Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-11-24

| Shall the army reform bill be forced
Through the Reichsrath before it
has to adjourn on account of the
injecting of the delegations, at Pesth,
or shall it only be- passed in
committee now, and be brought be-
fore the House when it meets again on
the 18th of December? This is the
most important question of the moment,
md on which opinions are pretty equally
divided. There is much to be said on
both sides. sssloss.L-:7T al 81 ii
basThose who are for adjourning the dis
hsussion of the bill at the Reichsrath till
: after the delegations urge with some rea-
SON that there is scarcely time to go.into
: the merits of so importantsa bill.3 The
:; committee has only just got through
two-thirds Of the army bill. properly SO
called, and there remain still those on
fthe militia reserve and onLthe levy en-
tn,asse, the first Of which, at any rate, is
sure to give rise to an animated discus
ision. In spite of the diligence evinced
i llatterlya by the committee, which meets
in the morning and evening, it must
take some four or FIVE days before the
committee can finish its work and be-
fore it can make its report to the house,
and on the 18th of the month, that is in
ten days-the delegations meet. Ac-
/ tcording to this view, it seems almost in
fdecent haste to pass SO momentous a
bill in few days. '-a s.-5 - a.
/ On the other side, it is argued that
already much precious time has been
lost. and that if thereis to be reform, it
ought to be made as soon as possible,
so as to not expose the Emperor, as has
i been Invariably the case, to be surprised
| by events, and to be found unprepared
}for them. Already, owing to the ad-
ijourning of the Reichsrath on account
of the convocation of the Provincial Diet,
| the best period of the year for the call
ing out and drilling of the militia reserve
has beenilost. and if the passing of the
4 bill is deferred till Christmas, it will be
1scarcely possible to do anything in the
matter before the time for agricultural
labor begins, which lasts till autumn,
and during which it will be scarcely
| practicable to call out the militia. In
one word not passing the bill now,
means putting off its effects for another
year. CO. sHi e. l.a5.gr7' I ,.,.l 52o7f
!, Then as long as the bill has not pass.
ed the Reichsrath, as it has passed the
j Hungarian Diet, the military estimates
to be represented to the delegations
4 must needs bear a temporary character.
1 They must be passed on the present or
ganization of the army, which every
lone knows must be changed in a few
weeks, and toIwhiclf change the esti-
1mates m ust be adapted Already the
last delegation became on that account
j mere formality, for the answer to ev-
lery cry for reform was that the esti-
mates were but temporary, and all would
be arranged when the reorganization
j occurred. There was plausible excuse,
i for if such provisory estimates are to re-
turn year after year, they will go long
4 way to convince. people that. the delega-
[tions are. after all, but formality, and
{. little calculated to exercise a, real con-
troll over the army expenditures. The
arguments, as you see, are weighty on
| both sides, and may be said to balance
each other, but there is one circumstance
which gives the preponderance in the
iscale to those who are for passing the
| bill at any cost before the delegations
4 meet. ,=si r-a 4.-.s a.... a.5ir.......-
7 The Army bill has been the subject
of discussion for the last two years, and
4 in the present form it has been in the
hands of every one since last summer.
1 Whichever has not been able to make up
| his mind until now is not likely to do
SO by any amount of argument for or
4 againstlit. Indeed, you have only to
read the accounts of what passes in com
mittee to entertain no further doubt that
there remains but little more to be said
on the subject, and that the majority is
| tolerably pledged to it. Two of the
points on which the whole thing fingers
namely. the liability of service with,
out exception, and the war effective of
$4,000 men-have been accepted in
committee, the first unanimously, and
/ the second with large majority, which,
as the Poles will be to a man for it, is
/! likely to be even larger in the House
than in the committee. Thereis equal
lily little doubt of the militia being like
4 wise accepted. The Poles and other
autonomists may possibly make an eff
fort to give more specific national
character to this institution, bnt as they
are the most ardent advocates of arma-
4 ments. it is not likely that they will sac
1riice primary object to their wishes
Ito what must be, after all, secondary
considerations. O..
1 The only obstacles to the passing of
1.-THE bill are those which may arise from
1.-THE habit of making lengthy speeches
in the general discussion of the princi-
Piles of the bill. The Reichsrath cen
tains number of good speakers, who
enjoy set-to with, or occasionally
without gloves; then there is the usual
crowd of those afflicted by the speaking
itch, malady rather widely pread in
the Reichsrath. What with this and the
cleverness in bair-splitting, the simplest
| bill may be dragged through the house
for days and days; how much more one
which offers rather complicated prob.
lem in some of its provisions.
The essence of the bill lies in the ca
Dire system, which allows in time OF
peace, with a comparatively small effec-
tive in time of peace, to have large
army ready in time of war. The frame
work of this large army exists, but the
material with which it is to be filled
changes constantly. Now it is impos-
sible to fix how large the framework is
to be, unless you know for longer Pc
riod of time how you may be able to
fill it in case of war. The bill therefore
fixes 100000 men as the war effective,