722 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



cial condition than any of the other great nations of the world, 

 with the exception of Great Britain and Germany. The United 

 States, Great Britain, and Germany are the only governments 

 that within the last twenty years have notably reduced their 

 national debts ; all the other nations have notably increased their 

 indebtedness France, Russia, and Italy taking the greatest rela- 

 tive lead. In every instance the recent increase in the indebted- 

 ness of nations is mainly referable to prospective war expenditure, 

 a contingency from which the United States ought to be entirely 

 exempt ; for it is as certain as anything in the future can be, that 

 the United States will never enter into war with any foreign 

 country unless unnecessarily provoked. But this is not the opin- 

 ion of military men, who as a rule rarely look beyond their pro- 

 fession, and of others who desire war with anybody and on any 

 account by reason of prospective personal agrandizement, or in- 

 creased opportunities for money gain that war would briug to 

 them, conjointly with increased fiscal burdens upon the masses of 

 the people. From March, 1885, the beginning of Mr. Cleveland's 

 first administration, to March, 1889, the public debt was reduced 

 $341,448,449.20, while Mr. Harrison's administration paid off $236,- 

 527,660.10. Circumstances, however, for which the second admin- 

 istration of Mr. Cleveland was not responsible, namely, the ad- 

 vocacy of the so-called " silver policy," which impaired national 

 credit, and a Federal Congress which authorized great and un- 

 necessary expenditures, have caused an increase in the bonded or 

 interest-bearing public debt during the three years from 1894 to 

 1897 of $262,000,000. But this, in view of the resources of the 

 nation, is not a matter for national disquietude ; more especially 

 when it is remembered that the uncovered demand (non-redeem- 

 able) debt of the nation was at the same time greatly lessened by 

 the accumulation of redeemable instrumentalities in the national 

 Treasury. 



Third. Notwithstanding such favoring fiscal conditions, the 

 Federal Government is now and has been for some time past in 

 default of sufficient revenue to defray its current expenditures. 

 For the fiscal year 1890, with an average rate of taxation of $4.74 

 per capita, its revenues were $105,344,000 in excess of expendi- 

 tures. In 1895, with an increase in population over 1890 of about 

 8,000,000 and an average per capita rate of taxation of $6.21, the 

 receipts of national revenue fell short of defraying national ex- 

 penditures to the extent of $42,805,000. 



Fourth. Taxes levied for protection i. e., for the purpose of 

 reducing imports or narrowing the basis on which customs taxes 

 are levied can not be rightfully regarded as taxes for revenue. 

 No one will deny that to get revenue from customs we must have 

 imports of dutiable goods. And yet, while admitting this as a 



