The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1878-08-08

Senator Windom-I have read it. Mr.. Atkins ha,
an extremely difficult task to perform. and in it
| execution he displayed q genius in manipulatin,
figures only equaled by his courage in dealing will
the facts which stood in his way. From his prede
! cessors Messrs. Randall and Holman, his committes
had inherited an accumulation of unpaid nationa
Obligations, and postponed appropriations" so i'm
peritive in their character that they could no longs
be evaded or delayed. These vast sums thus post
poned and withheld by the Forty fourth Congress
saved" but the time had come when portion o
them must be provided for, though to meet then
would swell the total appropriations to an amount
equal to- If not in excess of those made by the last
Republican Congress- With an actual increase o
o,Io,26o4S staring him in the face, the Chairman
OF the House committee still felt it to be his duty
reformer," even under such discouraging circum-
ssances, to prove that after ALL this Congress ha6
achieved another triumph for retrenchment,'
which said triumph" would have been still gr.lndc,
if the naughty Senate had not stood in the way
DEMOCRATIC TRIUMPH OF RETRENcHMENr
Correspondent-Give me an idea of how thes.
"reforners prove that an actual increase of s2s-
1o226o49 is a " triumph for retrenchmcnt"
Senator Windom-It is the simplest process in the
world-when you understand it. 1t is done by
counting IN all the appropriations made by their DO.
litica opponent and by counting out 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 Forty
fourth Congress?
Senator Windom-I am glad You have called my
attention to that, for it enables to show you one
or two specimen curiosities in Democratic 'econo-
my. Perhaps the most striking of these curiosi-
ties is their mode of creating and handling def
ciencies.' Under the lead of Mr.. Randall in 1876,
very large arbitrary reductions we're made in the
appropriations. The heavy reductions which had
already been made by the Republicans rendered it
impossible to accomplish an honest reduction which
would be sufficiently stunning for the party pur-
poses it was designed to serve. They must be made
howeverat aly cost, for party emergencies demanded
it. In making these forced and arbitrary reduc-
tions, deficiencies were created amounting to many
millions of dollars. To meet only portion of
them, the Fortyff:h Congress, during its first year.
has been compelled to pass nne deficiency bills ag
gregating as stated by Mr.. Atkins, SIS So. 67252
Nearly all OF the~e 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 S15OO0,OoO to
S200o0eOo of it were only postponed for deficiency
bills after election. These defciecies came down on
the present Congress- when they could no longer be
priated Then there was dilemma. How shall
the account be stated2 To what Democratic Con-
gress shall these many millions be charged? To
charge them to 1877 or 1873 would expose the
pretenses of those years and to charge
them to this Congress would never do So they
we're simply counted ont. Mr.. Randall and the |
party have been credited for the reduction which
created them. and Mr.. Atkins declines to count |
the S15,5o0,0O0 in his totals. A very convenient
way TO dispose of so many millions Thus this
huge sum is made the football between these two
and both take credit for saving that
mount to the Treasury. If you wiz glance over |
Mr. Atkins statement, you will find several other |
eats in bookkeeping almost equal to this but they
ire quite eXcusabe in proving the proposition he |
lad IN hand-uamey, that on actual increase of i
SIS. I5x. 260.A0 retrenchnent Having !
Worried the stubborn and honest figures in vain to
induce them to prove that difficult proposition, the
chairman OF the House committee, evidently not |
yratified with his success, draws q sigh and con-
,udes: =" Had there been economic accord between
he two honses-in other words, had the Senate not
dded s16OO0,0O0 to the appropriation bills as re-
'orted to the House-the grand result would have
,een still greater triumph for retrenchment'"
{ must be admitted that an increase of $29OOOOOO
not very brilliant triumph for retrenchment;'"
nut notice the peculiar phraseology by which the
allure to make still greater" is charged upon the
enate: Had the Senate not added sI6ODOOOO to
he appropriation bills as reported TO the House p,
low, Mr.. Atkins own figures show that $19l4636
the SIG, 600 were added by the House itself to
he bills as reported" by the committee before they
ven reached the Senate. submit that this is hard.
fair even in proving that an addition of $4,000
% was really reduction.
HAT THE DEMOCRATS CALL SENATE ExrRvA-
CANOE"
Correspondent.-Wha amount was added by the
enate to the bills as they passed the House, and
hat was the character of the addition?
Senator Windom.-The total Of such additions is
Is ,925, 442. No part of this amount was extrava-
ance, but the whole was in compliance with some
1ligations of the Government which could not be
onoraby evaded, or in the line of economical ex-
enditures.
This will very clearly appear by reference to the
ems constituting the additions. The following are
he amounts added by the Senate to the several /
lis. !