| Show U. U S. S Books Balance for 1 I The First Time in 17 Years Every ery thoughtful American mus mu must have welcomed the fact th that t June une 30 marked the close of the first federal fiscal year since 1930 In which the governments government's books balanced d and there was wasa a surplus available for payment on the public debt Seventeen years is s a long time for an individual a family a a. city or a nation to operate in the red As a matter of fact probably no other unit of society could go on all operating in the red that long without being hopel hopelessly bankrupt unable to obtain credit and re rea reaching Chinga bing a state of complete economic collapse Even national governments have their limitations limitations' when it comes to the continued use of red ed ink on their ledgers Finally there is loss of public faith in the f financial Integrity ity of the government gov gov- a emm nt a flight from cu currency ency inflation and economic collapse We have seen seen that happen in other some countries of them pretty strong countries It wouldn't happen easily in America but it could That's one reason why this balancing of the federal books must be welcomed Another is that the only sound and sensible way to operate any government is with a balanced budget Its It's s 's cas easy to go into debt rather than pay as you go But Bu even if such a a. policy of operating operating operating oper oper- in the red can be carried on for many for many years without financial financial financial finan finan- cial c collapse it still isn't a sound policy y In the first place It saddles zaddIe the n nation tion with a heavy load of Interest t. t Our interest payments on the present national d debt bt mount amount nt to more than we ever spent in any peacetime year prior I to 1934 for all federal expenditures In the second place it is obvious that no nation can go on Indefinitely living on credit Eventually debts must either be paid off or repudiated If the debt is repudiated a lot Jot of or people will be robbed just as much as asIf If thieves had picked their pockets and furthermore there will be bean bean bean an accompanying fin financial and e economic collapse which will cause widespread suffering If the th-e debt is paid off off- at s some me future date then future generations will be paying through excessive taxes taxes' for what we have spent We finished th this s last fiscal year with a surplus of three three- e- e quarters quartel of a billion dollars That seems a drop in the buc bucket et etIn In comparison with our debt of approximately but at at least its it's a start on paying off that a and d' d next y year ar there is every reason to believe we will have a large enough surplus surplus sur sur- plus to to pay payoff off considerably more than a billion on the debt I T The e important thing is to make the start start to to get the government government govern govern- ment in the black as it now is to th establish and religiously continue continue continue con con- op operating rating under a balanced budget budge to hold down federal feder l expenditures j to have a sufficient surplus to whittle down the debt We Weare are now at the point of doing all those things w We are on the right track Now lets let's keep on that track There every is is every reason to believe that we can d do it it and still give th the American people the tax relief which they so 80 greatly atly need if jr we continue present preBen efforts to eliminate wasteful government expenditures and reduce duc excessive governmental go employment to the point where maximum economy and maximum efficiency is achieved |
