Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1893 — COUNTED BY MILLIONS. [ARTICLE]

COUNTED BY MILLIONS.

EXPENSES OF CARRYING ON THE GOVERNMENT. One Hundred Million Dollars Paid Yearly to the New Officers - Comparative of Wealth in the Unite " the Money Goes. Washing (despondence; \*4ftfr all ft Is not so remarkable that •rfihYe is something of a demand tor the 'offices. The salaries paid to Govern* ment employes amount in round numbers to sloo,oCo,tioo a year, and in the four years’ term which is ahead of the Democracy, will foot up the handsome total of $400,010,000, or thereabouts. Possibly the figure may not roach quite this amount at the present, but the chances are that it will overrun it before the four years’ term ends, for with the growth of the country ihere is no getting away from the growth in the number of offices and the amount that must be paid in salaried. The talk of a reduction in offices and the salaries of those who occupy them is “moonshine.” It can not be done without neglecting the business of the Government, and as there are 66,000,000 people to pay lor having it done, and wolldone, there is no occasion for a niggardly economy which would prove disastrous in a business way. Probably few of the people who are scrambling for places realize that the total amount of salaries paid to Government employes fonts up so large a sum as a hundred million dollars a year. Yet this is only a dollar and a half apiece all around, now that our population is 66,000,000 people. And this only makes the average salary of the 200,000 people who hold office under {he Government abputfive hundred dollars per annum each. Something of the details of where this money goes may be of interest. The diplomatic service is not so expensive a luxury as would be supposed probable. The salary of Ministers amounts to only $340,000 per annum; Secretaries of Legation $40,000 per annum, and Consuls $500,000, while there is also an additional allowance of about SIOO,OOO for clerks and consulates. The salaries in the offices of the Secretary of the Treasury amount to about a half million dollars a year, but this does not include the various divisions in which the salaries run from a few thousand up to more than a half million dollars per annum. The salaries for the office of Secretary of War amount to over one hundred thousand dollars, and those of the Record and Pension divisions of the War Department foot up over one million dollars per annum. The pay of the officers of the line in the army is $2,800,000, and there is added to that $90,000 for pay of officers for length of service. The pay of the enlisted men of the army is $4,100,000; officers on the retired list, $1,122,01:0. The pay table ot the navy is about half as much as that of the War Department, and the total salaries of the Treasury Department, including over two millions in the Internal Revenue Service alone, is about twelve millions of dollars. The Interior Department spends about five million dollars a year for salaries, the Agricultural Department a little over a million, and the Department of Justice about the same. The Postofflce Department, however, is the one which piles up the total of salaries, Even in the Postofflce Department in Washington the salaries amount to nearly a million dollars a year, and when you branch out into the postal service all over the country it becomes appalling. The appropriations for the fiscal year just about to end allotted $15,250,000 for postmasters and $10,764,000 for the free delivery service. There should be added to this $5,000,000 for carrying the mails by star routes, most of which is for salaries; mail-mes-senger service over a million dollars, and railway postofflce clerks $6,631,000. Even Congress is a somewhat expensive luxury. The pay of Senators amounts to about half a million dollars a year and that of Representatives about $2,060,000 a year, to say nothing of the amounts paid for the employes, clerks, stenographers, and messengers who assist them in their duties. Nothing better and more happily illustrates the growth of this country and prosperity of the people than a comparison of the conditions at this time with those which existed when Mr. Cleveland came into office eight years ago. That the country has been prosperous under the two administrations which are represented in thpse eight years is evident. Then there were 7,750 banks, now there are 10,000. Their capfial stock thejg was $750,000,000, now it is over a Million. The people ihen had $2,700,000,000 laid away in the banks “for a rainy day,” now they have $4,700,000,000 so deposited in the Our national wealth, which then was $48,000,060,000, is now $69,000,000,060. The average per capita of wealth in the United States, including property and money, then was SBSO for each individual, while to-day it is in round numbers SI,OOO.