Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1898 — PEACE AT A HIGH PRICE. [ARTICLE]

PEACE AT A HIGH PRICE.

It Will Coat More than $250,000 to Negotiate a Treaty. It cost less than $150,000 to destroy the fleets of Cervera and Montejo. It will cost more than $250,000 to make a treaty of peace. The peace commissioners, secretaries and attaches at Paris will not lack pocket money. They will have everything to adequately maintain their official position, and even the messengers are to be given liberal allowances for their personal expenses. Funds to the amount of $250,000, it is understood, have been deposited to the credit of Judge Day in one of the Paris banks. Despite the fact that to some extent at least the peace commissioners will be the guests of the French Government, it is expected that it will cost the United States a quarter of a million of dollars to negotiate the treaty of peace with Spain. The French Government has placed the celebrated Salon des Ambassadeurs at the disposal of the commission as n place in which to hold their meetings. This courtesy has relieved the commission of one item of expense. Despite this, however, it is said that the expenses of the commissioners and their staff will amount to something over SI,OOO a day. From a reliable source it is learned that a daily allowance has been made to the various members of the commission as follows: To each of the commissioners, $l5O a day; to Secretary Moore, $75; to Assistant Secretary MacArthur, SSO; to Disbursing Officer Brannigan and Chief Translator Itodriguez, $25; to each of the nine interpreters, attaches, stenographers, etc., $lO, and to the two messengers. $5 per day, making a total of $1,025 per day, or for the ninety days that they are expected to be away, a grand total of $02,250. This is for the personal expenses alone of the various members, and does not include any salaries. Because most of the members of the commission are already in the Government service, they will get no additional salaries for their work with the peace commission. Thus Commissioners Davis, Frye aud Gray, who are drawing salaries as United States Senators, will not receive any additional compensation beyond the payment of their daily expenses. The same is true of all the minor attaches, each of whom is employed in one of the departments in Washington, and whose regular salaries are continued during their absence on this mission. The only men attached to the commission who will receive salaries for their services are Judge Day. the president of the commission; Whitelaw Reid and Mr. Moore, who resigned his place as assistant Secretary of State to accompany the commission as its secretary and counselor. It is expected that Commissioners Day and Reid will be given a fee of $25,000 each for their work on the commission, and that Secretary Moore, upon whom much of the work of preparing the documents in the American case has devolved, will receive a fee of $20,000. The American Government is paying the expense of the ladies who are members of the party, and it is calculated that the item of transportation alone for the thirtyfive persons in the party by sea and rail will amount to at least $25,000. The special expenses of the commission in Paris for entertainments, etc., will probably be not less than $15,000 or $20,000.