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FINANCE

The true valuation of property for 1890 is given as follows:

Live stock on farms and ranges, farm implements and

machinery

Real estate, with improvements thereon

Mines and quarries, including product on hand
Gold and silver coin and bullion

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Dollars

1147

39,544,544,333

2,703,015,040

1,291,291,579

1,158,774,948

Machinery of mills and product on hand, raw and

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The estimated true value in 1880 was 43,642,000,000 dollars.

II. STATE FINANCE.

The revenues required for the administration of the separate States are derived from direct taxation, chiefly in the form of a tax on property real and personal; and the greater part of such revenue is collected and expended by the local authorities, county, township, or school district.

According to census returns of 1890 the total assessed value of property taxed was 25,473,173,418 dollars, and the ad valorem taxation in 1890 amounted to 470,651,927 dollars, as follows::

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The total State, county, municipal and school district indebtedness, less the sinking fund in each case, in 1880 and 1890, were :—

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1880

1890

Dollars Dollars Dollars Dollars Dollars Dollars 297,244,094 124,105,027 684,348,843 17,580,682 1,123,278,646 22.40 228,997,385 145,198,955 724,453,583 36,701,948 1,135,351,871 18.13

The annual interest charge on the State and local bonded debt combined was, in 1890, 65,541,776 dollars; in 1880 it was 68,935,807 dollars.

Defence.
I. ARMY.

By the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution of the United States, Congress is empowered in general 'to raise and support armies;' and by the second section of the second article, the President is appointed commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and of the militia when called into the service of the United States. On August 7, 1789, Congress established a Department of War as the instrument of the President in carrying out the provisions of the Constitution for military affairs.

By Acts of Congress approved July 28, 1866, March 3, 1869, and July 15, 1870, the number of land forces constituting the standing army of the United States was strictly limited. It was subsequently enacted that from the year 1875 there shall be no. more than 25,000 enlisted men at any one time, exclusive of the hospital corps, the strength of which is 706 enlisted men. The Army Re-organisation Bill, which passed the House of Representatives on January 31, 1899, provides that the minimum enlisted strength shall be about 57,000 men, and the maximum 95,000. The actual commissioned and enlisted strength of the army has varied very little from that authorised, and is organised as follows:

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Of the officers of the regular army there are 19 general officers, 71 colonels, 92 lieutenant colonels, 207 majors, 633 captains.

The 9th and 10th regiments of cavalry, and 24th and 25th regiments of infantry, are composed of negro soldiers, but with white officers.

Besides the regular army each State is supposed to have a militia in which all men from 18 to 44 (inclusive) capable of bearing arms ought to be enrolled, but in several States the organisation is imperfect. The organised militia numbers 9,376 officers and 115,627 men. The number of citizens who in case of war might be enrolled in the militia is 10,149,184. In 1890 the males of all classes of the militia age numbered 13,230,168. Of these, 10,424,086 were native born, and 2,806,082 foreign born; 11,803,964 were white, and 1,426,204 coloured; 9,086,066 were native white.

The territory of the United States is divided for military purposes into eight departments, named respectively the Department of the East, of the Missouri, of Texas, of California, of Dakota, of the Platte, of the Colorado, of the Columbia. The United States has a military academy at West Point.

II. NAVY.

Within recent years the United States navy has been greatly increased, and is now a powerful force, Its successful operations in the war with

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Spain, and the obvious lessons of the struggle, with the new responsibilities undertaken, promise to bring about a considerable addition to the fleet. control of naval affairs is vested in the Secretary of the Navy, a Cabinet officer, appointed by the President, with the approval of the Senate. The Assistant-Secretary, a civilian, also appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate, the chiefs of eight administrative bureaus, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and the Judge-Advocate-General, are directly responsible to the Secretary. The administrative bureaus are yards and docks, equipment, navigation, ordnance, construction and repair, steam engineering, supplies and accounts, and medicine and surgery.

The Government constructive and repairing establishments are at Portsmouth, N. H.; Boston, Mass.; Brooklyn, Ñ. Y.; League Island, Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; Norfolk, Virginia; Pensacola, Florida; and Mare Island, California; and the naval stations are at New London, Connecticut; Port Royal, S.C.; Key West, Florida; and Puget Sound, Washington.

All warships, under the requirements of law, are built within the country and of home material, though at the outbreak of the war, the Albany and New Orleans (ex Abreu and Amazonas), were bought in England from Brazil, and some other vessels were acquired in the same way.

