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Show ECONOMY THE WATCHWORD IF ever there was a time in the history of the American Amer-ican people when economy was imperative, that time is the present. Loaded down by the unavoidable un-avoidable expenses of an enterprise the magnitude of the war we passed through, and this augmented by the many costly blunders, and needless extravagances which were saddled upon us, we find the rank and file of the people groaning beneath grievous burdens, ! which instead of growing lighter, seem destined to j increase for some time to come. We are right now ) running the business of the government of these Unit-, Unit-, cd States at a loss of not less than three billions of dollars per year. It seems as if the departments of government have become intoxicated by the extravagances extrav-agances of war time, and appear to believe that the reckless expenditure of large sums of money which characterized our late war experience, can continue indefinitely. That when Europe is in need of anything, any-thing, that need must be met promptly, regardless of conditions at home. During the war, spurred on by a sense of loyalty and the imperative need nay, obligation to win the war and protect our homes, lives and liberties at any cost, it was easy to call every six months for, four, five or six billions of dollars, that the adminis-' tration seems to be unable to comprehend that the' same condition docs not longer maintain, and that it1 is necessary now to run the government on sound eco-, nomic lines and' make the available revenue cover the expenditures. Where are we going to obtain the three billion dollars a year to cover up the deficit that is being, created? Are we going to go on selling government bonds year after year, and squander the money very ! largely on useless boards, bureaus, clerks and at-; lachees, thus adding to the debt we already have of I twenty-six billions of dollars, in the mean time hand-; ing a few hundred thousand dollars over every so! often to relieve conditions in Europe? j And notwithstanding this apparent shortage in receipts, we have a war tax on practically every thing that will stand it, by which millions and millions of dollars more revenue is being raised than was ever known before in this county. And as Uncle Josh tritely says, "We han't got any war; all we got is a war tax." Of course it takes a lot of money to pay interest on our war debt nearly one billion dollars, but that hardly accounts for the deficit of three billion bil-lion dollars a year, in the fare of the special taxes that beset us on every side. What we need is a good, conservative, hard-headed hard-headed business administration of government affairs all the way down the line. We have had enough of air castles and sob stuff. Expenditures must be curtailed. The army of useless government employees employ-ees must return to the farms and raise more cotton, wheat, corn, and other articles of consumption, thus not only aiding in making the goverment and country thrifty, but also in the reduction in the cost of living, which threatens to involve us in civil war if it is permitted to continue. (r) |