The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1858-02-13

IL DE9J4FSy IOWA .s'llya :. ss'''s '''
yT57 :; 7IT!- ssz TT17T I's's'T 7ssTa 70 q
lad r4ys ssesai - isd .aeissisalsa iatnfs
I'd I'd, sss4 1.R AnMr rAsaas. d .sust.sela
i R%assss = -. - r. nl.ss, n ass.ss,s i
,e-,s.rs,a JAxuAsY. g, 1858. .,a1 u
Mr. Hele.s. l beg TO make.a sipfle inqai.
n. 81 the Chairman Df the Conmittee On r.
nance. ! have mot tie papers before me,
and Idssire 10 iAqhite from him, how nusk
he DapartneDt aaka Ter Arrsafs il the IAili-
tary service oftAe last ssas y ths dsfeisn7' n'
Nj. ; IIuntsr. No sstiidass has eoms ID
me ;asIy yet. / II has goHsl 10 che otAerslIoase;
and an uushles 70 infofm him prs1isely
what il. the estimate for deficiencies, s.s-
Nj. Hale. ] am told, but not -of6cially,
and that was the reason why put the quss-
tiOn % the honorable chGirnaan 81 the Conn
mittea on Finance, that it is very nearly
seyen millions Of dollars. The deficiency
which the Administration asks fol, the. Wal
Department, for the military service, u, j
understand, 81, I, 700, 900. q w g actually spent
sac Az, 600. and they 9sw ant about, seven
millions more, making sec, ,OOO, ,O0O for. mill
tary' service last year. Ikave little book
here, and l find that during tie most expen-
sive year of the war with Great Britain, our
military expenditures never got up to 821,-
005, 900, and in the highest year Of the
Mexican war, when we had, ! think, nearly
6fty Thousand men in the feld, they never
reached TO aS36 ,O0O, Goo; but NOW in time 0f
profound peace, thoy amount TO about twen-
ty-six millions Of dollars. zls .y.e
The honorable Senator from Georgia is q
little mistaken in one respect. He says that
in these extravagant times, the army will
cost about a thousand dOllaFs TO man.
They cost that when | frst came into Com
gress, fourteen or fifteen years ago. Itook
occasion then TO look at the total military
expenditures of the country, including forti-
ications, &C., under the military head, and
they averaged ST. 900 man. The expendi-
lures now in the West are great deal more,
for we have about fifteen thousand men,
and the expenditures are 50, ,000, 600.
Mr.. Hunter. How much does the Sena-
tor say it averages per man? ~. 81 "a
Mr.. Hale. am upon that question now.
said that, when first came into Congress,
fourteen or fifteen years ago, the whole mili-
tary expenses, including ordnance, fortif-
cations, &C., under the military head,
amounted to 81 900 man. Now, we have
got up to about fifteen thousand men, and
the expenditures are about twcnty-six mil
lion dollars, making over fifteen hunded dol
lars for every man in the service. This bill
proposes to raise about seven thousand ad-
ditional men, which will saddle upon: this
Government permanent annual increase
Of expenditure Of about twelve million dol
lars. 3lf y" @Ate "t2
The idea that the army will ever go back,
and grow smaller, as long as we has aoney
or credit to maintain it, is too absurd to be
introduced by sensible man, on this floor.
There are no backward tracks, when our
Government begins to expend money. You
may have war; it makes no difference how
expensive it is; and you may have peace,
and your expenditures will 20 on increasing.
We actually spent more money last year,
exclusive of any payment for the public
debt, than we ever spent in my year from
the beginning Of the Government up to the
last year, by a very considerable AMOUNT
The highest expenditures, exclusive Of pay
ments Of the public debt, during the most
expensive year of the war with Mexico, did
not come up to $54. 4.O0O, 900, but last year
we spent $72,0OO,OO0 Pass this bill, and
next year your expenses, including what you
pay, and what you get trusted for, will be
over hundred million dollars. Irepresent l
people who are in the habit of working
hard for what little money they get, and
they are not willing to vote away money,
unless there is an absolute necessity for t.
What does the President want with this
II a Ixc
mite and official information in regard to
some matters about which some remarks
have been made. read from the last Army
Register, on the forty-second page. .si2Is
''By the act of June II, 1850, sto increase
the rank and file Of the army,' &c., section
second, the President is authorized, when
ever the exigencies or the service require it,
to increase to sereaty.four the number Of
privates in any company Serving at the sew
eral military posts on the western frontier,
and at remote and distant stations.' In the
table, the minimum or fixed organization is
given, viz: fifty privates to q company of
dragons, sirfy.| four to company Of light
artillery and rihemen, and forfy-t,co to the
artillery and infantry. Under the authority
vested in him, the President has directed
that the number Of priyates be carried up to
sercnty. four in the several companies serv-
ing in the peninsula of Florida, and on the
islands adjacent to it; in Kansas, Nebraska,
Utah, Texas, New Mexico, California, Or
egon and Washington Territories; as we'll
as in those stationed at Forts Smelling and
Ripley on the upper Mississippi; Fort Ridge
ly, on the Minnesota river; and Fort Ar
buckle, ON Wild Horse creek. There being
one hundred and eighty-ttre companies
serving at or in, route to these distant sta
tions, the authorized increase in the number
of privates is FIVE thousand two hundred and
twenty-eight; making the stotal enlisted
as the troops are now posted, or in route,
seventeen thousand and sixty-six, and the
aggregate eighteen thousand one hundred
and fifty one. If all the companies belong !
ing to sregiments' tone hundred and ninety
sight) were serving at the distant stations
described, the additional number Of privates
allowed would then be I've thousand six
hundred and sixty. four; thus increasing the
stotal enlisted to seventeen thousand i've
hundred and two, and the aggregate to
eighteen thousand Eve hundred and eighty
seven." {Al''1.=s -
So, sir, according to this statement, We
have now actually an army of eighteen thou.
once in the Senate, and ] am willing to be
laughed at again, for repeating, as q solemn
conviction of my understanding, a lesson of
wisdom which the fathers Of my native State
inscribed on the first Constitution they ever
wrote, and which, hope in God, will remain
as long rs we have a ~Constitution-tha
standing armies are dangerous to liberty. 4
tell you, sir, that an army of eighteen thou-i
sand men, or twenty thousand men, as
this bill proposes to make it, with the means
of transportation with the rapidity Of light
ming BY means of railroads from one end Of
the country to the other, is force equal to
what it would have been in olden times, if
we had one or two hundred thousand men.
The President can, il he pleases, concentrate
them at any point, at any moment, and for
any purposes. do not know how it is, but
the law has been construed that these armies
are called, believe, . Fosse, and under the
name Of posse he can transport them to
any place for any purpose he chooses. 1t ID
a significant fact 70 my mind, that be has