The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1901-01-29
AN EXPENSIVE WAR.
Direct Cost of the South African
Struggle to England.
The Ultimate 0ntIny In Trying TO
Overcome the beers VIII
Amount to "a Mountain
of Money.

The cost of the South African war
has now so greatly exceeded the orig
inal estimates that practically no one
in authority in England seems able
to make definite calculation Of what
it may ultimately amount to. The
7 borrowing powers granted to the
British government by the late par
lament are nearly exhausted, and
heavy arrears, amounting to between
S200,000,00O and $3.50, ,006 900, are press
ing for payment. Against these lia-
bilities the government has about
$75,00O,00O Immediately available, the
unexhausted borrowing power
amounting to $3O,0OO,0OO and the ball
ance of loans issued yet to be paid up
$45,O00,000. OF the payments in arrears
much consists of the pay due the
army and debts to contractors.
The indirect cost has been esti-
mated, and the result is highly inter-
esting, says the New York Sun. In
September last the shrinkage in value
of the full list of securities quoted on
the London stock exchange had, as a
direct consequence of the war,
reached the enormous figure of nearly
81, 100000. The decline in the mar
ket value of consols alone has been
serious, and the fall has been equally
marked in municipal stocks and rail-
way and other obligations The in
crease to the national debt with the
10 h
terest payments has also to be taken
into account. Then there is the ex-
pense of the permanent garrison, esti-
mated at $4,000 men, which will have
to be kept up for an undetermined Pc
riod out of the pocket of the British
taxpayer, for there is no present yis-
ible source of revenue in South Africa
from which the cost can be paid.
But the matter does not end here.
The increase and the reorganization
OF the. army have to be provided for,
and millions will have to be spent in
bringing the stores of ammunition
and other war material up to the. re-
quirements of the new policy. al
ready orders for $30,O0O,OOO worth of
new guns have been placed, to be fol-
lowed by others the amount of which
has not vet been decided on.
1t is not, however, in England only
that the direct cost of the war is
making itself felt by the taxpayers.
The shortage of revenue in Cape Col
ony this year is estimated by the min
lister Of finance at not less than $12,-
915,000, which he proposes to borrow,
though the reception which a pro-
posal to raise a small loan in the Lon
don market few months ago met
with does not seem to encourage fresh
applications in the same quarter. In
the nature of things it will be some
years before the waste and destruc-
tion worked by the war have been
made good, and meantime the course
of trade which in the past was favor
able to Cape Colony will take other
channels. Durham, in Natal, and
Lorenzo Marques are so much nearer
to Bloemfontein and Pretoria than
Cape Town that supplies and traffic
may be expected to take the shorter
routes. This will affect the revenues |
Of Cape Colony derivable from the
railways.
No boom is 20 be looked for after
the war is over, the sacrifices made by
the Cape farmers or imposed on them
having been too great to permit their
out into extravagances of
any kind for long time to come
The reduction of the imperial expen-
diture consequent on the withdrawal
from the country of the great portion
II the British army will cause sud-
len reduction in the trade depending
On it and bring about great curtail-
nent of the profits of those engaged
IN it and on which they depend for
heir living. The latest accounts from
he late Orange Free State describe
t as reduced almost to the condition
IF desert. the Boer honest feads in
uins and the fiocks snd herds either
carried off to supply the wants of the
lrmy of occupation or scattered over
he velct, where they are a prey to
he wild beasts that are making their
appearance in considerable numbers
IS O result Of the disappearance of the
lopulation. The cessation OF the pro-
Iuction of gold during the period of
he war is also among the indirect
osses caused by it.
Americans keeping the Lead.
British railway manufacturers are
= !. .,,..4 - tha manner II, "a hf..t 4l.s.