The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-08-07

and women devotlnR their time n their
money to soften the hnrdships Of the men
at the front. The aggregate Of these contri-
buttons Of Individual or associated patriot
ism will perhaps never be known. Again
we shall assume arbitrarily that IL will
have been AZ little as $40, 100000 when
the war Is over.
4. Wal claims paid by act of Congress
after the war Tor the destruction OF prop
erty, or for other reasons.
These claims, OF our own citizens and of
the subjects OF other Governments, are here
stated moderately, for the purposes Of our
rough estimate, at 800, 1000, 900.
o. The direct loss to the nations wealth
resulting from the employment in military
service of citizens who would otherwise
have been producers.
This Item properly belongs to the cost OF
the war, and 1t is approximately ascer-
tainable. If we take 100000 as the num-
Der Of citizens withdrawn from peaceful
industry for the space Of a year, and eSti-
mate the average earning capacity at only
$400 a year above the cost of the indivi-
dual's own subsistence, the direct loss &C.
casioned by the diversion from productive
to u~nproductive labor would be 800, 000,-
o for the year.
u. The interest on the war debt.
This country is yet paying interest on its
civil war debt. In round numbers it has
paid to date two billions and a half In inter-
est. The national revenues at the time the
present wal began were inadequate for the
ordinary expenses of the Government in
peace. How much the Wa Revenue act
will produce remains to be seen. Two hun
bred millions of bonded Indebtedness has
already been incurred or Is in process of
being incurred and 1t is an exceedingly
moderate estimate to put the further bonded
Indebtedness ofthe Government on account
of the war at 800. 600, 900. II the nation
Is so fortunate as to pay off Its war debt
without refunding, in ten years, the inter
est charge on account Of the war will
amount to 500, O00,00
z. Pensions.
Here we have a wide margin for c%onjec-
ture and prediction, but the experience
since the war for the Union has not been
such as to encourage q very hopeful esti-
mate of this item of future expenditure.
The nation is not going to be less generous
with the veterans of its war with Spain
IMAM ~ hho bOCu III Iho pubI. ludU ldCls
and all that 1t involves, might as we'll
be faced Squarely now as later. 1t is true
that the number of killed and wounded
in the present war has been relatively
small, but the number of the sick has
been enormous; and it Is sickness in
service and the infrmities resulting there
from that make the pension list what it is
to-day. The conditions of locality and sea-
son and climate which our troops have had
to encounter promise n heavy expenditure
as the years go by. To what figures will the
total amounti How answer that question
when no man can yet answer the same
question concerning the pension cost of
the war that ended q third of a cen.
fury ago3 Nevertheless, there is one way
of reaching a general estimate. Two
billions Of dollars have already been
paid in thirty-four years to the survivors
or the families of the 1900, 600 men,
or Whereabouts, who fought in the North
ern armies. That at least half a billion
dollars more will be paid on the same &C.
count no intelligent person doubts. At the
present rate of pension expenditure it will
require only three or our years to carry the
total to SO, 500, 600. 900. Atleast one soldier
will have been employed in the present
war to every ten soldiers employed in the
armies of the North. The proportionate
charge on account of the war with Spain
would amount, before the last pension is
paid, tofrom $3.50, OOO. 900 to $500, 900. 900.
We shall estimate it at $500, OoO, 900.
We recapitulate these items of expendi-
ture, and add the value of the battleship
Maine, destroyed In Havana harbor on
February 10:
/, Current war expense. SAoo ooo ono