Evening star., 1899-03-06

TO be made by Congress. amounting to
about sIoooaeeo. OF this amount s44.0aa.o0O
is for additional ships for the navy. S22-
100000 Is for work on rivers and harbors
and something over s3.000.o00 is for public
buildings. The contract system is of neces-
sity applied to the construction Of new
warships. which require periods of years
for their construction. In the case of river
and harbor improvements and the construc-
tion of public buildings experience has
shown that the authorization Of contracts
tends materially 10 expedite and cheaper
the same
Mr.. Dockery's Statement.
Mr.. Dockery of Missouri. the ranking
democratic member of the House appropri-
auons committee. made the following state
ment giving the democratic view:
This Congress easily surpasses all its
predecessors I'm the stupendous aggregate
of its appropriations. II was thought thar
the ttty-hrst Congress. commonly known
as the 'billion-dollar Congress had-,in
point of extravaganza OF appropriation
touched a limit which would not be reach
ed, or at least surpassed. by any Of its sue
cessors.
This Congress however has far excaed-
ed the appalling total of approximations
then made, and IL will be remembered that
the 'billion-dollar Congress- was followed
by overwhelming disaster to the republican
party al the ensuing election.
Confronted with a war with Spain ra
quiring the imposition Of additional taxa
tion, 1t is obvious that rigid economy should
nave been applied in all other directions
TO the expenditure of public money. The
people were willing to meet all the demands
upon the national treasury made necessary
by the Spanish war, but IL Is fair to pre-
sumo that they expected their representa-
uVes, in view Of the cheerful disposition
manifested to met these added burdens TO
limit the ordinary appropriations to the ne
cessities of a wise and economical adminis-
4N Nflf ions ha.r
realized.
The Probable Deficit.
THE result is an actual deficiency in
current revenues amounting on the Ist OF
this month to 500. 109 55450 This def
cheney as shown by the recent conservative
estimate by Chairman Cannon Of the ap-
preparations committee, will probably reach
Sl59,oo00o0 on the Both of June next.
1T is impossible to estimate with abso-
lutte accuracy the treasury deficiency for
me coming fiscal year. The Secretary of
the treasury, in his annual report made in
December last, estimated ii at about SBl .OOO-
600, but 1t is now apparent that il will not
be less than sl0O,000.O00. II is almost GER
tain, therefore. that the government will
be compelled during the calendar year 1900
to face an actual treasury deficiency. The
Sl62,ooOo0 of income arising from the sale
of bonds under this administration and
that of President Cleveland will then have
been exhausted. and the treasury will pass
from the condition of a borrowed surplus TO
an actual deficit. Such a condition must be
met, either by increased taxation or by the
issue of treasury certificates or by an
additional bond issue.
Notwithstanding this deplorable treas
ury situation, which has been called over
and over again to the attention Of Con-
gress and the country, appropriations have
been made which in many cases have not
been warranted by the interests of the pub
lie service, or which. II proper in them
selves, should have been postponed until
the national income should be ample to
meet all its liabilities without the nAces-
sity of bond issues.
oiiifon-Doiinr Congress Surpassed.
The appropriations of the original bill
ion-dolar Congress- amounted to s1.O35,-
$50, 1o9.S4. The appropriations of the Con-
gress just ended reach the mighty aggre-
gate of 81. $50, $40 016 2S.
II is fair TO deduct from this total $751;
562,0S3.4 made necessary to meet the Ha-
biities of the Spanish war. So If We deduct
from the grand total the Liabilities ac-
count of the war with Spain, II appears that
the appropriations for the ordinary expenses
of the government are $1.0S4 .327 ..s32. 81. The
appropriations of the Congress just ended
to meet the ordinary governmental
penses exceed those of the preceding (Fifty-
fourth) Congress by $40. "a. .ti5s. a. Not only
this, but the contract liabilities authorized
by the Congress just expired for new ships
and their armament, public buildings. rivers
and harbors. and miscellaneous items.
amount to S70,6t2, 524. If therefore TO the
ordinary appropriations is added the LA
hilities on account of these authorized con-
tracts, we ascertain that the appropriations
and contract liabilities amount to the tre-
mendous total of 81 154 $50 45G 81
These increased appropriations have
gone for French spoliation claims. public
buildings, rivers, harbors. Bowman act
claims and hundreds Of other projects some
meritorious, but many of them not entitled
to recognition by the national government
In nearly every branch of the civil service
of the government there has been an in
crease of appropriations.
The time has come to reform the scale
of national expenditures. The reckless i'm
providence of the outgoing Congress Will
at least serve the good purpose of arousing
the people, and of causing them to send
representatives to the national capital who
will reduce the burdens imposed by riotous
appropriations"