Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1891-05-28


government to build and repair iron ant
steel ships, and for building new dry
docks at Port Royal, S. c., and on Puge
Sound. The appropriations for the gen
eral expenses are about the same al
those of the previous Congress. NJ
one questions the imperative need o.
great Improvements in our navy. II
was never felt more than during the
recent excitement growing out of the
troubles at New Orleans and the
Behring Sea complications. The same
necessity of better protection caused an
increase of 81, ,S02, IA for Notifications
the entire sum appropriated being $S,-
| 007, ,738. The increase will be devoted
to commencing and continuing the con-
struction of gun and mortar batteries
for the defense of Boston, New York
San Francisco, and other harbors; to the
new army gun factory at Watervliet
arsenal, and for improved guns for the
defense of our seaboard and lake cities.
Democratic editors and orators will not
derive much comfort from attacking
| this item.
The growth of the country and the
general expansion of the postal service
required an increase in the appropria-
tions for the Postoffice Department of
S22, ,66S, ,343.69. This sum will be ex-
pended mainly for the establishment of
the free delivery system in cities that
have shown great growth since the last
census; for steamboat and railway
transportation, railway post-otfice car
service, railway post-office clerks, and
postmaSterS.
The Indian service demanded an in
crease of $7,307, 1850 to carry out new
treaties negotiated with various Indian
tribes, mainly for the purchase of por-
tions of their lands which will be opened
for settlement and the money returned
to the government; $500, ,290.75 will be
devoted to this purpose. Over S2.000,-
900 is to pay the Choctaw and Chickasaw
nations for lands upon which the gov
ernment has located the Cheyenne and
Arapahoe Indians. These two items
are in fulfllment of the result of
treaties made with the Indians which
common honesty demands should be
executed The sum of 81, ,331, 800 went
to increasing school facilities among
the Indians.
The sundry civil appropriation acts
carried a net increase of $15,530, 1892.
OF this sum 81 ,951 200 was for improve
ments in harbors and rivers ordered in
previous acts, but not provided for;
$2,750,000 was for the new census;
S250,000 for the new post-office in
Washington; $250,000 for additional
accommodations for the Government
Printing Office; S350,000 for lighthouses,
S290,000 for military posts; $l,62O,O0O
for the National Home for Disabled
Volunteers; 100000 for public printing
and binding; $5,204, ,830.7o for public
buildings; $3.50, 900 for the Congressional
library building; $195,000 for artificial
limbs and appliances for disabled sol
diers and sailors; 100000 for establish
ing and completing the Chickamauga
and Chattanooga national parks; 1884,,
900 for compiling and publishing the
records of the war of the Rebellion;
S250,000 for the expenses of the United
States courts; $700,000 for public land
surveys and expenses of the land service;
1926, 900 for the care, heating, lighting,
and repairing public buildings; and
S468, 700 for the Worlds Fair. Other
items in the increase was for the life
saving service, the revenue cutter service,
the fish commission, recoinage OF silver
coins, the quarantine service, and for
minor deficiencies left over by the former
Congress. This makes total of over
S16,000,000 from which must be de-
Quoted over 100000, the amount of
reductions On various items of the
sundry civil bill as compared with the
former Congress, leaving the net increase
SIS 5,230, 0,49672.
Besides these there was an increase of
81, ,456,000 in legislative appropriations
made necessary by the larger clerical
service required in the Pension Bureau
and some other branches of the govern
ment; and the internal revenue service
was given larger appropriation because
of its increased duties in carrying out
the new sugar bounty law. The river
and harbor appropriations were increased
by $2,73S,000 chiefly in providing for
the completion of such great works as
the new lock at the $500" and the deep
water harbor at Galveston. The work
of the Agricultural Department, which
is for the direct benefit of the farmers
of the country, required an increase of
81 AL 900, and there are miscellaneous
items amounting to $673,000, making a
grand total of $18l, 1868, ,549.44. But the
appropriations for general items were
cut down over $9,000000, and other
economies made a total reduction of
S1l, ,523. .27969, leaving the net increase
in appropriations as stated above, $780,
446, ,26975. The appropriations for the
preceding Congress were $017 1868, ,859.S 80.
For the last Congress they were $685.
410,129.55. Deduct from the appropri-
ations of the last Congress the S1I3,3l2,-
$50 for pensions; the $22 2,66S, ,343 for
the Post-office Department, which was
shamefully neglected by the preceding
Congress; the $14,042,344 for the new
navy; the $7,307,146 to pay for lands
bought of the Indians, to carry out
treaties made with them, and to conduct
Indian schools; the $2,902, IA for forti-
ficatons; the 81 ,456,633 increase in the
legislative department, devoted chiefly
| W IuO ouoloIl DuIcdu, dlu IL VIII 10
found that the difference between the
appropriations of the two Congresses
was less than S10,000,000. Seven mill
ion dollars of this excess is to pay
bounties on the sugar product, and the
remainder is distributed among six ap-
preparation acts.
Every appropriation made by the last
Congress is justifiable and cal be ex-
planned to the entire satisfaction OF
every unprejudiced mind. The howl of
the opposition about the billion dollar
Congress will consist in a general con-
demnation such as Democratic leaders
are in the habit of dealing in. They
will not dare, except perhaps in few
rare cases, to denounce the pensioning
of the Union soldier, the Strengthening
of the navy, the improvement in ou
Notifications, or any of the pfincipa
items of increase.