A bill for the reorganisation of the personnel is now (Feb. 1899) before the Senate. It involves the amalgamation of the executive and engineering branches, and provides for an establishment of 18 rear admirals, 70 captains, 112 commanders, 170 lieutenant commanders, 300 lieutenants, and 350 junior officers and ensigns. The legal establishment of 12,500 men and 1,500 apprentices is proposed to be raised to 20,000 and 2,500 respectively. During the war the enlistments were greatly extended, and in January, 1899, though many had been discharged, the enlisted men numbered about 18,000. The shipbuilding programme of 1899 includes 3 battleships (13,500 tons), 3 armoured cruisers (12,000 tons), and 6 cruisers (2,500 tons).

The following is a classified statement of the strength of the United States navy. Vessels appropriated for training ships and other purposes, are not included

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A table follows of the United States armour-clad fleet and of first and second-class cruisers. Only the recent port defence vessels are given, there being in addition 12 monitors (1,880 and carrying severally 2 15-inch 19-ton guns. in italics are armoured, the others being

2,100 tons), built 1863-65, and In the cruiser list those named either wholly or partially deck

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protected. The abbreviations: t turret; Q. F., quick-firing. In the armament column, light and machine guns are not given.

Battleships:

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In the armoured cruiser Texas, with the view of making her heavy gunfire very powerful for her small displacement, the turrets are placed en échelon, so as to admit of the guns being trained fore and aft. The guns are mounted singly in two turrets, which are sheltered within an oblique redoubt, as in the Italia and other Italian ships. The Oregon, Massachusetts, and Indiana are practically identical. They have a partial belt of 17-inch armour, 7 feet wide, extending over 56 per cent. of the whole length. This belt rises 3 feet above the water-line, and extends 4 feet below; it is capped by a fore and aft-armoured deck. At either end of the belt are armoured redoubts 17 inches thick rising to 3 feet above the protective deck; these redoubts protect the turning gear of the turrets and all the operations of loading. The tubes through which the ammunition is hoisted are also armoured. Above the belt, and extending from one redoubt to the other, the side is protected by 5 inches of armour. The main armament consists of four 13-inch 35-calibre guns mounted in pairs in two turrets, one forward, one aft, protected with 17-inch armour, placed on an incline, with a horizontal cover of 20-inch thickness; and eight 8-inch guns mounted in four turrets, formed of inclined armour from 8 inches to 6 inches thick, and placed at the four corners of a deck on a level with the top of the larger turrets. The length at the water-line is 348 feet, beam 62 feet 3 inches, and draught 24 feet. The Iowa is of similar design, but has 12-inch guns as the largest calibre. The Kearsarge and Kentucky differ from their later sisters, the Illinois, Alabama, and Wisconsin, in having turrets for 8-inch guns superposed on the larger turrets for the 12-inch guns. They displace 11,525 tons, and are 368 feet long, with 72 feet beam; protection is given by steel belts of considerable thickness, heavy armouring on the turrets, and steel decks. The armament comprises four 13-inch guns, four 8-inch, and forty various quickfirers. The speed is to be sixteen knots, with engines of 10,000 horse-power. Three new battleships, the Maine, Missouri, and Ohio, are in hand. They will displace 12,500 tons, and be armed with 4 12-inch guns as the largest calibre, and will have a speed of at least 18 knots, and large coal capacity.

Among the coast defence vessels the ram Katahdin deserves to be noted. She was designed by Admiral Ammen, and, beyond a small secondary battery, depends for offensive force upon her ability to ram a foe; to accomplish this purpose she can be submerged until only her turtle back, funnel, and ventilating shafts, all of which are armoured, remain above water. Her dimensions are 251 ft. by 42 ft. beam, 15 ft. normal draught, and 2,155 tons displacement. Four single-turret monitors are now in hand.

The New York, and the Brooklyn are the largest cruisers in the United States navy both armoured and designed on the same lines. The dimensions of the former are: length 380 ft. 6 in., beam 65 ft., draught 23 ft. 3 in. She has a heavily armoured steel deck, in conjunction with light side plating, besides a cellulose belt. Two 8-inch guns are mounted forward and two aft in turrets, and one on either beam slightly sponsoned out. The 4-inch guns are carried on the deck below, and so placed as to fire fore and aft. The new programme includes five improved cruisers of this class, displacing about 12,000 tons. Five protected second-class cruisers, and six small cruisers are proposed.

Special interest attaches to the commerce destroyers Columbia and Minneapolis which, on their official trials over the course (88 nautical miles) off the coast of Massachusetts, made respectively an average speed of 22.81 and 23.07 knots per hour. The vessels are sister ships, and the following description of the Columbia will therefore serve for both. Her principal dimensions, &c., are: Length, 412 ft.; beam, 58 ft. : mean draught, 23 ft.; displace

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