The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1878-07-24


execution he displayed genius in manipulating
figures only equaled by his courage in dealing with
the facts which stood in his way. From his prede-
cessers, Messrs Randall and Holman, his committee
had inherited an accumulation of unpaid national
obligations, and postponed appropriations" so i'm
peritve in their character that they could no longer
be evaded or delayed These vast sums thus post
poned and withheld by the Forty fourth Congress
were credited to the Democracy much money
+" saved" but the time had come when portion of
them must be provided for, though to meet them
equal to- if not in excess of those made by the last
Republican Congress. With an actual increase of
1928 265 4S staring him in the face the chairman
of the House committee still felt it to be his duty as
reformer,e 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-Give me an idea of how these
reformers prove that an actual increase of $28,
752, $685. 40 is " triumph for retrenchment."
Senator WINDMILL is the simplest process in the
werld-when you understand it, 1t is done by
counting IN all the appropriations made by their po-
liucal opponent and by counting out enough of their
to bring their total below his. By this SIM
pie rule Mr.. Atkins is able to commend his own
party for economy, and to condemn the last Repub-
liean Congress for extravaganza
Correspondent-But how does this rule work when
applied to their own party friends in the Forty
fourth Congress2
Senator Windom-I am glad you have called my
attention to that for it enables me 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
cienciesH 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 it
impossible to accomplish an honest reduction which
would be sufficiently stunning for the party pur-
poses 1T was designed to serve. They must be made,
at any 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 Forty fifth Congress- during its first year,
has been compelled to pass nine deficiency bills, ag
gregatiag, as stated by Mr.. Atkins SIS 534 67252.
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
omy, performed for political purposes Mr.. Randall
and his party took credit for having saved " the
entire amount of that reduction though it was we'll
known by the initiated that from SIS 100000 to
500 100000 of it were only postponed for deficiency
bills after election These defciecies down on
the present Congress- when they could no longer be
postponed, and over $15,000000 of them were appro
priated. Then there was a dilemma. How shall
the account be stated? To what Democratic Con-
grcss shall these many millions be charged? To
charge them to 1877 or 1873 would expose the
fraudulent pretenses of those years, and to charge
were simply counted out. Mr.. Randall and the
party have been credited for the reduction which
created them, and Mr.. Atkins declines to count
the 600 in his totals A very convenient
way to dispose of so 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
feats in book keeping almost equal to this, but they
are quite excusable in proving the proposition he
had in hand-uameiy, that an actual increase of
SIS, 5S2, %SS 40 means retreachment 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
gratifed with his success, draws sigh, and con-
cludes: Had there been economic accord between
the two houses--in other words had the Senate not
added $16000,000 to the appropriation bills, as re-
ported to the House-the grand result would have
been still greater triumph for retrenchment.'
1t must be admitted that increase of $4,000 900
is not very brilliant triumph for retrenchment;'
but notice the peculiar phraseology by which the
failure to make it sti greater is charged upon the
Senate Had the Senate not added Sl6,000000 to
the appropriation bills as reported to the House ~
Now, Mr.. Atkins own figures show that $1,914636
of the $16 100000 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 in proving that addition of 1000.
900 was really reduction.
WHAT TUE DEMOCRATS CALL SENATE ExTRvA-
CANOE
Correspondent amount was added by the
Senate to the bills as they passed the House, and
what was the character Of the addition
Senator Wipdom.-The total of such additions is
$13,925 442. 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
the amounts added by the Senate to the several
bills:
Sundry civil bill 305 442
River and Harbor bill Observation-Disclosures. SAT 800
Army bill 90S3
Post-Ofce bill $4,000
Naval bill 200S44
Pension bill 5000
Military Academy bill Observation-Disclosures. 83446
Legislative Executive and Judicial 500 766