trust.
Mr.. Smell shows in his computation
that the accumulated deficit since March
4, 1888, up to May Is, 1896, is $ll ,306,-
881. .158. That is the excess Of expendi-
lures over receipts for the entire period.
The figures given by Mr.. Smell do not
include Federal loans of Government
money; they show only the cash ex-
penditures from the Treasury and the
cash received by the Treasury.
The Republicans may well ask the
Roosevelt New Dealers what they pro-
pose to do about this financial situation
into which they have thrust the country.
When the President was running Tor
office in 1882 he denounced Federal ex-
travagance and promised cut IN Fed
eral expenditures by Is per cent. whaS
will he promise during the coming
A government, business or an moi
vidual that takes in 50 for every 81 IL
puts out is on Easy Street. No govern
ment Of course, should ever take IN
two dollars for every one it is required
to expend for the people. But the gov
ernment business or individual whicn
expends 50 for every 81 of revenue Is
toward the brink.