The Great Round World And What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 22, April 8, 1897 A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

Excerpt

The President has sent his first message to Congress. In it he says that he is very sorry to call an extra session of Congress, but he feels it his duty to do so, because he finds the money affairs of the country in a very bad condition, and thinks it is necessary for Congress to take some immediate steps to find a remedy.

It would seem that since June, 1893, the yearly, and even the monthly, expenses of the country have been greater than the receipts.

We all know what a statement of that sort means in our own homes and families. It means that bankruptcy is coming, unless something be done to prevent it. If a man spends more than he earns, he is obliged to borrow to make up the difference; and when he can no longer borrow, he has to fail and turn all he owns over to his creditors.

This means that the people to whom he owes the money—his creditors, as they are called—will take his home and his furniture, and everything he possesses away from him, and divide it all up between them, and that he must begin life again as best he can.

Sometimes when a man has a good business that will enable him in time to pay everything he owes, the creditors will allow him to keep his business going taking the greater part of his earnings for his debts until he has paid them all off. But whichever way his affairs are settled, the man who owes money is the unhappy slave of his creditors until his last debts are paid.

The affairs of a country are precisely the same as those of an individual, and President McKinley, understanding well what must happen unless some change is made, is doing his best to save us from the unhappy position of a poor debtor.

He is prudently trying to stop the trouble before it gets the mastery of us.

A country is different from an individual in the fact that there are certain expenses that are not exactly necessary, and yet which must be provided for, for the honor of the country. A man who is in money difficulties can cut down his expenses to the mere cost of food, house, and clothes. In this way a man is better off than a country. But, on the other hand, a man can only earn just so much money; he cannot force people to buy his goods, or pay him better prices; he has to do the best he can with what he can earn; while a country can, by taxes, force people to give it the money it needs, and so it is better off than an individual.

Some of the expenses of a country that must be met are the salaries of all the officers who preserve law and order, the judges, soldiers, sailors, and the police; the pensions of the old soldiers, and of their families; the building of forts and warships, and of the guns to arm them; the making and issuing of money, and the handling and delivering of letters.

Enormous sums of money are necessary to meet these expenses, and they are raised by taxes. A country has no right to spend more than it earns, any more than a man has, but there may come times in the history of a country when extra expenses are necessary, and then the Government taxes the people to meet them.

This is what President McKinley proposes to do now.

The new tax proposed is to be a revenue tariff on all articles of foreign manufacture that are brought into this country.

The extra session of Congress is to consider, and, if possible, pass the Tariff Bill, which it is desired shall go into effect May 1st of this year....