11 APRIL 1931, Page 2

American Finance It is calculated that for the year ending

June 30, 1931, the United States Treasury will face a deficit of about £160,000,000. The facts require a breadth of treatment which Congress, compelled by the imminence of the Presi- dential election to wear partisan blinkers, seems unpre- pared to give it. The Treasury contemplates short-term borrowing on an ambitious scale, and there is general con- fidence that it will be possible to avert a rise in taxation by these hand-to-mouth methods. The Republicans are " banking " on a business recovery, and the Democrats are loth to back a less dark horse, lest their opponents' popular outsider might, after all, confound their better judgments. There are signs, however, that Democratic opinion is reverting consciously to the principles of the Wilson doctrine. The economic disadvantages of aloof- ness are beginning to be recognized. * * * *