Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-07
ECONOMY FORGOTTEN
By Many Congressman Who Are
More Anxious for Reelection.
TIE BILLS ARE GETTING LARGE
So Fast That the Billion Congress Record
Is Threatened.
LBERALITY CANNOT BE CHECKED

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE prsPArcHI
WASHINGTON, March Cit is very
we'll known that there are few DemocI ats
in the House-and some of them will oc-
cupy places of leadership-who are in favor
of honoring the resolution of economy
passed early in the session more in the
breach than in the observance. The num-
Der of these men is not large, but they pos
sess sufficient influence to make things
rather embarrassing for the majority of
Democrats in the House who are deter
mined that the announced policy of strict
economy shall be carried out to the very
letter.
The indications are becoming numerous,
moreover, that some of the regular appro-
priation bills, whose enormous amounts last
year gave rise to the scandal of the billion
Congress, are getting very near to high
water mark now in the various committees
that are preparing them for submission to
the House. The river and harbor bill is
almost ready to be submitted to the House,
and report floats out from the committee
room that its figures are very near to the
s24.0 900 which was, ;r round numbers,
the sum total of the jumbo bill of the Fifty
first Congress.
Mr.. Blanchard a Liberal Man.
Mr.. Blanchard, of Louisiana, chairman of
the River and Harbor Committee, is one of
th e most earnest and consistent advocates of
true economy that there is in the House.
He was a supporter of Mr.. Crisp in the
Speakershlp contest, and a warm defender
of the Democratic policy of retrenchment
and reform. He is in favor of liberal ap-
preparations for the maintenance and i'm
provement of the great naval waterways,
but an avowed opponent of the expenditure
of the peoples money for making naviga-
Bile the various cheese-cr eeks in all sections
of the country.
Mr.. Blanchard can be depended upon to
do all in his power to restrict the river and
harbor appropriations to such objects as are
meritorious and important, although he will
find it difficult to do so. Appropriations
for works on rivers and harbors come nearer
home to the average Congressman than any
other class of public expenditures, and a
great amount of pressure will be necessary
TO make the statesmen acquiesce in the new
order of things
The Committee on Public Buildings and
Grounds is also meeting with a surprising
amount of opposition in its attempt to stop
altogether the passage of bills providing for
the erection of new buildings, and the men,
bers of the committee themselves are divided
in their opinions as to what course should
be pursued.
Pork Needed for Each District.
Mr. Savers, of the Appropriations Com
mittee, has already shown that the Treasury
Department has on hand for public build
ing purposes no more money than it can
Sproperly expend for the next five or six
years, because of the large number of build
ings in course of construction, and still
there are many members who fear that their
denomination and reelection are in danger
unless they get the usual amount of 'pork"
for their districts"
Altogether, the situation is embaI RAISING
to the leaders in the House. Notwithstand-
ing that good record has been made with
the military academy bill and one or two
others that have already been under con-
sideration in the House, the outlook for
united and harmonious action in the inter-
est of wide and proper economy is not as
bright as il should be- OF course, no assist
ance can be looked for from the Republicans.
The Republican minority in the House
are vainly trying to make little cheap
political capital out of the amount carried
by the pension appropriation bill now under
consideration in committee of the whole.
The general debate on the bill yesterday
developed the usual amount of buncombe
talk to the galleries, the Republicans en-
deavoring to make it appear that an INSULT
cient sum for pensions had been recon-
mended.
Much More Than is Required.
The bill carries total of 81 "a, SOC, 600, and,
as Mr.. Mutchler explained, will probably
exceed the requirements by from Sc, 600, 600
to $40, 900, 600. The law for the current wear
appropriated $135, 600. 900, and there is every
reason to suppose, judging from the eX-
penditures for pensions for the past eight
months. that this amount will not all be e1-
pended by at least $40, 0O0, 900.
The Republicans complain that the Ap-
preparations Committee should have recon-
mended, without question or investigation.
the total estimated by the Commissioner of
Pensions to wit, S147, 900, ,0OO Had this
been done, and were that estimate to be en-
acted into law the Commissioner would
have at his disposal on July IA next, for
the payment of pensions, the appalling sum
of S157, 900, 600, including the $40, 600, 600
that will beyond much doubt be left over
from the Appropriations Committee.
Accompanying the bill is budget of in
teresting testimony, in which General Raum
states that up to February last there had
been expended during the first eight months
Of the current fiscal year SS3, ,OO0 600, and
that there is now surplus on hand, after
paying the March drafts, of S43. .0O0, ,O00
15, ,O0O,0 900 of which is in the hands Of
pension agents and $2S, 600, 900 in the Treas
ury. Only three months expenditures can
be made out of this for the remainder of
this fiscal year, those for April, MAY and
June, and inasmuch as the monthly aver
age thus far has been only little over
SO, 900, 900 month, it is clear that at least
SO, ,000, 600, or perhaps S13 000, 900, will be
left over after making three more monthly
payments
An Absurd Thing to Ask
Consequently, 1t is absurd to ask that
S147, 900, 900 be appropriated for next wear,
when this surplus of $40, ,O0O, 600 or S13,OOO,-
600 is SO evident and all rational calcula-
tions point to necessary expenditure only
a little, at most, greater than that for this
year, which, according to close computa-
tion bv the Secretary of the Treasury, will
not exceed S125, ,O00, ,000 Especially should |
the bill recommended by the committee be
exempt from criticism when the condition |
of the Treasury, brought about by the reck-
less profigacy of the Billion Congress, is |
considered.
With an urgent necessity for rigid |
economy all along the line of Government |
it would apparently be a
senseless piece of folly, SO the Democratic |
leaders believe. to tie up an excessive sum
10 the pension account that will not be
needed, and especially as all ascertained
deficiencies on this account can be prompt
ly supplied beforehand before the next ses-
sion of this Congress adjourns, SO as to cause
NOT the SLIGHTEST em ha IRA sSment or interYup-