The record-union., 1899-08-24
PAY FOR The
NEW TROOPS.
Secretary Of the Treasury Gage Has
a Task Before Him
As to How TO Raise Sufficient Funds for
the Largely Increased Army.
The Expense of Additional Trans
pOrtatiOn and the Greatly In
creased Cost of Subsistence Cut
a Large Figure in the Future
Expenditures Of the Govern
AMI

WASHINGTON, Aug. %. - Secretary
Gage is engaged in the task of ascer-
tanning whence the funds are to come
with which to pay the large increas-
ing army recently determined upon by
the President and Secretary Root. This
increase makes demands on the Treas
ury that may we'll cause some concern
among it's chief officials. The receipts
of the Government did not meet the eX-
traordinary expenditures when the
army was smaller and the problem of
how to meet the cost of 10000 addition
al troops gives the Treasury Depart
ment some uneasiness.
These increased expenditures cannot
even be approximately figured out. The
mere question of additional transporta-
ton, the greatly increased cost of sub
sistence which. with the army thou
sands Of miles away, will require the
expenditure Of millions of dollars: the
added cost of new equipment for 3d.
600 men and the innumerable items
that go to make an effective fighting
army, properly clothed, thoroughly
equipped for duty and welL fed. All
these things are expensive, and their
cost is more or less conjectural. Pay
master General Bates says it would be
impossible to give rough idea of the
cost of a regiment or of the military
establishment in the Philippines with
out weeks of careful investigation of
accounts. This is now being done for
the annual report of the Secretary, and
until definite figures are known, the
PaymaSter-G Department will
not make guess.
With plans matured, therefore, that
involve expenditures running well up
i into nine figures, Secretary Gage, on
whom is placed the responsibility of
providing funds, has begun to take his
bearings and prepare to meet these new
| demands. The Administration is un-
willing to make another bond issue,
but, if it cannot be avoided, this will
be done.
/ Secretary Gage has ample authority,
| it is asserted, to issue more bonds for
the prosecution Of the war in the Phil
ippines.
The war revenue law authorized the
issue of $100000,000 worth of certifi-
Gates of Indebtedness and S400, 900
| worth of bonds Two hundred million
dollars worth Of these bonds were Of
fered at popular subscription and sub
scribed five times over. The law says
that the proceeds of the sale of these
bonds shall be used ito defray expend-
itures authorized on account Of the ex-
listing war (such proceeds, when re-
ceived, to be used only for the purpose
of meeting such war expenditures. 1t
is held by the law officers of the Gov
ernment that the insurrection in the
Philippines is to all intents and pur-
poses a part of 1.-The existing war with
Spain, for when the law was enacted
the present condition of affairs may
have been anticipated. Congress, too,
authorized the increase in the army af-
ter peace was declared and at a time
when it was known the only use to
which it was to be put was in main
tanning peace in the new possessions
and quelling instructions. For these
reasons it has been held that the Sec
retary of the Treasury has full authori-
ty still further to encroach upon the
securities authorized by the revenue
act.
1t can be said on the authority of
Treasury officials who have been giving
the matter careful study for several
weeks that the Fifty-sixth Congress
by the act of June 13, 1898 In some
quarters the clamor for a reduction of
these taxes has already begun, but the
enormous expenditures to be incurred
in the next two years not only forbids
curtailing of these special taxes, but
requires an enlargement of the general
scheme and a stoDpage of the holes
through which those supposed to have
been taxes have escaped.
From an ordinary internal revenue
taxation last year the receipts were, in
round numbers, $173,000,000. The war
revenues yielded in round numbers
500. .O0O,0 900. With the customs duties
and miscellaneous receipts added, big
deficit followed at the end of the fiscal
year. 1t is admitted that the customs
duties ought not to be further in
creased The only source, therefore,
from which additional revenue can be
derived is from war taxes or bonds, or
both
Errors that crept into the revenue
law-errors unavoidable owing to the
haste necessary in effecting it's enact
ment-in some cases have defeated the
intentions of Congress, while in others
the courts have decreased the antici-
I6NeduSS q DGCllOH ~ Ol lllC Id w
regulating the taxes on patent medi-
cines, etc, exempt from stamp taxes
amy uncompounded medicinal drug or
medicine" Under decision of Judge
Brown of the New York District Court
this clause lifted out of the list of pro-
prietary medicines that were supposed
| to be- taxed nearly all coal tar products
and every conceivable drug or chemical
that can by any means be brought
within the definition of the word ''un-
compounded
This, the internal revenue officials
say. has cost the Government thou
sands of dollars. The effort will be
made to persuade Congress to remedy
this defect in the law SO that this dis
crimination cannot exist. Congress will
also be asked to remove the ambiguity
/ of the language imposing a stamp tax
on proprietary medicines so as to in
clude many that have hitherto been
able to escape through technicalities
and by the Disgusting of their products
The revenue from the tax on proprie-
tary medicines is not so large as was