The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-30


Switzer, the lawfully elected member whom,
in the face of two reports of the House Com
mittee on Elections, they have refused to
admit to his seat.
Such vote as this is simply confession
that those who proposed and passed 1t know
themselves to have perpetrated an outrage
upon the person in whose behalf 1t is made.
But the Teparation ia as rascally as the wrong
BY what authority do these men vote away
five thousand dollars OF the peoples money 10
person whom they have pronounced 10 nave
no right TO II Mr., Switzler's seat In congress
was not a piece Of property Tor tne loss VI
which by theft he is entitled to oompensa-
ton from the thieves, wbioh 0omPensa,.i,on
the said thieves can give him only by steahng
IL for the purpose from the people at iargel
A seat in Congress is trust. To take this
truet from the person to whom IL had been
delegated by the people, and give 1t to per-
SON to whom Il had not been delegated by ths
people, is an outrage not only upon Mr..
Switzler. but upon the people. And it is but
an ageravation of the worst features of the
outrage to offer Mr.. Switzler, at the expense
of the people who have been insulted and in
iured through him, the salary which he has
not been permitted to earn.
1t really would seem that there Is no viola
ton of common deceney honesty, and justice
so extravagant and so impudent that it may
not be perpetrated at Washington without
the attention even of the public.
How TO Save Quite a Number OF Millions
OF Dollars.
From the N. Y Times.
We see no present use, and we can see no
prospective use, of regular army of forty-five
thousand men, costing forty-three millions Of
dollars per annum.
The Army Appropriation bill, which was
reported to the House ou Thursday, was made
the special order for Monday next; and in the
meantime Congress has been receiving testi-
mony and obtaining information on the sub
ject from army officers and other parties.
We hope 1t will be discussed fully, fairly, dis
passionately, and intelligeutly.
If it be found that the state of the country
requires the psople to support q large and
costly military establishment, then OF course
the argument Is ended, and we shall accept
the situation as cheerfully as possible, not
withstanding che bad condition of the finances
and the severe burden of taxation.
But if it be found that, without injury to
the public peace or the public interests, the
army can be reduced by fifteen thousand men,
or by ten thousand, or by five thousand, or
by single regiment of soldiers, then we
urge Congress to make the reduction as soon
as possible, and thus save the Industry of the
country from so many millions of dollars of
taxation.
When Congress proposed TO reduce the
army, in the early part of last year, General
Grant asked that no steps might be taken at
that time in that direction, and offered to
take such steps towards reduction as were
authorized by the existing law. Congress
accsded to the desire of Grant, who forthwith
proceeded to diminish and retrench as far as
was then feasible.
Grant did not desire the army to be sud
denly and largely cut down at that date for
two reasons:-FIrstly, an important campaign
against the Indians was projected for the fall
and winter season; ana secondly, the South
ern States were agitated by the revolutionary
utterances of Blair and Hampton, by the de-
monstrations OF the Ku-klux, and by the
prospect of a revival of the "Lost Cause
through the election of Seymour.
There is an entire change now in both of
these particulars. The winter campaign
against the Indians has been successfully
closed, and General Sheridan himself reports
the assurance Of a permanent peace. Peace
and order prevail in all the Southern States
II we except the local disturbances in Tennes-
see and Arkansas, which are controlled by tn,
civil authorities and militia of these States
and in Texas, where a small military force
will doubtless be required for some time. Sofsr,
therefore, as the arguments against reduction
last spring are concerned they do not now
apply, and cannot be urged with any show o1
reason.
We know that under the practical policy
now being carried out by General Grant, the
army is being reduced by the stoppage of en-
listments; and we know that, in any event, il
will number several thousand fewer men al
the close of the year than it now numbers
But still we agree with several OF the leading
officers of the army in believing that, besides
this, there might be a peremptory reduction
of ten or fifteen thousand men, which would
save some eight or ten millions OF dollars tc
the Treasury and the people. And we know
that in the present state of things Congress