Evening journal., 1889-05-27
Pensions and stand1nr Armias.

4
year ending June 30, 1889, was &9S, 400.
| 900, and 1t is question with the com
missioner of pensions whether the
amount expended win not reach S105.
900, 600 Adding to this $SS, 400 900 ap-
propriated for past services the sos. 600, !
900 we pay for the services of the 36. 600
men constituting our present army and
navy, we find that our total an
nual military and naval burden
is $t47, 900, 900. This is vast
expenditure for peace times, and the
country il not the better pleased with it
when it reflects that the most Of it is
money thrown away 1t exceeds, it must
be confessed, the military expenditures
of the much-pitied monarchies of Eorope.
Our expenditure for pensions alone ex-
ceeds the cost of the most powerful
standing armies of this age Of bloated
ornaments. Germany, for instance,
spends but $S5, 900, 900 a year to main
tain her. efficient standing army of
445, 900 men. The. 1880 men in the
German navy represent an expenditure of
but SO, 900, 600 more. The amount, there
fore, we are likely to spend this year in
pensions would maintain the army and
navy Of the most powerful empire on the
continent. Germany's annual outlay for
pensions, however, is but So, 100, 900,
though Germany has carried ON two great
wars since our last IL lS6l-65.
Evidently we are very much
OVERRIDING the pension business.
England maiptains her very ex-
pensive army Of 210, 900 men on from
$50, 1000, 900 to 800 600, 900 year. Her
magnificent navy. with its complement
of As, $50 men, costs her but $63, 900, 600
year. Our present expenditure of $147,-
600, 900 for pensions and a diminutive
army and navy would, therefore, about
suffice to maintain the entire force with
which Englands holds worldwide en-
pire. With an annual expenditure of
but 1892, 800, 900 France supports an army
of 523, $50 men. Her navy, which is
second to that of England, costs her but
$39, 600, 600. Austria Hungary has an
army of 206,000 men, which costs the
empire $49, 300, 600 year, and her navy,
which numbers II, 500 men, costs but
"a, 500 600 more We are accustomed to
lament the condition of the populations
of Europe on account of the vast bur-
dens they bear. They are ground
down, we say, with taxes to support
'bloated armanents," the object of
which is to maintain the privileged
classes in the possession Of their
ill-gotten gains But is not our
case worse2 We not only pay more in
taxes for pensions than all other coun-
tries in the civilized world put together,
but what we pay for this object exceeds
the annual cost of Germanys standing
force, in army and navy, of 461, $50 men
And we pay it, not chiefly for the benefit
of our 450, 600 pensioners, but in order
that privileged class of manufacturers
may thrivei Back of all our present pen
sion legislation is the purpose Of the pro-
tectionist manufacturers to prevent the
reduction of taxes. This is shown in a
thousand ways. The animus of the pres
ent administration. as indicated by the
rulings Of the pension bureau, is to pre-
vent any apparent necessity for a reduc-
tion of taxes by increasing the pension
list without regard to the merits of
claimants. The country is being de-
bauched by such a policy. We cannot to
soon put a stop to loose views as to pen
sions which are dissipating the means of
the people.-Baltimore Sun.