The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1866-01-22
our standing Army.

There is now bill before Congress
drafted, 1t is said, by General BmsniN-the
design OF which Is 10 raise standing army
Of 100000 men. There is no subject before
the people hawhlch they are more deeply
interested, or one upon which men of all
parties and the press should speak out
plainly md cinphatically. There is no
need of an army of such dimensions, and 1t
is gratifying to see both the Republican and
Democratic newspapers taking decided
ground ia opposition to the measure. 1t
might be a very pleasant and satisfactory
arrangement for a host Of useless aud cast
off army ofiiccrs--men who, us general
thing, during the late war, had an instinct
i've horror of gunpowdcr and battle fields
to be retained in Office with big salaries I;
but the people, who must foot the bills, do
not desire ta.Lc sa1dled with on incubus of
this sort
We are now in the enjoyment of peace in
all our borders, and there is little prospect
of outside invasion from any quarter at
present. From twenty to twenty-five thou
sand men would be an ample force for all
purposes to which an army can be properly
applied. The expense of the proposed
measure would amount to great many
millions every year, and make a serious and
permanent addition to the burden of taxa
ton under which the people suffer- II
would extinguish all hope Of paying on
the National Debt, and would insure a
weight of taxation upon the people heavier
than anything yet eXperienced.and unlikely
To be lcsscned during the present or next
generation.
The radicals and dcstructives in Congress
are certainly pressing matters too far In
their schemes to oppress the people of a
section. and provide place and pny for a
great and wholly useless standing army,
the only possible effect of which will De to
opprcss aud impoverish the people and de-
stroy their liberties, both North aud South.
The New York TriJune--speaking'o the
bill of Senator WILSON, which only pro-
vides for seventy thousand-gives its EN-
phatic testimony against the measure as
follows .t
I'VE entIeat Congress to ponder long and
anXiously before consenting to pass General
Nhson Dlll pTOpoSlHS W lnCTtdSc inc per-
soHHel of our Regular Army TO some Seventy
Thousand men. If that bill becomes II law,
at least Thirty Millions per annum willibc
added by it TO the taxes of our people and
for what? TO add Forty Thousand lncn
to our Army" say your Then you are
gricvously mistaken. We shall at most
have but the skeleton of an army; officers
without soldiers; regiments on the books
dwindled TO companies on parade; bloOdless,
feshless skeletons, with bOny jaws grinning
at the folly which called them into being.
Men in Congress! save us from this costly
Illusion!
Ample experience proves that the ranks
of our little Army of Fifteen to Twenty
Thousand never were nor could be kept full
In time of peace; they were oftner scarcely
half full. Now, War is going out of fash
ion and every man in our ranks beyond
the first Twenty Thousand will have cost
$500 by the time he has fairly Joined his
regiment. Then why expand We are
groaning under unprecedented taxation,
which must be yet more severely felt as
prices decline toward a specie standard,
Economists in Congress save us from the
passage of this most ncct1essly oppressive
measure!'