The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-09-18

DC merely nominal. The recruiting
offices are maintained anyway, and
there is no additional expense for rem
devious because sites owned by the
government are chosen. In one in
stance the camp is under a lease not
yet expired.
For clerical help In the eastern sta
tons there is no extra cost, as the work
is done by men taken from the ranks
OF recruits. 1t costs the government s13
a month for an enlisted clerk doing
work for which civilian would be paid
SIS or 800.
The following table gives all the costs
which can be charged against the new
regiments so far as the same can be
ascertained, even approximately:
FoR AN INFANTRY REomESr or 1900 MEN.
..ot.nlns..'. ..'''.',.............. $4,000
10000
subsistence, three months. .a............. 5000
1 - nohths. ...................... 10000
transportation 10 San Francisco. ......... $1,000
transportation from San Francisco to Ma.
Mia (authors estimate) .......... 90 900
iotai' s215,000
The lowest rate found for regiment
from New York to San Francisco is
s30,50O for 1900 men. The rate would
decrease from points west. but there
are full local fares paid from remote
sections to the general rendezvous
where competing lines enter in.
The cost from San Francisco to
Manila is based upon the carrying
capacity Of a transport chartered at
5000 per day, and accommodating a
regiment OF about 1900 men.
1t will be three months from the time
the work of recruiting the new regi-
ments begins before the first one
reaches the Philippines, and. making all
allowances for late enlistments, the
government must pay and maintain the
volunteers on the average at least three
months in order to place them at the
front. Before the Spanish war 1t cost
the government an average of $3.50 to
recruit, clothe and equip a soldier and
transport him to his regiment. Accord
ing to the figures in the above table the
cost per man for volunteers sent to the
Philippines Is $165. With the cost of
recruiting. organizing and wear and
tear added the sum might reach 5000.
The expenditures from the ordinary
appropriations for the maintenance of
the regular army of 25. 900 men for the
fiscal year ending June so, 1898, was
about $25,0OO0 600, or 1000 per man. 1t
may be assumed that this was the av-
erage cost in peace times. The items
enumerated in the war department ta-
BILE are for pay, including that of all
general and staff officers, subsistence,
quartermasters' supplies, transporta-
ton, clothing and medical and ordinance
departments. Atleast one half of the ex-
penditures on the home establishment
are of a nature not to be considered in
estimating the ordinary cost of MAIN
tanning $4,000 men for Philippine serv-
ice.
But war in the Philippines calls for
extraordinary expenditures. too vast
and too uncertain to be computed, ex-
penditures incidental to a state of war
fare, and therefore not belonging in
the class with those incurred in MAIN
taining home army in time of peace.
In the item of pay alone, for instance,
20 per cent must be added for the troops
while on duty in the Philippines. The
cost of subsistence must necessarily be
heavily increased and the loss by de-
struction of military property, with the
wear and tear of equipments and ma
terial, is also extraordinarily heavy,
even for war.
The war department estimates are
suggestive in this connection. For the
year ending June go 1898, for $4,000 men,
$25. 100000. The estimate for the year
ending June 30. 1899. was about the
same, but during the six months ending
June 80, 1899, the estimates for ex-
traordinary expenditures called for an
additional $4,000. 900. The estimate for
the year ending June 80, 1900. call for
about $l50.O0O.000 to cover the same
items covered in 1898 by $25, 00O OOO The
strength of the army for 1S99-190O was
doubtless placed at 100, 900 men,
The item for pay for the year is four
times as great as for the peace estimate
of 1878; for subsistence, transporta-
ton and clothing, each. IL times as
much for 1S99-1900 as for 1875 and
that for quartermasters' supplies seven
times as great Thus it appears that
while the expenditures for pay are pro-
portionate to the number of troops
other expenditures are extraordinary.