THE REVENUE ACT OF 1932.

The Treasury deficit resulting from the prolonged depression brought to the U.S. Congress of 1931-32 the problem of balancing the budget in order to maintain national credit. The annual report of the Treasury, submitted In December, 1931, stated actual and prospective deficits and proposed additional revenues and a reduction of expenditures to meet the situation. The report was supplemented by similar statements before the House Ways and Means Committee in January, 1932 and before the Senate Finance Committee in April, 1932, each successive estimate indicating larger deficits and lower yields from revenue measures. The Revenue act of 1932 is the result of an attempt to balance the federal budget and to maintain the national credit. The current depression had brought a Treasury deficit of $900,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1931 and threatened larger deficits for 1932 and 1933. Despite the efforts to keep the tariff issue out of the revenue bill, it got in early and stayed in till the last. It increased the log-rolling tactics and delayed procedure with the revenue bill, in spite of the appeals for haste to balance the budget in order to arrest the financial panic and to restore confidence in the gold standard of the United States.