Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1912-12-11

! erence to business could hardly be better.
| While the four years of the administra-
! ton now drawing to a close have not de-
veloped great speculative expansion or
| wide field Of new investment, the recoV-
| cry and progress made from the depress-
! ing conditions following the panic of 1907
| have been steady and the Improvement
! has been clear and easily traced In the
statistics. The business of the country is
now on a solid basis. Credits are not
| unduly extended and every phase Of the
situation seems in a state of prepared
| ness for a period of uneXampled prosper
| ity. Manufacturing concerns are running
| at their full capacity and the demand for
| labor was never so constant and growing
! The foreign trade of the country for TINS
| year will exceed 81, O00, 900 600, while the
! balance in our favor-that of the excess
! OF exports over imports-wil exceed $oOo-
! 600, 000. More than half our exports are
| manufactures or partly manufactured
| material, while our exports of farm pro
! ducts do not show the same increase OF
| domestic consumption. 1t is year OF
( bumper crops the total money value OF
| farm products will exceed SO, 800, 00O,0OO 1t
| is a year when the bushei or unit price
! of agricultural products has gradually
fallen and yet the total value of the en-
tire crop is greater by over $1,000,O000Vo
than we have known in our history.
Condition Of the Treasury.
The condition of the treasury is very
| satisfactory. The total interest-bearing
debt is 1868 III, TO- Of which 1854, $50 con-
| stiute the Panama canal loan. The non
! interest bearing debt is S37S ,2S49O in
| Guiding $346 ST., 016 of greenbacks. We have
| in tlae treasury $3.50, 900 600 in gold coin as
! a reserve against the outstanding green
| backs; and in addition we have cash
/ balance in the treasury as general fund
| Of S167, 1852, 7S99, or an increase of $26.9l9-
$50 over the general fund last year.
Receipts and Expenditures.
For three years the expenditures of the
government have decreased under the in
| f1uence of an effort to economic. This
| year presents an apparent exception. The
estimate by the secretary of the treasury
of the ordinary receipts, exclusive of pos
tai revenues, for the year ending June
| 90 1914 indicates that they will amount
to $40, 900 900. The sum of the estimates
! of the expenditures. for that same year,
| exclusive of Panama canal disburSem ents
| and postal disbursements payable from
! postal revenues is 1872 100000 indicating a
| deficit of S22, 900 GOO. For the year ending
| June 80 1913 similarly estimated receipts
| were S667, 100000, while the total CORE
| spending estimate of expenditures for that
| year, submitted through the secretary of
the treasury to congress, amounted to
1856. 600 000 This shows an increase of
$76, 000, 600 in the estimates for 1914 over
the total estimates of 1913 This is due to
| an increase of S25. O00 900 in the estimate
for rivers and harbors for the next year
! on projects and surveys authorized by
| congress; to an increase under the new
| pension bill Of S32 800, 600; and to an IN
crease in the estimates for expenses of
the nav department of S24,OOOOOO. The
| estinateN9or the navy department for the
| year 1913 included two battleships. Con-
! gress made provision for only one battle
| ship, and therefore the navy department
| has deemed it necessary and proper to
oh, 40 6YGt
| years expenditure for three battleships
in addition to the amount required for
! work on the uncompleted ships now under
! construction. In addition to the natural
! increase in the expenditures for the I'M
| completed ships, and the additional bat
tIeship estimated for, the other increases
are due to the pay required for 1900 or
more additional enlisted men in the navy
| and to this must be added the additional
cost of construction imposed by the
change in the eight-hour law which
makes it applicable to ships built in pri-
| vate shipyards.
TIE president then explained at some
length the national reserve association
system recommended by the monetary
| commission and urged congress to ex-
anime the plan impartially from all
J standpoints and then to adopt some
| plan which will secure the benefits de-
| sired.
Concerning the tariff he had little to
say in view of the fact that new con-
,gress has been elected on a platform
| of tariff for revenue only.
Army Reorganization.
Our small army now consists of SO, S09
| men, excluding the 5000 Philippine scouts
| Leaving out of consideration the coast
! artillery force whose position is fixed in
our various seacoast detenses, and the
! present garrisons of our various insular
| possessions, we have today within the
| continental United States a mobile army
| of only about $1,000 men. This little force
must be still further drawn upon to sup
| ply the new garrisons for the great naval
base which is being established at Pearl
! Harbor in the Hawaiian islands, and to
protect the locks now rapidly approaching
completion at Panama. The forces re-
| naming in the United States are now
scattered in nearly fifty posts, situated
] for a variety of historical reasons in
| twenty-four states. These posts contain
! only fractions of regiments, averaging
! less than 700 men each In time of peace
1 it has been our historical policy to adj
/ minister these units separately by a geo.
graphical Organization. In other words
1 our army in time of peace has never been
/ a united organization but merely scat
tered groups of companies, battalions and
| regiments, and the first task in time of
war has been to create out of these scat
| tered units an army fit for effective team
| work and cooperation.
! To the task of meeting these patent
| defects the war department has been ad-
| dressing itself during the past year. A
/ comprehensive plan of reorganization was
! prepared by the war college division of
l. the general staff. This plan was thor
/ oughly discussed last summer at a series
! of open conferences held by the secretary
| of war and attended by representatives
! from all branches of the army and from
/ congress. In printed form it has been
! distributed to members of congress and
/ throughout the army and the national
! guard. and widely through institutions of
| learning and elsewhere in the United
! States. In it. for the first time, we have
! g tentative chart for future progress.
The National Guard.
Under existing law the national guard
/ constitutes, after the regular army, the
| first line of national defense Its or
ganization. discipline, training, and equip
ment under recent legislation, have been
| assimilated. as far possible, to those
of the regular army, and its practical
| efficiency, under the effect of this train
/ ing, has very greatly increased. Our citi-