The finances of the Government are in sound condition. I shall submit the
detailed evidences and the usual recommendations in the special Budget
message. I may, however, summarize our position. The public debt on June 30
this year stood at $16,931,000,000, compared to the maximum in August,
1919, of $26,596,000,000. Since June 30 it has been reduced by a further
$238,000,000. In the Budget to be submitted the total appropriations
recommended for the fiscal year 1931 are $3,830,445,231, as compared to
$3,976,141,651 for the present fiscal year. The present fiscal year,
however, includes $150,000,000 for the Federal Farm Board, as to which no
estimate can as yet be determined for 1931.
Owing to the many necessary burdens assumed by Congress in previous years
which now require large outlays, it is with extreme difficulty that we
shall be able to keep the expenditures for the next fiscal year within the
bounds of the present year. Economies in many directions have permitted
some accommodation of pressing needs, the net result being an increase, as
shown above, of about one-tenth of 1 per cent above the present fiscal
year. We can not fail to recognize the obligations of the Government in
support of the public welfare but we must coincidentally bear in mind the
burden of taxes and strive to find relief through some tax reduction. Every
dollar so returned fertilizes the soil of prosperity.