Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1887 — THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. [ARTICLE]

THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.

•From the annual report of Secretary of War Endicott, which is a very • lengthy document, wo glean the following points: The expenditures of the department for the last fiscal year amounted to $41,386,155, while the estimates for the next fiscal year will aggregate $53,338,710. An increase is demanded on account of public works, including river and harbor improvements, and for the military establishment and the army and military academy. The Secretary strongly approves of the recommendation contained in General Sheridan’s report touching the extension of all possible aid by the General Government to the national guard of the different States, and suggesting a system of national encampment for State militia at the entire expense of the National Government, Attention is called to the fact that the Pacific coast is destitute of fortifications, guns and armament of every description, while ban Francisco is without a single gun which can he fired with safety with the present charges of powuer and modem projectiles. Favorable indorsement is also given to the Lieutenant General's recommendation that the present strength of the navy be increased by 6,000 men; and particular attention is called to the importance of an increase of the artillery. In concluding his report the Secretary says: “The result of the examinations for promotion under the civil-service regulations which were applied to the war department in Mav were satisfactory. The total number of clerks examined was 1,014, of whom 963, or 95 per cent., passed, and of this number 353, or 33 per cent, obtained an average above 93 per cent ; fiftyone, or 5 per cent., failed to pass, their average being loss than 75 per cent. The annual report of Attorney General Garland gives a full account of the business of the Department of Justice during the last fiscal year, together with statistics of crime against the United States: The number of ordinary suits now pending in the Court of Claims is 1,110, involving the sum of $13,250,000. The number of cases filed under the Bowman act is 1,819, involving about $60,000,000. The petitions filed in French spoliation cases number 5,560, representing 2,486 vessels and about $30,000,000. The amount

