210 CONGRESS. (APPROPRIATIONS.) 



Many special acts were passed for the govern- 

 ment of the District of Columbia, and the number 

 of special pension bills still remains one of the 

 amazing features of this as of every congressional 

 session. 



Appropriations. The heaviest part of the rou- 

 tine work of every session of Congress is the shap- 

 ing and discussing of the appropriation bills, cov- 

 ering in their items every phase of governmental 

 expenditure ; but the second session of the Fifty- 

 fifth Congress had an unusual task on its hands. 

 The bills for 1898-'99 had to be prepared with the 

 possibility of continued war expenditure in view 

 and the probability of indefinite expenditures in 

 the establishment of peace in newly acquired terri- 

 tory; and the appropriations for 1897-'98, which 

 were inadequate to meet the necessities of the war, 

 had to be supplemented by various deficiency bills. 

 The work of Congress in this matter was fairly 

 stated by Mr. Cannon, of Illinois, at the close of the 

 session, lie said : " The sum of $ 892,527,991.16 has 

 been appropriated at this session of Congress. This 

 includes $117,836,220 of permanent appropriations 

 to meet sinking-fund requirements of and interest on 

 the public debt, and for other objects, and $361,- 788,- 

 095.11 to meet expenditures of the war with Spain. 



" Deducting the last two from the sum first men- 

 tioned, there remains $412,903,676.05, representing 

 the appropriations made at the present session to 

 meet all ordinary expenses of the Government ; 

 which sum is only $4,246,816.75 more than was ap- 

 propriated at the last session of the last Congress 

 lor the same purposes (including the appropriations 

 made during the recent extra session), which appar- 

 ent excess is almost doubly offset by the increased 

 appropriation of $8,070,872.46 for the payment of 

 pensions on account of the fiscal year 1898, pro- 

 vided for in a deficiency act at this session. 



Xo river and harbor bill has been passed at this 

 session; but the sundry civil act carries $14,031,- 

 613.56 to meet contracts authorized by previous 

 Congresses for river and harbor works. No laws 

 authorizing the construction of public buildings in 

 any of the cities throughout the country have been 

 enacted, and otherwise the legislation authorizing 

 expenditures and appropriations has been confined 

 to the actual necessities of the Government, and to 

 meet all demands incident to the existing war. 



" In addition to the appropriations made specific- 

 ally for expenses of the conduct of the war since 

 its inception and for the first six months of the fis- 

 cal year beginning July 1, 1898, contracts have been 

 authorized on the naval appropriation act for new 

 war vessels and for their armament, for which Con- 

 gress will be called upon in the future to appropri- 

 ate to an amount estimated at $19,216,156. 



"The appropriations made during the second ses- 

 sion of trie P ifty-fifth Congress to meet expenses 

 incident to the war with Spain were as follow : 

 For the national defense, act March 9, 1898, $50,- 

 117,000; army and navy deficiencies, act May 4, 

 1898, $34,625,725.71 ; naval appropriation act, May 

 4, 1898 amount of increase over preceding naval 

 appropriation act, $23,095,549.49 ; fortification ap- 

 propriation act, May 7, 1898 amount of increase 

 over act as passed by House, $5,232,582 ; naval aux- 

 iliary act, May 26, 1898, $3,000,000; additional 

 clerical force, War Department, Auditors' offices, 

 etc., act May 31, 1898, $227,976.45 ; Life-Saving Serv- 

 ice, act June 7, 1898, $70,000; army and navy de- 

 ficiencies, act June 8, 1898, $18,015,000 ; appropria- 

 tions in act to provide ways and means to meet war 

 expenditures, June 13, 1898, $600.000; army, navy, 

 and other war expenses for six months, beginning 

 July 1, 1898, in general deficiency act, $226.604,- 

 261.46; expenses of bringing home remains of sol- 

 diers, $200,000; total, $301,788,095.11." 



CONNECTICUT. 



His speech contained an elaborate table giving 

 the history of the various appropriation bills ; but 

 it will be enough to select the separate measures 

 and the amount provided'at this session for 1898-'99 

 and provided to mjset deficiencies for 1897-'98: 

 Agriculture, $3,509,202 ; army, $23,192,892 ; diplo- 

 matic and consular ,'$1,752,208.76 ; District of Colum- 

 bia, $6,425,880.07; fortification. $9,377,494; Indian, 

 $7,660,814.90 ; legislative, etc., $21,625,846.65 ; Mili- 

 tary Academy, $458,689.23; navy, $56,098,783.68; 

 pension, $141,233,830: post office $99,222,300.75 ; 

 sundry civil, $48,489,217.26; total, $419,047,159.30; 

 deficiency, 1898, Congress, etc., $210,000; urgent 

 deficiency, 1898, $1,928,779.33; deficiency, United 

 States courts; public printing, etc., $800,000 ; ur- 

 gent deficiency, national defense, etc., $50.183,000; 

 deficiency, army, fortifications, navy, etc., $35.720,- 

 945.41 ; deficiency, pensions, etc., $8,498,431.91 ; ur- 

 gent deficiency, military and naval establishments,. 

 $18,015,000 ; deficiency, 1898. and prior years. $234.- 

 288,455.21; total, $768,691.771.16; miscellaneous, 

 $6,000,000 ; total, regular annual appropriations, 

 $774,691,771.16; permanent annual appropriations, 

 $117,836,220; grand total, regular and permanent 

 annual appropriations, $892,527,991.16. 



CONNECTICUT, a New England State, one of 

 the original thirteen ; ratified the national Consti- 

 tution Jan. 9, 1788 : area, 4,900 square miles. The 

 population, according to each decennial census, was 

 237,946 in 1790; 251,002 in 1800; 261,942 in 1810;. 

 275,148 in 1820; 297,675 in 1830; 309,978 in 1840 j 

 370,792 in 1850 : 460,147 in 1860 ; 537,454 in 1870; 

 622,700 in 1880; and 746,258 in 1890. Capital, 

 Hartford. 



GEORGE E. LOUNSBURY, GOVERNOR OF CONNECTICUT. 



Government. The following were the State offi- 

 cers during the year : Governor, Lorrin A. Cooke ; 

 Lieutenant Governor, James D. Dewell ; Secretary 

 of State, Charles Phelps; Treasurer, Charles W. 

 Grosvenor ; Comptroller. Benjamin P. Mead ; Ad- 

 jutant General, George Haven ; Insurance Commis- 

 sioner, F. A. Betts all Republicans ; Supreme 

 Court of Errors Chief Justice. Charles B. Andrews, 

 Republican ; Associate Justices, David Torrance, 

 Republican ; Augustus II. Fenn, Democrat ; Simeon 

 E. Baldwin. Democrat; and William Hamersley, 

 Democrat ; Clerk, C. W. Johnson. 



Finances. The State Treasurer reported that 

 during the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 1898, the 

 financial condition had materially improved. For 

 the first time since 1892 the receipts exceeded the 

 expenses, the excess being $340.863.64, to be further 

 increased to more than $460,000 by the receipt of 

 $120,000 from the United States for expenses in- 

 curred by reason of the Spanish war, this sum be- 



