Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1893 — MORE THAN A BILLION. [ARTICLE]

MORE THAN A BILLION.

Pmcnt Congress Beats Its Predecessor In Appropriations. The Fifth-second Congress has seen the bllllon-dollar appropriation of Its predecessor and gives promise of going over thirty millions better, says a press dispatch. Lest some should doubt the assertion that this Congress will also be known as a blllion-dollar affair a few figures may be quoted. They were obtained by the correspondent from the ' appropriations committee and are accurate. They show that the appropriations for the first session of ihls Congress were in round numbers $597,000,000. The appropriation bills for this session have not all passed the Senate, but they have all passed the Democratic House, and as they will undoubtedly be Increased by the Senate by probably teii millions—it is certain they will not be decreased —they are safe for the purpose of conservative computation. How the Figures Look. There are thirteen of them and in round numbers they are: Legislative bill $21,000,000 Sundry eivfl 30,000,000 Diplomatic 1,628.000 Military Academy 430,000 Postofflce 83,869,000 Indian. 7,636,000 General deficiency 20,950,000 District of Columbia 6,733,000 Army 24,202,000 Pensions : 166,400,000 Fortifications 21,000,000 Navab 21,234,000 Agriculture 3,196,000 Permanent appropriations 115,468,000 Appropriations last session 807,000,000 V Grafid'tßtal $1,020,548,000 , Suoh are the figures. If at the concltfsion of the present Congress they Bho'w there is any change in the vari-dis-Bujhs the changes will in every case ’■t>6 ' increased. The correspondent ■bought an expression of opinion from the-Leading Republican and Democratic fnembers of the appropriations committee. Mr. Dingley, Republican, of Maine, and Mr. Dockery, Democrat, of Missouri, "both of whom will fight for the reputations of their respective parties at the drop of the hat. Mr. Dingley said: “I think that it can be stated within reasonable certainty that the appropriations for this session will reach the sura of $531,000,000. And as the appropriations for last year were $307,000,000 the total for the Fifty-second Congress will amount to $1,038,000,000, as against $088,000,000 made by the Fifty-first Congress, an increase of about $50,000,(100, which is represented almost entirely by the pension appropriations. ” Mr. Dockery, the Democrat, said: “The appropriations at the first session of this Congress amounted to $507,701,380.57, and the protable appropriations of this session will be about $537,000,000, or a total of $1,038,000,000 in round numbers.” Mr. Dingley’s statement that the total Republican appropriations for the last Congress were only $988,000,000 is disputed by the Democrats, who claim that in addition to that sum the Fiftyfirst Congress passed the direct tax bill and the bill for back pay and bounty claims. The sums necessary for those bills were Dot known then, but they were to be paid whatever they turned out to be, and they were found to amount to over eighteen millions in all, of which three millions were for back pay and bounty claims bill. At any rate, the present Congress has exceeded in its appropriations its predecessors, and will be referred to by posterity as Billion Dollar Congress 11.