The evening times., 1901-10-11
COST OF THE SPANISH War.
Totals Of Expenditures !oT the
Army and Navy.

During the Past Four Years They
Reached - @.0OO. .oOO-Lutc Treas
ury Reports show Decreased Re
ccipts-The Rivers and Harbors.
There are indications, based upon re-
turns now being received at the Treasury.
that the coming months Will show CON
siderable falling off i'm internal revenue
receipts as the result of the recent lcEis-
Iation in reducing and aboIishinE war
taxes For the ten days of this month
there is a decrease of $2.g37.i05. compared
with the same ten days Of October. 1900
This is "a marked falling of considering
that the decrease for tn, three months
ending September 80 was less than $1,000
uun. and suggests that il is unsafe at this
time To- estimate what the full effect Of
the reduction Of taxes will be ON the rcve-
uues for the current fiscal year 1t is not
likely. however. that the estimate made
by the committees of Congress when the
reduction bill was pending will Doe realized.
and that the decrease will reach &5.ooO.o09
unless there should he "a paralysis in the
business of tha country. But whatever
the reduction in revenue it is certain to
De met and perhaps overcome by the re-
duction in expenditures.
For the three months ending with Sep
temher there was "A reduction of upwards
of 5000 600. compared with the CORE
spending months of 1900. This came from
reduced expenditures in the War and
Navy Departments. mainly in the former
This reduction viii continue for some
months. although not perhaps in the pro-
portion thar has marked the figures n the
first quarter Of the year
a year ago we were maintaining an
army in the field Of 100000 men, which
number has been reduced 60 about 1900.
SO that we may look for corresponding
reduction in expenditures on that account
Prior to the war with Spain the average
annual cost Of maintaining the military
establishment as represented by the War
Department was about S5I.O0O,0O0 This
includes the expenditures on account Of
rivers and harbors, which may be set
down at about $20005.eJ0 q year. Il is
very doubtful whether the expenses Of
the War Department viii in future years,
and so long as an army Of 1900 or 5000
is maintained. fall much short Of a round
Sl0O. .u00. oO0 The act Of Congress fixes the
maximum strength at 10000
The figures showing the cost of the
War and Navy Departments for the four
years ended with June 80 last. are an in
teresting study. and compared with the
preceding four years may be regarded as
showing the cost of the war with Spain
and the cost Of the conditions created as
the result II that war
The war began in April, 1895, and the
first cNueULitures on account Of II appear
I'm the Treasury report for the fiscal year
ended June 20. 1855 The army having
been reduced TO what we may now re-
gard as the permanent peace footing by
the act Of February >. 1901. the volunteers
having been discharged July ! Of this
year IL may be assumed that the entire
expenses OF the war with Spain and its
resultant consequences are embraced In
the reports for the four years ending
with June. 1901 In those four years the
disbursements by warrants on account OF
the War Department aggregated S6l3.-
. 6fA.I45 and on account of the Navy De
partment S22S .J24. .4O4, total OF $si2. .153 l49
In the four years
u should be explained that included in
these figures are the expenditures on ac-
count Of river and hBrbUr improvements
and increase Of the navy. but. as there
is comparatively little difference between
the expenditures on these two accounts.
compared with the preceding four years,
their inclusion does not impair the value
Of the comparison made 10 determine the
cost of the Spanish war.
The annexed table shows the cXpendi-
lures for the army and navy for the last
eight fiscal years. II IS divided into two
/ periods Of four years each. the first period
embracing the fouc years Immediately
preceding the war H. a.. ..