The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-02
ApoLoGrsTs OF pRoFLIGACY.

l uIS up dSdIuSI us news columns In a
! fashion that ought to administer an
uncomfortable jar to one or the other
Of them. IN its Monday issue it makes
the apology for boodling congress
an advocate of McKinleyism and
friend Of extravagant expen-
diture to justify and require ex-
! travagant taxation. 1t tells the peo-
pie that they need not expect any econ
omy, because 1--WE have become a bill
lion dollar people" 1t promises that.
in the not distant future, we may have
"a two billion dollar congress- and, in
deed, if the pace set by Mr. Mckinley in
1890 is maintained during the four years
! Of his term, we can readily imagine
! that that glorious consummation is
already near, and that we may even
look forward to the proud day when
the expenditures of the government
| shall be greater than the entire prod
uct Of all its people.
The Pioneer Press represents object
/
appropriations which sufficed to carry
| on a government when our population
was only 100000 or 10000, 900 ought to
suffice when the population has reach
ed 10000, 600" To reach the time when
| population was only 10000 eco we have
to go back to the decade between 1860
and 1870. In 1880, The population had
risen to nearly 63,000,000 people. and
yet the total disbursements of this gov
! eminent were but $3.50 coo 900 in 1899
and $358,OOo,00O In 1890 The argument
Of increase from population is scat
tered to the four winds by a glance at
! the statistical abstract of the United
! States showing receipts and expendi-
lures. 1t is clear business PROPOSE
tlon that, While the total expenditures
/ or a country may increase as popula
ton Increases, the per capita expendi-
! ture ought to diminish. A big business
can be managed more economicauv
! IMAM small one, and there is no in
! crease In the needs Of the navy. for
! example, that at all correspond with in
crease of population. We find. how
| ever, that the per capita expenditure in
| the United States for federal purposes
in the year 1889 was $3.50, and in 1899
S6.08 There was an increase in four
years Of $1.OS per capita in our ex-
penses, or nearly 20 per cent. The
! statement Of these facts is what the
republican press calls "carping."
| Again, the Pioneer Press says that the
people who believe in economy "cayiI
! at the growing annual expenditures for
the navy and for coast defenses. for
getting that, in proportion to popuIa-
ton and wealth, they are no greater
now than they were in the earlier dec
AIDES Of our national history" That
earlier decades" is beautifully vague
We do not have to 60 back to other
decades, but, taking the same
! statistical abstract, we find that, while
in 1889, when the new navy was al
ready under way, the appropriation for
! increase Of the navy was. in round
! numbers, $5,G00,000 it had increased to
! $1O,O00,000 in 1891, to SIS, GOO, 900 in
! 1893, and was over $4,000, coo in 1894
| This increase of 100 per cent in the first
/ two years, aud another 100 per cent in
! the next two after 1891, or a total in
crease Of 200 per cent in four years for
naval construction, seems to make it
unnecessary tc refer to earlier dec
! ades' for az eXpeGiituYe. We do not
cal to mind any period IN our HISTORY
When population Increased 200 Der cent
/ in fo1r years to preserve the "propcr-
item"
Finally, the Pioneer Press, after
showing that extravaganza is both a
virtue ana necessity, adds that con-
gress has not been extravagant after
all. ''The present congress-" it says
editorially, has not, we believe, reach
ed, in its appropriations, the figures Of
its Democratic predecessors Turning
to its news columns in the same is
sue, we find one headed "All Records
Broken" and under it the Associated
Press statement that "the total an
preparations of this congress are far
beyond the billion dollar mark. break
ing the record of former congresses"
This states the real fact Of the case
1t is Of little consequence to us who or
what party is responsible for squan-
dering the peoples money. No one can
1 fail to settle that question for himself
who locks over the record and seees
from the statistics the enormous squirt
upward in every line Of outlay that be-
gan in 1890 with the Inauguration Of
the avowe'1 policy Of diSsipating the
surplus and making new taxation rec
essary. Since that time Republican and
! Democratic congresses have We'd with
one another in keeping appropriations
up TO the highest limit ever known, or
exceeding it. Whoever defends this pol
1 icy in times like the present, whatever
his party relations, is false to the peo-
pie. The nation. like the state the
city and the individual, needs to prac-
tice economy. No such extravaganza
| can be praeticed as has been the ruie
| for the past six years without national
Deterioration and public discomfort