The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-20

tno matbcI OF the cn6r8e1 aBhluSt OeucfSi uOWo1u,
the committee shall proceed with an investigation
or whether they win recommend the subject to be
Transferred to military court OF inquiry for trial.
The committee are about equally divided on these
propositions.
The Reduced Estimates OF the War
Departmcnt-The Large Number OF
OAcers Who Perform No Real SER
vice.
The reduced estimates Of the War Department
call for $4,000 for recruiting tie army 600
for pay mileage and postage for the army;
$3.50, 900 for subsistence; $6,O00o00 for stoves
coat wood, forage for horses. straw bedding for
soldiers and stationery; $1,s0o.00o for incidental
expenses; $500, 900 for cavalry and artillery horses
$4,5Oo O0o for transportation; 00o 600 for bar
racks and quarters; $17oO,O00 for soldiers CLOTH
ing; 100000 for medical and hospital stores;
$3.50, 900 Tor expenses at arsenals: $9s00o0 for
ordnance supplies; 100000 for new hreech load.
ers. and 81, 100000 for heavy guns; the total
amount, inclusive OF smaller items not enumer-
ated, being $34, 100000 Besides these there are
reduced estimates Of $4,000 to support the de-
partment at Washington; $4,000 exclusive OF pay
Of professors Instructors, officers aud cadets for
the Military Academy; $727. 900 for armorles and
arsenal buildngs $1,000, 900 for sea-coast fortdca
tions sos 900 for care Of military convcts; $2000O0
Tor the State militia $2500O0 for the support of the
volunteer asylum; $4,000 for the support Of the
Freedmen's Hospital At Washington ;over OoO 900
for bounties, back pay and extra pay arising out
Of past wars; 100000 to reimburse States for
war expenses and $3.50 900 to pay for horses other
property lost by officers and soldiers in campaign.
The commercial interests in charge OF the War De-
psrtment call for $780, 900 for river and harbor
improvements and $3.50, 900 for daily observation
and report OF the weather.
In their scrutiny Of these estimates the Appro-
prtatton Committee have found that, owing TO de-
sertion, fully twofths Of the rank ana file OF the
army are renewed every year, the men being
listed on the eab0ard and transported immense
distances for service In the interior OF the CONT
nent. 1t costs about SIS to enlist each Of these
$4,000 yearly recruits besides the expense Of his
outfit OF clothing, maintenance at recruiting de-
DOTS and transportation to his post. SO far as the
military authorities are concerned, all this great
expense seems to be unavoidable. The men who
enter the army are driven into it by temporary
want Or despair, and as soon as they recover
obtain their discharge through political influence
exerted by friends at home, or they desert.
OF the $l2,000,000 required for pay, over
$500,000 Is virtually pension paid to
800 officers retired from service under five
or six different acts of Congress passed
since the beginning OF the last war, the pension
rate being seventy five per cent Of the full pay OF
the oficer's grade, or fifty per cent more than Is
paid In any other service in the world. Many Of
these retired officers did not enter the regular army
at all till after the war, and after brief service
were retired for causes existing at the date Of
their entrance, and seventy were retired upon
higher rank than they ever held, under an act OBJ
tanned in 1865 for his own benefit by the brother
OF distinguished United States Senator now
deceased. This act was repealed year or two
ago to stop further abuse under It. As conse-
quence OF it nearly one-quarter Of the whole re-
tired list hold the rank and draw the tnree.Quar-
ters uu pay Of colonel, brigadier general or major
general. The General Of the Army, the NTH wheel
OF the peace establishment and the oee ove Of the
real head the Secretary Of War, is not permitted
10 enjoy his well earned reward for past services
in solitude. but is provided by Congress with full
war stan of six colonels, taken rom the lower
grades Of the army, and costing the country an
extra 1000 year. The Lieutenant General has
q more modest but equally useless stan imposed
upon HIM by Congress- SO with the major ana
brigadier generals-nine in number-most OF
whom depend more upon past service than present
usefulness for their tenure. They are provided
with ornamental stats, and. still worse, the de-
partment, being compelled to provide them with
nominal employment Is put to q large outlay for
quarters oflices CLERKS travelling and other incl
dental expenses. The committee find that to gov
ern and supply an army, generally less and never
more than 30 900 men, it takes eleven generals,
$50 stan o1icers. from brtgadier to captain, 30
surgeons, besides force Of civil surgeons costing
quarter OF million, sixty i've paymasters dlsburs-
ing less than 5000 900 each, with the aid OF clerk
seventyn ordnance ofcers and thirty -four chap
lans. There are over one hundred engineer off,
GERS, chiefly of high rank, whose duties IN connec-
ton with Notifications, internal improvements,
lighthouses and surveying. are so intermingied
that it is impossible to say what proportion Of the
whole are on strictly military duty. The additional
pay to army officers for length Of service costs
$60O, 000 Of1cers who travel about in Europe or
the United States on real or assumed public BUSH
ness cost the government $275,OOo. The travelling
pay and subsistence OF such departing soldiers as
do not desert cost over half a million.
The expenses OF the army so far as regards the
ofncers were largely increased by General
Logans pay bill. enacted three or four years ago,
through the construction put upon it by the mill
tary authorities. They not only get higher pay,
but the large number stationed at Washington
and other cities really get larger allowances In
place Of the combinations for quarters and fuel
abolished by Logan's act The estimates of the
Quar- ;ermaster's Department the Appropriation
Committee find difficult to revise, and their re-
duction, where made, has been chiefly arbitrary.
Forage and fuel are constantly increasing IN cost.
owing to the disappearance OF timber and the
pushing forward Of the posts into the wilderness
to protect infant settlements and projected rail.
roads. This forward movement necessitates the
abandonment Of old posts and the erection
OF new ones and the committee are satisfied
that the frontier troops are not adequately
sheltered with the appropriations yearly
made for barracks and quarters. The estimate
for transportation has been especially trouble
some. Congress has never been able to control
the cost Of transportation. which is really gov
erned by the movements and disposition OF the In
dian bands. Appropriations made in advance have
always been matters of form, the actual cost
being met by deficiency bills after the expenses
have been incurred. The yearly changes OF station
among the troops for sanitary reasons have been
manly suspended for two or three years, the
transportation money being used up by Indian ex-