Evening star., 1943-08-01
The Cost of War

The cost Of the war, in dollars and
cents, with its staggering totals, is
the high light Of President Roose-
velt's summation of the budget for
the fiscal year 1914, which began
July l and ends June 80, 1914. The
goal is hundred billion dollar ex-
penditure, a figure so fantastic that
it may fail to impinge upon the con-
| sciouSneSs of the man in the street,
| Or anybody else for that matter.
In his original and supplementary
budget estimates, transmitted to
Congress, the President recon-
mended total appropriation Of
S108, ,156,593, ,899. More than 100 bill
lion dollars was for war activities;
S2,700 100000 was for interest on the
public debt and $4,745 900 900 for the
other activities of. government, the
so-called civil functions. Congress
! has appropriated, up to date, about
105 billion dollars. 1t Topped some
three billion off the estimates for war
activities, but added two billion in
contract authorizations The net
result was a reduction Of a billion.
In view of the grand total, this reduc-
ton is almost infiniteSimal Emer-
gency war agencies, however, were
cut 387 million.
No reduction was made for the
payment of interest on the debt and
the reduction in the appropriations
for the civil functions of Government
was approximately 116 million. Here
it may be mentioned, however, that
this appropria ton is about billion
less than it was for the fiscal year
1912, rejecting the drive to cut the
nonwar expenditures of Government
to the bone.
The overall picture as presented
by the President showed that the to-
tai war program, measured by appro-
priations, contract authorizations
and Government corporation COM
mitmentS, voted since July, 1910,
amounts to $3.50 billion. OF this total,
$232 billion was appropriated for the
three-year period ending June 80,
1943. While $212 billion of the latter
figure has been obligated, only S1l0
billion had actually been expended
up to June 30
1t is this great spread between ap-
propriations and obligations, on the
one hand, and between obligations
and cash expenditures on the other,
that has caused a demand IN Con-
gress for a halt on further huge
appropriation bills, such as were put
through in the first half of this year.
Tremendous unexpended balances,
in the opinion of congressional
critics, lead inevitably to extrava-
gance and waste. The other side Of
the picture is painted by the Presi-
dent, who calls attention to the need
of placing war contracts and plan.
ming production many months ahead
of delivery and payment.
The Government collected % bill
lion dollars in the fiscal year ending
June 80, nearly all from taxation. 1t
is estimated that during the present
fiscal year the receipts will reach 38
billion, due to increased taxes and
to the new Current Tax Payment Act.
The President recommends that still
sitter taxes be imposed, in order to
cut more deeply into the war expen-
ditures and to prevent inflationary
movements.
It is obvious that the Government
must continue to borrow many bill
lions of dollars in order to finance
the war effort and itself. The public
debt, excluding obligations Of Gov
eminent corporations, amounted to
1877 billion dollars on June 80. 1t is
estimated the debt will increase an
other SO billion during the present
fiscal year, unless additional tax
legislation is enacted and the reve-
nues are increased thereby. If no
such action is taken. then the public
debt on June 80, 1914, will reach
206 billion
The impact on American economy
of governmental spending of approx
imately 100 billion dollars year-the
figure which the President hopes to
reach-iS enormous. 1t places a
huge sum of money in the hands of
business and of individuals. The
Government is directly or indirectly
employing more than one-half of the
total labor force of the country,
either in military service or in war
production At the same time there
has been drastic reduction in the
goods and services which the civil
population may purchase. AS the
President points out, the cost of liv-
ing cannot be stabilized unless price
and wage controls are supported by
a substantial absorption Of purchas-
ing poWer-and that absorption
must come through heavier taxes or
forced savings or both.