Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1892 — RETRENCHMENT! [ARTICLE]

RETRENCHMENT!

THE APPROPRIATIONS REDUCED $33,529,291. Democratic House iu Spite of the Republican Senate Redeems a Party’s Pledge of Economy. Although the Republican senate increased every appropriation bill passed by the house the Democrats are able to make a good showing of retrenchment and economy. Mr. Holman, chairman of the appropriation committee, in reviewing the result of the first session of the Fifty-second congress, at the closing hour of the house, said: The appropriations made at this session of congress, including permanent appropriations, show a reduction of $33,529,291.98 under the appropriations made at the last session of the last congress, or a reduction equivalent to SIOO,000 to each congressional district in the United States; but for purposes of comparison the amount of the river and harbor bill, $21,153,618, should be deducted from the appropriations of this session for the reason that no river and harbor bill was passed at the last session of congress, against the appropriations of which those made at this session should logically be contrasted. Without the river and harbor bill, the appropriations of this session are $54,682,909.98 less than the whole appropriations made at the second session of the Fifty-first congress. In verification of these and other observations that I will make touching the subject of appropriations, I will submit at the conclusion of my remarks a table prepared from official records, showing the statistical histqnf of the appropriation bills of this session and the appropistions made at the second and first sessions of the Fifty-first congress. By this table it will be seen that the appropriations, annual and permanent, made by the last congress, were as follows:

Second session, $541,230,672.55; first session, $494,456,248.65; total appropriations Fifty-first congress, $1,035,686,921.20. Average appropriations by the Fifty-first congress for each of its twc sessions, $517,843,460.60. The total appropriations made at this session amount to $507,701,380.57, including the river and harbor bill, being $33,529,291.98 less than those made at the last session of congress, and, deducting the river and and harbor bill, the reduction is $54,682,909.97; and in contrast with the average appropriations for the ' two sessions of the last congress the reduction is $10,142,080.03. The eleven regular bills which make appropriations for the essential conduct of the several departments of the government are grouped in the table [see page ’7953] to show the totals of the whole. The noticeable features of this grouping show: First—That these bills as passed by the house, made a reduction in the estimates submitted by the administration of $27,883,792.16. Second—That they were increased by the senate in the sum of $18,725,681.55; and Third—That as they finally became laws, they appropriated: $22,095,724.22 less than the estimates; $12,937,613.61 less than as they passed the senate; $26,422,862.10 less than was appropriated for the last fiscal year by the last congress; $10,712,464.71 less than the average of the same appropriations made by the last congress for the fiscal years 1891 and 1892, and $5,788,067.94 more than was proposed and deemed sufficient by the house.

Deducting the sums given for pensions, including deficiencies therefor, from the grand totals given in the table, of all appropriations made at this session and during the last congress, including permanents, rivers and harbors, deficiencies, and miscellaneous, the following results are reached: The total appropriations made at this session would be $353,289,698.57, being $59,485,626.69 less than the estimates submitted by the administration, includirfg $58,064,590 for rivers and harbors; $13,406,331.33 less than as they passed the senate, including miscellaneous and permanents as finally charged; $23,390,590.64 less than was appropriated by the second session of the last congress; $17,387,181.73 less than was appropriated by the first session of the last congress; $20,388,886.18 less than the average of appropriations for both sessions of the last congress, and $7,039,182.90 more than was proposed by the house, including the miscellaneous and permanents as finally charged. The average annual appropriations made by the last congress, exclusive of pensions and deficiencies therefor, were $373,678,584.75, or a per capita of $5.77 for the average population of the country during the fiscal years 1891 and 1892. The whole appropriations made during the present session of congress, exclusive of pensions and deficiencies therefor, amount to $353,289,698.57, or a per capita of $5.26 for the population as It is estimated for the fiscal year 1893, ■bowing a reduction of $34,221,000 on a per capita basis for the year, under appropriations made by the Fifty-first congress. The following appropriations made at this session of congress, or charged under permanent appropriations, are pursuant to requirements of laws passed during the last congress: For foreign mails, $390,290.00; for Indian depredation claims, $478,252.62 for collecting sugar bounty, $830,890.00;

for increase of judicial salaries, $38,000.00; for additional clerks under new pension law, $695,420.00; for mint at Philadelphia, $620,500.00; for pensions (estimated) $48,000,000.00; 1 or diplomatic and consular officers’ salari es, $25,000.00; for redemption national lunk notes, $9,500,000.00; for expenses treasury notes, $125,000.00; for refund direct tax, $225,000.00; for repayments to importers and for debentures or drawbacks, customs, $5,000,000.00; for bounty on sugar, $10,000,000.00; for snag boats, Ohio river, $25,000.00; for colleges for agriculture and mechanic arts, $833,000.00; for the world’s fair, $3,291,250.00; total, $79,527,602.62. In other words, but for laws enacted during the last congress, the appropriations at this session would be $79,527,602.62 less than they are and they would amount to 0n1y5428,174,777, or $113,056,894 less than the appropriations of the last session and $66,282,470 less than the appropriation of the first session of the last congress. Mr. Holman says that the Fifty-second congress has authorized the construction of no new buildings; its appropriations were less than 2 per cent, less than the average of the Fifty-first congress; that more offices have been abolished than were created and more salaries reduced. He adds: “I admit that the results of the present session of congress will not fully meet the expectations of the Democratic party, but there are facts that the country will consider in comparing the appropriations of the present session with those of last congressess.”