The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-03-03

Il rNA0btSVVtVNN'
this list Is not complete, for It leaves
out OF account all permanent appro-
| prlations; n number OF petty annual APP
appropriations which individually seem
incons!derable. but would swell the
aggregate by some thousands; and
finally, the proportional but inseparnble
shares OF large general appropriations
which: some OF the enumerated items
ought to have added 20 them. This last
category includes the court costs. the
legal fees, ETC., involved in defending
the government against suits on war
claims; the cost OF housing several OF
tho pension offices in government build
ings. oil OF which goes into the account
OF the treasury department as custo-
dian OF these buildings; and the like.
One additional item we cannot afford
to pass over, because It Is SO easy OF
calculation and makes SO large a part
of the grand total. This is the. bonded
debt OF the nation. In 1850 the national
debt stood at an almost insignificant
fgure-less than se5,000, 900. BY 1865 It
had risen &c. salts, 2eS, 173, In consequences
OF the civil war and Its economic at-
termath. BY heroic efforts and many
sacrifices we have succeeded In cutting
down the principal OF the debt to a lit
tie more than $500, 900, 900, and its an
nual interest charge to 1874, SS7. 3l5; hence
the proportion OF interest alone which
may now be set down as an annual
burden lmposed by the civil war Is
about s93OOO,oOO. Pos;erlty will have
the principal 10 pay: so that, formid-
able as II appears, that need not enter
into our present calculation. The inter-
n n n A. na1 IN a fat sOf a. na~
annual appropriations already noted In
our table. brings the grand total up to
about SIS. o00, 900.
Here, then, We have the amount OF
money still squeezed out Of the pockets
OF our own people in a single year--and
not an extravaganza year, either-as
their contribution towards a war which
was fought before a majority OF our
present taxpayers were born or had
attained responsible age.
No statistics can tell the whole story
II all to dollars and cents. The charge
upon our whole people for pension Is
only part OF the total pension charge:
Florida. Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and
Virginia are supporting their own PEN
sioners who fought In the Confederate
army, and as a state tax the money
for each pension payroll or soldiers
home must come out OF the pockets OF
the people Of the state concerned.
Again, In several OF the states the peo-
Pile are still paying interest charges on
money advanced to equip regiments,
bounties to encourage enlistments, etc
Not q few northern states are support
ing soldiers' homes OF their own, to
which the federal government merely
contributes certain sum, as noted-in
our table; and to these must be added
such direct and indirect expenditures as
the erection Of war monuments by
state appropriations, the remission Of
taxes to veterans, and the increase Of
insanity and pauperism demanding re-
lief from the state treasures, and trace
able to the losses and misery entailed
by the civil wcr.
The necessary limits OF space forbid
deeper research into this subject But
though merely the surface has been
upturned. has II not disclosed enough to
raise the question, how much further
the world might have advanced In civil
lizatIon and comfort of living II this
great volume OF money had been turned
into the channels o. industry and pop
ular education instead Of being wasted
on the spilllng Of blood and the destruc-
ton OF property?