River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-08-15

the facts which stood in his way. From his prede-
cessors Messrs. Randall and Holman, his committee
had inherited an accumulation of unpaid national
obligations and postponed appropriations so I'M
peritive in their character that they could no longer
be evadcd or delayed. These vast sums thus post
l.poned and withheld by the Forty fourth Congress
wero credited to the Democracy as so much money
"saved" but the time had come when portion OF
them must be provided for, though to meet them
would swell the total appropriations to an amount
equal to- if not in of those made by the last
Republican Congress With an actual increase OF
265 48 staring him in the face the chairman
of the House committee still felt it to be his duty as
reformer," even under such discouraging circum,
ssances, to prove that after all, this Congress had
achieved another triumph for retrenchment,
which said triumph would have been still grander
if the naughty Senate had not stood in the way
A DEMOCRATIC "TRIUMpH OF INFRINGEMENT"
Correspondent me an idea of how these
"reformers prove that an actual increase OF So,-
| 752 265 40 is a 4" triumph for retrenchment"
Senator Wndom-It is the simplest process in the
word-when you understand 1T. 1t is done by
counting in all the appropriations made by their po-
liuca opponent and by counting ont enough OF their
own to bring their total below his By this one sim
pie rule Mr.. Atkins is able to commend his own
party for economy, and to condemn the last Repub-
| lican Congress for extravaganza.
Correspondent-But how does this rule work when
applied to their own party friends IN the torty-
fourth Congress-?
| Senator Windom-I am glad you have called my
attention to that for it enables me to show you one
or two specimen curosties in Democratic "econo-
N.Y." Perhaps the most striking of these curiosi-
ties is their mode of creating and handling def
| cences" Under the lead of Mr.. Randall in 1876,
very large arbitrary reductions were made in the
| appropriations. The heavy reductions which had
already been made by the Republicans rendered 1t
impossible to accomplish honest reduction which
would be sufficiently stunning for the party pur-
poses it was designed to serve They must be made,
howeverat any cost, for party emergencies demanded
it. In making these forced and arbitrary reduc-
afia afnia
millions of dollars. To meet only portion OF
them, the Forty fifth Congress- during its first year,
has been compelled to pass nine deficiency bills ag-
gregating as stated by Mr.. Atkins S15534 ,672.52.
Nearly all of these immense deficiencies" were
rendered necessary by the unwarranted reductions
made under the lead of Mr.. Randall in 1876, and
there are many millions more to hear from before
we get through with those marvellous feats of econ
omy, performed for political purposes. Mr.. Randall
and his party took credit for having saved the
entire amount of that reduction, though it was well
known by the initiated that from SIS, 100000 to
$20OO0000 of it were only postponed for deficiency
bills after election These defciecies came down on
the present Congress- when they could no longer be
postponed and over $15,000000 of them were appro-
priated Then there was q dilemma. How shall
the account be stated? To what Democratic Con-
gress shall these many millions be charged? 10
charge them to 1877 1878 would expose the
fraudulent pretenses of those years. and to charge
them to this Congress would never do So they
were simply counted out Mr.. Randall and the
party have been credited for the reduction which
created them, ana Mr.. ATKINS declines TO count
the $15500,000 in his totals. very convenient
way to dispose of many millions. Thus this
huge sum is made the football between these two
economists and both take credit for saving that
amount to the Treasury If you will glance over
Mr.. Atkins statement, you will find several other
feas in bookkeeping almost equal to this, but they
are quite excusable in proving the proposition he
lad in hand-uamely, that actual increase Of
's2S. 153 ,2SJ.49 means retreaehanent. Having
worried the stubborn and honest figures in vain to
inIuce them to prove that difficult proposition, the
cl airman of the House committee, evidently not
gratified with his success, draws q SIGH and con-
| cludes: Had there been economic accord between
the two houses-in other words, had the Senate not
added $16000000 to the appropriation bills,
ported to The Honse-the grand result would have
| been still greater triumph for retrenchment.'"
1t must be admitted that increase of 1896 600
is not very brilliant triumph for retrenchment;"
but notice the peculiar phraseology by which the
failure to make it still greater is charged upon the
Senate Had the Senate not added $16,00000O to
the appropriation bills reported to the House ?"
Now, Mr.. Atkins own figures show that 81 ,914 636
of the SIG 100000 were added by the House itself to
the bills as reported by the committee, before they
even reached the Senate. / submit that this is hard
ly fair, even in proving that addition of 500 0O0
| 900 was really reduction.
WHAT THE DEMOCRATS CALL SENATE ExTRvA-
CANOE"
| Correspondent-W amount was added by the
Senate to the bills they passed the House, and
what was the character of the addition?
Senator Windom-The total of such additions is
S13,925 442. No part OF this amount was extrava-
gance, but the whole was in compliance with some
obligations of the Government which could not be
honorably evaded, or in the line of economical
penditures
This will very clearly appear by reference to the
items constituting the additions. The following are
the amounts added by the Senate to the several
| bills:
River and Harbor bill. ................. $500
army plll 9S3l4