Show 0 z national topics interpreted by william bruckart national press building Bui laing wahington D C washington I 1 have received a letter from a reader in my home state of Misso missouri url propound our ins ing a very timely in public debt qa concerning the public debt of the united states it Is timely for more than one reason the united states government operates on a fiscal year running froin july I 1 to the next june SO 30 and we vie are therefore just about to close another fiscal icar A second reason why this inquiry Is timely relates to the size of oc the alie present public debt almost our public debt lias has surged higher than normal during two periods of 0 the lie last twenty years and ibe the course of the debt therefore Is one with which most mature persons are more or loss less familiar but it ft remains as a fact that while most people are informed concerning the total of the national debt they have not had opportunity to learn exactly what it means to tile the individual treasury transactions as a whole are rather difficult to understand and since the sums in which government figures now run are so huge the general attitude of individuals Is to let the thing pass as a matter for expert attention it ought not to be so the public debt Is a matter ot of direct concern to every one of us and that Is a further reason why the inquiry mentioned above Ls Is important I 1 have often Nion wondered dered whether individuals vi Ti in considering whatever obligations they have in the form of debt take into account the fact that the public debt actually Is a commitment against you and me and everyone else persons who have not so thought of the public debt probably will be shocked to learn that in addition to their obligations that have been contracted personally there Is something like which although an infinitesimal portion of the public debt constitutes actually an individual obligation therefore when any person looks at that vague and shadowy term the public debt in this light they cannot help but realize that it has a very real and personal meaning to the individual that enormous sum of nearly must be paid oft off as any other debt and the government must collect it from everyone who lives in this country again the public debt may seem a thing thin far teamed but it Is brought home directly to each of us through the taxes we pay nod and in more ways than most of us care to admit we are contributing that tax so when the government contracts a debt and arranges to pay day it off the only way collection Is possible for the extraordinary amount Is by increasing the share of government expenses which each of us bears meaning of course an increase in our tax a a in the public debt was only MT in that year each peri sons share was only some with the ad history hief ory vent tent ot of the civil war the government needed funds and began borro borrowing additional amounts until in ISCO the debt reached what in those days was a high figure at that time each persons share was good administration and sound financial policies followed and the debt was reduced paid off until during the early the debt was reduced until each persons share was something less than 17 14 continual bidual retrenchment was carried on until the world war var interrupted the program and fresh borrowings were necessary for prosecution of that great conflict the borrowing of the war days carried our public debt to a new high point of on august 19 10 1919 the debt because it was a new pe peak ak looked insurmountable and it was dangerously high but through the administrations of presidents II 11 arding and coolidge the job of pacing oil off the debt was seriously attacked and this program eventually resulted in reduction of the debt to about during the administration of president hoover it was from this low point that the present debt burden has mounted and continues to climb the depression reduced government income from taxes and left the treasury with a deficit in two years of the hoover regime tile result of those deficits was to increase the public debt because money had to be borrowed to pay current running expenses the borrowing did not appear serious ho however weier either in the last two years of the hoover rid ministration or the first year of the administration of president roosevelt because sir roosevelt had bad pledged the I 1 country during his campaign to economize in every direction it was his promise that lie he would curtail expenditures by one fourth and therefore make the outgo and income of the government approximately the same instead of that course mr roosevelt initiated the present program of expenditures tures in huge amounts the first plan called for the use of vast sums for expenditure by the government in the belief that the lie paying out of public money would revive industry and that industry once on its feet would again yield profit and that profit would in turn produce taxes for the governa M 1 t went ment then came the public relief programs for which larger sums to be exact in one loar ear and in another year were appropriated and spent thus we see in the last three years rears that the de debt bt ot of the nation has grown from approximately to approximately and each persons stare share as stated previously Is about a a a now tile the figures litre here set out tell much more of a story than just that an enormous and in tell the comprehensible num story her bet ot of dollars have been spent millions of them needlessly they tell more of a story indeed than just the fact that within another year there will have boon been approximately more expended and that the debt then will have been increased something like since the roosevelt campaign of spending began to understand the situation in which tile the united states government and therefore the people find themselves it might be better to cletu picture re what would happen to an individual in the same circumstance hundreds of thousands of individuals art are in debt but nearly all of them seriously try to avoid getting in debt beyond their capacity to pay off their obligations it if sickness or poor crops or poor business or any one ot of many other afflictions overtake that individual even though his bis personal debts might he be liquidated under normal conditions he is well he just sinks our government differs from that individual ony only in the fact that its citizens regard the governments credit as virtually limitless it can continue to borrow and people will accept government bonds in exchange for their money for quite a while cut but lot let us attempt to visualize in our minds eye what would happen should our govern ment be called upon to meet some extraordinary tra conditions that would be comparable to the loss of a job by the individual who Is in debt just how would our government meet the requirements of another war for example just how would it be able to care for the destitute and the jobless for another example it if our economic conditions would go into another tailspin and we would find ourselves in another depression the an kiaer seems fairly obvious so I 1 cannot help asking which la Is the wiser policy to prepare for future emergencies or to indulge in reckless spending with no do thought thou glit beyond the present 0 a it seems to me that the roosevelt Koo sevelt administration has fol followed the latter course on the too base entirely optimistic tc too optimistic it ap pearland pe arsand has plunged this country too deeply into debt I 1 do not mean to imply that government securities are not good any longer par far from it I 1 maintain that as long iong as our money Is any good our governments bonds are good yet it must he be apparent to every thinking person that we cannot continue to spend at the rate that mar marks ks the last three years I 1 prefer ns as against the present spending policies the policies of president andrew jackson who fought always against excessive costs of government cru ern ment who demanded consistently that the expense of government be raised regularly for each years payments and that there be a little extra put away for the proverbial rainy day when the government was called upon for emergency payments tile the policies of andrew jackson were so effective that during his administration in 1837 the public debt was wiped out and there was actually cash in tile the treasury besides supporters of the present spending policies will say of course that the public debt of those days was in no way comparable to that of 0 6 that Is true but neither delther were the resources of the united states in those days comparable to the resources and the wealth producing capacity of the pres ent day united states like likewise ise the population of the united states in andrew jacksons term in the white house was only a mere handful compared to the nearly 11 of 1936 so answering the inquiry as to what wha the public debt means to the individual citizen the answer must inn st be a relation j of the fact that his fam ilys share as we start a dew new fiscal year in the gov eminent approximates 1000 it mea means s I 1 further that through one form of tax tat or another that individual is 19 helping to pay the interest of 0 more than 71 every year it means in addition that his government Is in a position for the first time in the lives of most persons now living where it would face extreme were it i called upon to defend our country la in war or meet a fresh emergency like hire that through which we ie have been passing lastly sinae government debts in the united states tire are held to be honorable debts and not to be repudiated none of us can avoid commands I 1 from that government in the future to dl dig deeper end and deeper in the old pocket tor fo r the payment 0 of taxes 0 western value |