Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1870-12-05

consideration Of Congress and for such action
as may be deemed advisable.
With an army scattered over 50 large An
extent OF country, stationed in loo alities remote
from q dense population, needing quarters
whose erection il retarded by the want Of those
facilities offered in the more thickly settled
portions OF the country, and actually demand
ing very heavy expenditures for transportation
and the other Incidents of the service, Ii Is diff
cult to rapidly enforce reduction. Since the
date Of the last report ii has been Secretary
Belknaps aim to return from the loose customs
and expenditures which crept into the service
during the emergencies of our late war, to the
more economical and thrifty system of former
years
Since the commencement of the present fiscal
year there has been realized from sales of sur
plus arms and ordnance to citizens of the United
States the sum of IS ,600, 000 More than 1900
stands OF arms of obsolete pattern, and unfit for
issue, have been sold since the close Of the war.
and II Is the intention to continue the sales a.
opportunity offers.
Recruiting for every arm of the service has
been carried on throughout the year. Many of
the rendezvous were closed In February, 1870,
owing to the nearly exhausted state OF the re-
cruiting fund. Congress, however, having made
especial appropriation of $50 600 to defray ex-
penses until the end of the fiscal year, recruit
ing was resumed under instructions issued on
April 30. by the LIST of July, 1871, the army
will be brought down to the legal standard of
5O,OcO enlisted men, the number prescribed by
the act OF July Is, 1870, and in the mean time
recruiting will be continued only on a scale
rendered necessary by casualties.
On July I. 1869, the number of officers in SER
wee was Z,i46, increased by the appointment
during the year OF 6. post chaplains and So
graduates Of West Point, making in all 2,SlO.
The number of officers in service on November
10. $50, was 2, 4Sl, reduction of 32s. On No
vemher 80, the number OF supernumerary Off
GERS, or OF those in excess of the standard pre-
scribed by law, was 2l1.
BY the act Of July Is, 1870, providing for the
Ieuucuon OF the Army, the extent of the retired
list was increased, authority was given to the
PRESIDENT to discharge at his discretion, with
one years pay, officers who might apply there
of on the line to the list
directed to constitute a board for the examina-
ton OF the cases OF officers reported by depart
ment commanders as unfit for the proper dis
charge OF their duties; and it was also enacted
tnat all supernumerarv Officers remaining after
the LIST of January, 1871, should be honorably
mustered out of the service, with one years pay
ana allowances. Preparations for carving out
the provisions of that act are being made as
rapidly as possible. 1t will be the endeayor
OF the Department to exercise discretion and
judgment in the recommendations it may make
as 10 the discharge of supernumeraries and by
the exercise of due regard for the military
record and personal fitness of those recommen-
led Tor transfer or retention. to avoid inju stice
and by a fair examination of each case, to aid
In a Just and impartial enforcement Of the law
AS many OF the Office who will, Of necessity
be mustered out BY operation of law, have done
faithful service in the field-s0me of them in the
war of the rebellion. and some in the war with
Mexico-it is submitted whether il would not be
wise as well as generous act in Congress by
legIla n early in the coming session, to extend
until July /, 1871, the time in which the Presi-
dent may, at his discretion, discharge, with one
years pay and allowances, officers who NAV
Apply therefor, and also, to direct that vacan-
ces occurring prior to that date in the regiments
OF cavalry, artillery, and infantry might be
hiled by such supernumerary officers, with due
regard to rank and fitness those remaining
snpern9merary after July 1, 1871, to be mustered
out with one years pay.
=, The Secretary recommends the adoption of
t M course. 1t will go far toward preventing
the injustice which il is so difficult tn avoid and
Will to great extent dispense with the neces-
sity for forcing from the service with seeming
ingrautude, many gallant men.
during the past year IS cadets OF the Military
Academy have been graduated and appointed
second Iieutenants in the Army; Il have been
discharged for marked deficiency in conduct or
stndsfs; have resigned. has deserted, and 4
have died. New cadets to the number of e.
have been admitted, and the corps at present
numbers 22S members, divided. for urposes OF
study ands scientific instruction into four classes
and organized, for military instruction, duty
and discipline, into battalion o.ticered from
among themselves.
Within the next four years some 200 educated
officers can be supplied to the Army, equal in
professional attachments to the requirement of
grade.
Hopes are entertained that the increasing
labOrs of the Corps Of Engineers, in Connection
with the internal and foreign commerce of the
country, and the necessity OF employing civil
existing
law prohibiting appointments and promotions
IN the CORPS, and thus restore to the cadets an
incentive TO exertion OF which they have lately
been deprived.
afforded satisfactory evidence of the high state
or discipline. and the comprehensive Judgment
Wflch chAracteIIZes the management OF the
academy A thorough inspection disclosed some
defects, and exhibited some matters of detail in
which changes were desirable but its WELL
earned character as military school is fully
sustained The act OF Congress passed at its
last session, placing the professors in respect TO
retirement from active service, on the same
footing as officers of the army, is regarded as a
Just provision, giving those gentlemen whose
of arduous duties an opportunity for rest. with
liberal pay, when the efficiency OF the CORPS re-
quires their retirement.
But little progress has been made BY the rail-
way companies in settling the debts contracted
by them at the close OF the war by the purchase
OF the material of the military railroads. The
total TO debt remaining due and unpaid on June
from southwestern companies. Their payments
during the year amounted to the sum of
S365 ,s2o45, but owing to the amount Of interest
the entire reduction was only S5S, 123.0i. Action
by Congress in their relief has been sought by
some OF the roads. while suits have in some cases
been instituted against those defaulting.
In the matter Of transportation, the Pacific
Railroad has saved the government much
money. but, as before stated, with the opening
to settlements Of the wilder portions of the
country, army posts are pushed further and fur
Their into the wilderness. and as the stations are
extended the expenses of transportation are and
Will remain very great.
AS the Quartermaster S Department depended
on the balances of old appropriations, no APP
preparation for clothing and equipage was last
year asked. The act of Congress of July ~.
1870, destroyed this resource, and there are no
means on hand for the purchase OF tents and
clothing. The stock of some OF the essential
articles is exhausted and purchases must be
made. As to the purchase OF horses for cavalry
and artillery, the result was the same The
balances supposed to lie available were cut of
by the same law, and hence il is earnestly hoped
that the additional appropriations asked for
both these objects for the present fiscal YEAR
as well as those for the next fiscal YEAR NAV be
appropriated without deduction.
The records of the Department show the
burial, in the national and other cemeteries of
533 GOO persons. In addition to those buried in
the % national cemeteries, there are very many
soldiers inferred III private cemeteries, near
hospitals in which they died. Measures are in
rapid progress for carrying out the law which
requires the cemeteries to be properly enclosed.
The sums appropriated by Congress at its last
session for the temporary relief of the poor
and destitute in the District Of Columbia were
expended in the purchase of food, fuel and
clothing. These supplies were distributed oniy
al 70 IN me- nd tt inn of