The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1891-12-26
Appropriations.

Appropriation.
The 51st Congress was the most
extravagant in the history Of the
country. It's appropriations reached
the enormous total Of 81 COS, 0OO, ).
600, or $40 each to every man, wo.
man and child, of all colors and
races in the United States. But
vast and wasteful as this sum and
these appropriations were they are
liable both to be exceeded BIZ the
present Congress and will be, If the
door is once opened to the gangs Of
marauders whose demands are al.
ready formulated. and whose instru-
ments are already waiting in the lob
bies at Washington to press them
But leaving these steals out of the
count, the sums to be, or that should
be appropriated cannot fall short
Of $500. 100000. There will be $3.50,
GOO, 900 as current expenses of the
government; $4,000 900 for pen
sions; 4O,U)O,OO0 for interest on
public debt; $35, OOO,OOO to cover
deficit of the present year, and q
few millions for the construction
and armament of additional war
vessels. These are purposes for
which money may be legitimately
appropriated, and with the excep-
ton Of the pension list, which
should be cut down 80 per cent, the
sums We have enumerated are need
ed and cannot be dispensed with.
And, besides these amounts there
should be $15O,OOO,O 600 appropria-
ted for river and harbor improve.
ments and coast defenses. We are
in constant and imminent danger
Of becoming involved in a foreign
war, and yet we have.less prepare
tons for defense and more miles of
coast and more property at the
mercy of an enemy in case of war
than any other people. Expendi-
lures in this line may properly be
made from the public treasury be-
cause our rivers and harbors and
coasts are public property, and their
improvement enriches the public,
protects and increases the value Of
the public's and of individual prop
erty, and especially in time of war,
inures to the public safety and vel
fare. 1t ought, therefore, to be
plain to all that river and harbor
improvements, whether made in
the North or South, or East or West,
are economy and wisdom, and the
necessary appropriations should be
made, and the work proceeded
with at the earliest day possible,
because if We wait to lido the work
till driven to it by war, it will cost
ten times as much to do the same
work as it would in time of peace,
besides we run the risk of having
to pay ransom money to save some
Of our cities from being sacked.
For all of these purposes appropri-
atoms will be asked and should be
made. without a dissenting vote.
But there will be other and very
large appropriations demanded for
individual enrichment and the con-
summation ofindividual enterprises
which should be so emphatically
denied and rejected that their pro-
motors would not again dare to pre-
sent themselves nor their schemes in
Congress. These presented in the
disguise in which they will probably
appear before Congress are ~ the
guaranteeing of the interest on the
bonds of the proposed railroad to
connect North and South America
TO the amount of $1OO,OOO,OOO or|
more; (2) guaranteeing the inter-
est on Nicaragua canal bonds,
amounting to $5O,OOO,OOO; (3)I
guaranteeing interest on a proposed
Hawaiian cable line, probably $50.
)OO,O 600 more, and a guaranteeing
interest on trans Pacific cable line
bonds to the value of 100000. 900.
Success in securing the adoption of
these would breed another litter
equally as ravenous and expensive,
and in the future as in the past, the
government would have to pay both
interest and principal. This, how
ever, is not important. The point
ls that our government was not de-