Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-01
COST OF THE WAR
Approximate Amount Shown by
Some Treasury Figures.
COMPARISONS OF EXPENDITURES
Navy Department Now Nearly on
Normal Basis.
MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT

It is not probable that the exact cost Of
the war with Spain will ever be known
but the approximate amount can be arrived
at from treasury figures obtainable. The
failure to secure the exact figures will be
due to the fact that several millions have
been spent in the civil branches of the
government as a result of the struggle. In
the Treasury Department alone several
hundred clerks were employed last year in
the bond issue. A number of the auditing
offices of the treasury required extra clerks
and still have an increased number. So
does the internal revenue bureau. These
matters, however, are comparatively small
With the exception of the s20,000,0O0 paid
to Spain Saturday the increased expendi-
lures may be considered almost wholly
belonging to the War and Navy Depart
ments. The s2@. o00,oo9 paid to Spain was
charged in treasury expenditures under the
heading of civil and miscellaneous
Some Comparisons.
For the ten months of the present fiscal
year the total expenditures of the govern
ment are given at $3.50 1903. For the
same months of last fiscal year the eX
pendtures were 1913, 763, $50, an increase in
the expenditures of the government or
$500, 500. 42l. This includes the s20,0o0,oW
of the government during the ten months
of this fiscal year have not been materially
different from those of the ten months OF
the previous year. Practically ever cent
of the increase, therefore, is due to the
with Spain. 1t is probable that the
ordinary expenditures of the government
since the first of last July have been less
than they were for the same period of the
previous fiscal year. An instance OF TINS
may be found in pensions For the first
ten months of the fiscal year to close In
two months the pension payments have
been SIG, SSS, ga For the same months OF
the previous year the payments on pen
sions were $124 ,OW,S34, decrease of sAll1,-
$50. This decrease in the one branch OF
expenditures has probably gone into the
increase in the war expenditures, out leaV-
ing this as a Standoff for possible increase
in other branches of the government, the
war has no doubt increased the expendi-
lures of the government fully the amount
already mentioned-s220,5 a3.42 This in
crease, however, is since the first of last
July. Some of the heavy expenses of the
war with Spain were incurred prior to that
in the mcnths of April, May and June of last
year The payments for both the navy and
army jumped to enormous sums in those
months, They were really the months when
most of the preparation for war was gong
on and when the army was getting to-
gether troops and ammunition and the navy
recruiting its vessels.
comparison of the expenditures for the
army and navy in those months and the
follows, the figures for both being put to-
gether:
April ...... s7,os1, o9s April. -. s11, 75e s4s
June........ 6, 449,93S june. 22,179,SS7
In these two departments, for the three
months mentioned, the increase in eXpendi-
lures was $54, 9S4, 376. This is to be added
to the total of the ten months already
given, making the increased expenditures
since the inception of the war with Spain,
500. 577, 797..
over $500, 0OO,0 900.
The expenses of the navy again be-
coming something like normal, while the
army, of course, is spending many millions
each month more than it did in peace times.
Besides the continual expenses of the army,
many obligations incurred are yet to be
met. 1t is not improbable that when
everything has been paid, and everything
again becomes nearly normal, the expenses
resulting from the war with Spain Will
have reached considerably above X}0oWO-
900 This will not include the expenses
which may be incurred after the next few
months in the Philippines, and will not in
clude the increase in pensions. AS the re-
suit of the war with Spain the pension roll
will begin to increase with the next fiscal
year unless many of the veterans of the
civil war disappear and materially re-
duce the pension roll to allow heavy in
crease in payments to veterans of the
Spanish war.
In the month of April Of this year the dis
burSementS on account of the navy were
81, 62S co. which is something like normal
figures In April 1897, the payments to the
navy were s2,744,O7s; May. 81, 537,576 June,
81, 3d. 1t is probable that the navy will
never again spend SO little money, and the
amount given for April of this year is
somewhere near what the figures will here
after run.
The navy was in better shape for the war
vi ST,ai in han ha IDarIp rfrn md
has been able to much more quickly reduce
its expenses.
War Department Expenditures.
The military establishment of the United
States cost the government a little over
$3o,o%",11 year for the five years from
1893 to 1897. The three. months of April,
May and June of 1893 this total to
about $io,HD,0O0 above the average. Since
that time the expenditures have been enor
nous. The figures for period of five years