The astounding wastefulness of American Representatives is strongly illustrated by
the annual Report of the Pension Commissioner, just presented to Congress. He claims credit for economy in his department, saying that the pensions for this fiscal year will only be £31,080,000 sterling, and next year only £33,000,000. Indeed, though there are 780,000 claims registered in the office for future settlement, he does not think that the total expenditure on pensions will ever exceed forty millions a year, or, say, £3 10s. taken from every household in the Union ! And then they tell us that democracy is always cheap ! It adds a little, perhaps, to the shamefulness of this waste that it is in no way dictated by kindliness to the poor, an immense proportion of the pensioners being freeholders, but is intended to deplete the Treasury, and so protect great manufacturers at the expense of the whole body of consumers.
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