THE PROGRAMME FOR CONGRESS.

THE result of the election just held insures the control of both branches of Congress by the Republicans until March 4, 1903. In the Fifty-seventh Congress, which begins on the fourth of next March, the Republican majority will be in the neighborhood of fortyfive, while in the Senate it will be about eighteen.

This fact has its influence upon the Republican programme for the short session of Congress, beginning on the first Monday of December, 1900, because it insures them the power to enact later such legislation as may fail, through various causes, during the brief three months of work remaining for the present session. In addition to this all incentive for Democratic opposition is removed. If the next House were to be Democratic, it could be confidently predicted that successful opposition would be interposed by the Democrats to sundry Republican measures which they regard as extravagant, unnecessary, and dangerous. Two such measures instantly suggest themselves, viz. the Shipping Subsidy Bill and the proposition to increase the regular army.

Ordinarily, a short session of Congress is devoted almost exclusively to the preparation and passage of the appropriation bills. These are becoming more bulky in form and larger in aggregate expenditures with each successive year; and "a billion dollar Congress," which was once a political issue, is now accepted as a matter of necessity, to be neither criticised nor opposed. The war with Spain compelled increased budgets, which were voted without question; and the subsequent development of affairs in the Philippines and the maintenance of new governments in Hawaii and Puerto Rico have kept the expenditures up to high-water mark. The incursion of the army into China, a very proper sequel to the imprisonment of the American minister in Pekin, occasioned a very great outlay which must be met by deficiency appropriations. At home, the country and the government are growing. Towns are becoming cities and require public buildings; commerce is constantly seeking the im

provement of internal waterways; the machinery of Federal administration is steadily expanding. A thousand new rivulets combine to swell the broad stream of congressional appropriations.

The Republican party is not a party of economy. It is always liberal in providing for the Government; and though this liberality sometimes approaches the danger line of extravagance, there is no doubt that it is a wiser policy than the cheese-paring of the Demo-. crats. Sustained by the verdict of November 6, the Republican leaders in Congress will feel justified in recommending large appropriations; and I look, therefore, for budgets of unequalled magnitude. Some of the more conservative party managers will undoubtedly suggest that the future must not be forgotten and that the day of reckoning will come. Their voices will be almost unheard amid the loud outcry for generous appropriations. An overflowing treasury will invite expenditures on a mammoth scale; and the probability is that the invitation will be accepted.

In the first session of the present, or Fifty-sixth, Congress, the total appropriations reached the enormous sum of $674,000,000. A rather suggestive insight into the American character is afforded by the fact that nearly one-quarter of this aggregate, or $145,000,000, was distributed in pensions—the practical acknowledgment of a debt of gratitude to the men who fought for the nation in the Civil War. There is no possibility of the decrease of this sum. On the contrary, the pension list is being swollen daily as the result of the war with Spain and the continuing war in the Philippines; and it will require the greatest amount of firmness on the part of the Republican leaders to withstand the appeal of the pensioners for allowances even more liberal than they now receive. Next to pensions, the administration of the Post Office Department demands the largest sum, $105,000,000; and while its expenditure naturally increases with the development of the country, the service has reached a point where it is practically self-supporting, so that it need not be taken into consideration.

On the other hand, the amount appropriated for the army is a direct outlay, and will soon reach unparalleled figures. It aggregated in the last session $80,000,000, or $30,000,000 less than the sum asked by the Secretary of War, and the probability is that at least $100,000,000 will be provided in the approaching session. The navy asked $74,000,000 and received $48,000,000, with the likelihood that $60,000,000 will be granted. The legislative and the sun

dry civil budgets, which deal with the administration of government, appropriated nearly $100,000,000, an amount which is certain to be exceeded. If a river and harbor bill is enacted several additional millions will swell the total.

As a matter of interest, and as a basis for future comparison, I present herewith the items which combined to make the total appropriations of $674,000,000 in the last session of Congress:

Even should the appropriations of the second session of Congress be limited to the same figures as the first, which is not likely in the natural order of things, we should still reach a total for the entire Congress of nearly $1,500,000,000.

