(New York Times.)
The end of April finds me Federal Government
with a deficit of about $2,700,000,000 for the current
fiscal year. This is approximately $600,000,000 less
than the deficit at the same point last year. It is
still further below the budget estimates submitted
by the President to Congress early in the present
session. With only two months remaining before the
end of the fiscal year on June 30, it is now
practically certain that events will prove the budget
estimates to have overshot the mark by at least a
billion dollars.
If comparison is made between this year and
last, in order to explain the improvement shown
in the Treasury’s position, two points stand out as
of primary importance. One is an enormous shrink
age in the expenditures of RFC. By the end of
April last year it had spent more than $1,300,000,003.
chiefly for the purchase of preferred bank stock
and for loans to aid in the liquidation of closed
banking institutions. This year RFC has spent only
about $300,000,000, and would actually show a net
income rather than this comparatively small outlay
if it had not been called upon to help finance
FERA. The sharp curtailment of expenditures at
this point in the budget is important enough to
offset all increases made elsewhere, in consequence
of the heavier burden of relief, the restoration of
salaries in the Federal service and the return of
many war veterans to the pension roles.
