Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-08-09

an extremely difficult task to perform, and in its
execution he displayed q genius in manipulating
figures only equaed by his courage in dealing with
the facts which stood in his way. From his prede-
cessors Nessrs. 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 longer
be evaded or DELAYED. These vast sums thus post
poned and withheld by the Forty fourth Congress
were 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 excess of those made by the last
Republican Congress With an actual increase of
S8 752 2654S 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 RETRENCHMENT."
Correspondent-Give me an idea of how these
reformers prove that an actual increase of S2S,
752, ,265.49 is a." triumph for retrenchment."
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 po-
liUcal opponent and by counting out enough of their
own 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 Repu5-
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
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 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 it was designed to They must be made,
however,at any cost for party emergencies demanded
it. In making these forced and arbitrary reduc-
tons, 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
gregating, stated by Mr. Atkins $15,534, ,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 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 $15,0O0000 to
900 of it were only postponed for deficiency
bills after election. These defcecies came down on
the present Congress- when they could no longer be
postponed, and over SIS 100000 of them were apprO
priated. Then there a dilemma. How shall
the account be stated2 To what Democratic Con-
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 and Mr. Atkins declines to count
the $I5, 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 bookkeeping almost equal to this, but they
quite excusable in proving the proposition he
had in hand-uamely, that an actual increase Of
S2S, ,752, ,266.49 means retrenchruent. 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
gratiied 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 $16000000 to the appropriation bills, as
ported to the H0Hse-the grand result would have
been a still greater triumph for retrenchment.'
1t must be admitted that an increase Of S29OOOOOO
is not very brilliant triumph for retrenchment'"
but notice the peculiar phraseology by which the
failure to make it st greater" is charged upon the
Senate: Had the Senate not added 600 to
the approximation bills as reDOrted to the House p
Now, Mr.. Atkins own figures show that 81, 636
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
" fair even in proving that an addition of $9 OOO
900 was really reduction.
WHAT THE DEMOCRATS CALL SENATE ExTRvA-
GANCE."
Correspondent amount was added by the
Senate to the bills they passed the House. and
what was the character of the sddition2
Senator Windom.-The total Of such additions is
$13,925 442. No part of this amount was extrava-
gsnce, but the whole was in compliance with some
obligations of the Government which could not be
honorably evaded, or in the line of economical ex
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:
CNll D
River and HarDOr S41yOO
Army Dill SJoSl4
POSt-O0ce Dill oObUUO
Naval Dill ZOJo44
tension Dill oOJOU
Military Academy bill ......-..-........... S3446
Legislative Executive, and Judicial. 60l 766
Consular and Diplomatic. $500
SlS s25 40
80 fI,a; ;tav, o,ybio abra-