Financing World War II left us with a tremendous public debt, which reached 279 billion dollars at its peak in February, 1946. Beginning in July, 1946, when war and re-conversion financing had ended, we have held quite closely to the sound standard that in times of high employment and high national income, the Federal Budget should be balanced and the debt reduced. For the four fiscal years from July 1, 1946, to June 30, 1950, we had a net surplus of 4.3 billion dollars.