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Show Would Take Roof Off NO sooner had President Roosevelt told congress con-gress that if everything should go well under the proposed nine billion dollar budget and the l national income swell to a new high of $80,000,-000.000 $80,000,-000.000 a mere Jump of 120.000,000,000 than tiimbla minds in Washington began Imagining they avere hip-deep in this imaginary money. So, i wduld be expected, they started laying plans i to borrow, borrow, borrow, mora and more, and yet more. There they ran tip against a small obstacle in ' tha form of a debt limitation statute. It aeemi j that congress had the good sense in the hectic war i year of 1917 to declare that the national debt thould not go bevond $4.1,000,000.000. At that time the body politic had a good laugh. As if this country could ever get in that deep, citi- . tens chuckled. What they didn't know! But J nobody had ever heard tell of that much money j and so there was general consent that the boys In Washington ought to be permitted to have their fun. Presidential anticipation is that the national debt will stand at $44,300,000,000 at the end of the 1940 fiscal year, meaning that when that time arrives w will be within half a billion of tha limit aet by wise and provident congress when the world was aflame with the war in Europe. Claustrophobia seems to have seized tha president presi-dent and hia congressional aids as they looked tip at that $4S,000,000,000 ceiling. Realizing that there would be only half a billion dollars to go right in the middle of a presidentisl election J. year and what's half billion in a preslden-' preslden-' ' tial year? Washington dispatches yesterday re-( re-( ported that the quarterback and his team were already in huddle working out a play to hur-; hur-; die tha statutory obstacle right away and make It a first down in 1940. - In a few aimpl words, they want to take tha roof off and raise the debt ceiling to $80,000,000,-' $80,000,000,-' 000! After that it would be perfectly legal to take tha country lo the pawnbrokers and borrow 5 133.000,000.000 mora almoat double the highest national debt in the republic's whole history. It la a proposal to follow tha pattern aet by the "robber baron i which aent tha country's railroads rail-roads into their present plight. The who) idea la so fantastic that it la almoat al-moat impossible to tak it seriously. But the news from tha capital is that Secretary of tha Treasury Morgenthau haa been told to put tha proposal before tha house ways and means committee com-mittee and press for action. It la not only fantastic, but it is wholly incon-alitent incon-alitent with tha plea in Justification made before Ihe congress when the president trffered his budget message. He told the aolons that If tha proposed spending raised the national income to 1807000,000,000 a year, without material increase In tax rates, budget-balancing revenues would goon b rolling in. That promised debt shrink-1 shrink-1 age, not need for still greater deficit financing. |