Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1902 — MORE ARTFUL DODGING ON THE STATE DEBT QUESTION. [ARTICLE]

MORE ARTFUL DODGING ON THE STATE DEBT QUESTION.

The Rushville Republican calls attention to the fact that the $720,000 received by the state government in 1891 as a refund of the direct tax by the general government, did not go to make up a million dollar payment on the state debt, but was swallowed up In the vortex of Democratic debt The Indianapolis Sentinel answers this by saying that this money was returned to the state treasury during the administration of Governor Hovey, and that It was used to pay current expenses, because the Republican tax law of 1881 In ten years “resulted In the state’s running behind about half a million dollars a year in its current expenses.” What are the facts’ The Republican legislature of 1881 did pass a tax law, and that was the last legislature controlled by the Republicans until 1895. In 1880 the ordinary annual expenses of state on which this tax law of 1881 was based, were $844,000. By 1889 they had increased to $1,320,502. It does not take a great mathematician to tell where the half million dollar deficit comes In. And despite this vast Increase in expenditures, Democratic leadership refused to provide for the deficit by an increased levy or an increased appraisement. The result of this was not only the addition of nearly half a million dollars annually to the state debt by reason of a deficiency in revenue, but the piling up of interest and interest on interest until, in 1890, interest alone was costing the state of Indiana $740 a day. How hold Governor Hovey responsible for the refusal of successive Democratic legislatures, despite the recommendations of successive governors, to make provision for the ordinary expenses of government, preferring to avoid responsibility for securing sufficient revenue, even at the expense of a four million dollar addition to the state debt? There is no use trying to shift that responsibility. It rests where it belongs—on the shoulders of Democratic leadership. The Sentinel also insists that Republican fiscal officers have nearly five million dollars on the state debt since January Ist, 1895, solely with three and a quarter millions of revenue derived from the sinking fund provided for by the law of 1893, and the $600,000 derived from the refund of interest on war bonds paid by the general government, a total of less than four million dollars. This is better financiering than Republicans, even, would claim, especially in view of the fact that along with this vast debt reduction has come a reduction in general taxation, by a decrease of the levy in 1895, almost equal to the amount of the payment on the state debt. And the amount of this tax reduction has not been tacked on to the state debt, but saved by honest and economical methods In legislation and administration. A vote for Republican state and legislative nominees is a vote against the state debt. •

Mayor H. C. Berghoff of Ft. Wayne, at a meeting of the city council held on Sept. 9th, recommending certain expenditures for public improvements, justified them by saying: “THE TIMES ARE GOOD. NEARLY EVERYBODY HAS WORK AT FAIR WAGES, AND ‘ THINK NOW 1? THE TINE TO 7'o .’HE WORK RATHER THAN ’’J DULL TIMES.” “And go or.” tb<> mayor might !.«.-© added, co”^i >uim; to talk business, “letting well enough alone."