Evening star., 1945-01-10
Another War BUDGET

The budget for the fiscal year 1946
has been submitted to Congress at
time when there is little disposition
to count the cost of this war in terms
of dollars.
When the casualty figures for De-
cember are made public they will
show that month to have been the
most costly of the war in terms of
men killed, wounded and missing. 1t
is those figures, and not the budget
estimates, which will be uppermost
in every ones mind. Nevertheless,
despite the relative insignificance of
dollar costs when sons, fathers and
brothers are paying with their lives
for each painful yard of progress to-
ward the ultimate victory, the 1946
budget and its meaning for the fu-
ture of the United States cannot
safely be brushed aside as inconse-
quential.
The President estimated that total
expenditures in the fiscal year 1916
would be $S3, ,1O3 ,OOO,O 900. OF this an es-
timated $4,000 900 ,OOO-it may vary
ten billion up or down-will 20 for
the prosecution of the war. The to-
tai figure is approximately $17,OOO,-
100000 under the outlays for the
current fiscal year, and it indicates
expenditures for what might be
called nonwar purposes aggregating
$l3, ,103, 100000. OF this sum, "ordi-
nary Government expenses will
take 1926 100000 reduction of
$36,000,000. The President SAYS that
this is the "rock bottom" figure and
that probably is correct. Two sig
nificant items listed outside the cor
dlnary" expenses are S4,5OO,OOO 900
for interest on the national debt and
$2623 100000 for veterans benefits.
The estimate for debt interest will be
larger in the future, but it is alreadv
higher than total Government ex-
penditures in the year prior to Mr..
Roosevelt's first election. The esti-
mate for veterans benefits is more
than twice as much as the expendi-
lures during the current fiscal year,
but it is a foregone conclusion that
these outlays will be much heavier
in the future.
All OF these estimates should be
considered in the light of a public
debt which, according to the Presi-
dent, will stand at 1922 300, 900 900 bv
June 80, 1916. That represents an
estimated increase during the fiscal
year OF about $42 900, 100000 It must
be supposed, however, that it will 90
still higher before the war ends.
1t is the ultimate size of this debt
which should give us the greatest
concern, and which makes so i'm
peratlve the continued stabilization
OF prices, the retention of high taxes.
the avoidance of waste and the Gre
alton of vigorous national economy
which will enable the Government.
after the war, to live within it's in
come.
Noting that. the management of
the public debt is bound to have a
profound influence on the economy
for long time to come, Mr.. Roose
velt said that "the mistakes in debt
management and tax policy after the
last war should not be repeated" He
did not specify what these mistakes
were, but presumably they were akin
to the things he discussed in his
1882 campaign when he warned that
TOO often in recent history liberal
governments have been wrecked on
the rocks of loose fiscal policy" At
the end Of the last war the public
debt stood at s242 per capita, and it
Will be approximately ten times as
much per capita when this war ends
That being the case, we must hope
that the warnings against loose
spending, which Mr.. Roosevelt was
sounding in 1882, will not be forgot
ten when we begin to wrestle once
again with peacetime problems.