I have gone with some detail into these figures because their consideration will form the backbone, as it were, of the session's work, and because there is a very general demand all over the country for a repeal of some of the taxes imposed to meet increased war expenditures. The Republican party in the House of Representatives hinted in the last session at some reduction of this taxation, and gave hearings to the brewers, upon whom the burden falls with especial weight. These intimations found concrete expression in the nation..! platform of the party, which declared that "the country is now justified in expecting, and it will be the policy of the Republican party to bring about, a reduction of the war taxes;" and Speaker Henderson, in his campaign speeches, assured his audiences that this promise would be fulfilled.

It would seem, therefore, as if a part of the programme for the

approaching short session of Congress would be the enactment of a law repealing emergency taxation; but I seriously doubt whether anything in the way of universal relief will be accomplished. In the first place, the elections are over, and ante-campaign promises may be forgotten; in the second place, the distribution of taxation was made with consummate wisdom, and the burden is borne by those most able to bear it, so that there is no emphatic protest due either to injustice or inability to pay; and, last, the Government will need all the money it can raise to meet the increasing expenditures. It is true that the refunding of a large portion of the national debt into two per cent bonds reduces the interest charges; but even with this saving the necessary demands upon the Federal treasury cannot be met by the ordinary revenues. Some reduction of taxation may be made by Congress, but I do not look for anything like the complete wiping out of all the taxation imposed after the war with Spain.

The focus of interest in the next session of Congress will undoubtedly be the bill to promote the commerce and increase the foreign trade of the United States and to provide auxiliary cruisers, transports, and seamen for government use when necessary." This is the merchant marine bill, or, to call it by its more popular and expressive title, the Shipping Subsidy Bill. In the Senate the measure was considered in the last session by the Committee on Commerce, of which Senator Frye is chairman, and in the House by the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, of which Representative Grosvenor, of Ohio, is chairman. Both committees reported substantially similar measures to their respective Houses.

The bill, as is well known, provides that there shall be paid to American sail and steam vessels carrying cargoes compensation at the rate of one and one-half cents per gross ton for each one hundred miles, not exceeding in the aggregate 1,500 miles, outward and homeward bound, and additional compensation of one cent per gross ton for each additional one hundred miles on longer voyages. It is not necessary that the vessel shall carry passengers. It is simply to make trips in the foreign trade with cargoes of not less than a prescribed amount, no matter what the nature of the trade may be. In order to stimulate the building of large steamers of more than the average rate of speed additional subsidy is proposed, based upon speed and tonnage, as high as 2.3 cents per gross ton. Foreign-built vessels admitted to American registry are to receive only fifty per cent of the compensation granted to home-built ships, while ship-builders

are to be allowed to make contracts with the Government which will guarantee them the same subsidy as that which is to be enjoyed by vessels already constructed. No vessel is to be entitled to compensation unless at least one-fourth of her crew are citizens of the United States, or have declared their intention to become such; while bounties are provided for vessels and crews engaged in deep-sea fishing.

Arguments for and against the subsidy bill have been presented with such detail and cogency in the pages of THE FORUM that I shall not in this article either outline the measure more fully or discuss its merits. Suffice it to say that the bill as reported to the Senate and House limits the expenditure which can be made under its provisions to $9,000,000 a year, this limit having been determined upon to remove the principal objection of unknown cost which attached to the measure when first introduced.

The subsidy bill is purely a Republican proposition. Its chief sponsor is Senator Hanna, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, who has taken occasion in nearly every speech upon the stump to enlighten his audiences as to its provisions and to advocate its passage. His views have been accepted most cordially by his fellow Republicans in Congress; and the reports accompanying the bill, prepared by Senator Frye and Congressman Grosvenor, are lengthy and able arguments. By the passage of the bill the Republicans hope to revive the merchant marine to the position of eminence which it formerly held; and the likelihood is that the American people, taking a broad view, will approve the effort, despite the fact that the proposed legislation is in the nature of class benefit. The Republicans argue that in aiding the vessel owners they are indirectly helping to develop the entire country, which is undoubtedly true; but the fact remains that these owners will profit immensely by the enactment of the subsidy law, and they are bringing great pressure upon Congress to secure this result.

The House bill is buried deeply in an over-burdened calendar, and cannot be reached unless a special order for its consideration is enacted. It will remain with Speaker Henderson to decide whether this special order shall be granted, and the probability is that he will give his consent. The passage of the bill has been recommended by the Republicans in national convention assembled, so that in granting special privileges to the measure he will simply be executing the behest of his party. The special order which will obtain for the bill a hearing in the House will also arbitrarily fix a time at which a vote shall