Evening star., 1938-07-18

high, because the taxes do not flow
in as heavily at this season of the
year as in others, so, if we take an
average for the whole year and count
in the receipts as officially estimated
by the President himself, we get for
the present year a current deficit OF
$466,311 per hour.
It is much more accurate, there
fore, to say the administration is
rolling up deficit of nearly a half
million dollars every hour, and if you
prefer your statistics in minutes. then
the rate is s7,77186 per minute.
Roosevelt Topping Records.
Again making comparisons with
previous years, it will be seen that
Mr.. Roosevelt is topping all his pre-
vious records Thus, he was running
deficit of only S5,34S every minute
during the fiscal year 1887, but, for
the first II days of this July, he has
been attaining deficit momentum
of Sl5,574 per minute, which will be
slowed down to the S7771 per minute
later on but still way above last year.
Some times, in these modern days
Of mathematical precision, people like
to figure things out by the day. Well,
the expenditures for the first II days
Of July were running at the rate of
S32,856,264 per day. The deficits are
running at the rate of $22, ,427 $40
per day.
The new Tories hereabouts have
put out "feelers" to see what public
opinion would say to their "expla-
naion" of the s375oo, 100000 Federal
debt thus far. They really should
be explaining" the $40,000,000,O00
debt, because that's the latest esti-
mate made by the President himself
in round figures as to where the
debt will be next July.
But, any way, the new Tories
say that, out of the 37,500000, 900
debt, we must eliminate $4,000, 10000
, of war debts representing the war
time expenditures of the Wilson ad-
ministration. This will be conceded,
though, if one is going back to war
days, one ought at least in fairness
point out that the Republican ad-
ministrations were confronted with
office, and, applying policies Of prud-
ence and economy, managed to cut the
debt down to Sic, ,000,000,000 by 1880.
War Debt Ignored.
But the $4,000, 900 900 of war debt
can properly be eliminated from the
S37, 500, 100000, and this leaves about
s21, 100000. .000 Now, at this point
comes an error in the new Tory calcu-
lations. They start out by saying
$4,000, 100000 can be Topped off as
Hoover deficits. But the money bor-
rowed from the Government by the
American people in the Hoover years
has practically all been paid back since
1888 and has been spent second
time by the Roosevelt regime. So it is
not fair to call the Hoover loans a
. part of the debt when the money has
actually been returned to the Treas
ury, indeed, almost 80 per cent by
the banks, railroads, insurance COM
panies, etc, who got it from the
R. F. c. The Hoover deficits, it will
be recalled, were virtually all in the |
form of loans to private Institutions |
But, assuming that about $50000O,- |
600 represented losses or subsidies not |
repayed from Hoover years, the de-
duction from the S21 500, 1000 900 |
brings us to about S21 900, 100000 as
the public debt for which President |
Roosevelt is responsible. The new
Tories say that $4,000, 100000 of this
arose out of the Soldiers Bonus law,
which Mr.. Roosevelt vetoed and which |
was passed over his veto. It is fair,
therefore. to deduct this, which leaves
us $4,000, 100000, but, when we at
tempt any further deductions along |
the lines suggested by the new Tories,
we do not travel on such certain |
ground.
Thus. it is argued that $4,000
900 represents recoverable assets
How much of this will be lost is hard |
to tell, but. on the other hand, there
are more than s4,o00,oOo,OO0 of con- |