Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1899-03-11
APPROPRIATED BY CONGRESS.
Half Billion Dollars OF War ExpenaAs
Swell the Appropriations of the
Fifty-Fifth Congress-

statement Of Representative Joseph G..
Cannon, of Illinois, the chairman of
the house appropriations committee,
summing up the appropriations of the
Fifty-fifth congress, shows an aggre.
gate appropriation by the entire con.
gress OF $l.566, ,S90,0l6, and, for the
session Just closed a total of S673,6jS,.
400, with authority for contracts sub.
ject to future appropriations amount.
ing to S70,000,000 Chairman Cannon.
statement in full follows:
"The appropriations made at the ses.
sion of congress just closed amount ap.
proximately to S673 1858, 400, and show
an apparent reduction of $2l9,573,00O
under the appropriations made at the
preceding session.
Sweiied by War Expenses.
'This is attributable to the large ex.
penses occasioned by the war with
Spain that were provided for during
the preceding session.
The entire appropriations made by
the Fifty-tifth congress aggregate ST.,
SOC, $3.50, 0,0l6,2S, OF this sum $iS2 ,562,
0S341 is directly chargcable to our late
war with Spain, or incident thereto.
Deducting this charge from the whole
amount of the appropriations, the re-
mainder, $lOS4 1921 ,632.s1, represents
the ordinary or normal appropriations
made by the Fifty-tfth congress.
Appropriations by the Preceding Congress-
The appropriations made by the pre-
ceding congress, the Fifty-fourth,
amounted to 81, ,044, ,530,213.S7. 4 com.
parison shows an increase in ordinary
appropriations made by this congress
over those made by that congress, the
Fifty-fourth, of $3o,747,000; but this
apparent increase is more than &C.
counted for by increases under eight
items alone, namely, for pensions, $4,-
100000; for the postal service, $16,00O,.
600; for rivers and harbors, including
work under contracts previously au.
thorized, $3,6O0,0O0; for new ships for
the navy, $6,000,000; for beginning
the work Of the twelfth census, 81 900.
900; for the Paris exposition, 81 200 900;
for new public buildings, including the
building for the department Of justice,
and for site and partial construction
of the new government printing Office,
about $5,O00,000. and for payment of
judgments rendered against the gov
ernment on account Of the French
spoliatons, and under the Bowman
act, $3,1o0,000.
Natural and Necessary Increases.
These very natural and necessary in
creases in public expenditures on ac-
count Of the pension lisr, the growth OF
the postal service in response to the
demands of commerce, the improve
ment of the great waterways of the
country and for increase of the navy,
the construction of the needed build
ings to accommodate the government
service in the cities of the country, the
taking Of the census, the participation
of the nation in the great exposition to
be held at Paris next year, and the
payment OF the French spoliation judy
mcnts and Bowman act cases so long
considered by and pressed upon con-
gress. aggregate $50, ,900, ,00O-more than
dissipating the entire apparent in
crease in the ordinary appropriations
by this congress over those made by
the Fifty-lourth congress.
Contracts Authorized.
In addition TO the direct appropria-
tions made at this session, contracts
were authorized subject to future ap-
preparations to be made by congress,
amounting TO about S70,OO0,0o0 OF
this amount. Sf4,000.000 is for addi-
tional ships for the navy, S22,jO0,000 is
for work on rivers and harbors, and
something over $3,0COoO0 is for public
buildings.
The contract system is of necessity
applied TO the construction of the war
ships, which require periods of years
for their construction. In the case of
river and harhor improvements and
the construction of public buildings,
experience has shown that the author
ization of contracts tends materially to
expedite and cheaper the same