The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1898-12-10

ne statement OF expenditures and
estimates presents some formidable
nglires ~ The expenditures for the As.
cal year ended juno 80 last were $751;
s34,7s4, and the estimates for the next
fiscal year, beginning July i, 1900. are
$195, 2a0,377. OF this great estimate
the sum of S55,430,909 is charged tn
pay the army. The estimate OF ex-
.raolsiinary appropriations required
9 q six months ending June 30.
!SOo, are $60,177, $40, and the estimates
Tor b n period, combined with those
9 y next fiscal year, reach d total
of $255,427,91
AZ this point the secretary includes
IN MS report the reports Of General
Niles and all the other generals who
participated in active operations. He
then takes up the Geographic and
other correspondents relating to the
war, and that matter occupies more
than a fourth of the secretary,s whole
report. As already stated, the dis
patches are allowed to tell the story
OF the war without comment us far as
possible, although in Instances the
secretary prefaces them with short
notes, explanatory of the aso
which led to their transmission.
Next follow q number Of reports of
various officers and officials to the sec
rotary OF war, some of which are in
dorsed by the secretary. OF the mill
larry academy, for instance, he in
dorses b Recommendation for an In
crease Of the number Of cadets by
twenty annually, to be appointed by
the president, and one by each sem
ator to supply the officers needed for
the army of the future.
OF the adjutant generals recom-
mendations. the secretary says they
are Judicious and merit the favorable
consideration of congress. Instead of
increase OF pay for officers serving in.
the West Indies and Philippines to the
next higher grade, as recommended
~ n adjutant general, the secretary
thinks that the pay of those officers,
as well as those in Alaska, should be
increased so per cent while they are
SO serving, because Of the additional
expense they are put tc.
Treating of the quartermaster gen.
erais report the secretary picks out an
interesting fact. He shows hat the
government purchased 36,sO0 horses
and mules, 5,l79 wagons, $50 ambu-
lances and s3,07s tons Of coal, and
chartered n vessels and purchased 16
steamships. The cost of transporting
the Spanish prisoners to Spain was
$l,6l3,ss0. The graves Of the soldiers
At Santiago, in Puerto Rico and the
philippines have been marked and
their remains will be brought home as
soon as the plans are completed.
In the subsistence department the
secretary finds an urgent need for a
regiuental commissary and also for a
commissary sergeant for each regi-
ment.
Discussing the surgeon generals re.
port he says it was q mistake to detail
~regi1nental surgeons to large hospitals,
but this could not have been avoided
and division and general hospitals,
which We're Indispensable, maintained.
Ample provision should be made to
supply h places of surgeons who fall
sick. One Of the great mercies of the
campaign was the women nurses.
The secretary says the Red Cross
and other relief associations contrib
uted in q very large degree to the care
and comforts of our sick soldiers and
should receive the grateful thanks OF
the nation. The secretary calls atten-
ton to Surgeon General Sternbsrg's
circular Of instruction to the army, is
sued April Is, and says had it been
strictly followed less sickness would
have resulted.
lie feels that a force of practical en-
gineers, skilled in electricity, should
be provided and that a large number Of
engineers should be educated at West
Point, so that an officer Fan be placed
permanently with each river and har-
Dor project. These projects should
also receive the recommendation of a
board of skilled engineers before ap.
preparations r made for them.
The manufacture Of the krng-Jor-
gensen, or O similar magazine gun,
should continue until we have, at an
early date, ut least 100000 Of these
arms in our a~rsenals with q full sup
ply OF ammunition.
The entire report of the secretary of
forms one Of the most voluminous
documents OF the kind ever issued
from the war department.