Arizona miner., 1867-09-14
LARGE POSTS AND GOOD QUARTERS.

the improbable system of small mi ita'. nos,s. as now followed iu Iti.ao 2. r'rr.- tive of that science wh.h '.a. trr be termed "the cNiraya ,n. Of
 It was well undcr.to yeaf- a.o .. .. saving "Thcrc is that -cattorrt ...
 creaseth. and there i. that V V eth more than is meet but it ten nth 'o Io'- ertv" is as true to-day as when it was oriel- naly uttered and no whc.e Aas it been more fully exemplfed than in the present conduct of military affairs in tli, unfortunate part of the Department of California.
 The science of economy has been reduced to its ultimate principles, and the success of the plan is seen in the increasing depletion of the troops by deserton, throughout the Territory The necessity for economy at the present time is doubtless very great, but the withholding of few thousands of dol lars needed for the purpose of erecting suit able quarters for the troops has cost the gov ernment tens of thousands, and the with holding of requisite power from subordinate officers has cost hundreds of thousands, and will if persisted in, cost millions.
 The establishment of small posts or camps in the name of economy, is, to put the mild est construction possible upon it, absurd and foolish these posts have all the disadvanta- gcs of large, permanent and comfortable quarters and none of their advantages for every dollar which is held from the erection of such large posts which are calculated to make the soldier comfortable and to inspire : him with love for the service and pride in ! bis profession, ten are spent in paying for guarding these temporary and useless ar rangements
 Arizona has three regiments of troops num- berinr in round numbers about three thou sand men, of whom, two thousand are drawn from operations in the field where they are constantly needed, to guard these camps, and the years supply of stores accumulated at each of them. If there was properly loca- ted regimental post for each regiment, with ! comfortable quarters for officers and men, three hundred men at most would he requi- red for post duty, and twenty-seyen hundred would be Jeff for active service, seventeen hunlred more than by the present arrange ment Occupied at the cost of mainten- ance for a single year these seventeen hun dred men would readily erect all the posts and depOts needed
 Let us suppose the system adopted of es- tablishing at some point selected with view to combining every advantage large military posts for the accommodation of an entire reg iment, whenever il was eXpcdient to have it concentrated, and from which the command ing officer could send his troops at win to oc- cupy temporary camps, wherever necessary, and try to enumerate a few of the adyanta- ges which would result from the change: l. Such a post could have comfortable quarters for officers and men, stables for horses and shelters for cattle, storehouses for the preservation of public property, carlcn- for the use of the troops and properly ar- ranged hospital Such @ post woull h- a home for the soldier, each company wou'f have its own set of quarters and cioI sei . his own place in those qu1r'er@.- whcr V clothing and other property cpiO t.I care of When hc If 'F-~r .us-'> ar
 scouting duty or to oe-rr~ 'c -ta-rr porary camp. be wou'' av~ l.aE
 
 to it. and would have uo possible motive e.
 desertion Thus in an ocrrom.c,I na n- O..
 view the government woul3 cain immensely
 from this one result alone and at the same
 time the effective strength of the forces in
 the field would be increased fully fifty per
 cent, thus rendering less numbers of troops necessary.
 H. In many instances where temporary
 camp has been arbitrarily located by order from San Francisco. there is either no neces sity whatever for it. or all that is sought t' . be accomplished might be effected by l5 0
 20 men and the remainder of the compan, left available for duty elsewhere; thus instead
 of having an entire company or two cornpa nies stationed at some point. which canno z protect anything except their own supple; e the soldiers all the while subjected to tn e most absolute discomforts and seyerest pr - yations. they would be either in comfortabl
 quarters or upon active duty.
 III There would be but one hospital an c one guard house. the comfort and care of tn t sick and wounded would be properly alter Il ded to, the guard houses would not alway
 be full, innocent soldiers would not have {
 suffers unjustly neither would the guilty z $ unpunished to the great det7iment of tn O service.
 $ ". There would be but one commandin
 officer. who would direct all movements
 the regiment The subordinate officers woul r be under the immediate supervision of th - regimental commander, and the men und' q the direction of the company officers, whoi ], entire time could and would be devoted { company duties. The same officer woul e no: he called upon to perform the duties { ' post and company commander, adJutan c auartermaster and commissary, either one
 which offices has duties enough to occup all of his time.
 C V. Discipline would be improved and . '- tendency to insubordination done away witt C the strictly military duties required by tl ' regulations could be performed with regula r. ity and in such manner as to interest th }, soldier and relieve the tedium of camp. II Much more might be said in favor of larg [, posts and comfortable quarters, and again