The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-02-12

Chairman OF tu6 mlnthfy OOmmlbteo
,oLes the ground that the reduction should
ho nrospective and by absorption; that the
'.9.,6totb and composition Of the force TO be
.,armeneutly maintained should be fixed;
"a that the change from the present to the
fntnte organization should be, in the case OF
officers. at least, by casaaHy-that is, by the
natural dwlndling through deaths, resigna-
tions. and dismissals from the servics-stop-
ping, meanwhile, and till the reduced orgaui-
zation is reached, promotions and appoint
On the her hand Messrs. Butler, Logan
and other ex officers of the volunteer forces
take the ground that as they were mustered
ont at once when the war was over, tue same
summary process should be applied to the
officers of the regular army whenever the
number of enlisted men reduces them, for
the time being, to the condition Of supernu-
Tha radical difference between these two
opinions is, evidently, that the one is based
on the theory that regular military establish
ment is necessary to any well-organized State,
whatever be its form of government, while the
other denies that such a necessity exists in
our country; it holds that on the contrary, it
is always possible to gather as large, we'll
educated, well-informed and disciplined an
army of officers and men from the body of the
people as any exigency may require, and as
rapidly as we may want them.
This latter view obviously ignores, as it
seems to us, the universal regret at the open
ing of the rebellion that our regular force,
and above all our body of experienced pro-
iessional officers, was so small. That time is
not 80 distant that we cannot vividlY recall
the general determination that the nation
should never again be suffered to fall into a
condition so hopeless.
1t is hardly sufficient to reply that we now
have officers enough for large army. We
shall have fewer tomorrow, and still fewer
next year; and very soon, indeed, If proper
military institutions are not kept up, We shall
be again in that weak and unprepared oondi-
ton which entaled on US SO much misery,
waste, death, and continuing debt.
Such volunteer officers as Generals Butler,
Schenck, Logan and Banks, we must reflect,
never sought military rank and position in
the line of professional occupation. They
suffered no wrong by being promptly mus
tered out of the service. Their arenas were
different. Thrust them suddenly on plea OF
economy out of their political positions and
preferments, with 40 chance of returning, and
they might look on this matter in different
light. The regular army officer, taken by
the Government as boy, and moulded exou-
sively to its own purposes. to whom the mill
tary life was his career, who spent his youth
and manhood in it, and whose praiseworthy
professional ambition was to reach position
honorable In the eyes OF his oountrymen and
of his descendants-to him the military pro-
fession is all in all. The Thomases aud Msades
of our army have no proepect or desire, eX-
cept as officers of our army.
To violently and arbitrarily dislocate and
disorganize the body to which they belong,
and which bears the records of their honor
able career, is unjust to such officers. 1t is
fagrantly unjust TO claim that as the country
has no need, for the moment, of their ser
vices, their career shall end; that after in
vesting large part of their lives in this vo
cation, they shall be forced to seek another:
The gradual system proposed by the Mill
tary Committee will soon place the reduced
force in harmony with the proposed organiza
ton, and yet, meanwhile, work no injustice
to body of officers who merit being treated
with more consideration than the rude dis
missal which has been urged by some mem
bers of the House.