The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1852-05-19

l645, have here statement OF he since
susngth Of the army at these as ma M
us On the LIST q January, isiS the organized
strength Of The general staff corps amounted 10 6ss b
dred ana sixty men. On the first Of January 1859 M
organization of the corps seven hundred ana Ing
ven, whs US actual strength was SIX hundred and ninety
seVeh' ihe organization OF the two regiments of
on 'he LIST January, lSi5, thousand two hndl
ana niney-eght; their actual strength one thousand ~
hundred ana eight Al the present time their organizao
one thousand seven hundred and thrytwo; their aeI
strength, one thousand three hundred and sxtyhyee %
regiment OF mounted raemen was not know To tbe -
1912 Il was created during the war and has been con-
unued since The organization of this force amounts =,
nnehundred men; its actual strength five HUNDRED ~
ninety seven. The artillery, in lS45 had an organi1a
OF two thousand three hundred and forty; now il 4 ib
thousand two hundred and four. The infantry then
organization of four thousand -four hundred and 60 -;
now they amount TO five thousand seven hundred ana 49,
two In lo45, there three hundred and
detached soldiers and there thousand one
dred and three These recruits at military stations VIZ
not yet sufficiently instructed Join their corps rS
will be seen. that the sum total Of the organization Of G
army, in I645, only eight thousand six bnnd '
hny-four, il is twelve thousand three bundsd s
eleven while the actual strength, according 10 Inc la,
turns was ten thousand five hundred and hirty-egbt
IN addition to that j. must be recoccted that the the rife
regiment is mounted regiment The of monn,aS
regiment is much greater than that of regiment of nfn
II must be recoecled o that by the act of 1885, we ha
authorized the mounting of some OF the infantry and thu
expense OF these is very much increased We have No,
increased the officers bat the rank and file by adding ,v
y-four to every company of drasoons every COM
pany OF mounted rhemen thrtytwo every company az
artillery ten to every company Of light artillery; and hir
tytwo to every company Of infantry This has been be a.
rect action of Congress. great deal of the expendn
has arisen from the indirect action of Congress-om an
nexation from war, from Mexican cessons The grss,
increase Of expenditures in the Quartermasters deps
men has been owing these Within the lss,
seven years you have acquired territory larger than all s
.erory you had before You had only little than
million square miles Of land and you have now eleven
hundred and hryodd thousand square miles added TO yo
territory In addition to this must be recolleced that
ms not fertile country; il 10 not settled country and
Is not an accessible country Il is from the CEN
Ira seat Of your civilization. 1t is unprovided with he
facilities OF communication. has neither population nor
productions II is Infested with bands Of predatory In
dams But your frontier settlements be protected.
ana by troops stationed at posts very remote hundred,
and in some instances thousands Of miles from the mari,
and highways of trade You must convey provisions 10
the troops for the protection of your settlers and your emil
grants II is an onerous expense-an expense which bv
the utmost care and economy be brought down
nyhng ike the expense of transportation before we ac-
settler upon the most and lonely apot within vour
limits, as strongly TO any settled in the richest and
most popuous part Of the old States and you can neither
protect the oner-man give security to the emerant
nor defend the advance Of your settlements except by mill
tary force supported at an immense expense
These are evils which not unforeseen. recolec
that IN 1877 when had occasion make some remarks
ON the Mexican alluded the necessary increase Of
expenditure which would inevitably take place if Won ac
CURED these very distant and unsettled territories EVERY
Dooy knew that It would be So Formerly your military
remote post you had was but ninety miles distant from steam
boat navigation Many of them directly accessible 10
steamboats,; Others were within six, and twenty
four miles Distant and there but post as far distant
as ninety miles Now, you have to drag four and pork
and other provisions, sometimes distance of thousand
miles, and that not over country where there beaten
roads, where there are any settlements where there are
any products Of which the avail themselves but
where very oen there is not grass or water for their
animals or where the scany products Of the earth sold
at the most enormous prices.
This accounts in the main, for the very large increase f
expenditure which has taken place. But / undertake 10
say that the present Secretary of War has made very u
dicous and prnseworthy efforts to reduce these exnend
lures The senator from Virginia hardly does Justice to
him, when he says that these reforms only attempted
very recently. That is comparative term. The phrase
very recently" very lately" may mean one thing
or another, according 10 the subecmaer Of which the
person is speaking you speaking Of the geological
structure Of the EARTH period Of sin would BE-
very recent II you were speaking Of the constitutional
history OF the United States the tenth part of that TINA
would be ancientor whole existence az an indepep
ent nation has only been about seventy6ve years When
you speak OF rcrms and the attempts Of the Secretary
War to reform abuses having been recently done you
must look at the circumstances under which and the time at
which, he came into Office
think il was the 18th Of August, 1885, when Mr. Con-
rad was appointed TO the War Department VIVA, was the
condition Of public affairs that time Many udicious
persons thought that the Union shaking to its centre
We know how Congress sgitaed; that the times
sadly Of ont that scarcely anything was though.
Of by the members Of this body, and of the other House.
except those agtaDg questions which had long DISTRACT
Gu U.S. anu imPcocu al our regular legislation Ii Is not TO
be supposed that the Executive could have been natens
to those grave qucsons that the members administers,
ton should not have been anxiousy employed in considering
the consequences which might result course of
duct another adopted by Congress- Besides during
sion Of Congress there always great deal Of
ness constantly calling upon the attention of the Secretary
Congress adjourned about the first Of October and
again about the first Of December. Two months was all
the time in which the Secretary of War could be said
TO have had any leisure to acquan himself with the organ
za,ion and general operations OF bis department. much less
had he time TO inquire into all the minute details of the
vice. 10 ferret out abuses which had existed under
former administrations and which had dc6ed the economy
and wisdom and vigilance of other Secretaries for many
years Therefore, II ia hardly reasonable suppose that
Mr. Conrad in short interval of time could detect
and correct all the Of his predecessors In very little
than four months AFTER he had been in Office what did
the Secretary dor Allow say that in The report
which he submitted to the Senate in 1885, he spoke Of the
probability Of there being abuses and viii show, that
while his suspicious then awakened he took very
early opportunity Of endeavorng put an end TO these
abuses viii show that, at time which, considering his
period OF service quite early in his
quite early enough TO justify the praise Of economy and
vigilance, which feel bound in all sincerity to give him
within short time he issued sundry regulations INTENDED
to have, and which shall show have had most happy
rotary issued this order
GENERAL 0RDERS-No. L.
Wan DEPARTMENT,
ApJUTANT GENERALS OrrIcE,
Washington, January s, 1851.
Topromoe the health Of the troops and 10 reduce the
expense Of sGbsisting the army the commanding officer
sufficient private land be leased reasonable terms
will annually cultivate kitchen garden with the soldiers
under his command to enable him supply the hospital
and men with necessary vegetables throughout the year