Meyer, A: Army Appropriation Bill Our Relations With the Phi

Excerpt from Army Appropriation Bill Our Relations With the Philippine IslandsBut when you consider that all your men, munitions of war, food, and other supplies must be transported miles from our coast, it is apparent that the expense of the war must be fully one hundred millions per annum, especially if you include the unu sual expenses for the' Navy. This does not include the prospective expense from pensions. Considering the climate and the charac ter of the service, this charge must be very large. Even if there were to be no further combats or special exposure on the part of the troops. Probably no troops have ever had to undergo greater hardship and exposure since the days of the French invasion of Russia by Napoleon. The estimates of some good judges place the cost of this war at $150 per annum. One thing is cer tain. The actual cost of war almost always outruns expectations or estimates. No one ever dreamed the Spanish war would cost as much as it did.It may be urged. Sir, that the cost of the war and of retaining the Philippines will be much less hereafter. A people who have held our Army at bay for over a year and are. Still fighting us will, in any case, require a large army of occupation. Luzon is a large island. It is square miles, and the country presents every facility for insurrectionary Operations - more, even, than Cuba. It would be necessary to keep up garrisons all over the islands and to protect their communications. You would require fortifications, not only against the natives, but against all possible antagonists. You would need a strong naval force. The expense of occupation could not be brought much below a hundred mil lions of dollars.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.