Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1941-02-06
Observations
BY CONG. HAROLD KNUTsoN
Government Finances.

In view of the fact that Congress
is devoting itself these days almost
exclusively to the consideration OF
appropriation bills, and tax measures
to raise the huge sums required to
meet such appropriations, it may be
of interest to my readers to get pic
ture of the present financial condi-
ton of the federal government, hence
I will devote the major portion of
this letter to that subject.
On Wednesday of last week Secre-
tary of the Treasury Morgenthau ap-
peared before the Ways and Means
committee and urged that the debt
limit of the federal government be
increased from $4,000 millions to 65,-
900 million dollars, stating that if
this were not done the treasury would
be unable to meet its obligations by
May.
My readers will recall that Con-
gress last summer increased the debt
limit from $4,000 million dollars to
5000 million dollars. If the latest
request of the treasury department
is acceded to, as it must, it will mean
that the national debt limit has been
increased by 10000 million dollars
within the past IL months. When
the bill to raise the limit was in COM
mittee / offered an amendment to
fix the limit at 10000 million dollars,
which would have carried the gov
eminent through the fiscal year 1912,
but the proposal was voted down by
a strict party vote. The Republican
members of the Ways and Means
committee took the position that
Congress will probably be in con-
tinuous session for the next two years
and should it be necessary to in
crease the debt limit beyond Co.
900 million dollars, it could be done
if and when the need arose.
One-Th National Wealth.
In response to committee questions,
Mr.. Morgenthau stated that the fl
nancial condition of the government
was giving him many sleepless nights.
We assured him that he had lots of
company. All who have been OBJ
serving government expenditures in
creasing by leaps and bounds share
his alarm. 1t is freely predicted by
treasury officials and others that be-
fore we get through with the pres
ent defense program the national debt
will be in excess of 10000 million
dollars, which is about one-third of
our total national wealth. Add to
that staggering sum the debts of the
states and political subdivisions there
of and we have a mighty gloomy
picture. The tragedy of the whole
thing is that the major part of the
burden will fall on unborn genera
tions. 1t is extremely doubtful if we
will ever again have debt-free ma
ton unless, of course, some future
administration should resort to de-
liberate initiation and reputation.
The following table will give my
readers an idea of how the public
debt has increased the past IL years
and this, notwithstanding the fact
that the net revenues have increased
from $3.50 million dollars in 1881
to an estimated income of 8,275 mil
lion dollars in 1912. During the
same period the annual expenditures
of the federal government increased
from 1862 million dollars to 17,485
million dollars, and assuming that
the budget estimates of expenditures
for 1941-42 are correct, the federal
government will have spent in that
period the gigantic sum of 97,546
million dollars. These are figures that
can hardly be grasped by astrono-
mers who compute mileage between
the various heavenly bodies. The
table follows:
Year