Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-09-07
GREAT COST OF
THE PHILIPPINES
To Acquire and Hold Them Has
Cost the United States -Four
Hundred Million Dollars.
ABOUT s3S,ooo,ooo YEARLY.
sum Expended Would Build Forty
Five 2O,OOO-Ton Battleships OF
The Delaware Glass.

New York. Sept. "A Washington
special to the Herald says:
II has cost the United States approx
mately 4OOOOO.OOo TO acquire and hold
the Philippine islands.
That conclusion is fairly warranted
by data presented herewith, and the
Herald has raised the pertinent ques-
ton whether the game IS worth the
candle But when figures soar into
hundreds OF millions the average intelli-
gence fails to grasp their significance
except through process Of comparison.
To give any adequate conception OF the
meaning OF 50 vast sum one must
note what might have been accom-
plished by the expenditure Of $500, 1000, 900
il that river OF wealth had been defect
ed into various other channels Of human
endeavor instead OF having been emp
tied into the Philippine archipelago.
WHAT SUM WOULD DO.
fit had been diverted to purposes OF
national defense. for instance, $500 ,OOO-
900 would have sufiiced 70 build As
2OOOO-ton battleships OF the most pow
nTiul Al04tAA - NN ANNANHNAAA'A - NAAN
Delaware. and thus 10 have given the
United states the most powerful navy
In the world. or Il would be sufficient
to nav for nearly 80 such battleships
and still leave a balance large enough
10 defray the estimated cost Of the
Panama canal. The same sum would
pav for about 100 battleships Of the type
OF the oregon or the Indiana, which
were considered formidable a decade
ago.
recent congressional appropriations
S4OO 600 900 would suffice for the MAIN
tenance Of our present naval establish
ment for four years. the appropriations
FOR the present year having been only
eighty I'm excess Of NoO,ooO'OOO IL
would sustain the United states array,
estimated upon the same basis, more
than Ave years
PENSIONS FOR THREE YEARS.
Fxpended upon coast defense fortid-
cations A would have made our Allan
tic and Pacific seaboards practically
impregnable to attack. II would pay
the federal appropriation for the main
tenance Of the militia OF an the states
in the Union and Hawaii into the bar
gain for period of 200 years, n that
annual appropriation should not eX-
coed the $4,000 900 voted for 1907 on II
would dofray the governments onor-
nous pension fund for nearly three
years. ......
should that vast sum Of 800 100000 be-
devoted 20 less warlike purposes 10
would maintain for two whole years
the entire public school system Of the
NJ states IN the Union which appropu-
ate the largest sums for that purpose,
namely, New York, Pennsylvania, llll-
nois. Massachusetts. ohio, New Jersey,
indiana. Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri aud California Devoted 20
puruoses OF higher education II would
richly ondow a score OF hrst class uni
versities.
Estinatlng the cost Of building ans
furnishing A comfortable modern dwell
ling house al s. 900. n would erect so-
900 such homes, on enough 70 mousse ih'
populA alton Of a large city
IL would mor6 than indemnify san
Francisco Tor AN the losses SUSTAINED
I'M the earthquake aud conhngration
and would leave a balance nearly largo
enough 10 offset ala the other flre lossos
IN me United states FOR the same year.
WOULD PAY FOR ENTERPRISES.
Applied Ia The line OF great public
improvements Of an engineering char
aoter, $500 o0o 900 would pay Tor the
Huez canal. which cost 500 900 ooO the
Erie canal which cost about $50 600 900.
New Yorks Croton water system. which
cost about go .oO0. 900, Central park.
which IL put down "a cost OF SiSiooo,'