Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-12-10
stead of allowing them to dwell /,

stead of allowing them to dwell in
idleness, living upon charity.
The statement of expenditures and
estimates presents some formidable
figures. The expenditures for the fis.
cal year ended June 20 last were $685.
534,7S4, and the estimates for the next
fiscal year, beginning July /, 1899, are
S105,250,377. OF this great estimate
the sum of $55,430, 900 is charged tC
pay the army. The estimate of y.
traordinary appropriations required
for the six months ending June 30,
1899, are $60,1 $50, and the estimates
for that period, combined with those
for the next fiscal year, reach a total
Of $255,427,017.
At this point the secretary includes
IN his report the reports of General
Miles and oil the other generals who
participated in active operations. He
then takes up the Geographic and
other correspondence 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 as far as
possible, although in instances the
secretary prcfaces them with short
notes, explanatory of the reasons
which led to their transmission.
Next follow a 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
tary academy, for instance, he in
dorses the recommendation for an in
snnt nf tha ..,ln. - .a1aNa INr
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 y. adjutant generals recon-
mendd~oys, 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
by the adiutant 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 to.
Treating Of the q~uartermastcr gen.
erals report the secretary picks out an
interesting fact. He shows that the
government purchased 36,sOO horses
and mules, 5,170 wagons, $50 ambu.
lanccs and S3,07S tons of coal, and
chartered ~ vessels and purchased 1G
steamships. The cost of transporting
the Spanish prisoners to Spain was
$~1,j13,ssO. The graves of the soldiers
mt Santiago, in Puerto Rico and the
Philippines have been marked and
their remains will he brought home as
soon as the plans are completed.
IN the subsistence department the
secretary finds an urgent need for n
rcgipentaI commissary and also for a
cOmmissaIy sergeant for each rcgi-
mcnt.
Discussing the surgeon generals re-
port, he says il was Il mistake TO detail
regimcntal surgeons to large hospitals,
but this could not have been avoided
and division and general hospitals,
which were Indispensable, maintained.
Ample provision should be made TO
supply the 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
utcd in Il 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 Ia Surgeon General StcrnbCrg's
circular of instruction 10 the army, is
sued April %, and says had it been
strictly followed less sickness would
have resulted.
He feels that Il force of practical en-
giuccrs, skilled i'm electricity, should
be provided and that a large number of
engineers should be educated ut West
Point, 50 that an officer can be placed
permanently with each river and har-
hor project. These projects should
also receive the recommendation of a
board OF skilled engineers before APP
preparations are made for them.
The manufacture Of the krag-JOr-
gcnscn, or u similar magazine gun,
should continue until we have, AT an
early date, at least 100000 Of these
arms in our arScnals with Il 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.