Show 0 national topics topic interpreted d by william Will iain bruckart national press building washington D C washington back in 1918 1916 before the united states became involved in the world war public debt our government had mounts a national debt which was regarded as a s large at that time it was only 1 but that was sufficient in those days to cause concern on the first of july 1935 the trea sury started a new set of books this represented the beginning of a new financial year for the government one of the items it had to enter on those books was a public debt of about 28 we of today think that Is a huge debt and when it Is corn com pared with the outstanding obligations of the federal government a score of years ago its magnitude seems titanic when the treasury closed the fiscal year books on june 30 and counted the cost of the preceding 12 months of government it was found that there had been expended roughly in the same period it had col lecter through income and other forms of taxes including duties laid at the customs houses a total of 3 this means that in the last 12 months the government operated with noth a deficit of something over 3 OW OW in other words its operating costs were virtually dou ble the amount of revenue it received this deficit together with the deficit that was created during the earlier months of the roosevelt tion added something like WO to the national debt president hoover while in office added about 4 to the national debt through deficits in the last two years of bis his administration so there are two out standing phases in the financial affairs of the federal government as it starts the fiscal year of 1936 which began july julya I 1 there Is bred these questions how long can the federal government con dinue to spend money like water and thus increase its public debt and how long will the american people continue to permit expenditures by their gov eminent in excess of the revenues it collects they are related questions neither can happen without the other but it seems to me that the time has come for taxpayers and voters generally to take note of the condition of the gov eminent s finances mr roose poosevelt veIt justifies these heavy outlays under the necessities of an emergency he contends that when prosperity returns and business Is nor mal citizens will pay their taxes with out complaint and that these taxes will be sufficiently large in their total production to whittle down the gigantic outstanding debt hence there Is at this moment an urgent need for ex amin atlon of the whole tax structure this Is necessary to maintain the credit of the united states it if people doubt or lose faith in government bonds the credit of the government can be said to be impaired no nation of self respecting people desires that thing to happen it has long been a recognized truism that it if a united states government bond was not worth its face value the money we have and the rights we exercise as citizens like wise become impaired in value and benefit F careful analysis of go goi eminent finances in the last 12 months shows that federal revenues finances were sufficient to analyzed cover what mr roosevelt c h a r a c ferizes as ord nary government costs he ile means by that the expenses of the regular establishments of government and excludes all of the ao so called emer gency agencies of which there are arenow now some sixty odd this condition reveals that federal taxes are about the only item in governmental affairs or in private business that have completely recovered from depression effects re covery has been sufficient to make the total revenues virtually the same as those received under the hoover ad ministration in the fiscal year of 1929 1930 it shows also that mr roose reese velt has not reduced the cost of ardi nary running expenses of the govern ment as he had planned when he be came president I 1 mentioned earlier a comparison of the public debt now and in 1918 1916 let us take another date namely 1919 at that time the outstanding out debt was the annual interest charge on that debt was just short ot of one billion dollars today with a much larger out outstanding s ta n d I 1 ng debt the an nual interest charge amounts to only per a ear this seems almost paradoxical but the answer lies iles in the interest rate the government Is paying in 1921 the average rate of interest calculated on all different types of government se curit les outstanding was per cent at the present time it Is less than 3 per cent so credit must be accorded the treasury for its gradual reduction in interest rates ten years ago an effort was made to market securities at gradually lower interest rates it did not succeed fully because private business was demanding capital and private business was paying hier higher arh interest rates in the last fl five ve or six years private business has called for very little money government ties and the law of supply and demand operated to allow the treasury to sell its bonds and notes at much reduced interest on the one hand therefore the roosevelt administration has run up the public debt by about 8 but has succeeded in actually reducing the carrying charge of this great debt structure by more than per year that Is the situation as of today restoration of business activity and the resultant demand for capital may change the market for treasury bonds almost overnight but the pros pacts for such business activity agrenot are not immediate one of the interesting things thing S that often occurs in government affairs Is the explosive effect starts of a single incident something or a single remark by an important of ficiala it is a characteristic of chang ing conditions and it Is a circumstance which causes washington observers to be on their toes continuously be cause they never can tell when such an incident will occur thus it was the other day that representative brewster republican of maine a for mer governor of that state arose in his place in the house of re presenta tives and charged that the roosevelt administration was threatening andl vidual members of the house who declined to support the administration view on a particular piece of legisla ion tion air lir brewster named one thomas corcoran as the administration emis sary and ana bearer of the threats he told of details of the circumstance and in formed the house that the legislation which the administration demanded he should support was the so called death sentence provision in the bill to elaml nate utility holding companies sut suf fice flee it to say that mr brewster did not yield the point of this incident however Is that immediately there came from many quarters in the house a demand for an investigation of lobbying acrivi ties there had been many charges theretofore that the public utility cor po rations lons were over running the house with lobbyists in their effort to defeat the death sentence section the reason back of this sudden outburst hovi however ever lies iles in dissatisfaction among many members of congress with tactics employed ploce d b by y t the h et 1 roosevelt lo 10 0 s ev e lt a d m i nis t r a emon alon T they he y h have a v e t taken a k e n 0 orders r de r s c con 0 n scantly since march 4 1933 but apparently patently ly they are no longer going to obey so the investigation of lobbying Is to be started by a house committee and it will be broader than just the public utility lobbyist if the undercurrent of information proves to be correct corrects administration representatives w who h 0 have frequented the house chambers during consideration of the holding company bill will be placed on the witness stand to tell their story in the meantime and maybe as a result of the excitement over the br brew ew ster charge senator look into black an alabama lobbying democrat started fireworks in the sen ate he Is prepared to create incesti gating machinery in that end of the capitol to determine what influence the utility lobbyists have exerted that investigation also will go beyond the utility lobbyist phase it Is sched aled to dig up dirt on lobbyists for other legislation thus far there has been little mention of administration activities around the senate but as in the case of the house in vesti gation it appears now that the senate investigation has a double pur pose it will be recalled that senator black fostered a bill requiring all lobbyists in washington to register at the capitol to show their connection to show what salaries or other corn com sensation pens pensa atlon tion they receive and to make public certain types of correspondence passing between them and the people whom they represent the gossip Is that the senators bill although it passed the senate without difficulty will have hard sledding in the house senator black appears to be proceed ing on the theory that the lve tion will create additional atmosphere and public demand for passage of the lobbyist registration measure I 1 that the incesti gallon gatlon will do no more than ruin reau nations of some few people such an inquiry will not stop lobbying it will not even curb or reduce lobbying As long as individuals have proper property ty the value of which may be affected one way or the other by federal legislation just so long will individuals seek to influence their representatives and sen sea acors in congress it seems to me to be a perfectly natural and normal thing and without defending the slimy type of lobbying and the raw or crook ed deals that may come from lobbying the voters have a right to express their views to their representatives the irony of the present situation Is that undoubtedly there will be no reference in either investigation to the tremendous activity carried on by the american federation of labor lobby ests or the lobbyists for the american legion or the lobbyists for certain groups such as the pacifists or the rad leal teal supporters of russian types ot of government nor Is it likely that the correct picture of administration pres sure upon the last two sessions of con gress will be disclosed a 0 western newspaper union j |