76 
WAR BORROWING 
graph showing the course of the daily “ net bal 
ance ” of the Treasury during the period under 
review. 1 , 
I 
The three months that preceded our entry into 
the war were marked by a steady excess of dis 
bursements over receipts. Starting with a net bal 
ance of $113,597,985 on January 2, 1917, the avail 
able funds of the Treasury declined practically with 
out arrest. On February 23, 1917, there was for 
the first time an actual deficiency as compared with 
the authorized but undrawn amount to the credit of 
disbursing officers, and a week earlier the “ daily 
statement ” had begun to note that “ the income 
tax, constituting a large part of the Government’s 
revenue, is not collected until June,” and to present 
the estimated amount payable at that time. 
The Treasury balance touched its low point on 
March 15, 1917, at $52,951,594. For the next two 
weeks some restraint was apparently put upon dis 
bursements ; but on March 30 the nominal deficiency 
as against disbursing officers’ credits was nearly 
$10,000,000, with a further immediate requirement 
of $25,000,000 in settlement of the Danish West 
Indies purchase. The provision of additional 
funds could not be delayed, and on March 31, 1917, 
the Treasury, in anticipation of the income taxes 
payable in June, borrowed $50,000,000 from the 
1 See frontispiece. I am indebted to Mr. Leopold Olceowski 
of Washington, D. C., for the transformation of my own 
rough graph into the finished chart.