reported In favor of claimants in eightyone of these cases passed upon is about $425,000, varying from $66 to $45,318. During the last fiscal year, 1,777 civil suite were terminated. In 923 of these judgments were for the United States, in 1(E for the defendants, -26 were appealed from the District to the Circuit Court, and 14 from the Circuit Court to the Supreme Court. There were pending July 1, 4,054 civil suits, in which the United States was a party. During the year there were 12,907 criminal prosecutions, mostly for violations of customs and internal revenue laws. The Attoney General calls attention to the suggestions and recommendations made bv him in his last annual report in regard to matters calling for remedial legislation, and again urges the necessity of immediate action thereon. These subjects are as follows : Fees of Marshals in the Territories, pay of Deputy Marshals, revision of the fee Dili, substitution of fiscal -for calender year, protection to civil officers and witnesses, fees of witnessea and jurors, criminal procedure, perjury. and laws and juries in the District of Columbia. Contrary to usual custom, the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury was not sent to Congress this year until the day after the President’s message nad been read. It is a very lengthy paper, and we have space for only a brief synopsis. The report shows that the receipts of the Government for the last fiscal year were $371,405,277, and the expenditures $315,835,423. There was an increase in the receipts of $34,963,550 over those of the preceding year, and tho expenditures were increased by $25,449,041. Tho revenues for the present year are estimated at $383,000,000, and the expenditures at $316,817,785. The Secretary advises a reduction of the customs duties on the lines suggested in the President’s message. The Secretary give i three ways in which the receipts and expenditures of the Government may be mads about equal: 1. The purchase of the interest-bearing debt of tho Government. 2. Larger expenditures by Government for other purposes than the purchase of bonds, bo that they shall each year equal the taxation of that year. 3. Reduction of the revenue from taxation to the amount actually required to meet necessary expenses. I cannot believe that Congress will adopt the second expedient, viz.: The enlargement of Government expenses simply to expend money ruised by taxation when the public weal does not otherwise call for the expenditure. As to the third plan, Mr. Fairchild says: Reduction of the revenue from taxation is the only fit remedy for the evils which threaten the country. This may be accomplished in various ways. One is to reduce or abolish internalrevenue taxation. In favor of this is the fact that iu a small part of the Soutnem States the internal tax on liquors and tobacco is thought to be oppressive and is odious to the people of those regions, and the further fact that by the reduction the expenses of its collection might be somewhat reduced. The chief cause for the prejudice against this tax seems to be that as there was no such tax before the war for the Union it is looked upon as a reminder of the measures adopted to raise money to carry on tho war, and which ought not to be continued in time of peace. Taxation there must be. The choice is between kinds of taxation; each man can decide for himselt. if he will examine the subject free from prejudice, which is the leant buraens.ime for him. for his family, and for his neigh hors, and which is in the end better for his whole country. That internal taxation of spirits and tobacco began during the. war is not a rea on why it soould be done away with now, if it be in itself wise. So the fact that the rates of customs taxation were raised during the same war far higher than ever before in our history, and have been continued until now, ought not to determine the manner of their treatment; this should rather depend upon what is just and expedient at the present time. Neither passion, prejudice, nor sentimentality should have place in the consideration of questions of taxation. As to the expense of collecting the internal revenue, i suggest that an amalgamation of the enstoms and internal revenue systems is entirely feasible, and that thereby a large number of offices might bo abolished, and that the expense of the whole system might he made not to exceed that of an efficient enforcement of the customs laws. * * * put it is not well either to abolish or reduce internal-revenue taxation; it is a tax upon whisky, beer, and tobacco, things which are in very'small measure necessary to the health or happiness of mankind. If they are necessary to any unfortunate man, they are far less necessary even to him than are a thousand other articles which the Government taxes. This tax is the least burdensome, the least unjust of all the taxes which the Government lays or can lay upon the people ; it should not be abolished, nor should it be reduced if, with due regard to the existing conditions of labor and capita), sufficient reduction can be made in the taxation of necessary articles which are in the dally use of all the people. The report shows that the circulation of the standard silver dollar is growing in popularity, having increased $10,434,995 during the past year. Fbom Secretary Whitney’s annual report we glean that— . Appropriations for the Navy Department for tho last fiscal year amounted to 515,189,000, and the balance available at the end of that period was $934,800, which had been reduced by Dec. 1 to 8164,500. The appropriations for the current fiscal year amount to &20,182 ; u0j, and the estimates for tho year ending June 30, 18S9, to $23,42/,900. All the unarmored vessels authorized by Congress are completed or in course of construction. They and the contract cost of their hulls and machinery are: The dispatch vessel Dolphin, $315,000; the protected crusier Boston, $619,000; the protected cruiser Atlanta, $617,000; the protected cruiser Chicago, $889,000 ; the protected cruiser Charleston, $1,017,000; the protected cruiser Baltimore, $1,325,000; gunboat No. 1 (cruiser), $155,000; gunboat No. 2 (cruiser), $247,00j; the protected cruiser Newark, $1,248,000; protected cruiser No. 4, $1,350,000; protected cruiser No. 5, $1,428,000; gunboat No. 3 (cruiser), $490,000; gunboat No. 4 (cruiser), $490,000; dynamite cruiser (including dvnamite guns, etc.), $350,000; hrst-class torpedo boat, $82,750. Of tho two armored vessels authorized by Congress cne is now being built by William John in Fingland. The completion of the double-turreted monitors will be delayed until the Bethlehem plant can furnish the armor. Of coast and harbor defense, for which Congress appropriated $2,000,000, the Secretary says little has been done. The Secretary does not believe in repairing the single-turreted monitors and using them for coast defense. “An examination of their characteristics," he Bavs. “shows that outside of the ships in our own navy no antagonist could probably be found against which they could stand for a moment. They were good vessels for their time, but are entirely obsolete,” and he adds: “It would be little less than murder to send men in these at the present time to encounter any recently built ironclad. 1 appreciate (fully that it is only as a temporary expedient that it is suggested, and with the thought that in the absence of anything elße, these might be better than nothing. This has been the theory upon which over $50,000,000, and probably $75,060,000, has been spent since tho close of the war. It is time to stop it and be content only with the best. If every dollar is made to count upon something of real value, waste will atop, aud not before.’’