The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-05-30

what we might call the panic of reform the
House, by sufficient but not marked ma
jority, passed bill which, if made law. will
leave us an unarmed nation The debate was
of languid character, and seemed to indicate
that our eloquent Representatives begin to feel
the effects of summer. We fail to see any
reason for the measure except those emotions
Congress as q panic, and which would be Of
more benefit to the country if they controlled
Congress in the matter of land grants and in
creased pay. We respect that sentiment Of
jealousy which men of Anglo-Saxon lineage
have always felt towards standing army.
We should regard any legislation which kept
the army as display, means Of promotion
or favoritism or corruption, as criminal But
there has never been such tendency in
America We have always been more inclined
to cramp the army than to increase it. Even
during the war. when we were elated over
some temporary victory, our politicians raised
the cry that the army should be reduced.
The country was very earnest then and not
disposed to paralyze Mr.. Lincoln to crafty o
few demagogues We are quite confident
that when the measure which now goes to the
Senate from the House is maturely considered
the same sentiment will prevail and the coun-
try will demand from Congress a useful
army-one that will serve its present uses and
be the foundation for still greater service
should it unhappily ever become necessary.
In the annual report of General Sherman,
made at the beginning of the present session
OF Congress, he stated that although the num-
Der of regular soldiers fell short of the author
lied thirty thousand by only about five hun
dred, yet the number Of effective men fit
for active military service was less than twenty
thousand. Soldiers in the hospitals, or en-
ployed in other than strictly military duties,
accounted for the difference between the nomi-
nal and the real strength of the army. Gen
erai Sherman is of opinion that the army is
too small, and that Congress ought to raise the
legal limit to point high enough to keep the
effective force constantly at thirty thousand
instead of less than two-thirds Of that number.
The HERALD approves of that wise recon-
mendation by perfectly competent Judge,
and believes that economy would be more
judiciously practised in almost any other
branch of the public service than in the re-
against the reduction of the army advocated by
portion of the press are so cogent
that, when stated, they cannot fail to convince
majority of fair minds.
Immediately after the close Of our last war
with Great Britain the regular army was
reduced by Congress to ten thousand The
population of the country was at that time
about eight millions; it is now about forty
millions. To make our army as large in pro-
portion now as it was then it would have
to be raised to fifty thousand, and the ne
cessity for soldiers is greater in proportion at
present than it was in 1915. We had not then,
as we have now, five or six turbulent States,
suffering from intolerable misgovernment. Our
Indian tribes in the West were then separated
from the settled portions OF the country by o
single line OF frontier, requiring comparatively
few military posts. When the war with Great
disturbance in our own country, as our great
civil war has DONE
We are pointed to the fact that some eight
thousand regular soldiers wore thought sufi-
Gent just previous to the late war, and are asked
to show why any greater number is needed in
the present circumstances OF the country. The
answer is easy enough. In the first place, it
was chiefly owing to the smallness of the regu-
lar army in 1860 that the rebellion was able to
make any Roadway. If our army had not been
so absurdly and pitifully small we should
have kept all the Southern forts and
arsenals which were so promptly and
easily seized by the rebels, and Mr..
Stewards sanguine prophecy Of a mere
sixty days campaign for suppressing the
instruction would have been fulfilled Had
the army been large enough to properly gar
rison all the Southern forts which were so
easily taken possession of by the reb Is before
and Immediately after Mr.. Lincoln's inaugu-
ration, we should have kept every Southern
harbor and city from Wilmington all the way
around to New Orleans. and the Confederates
could have made no effectual resistance, in
stead of being able to prolong the contest for
four years at an appalling cost of iiie treasure
and patience There could have been no
blockade running, no expectation Of cotton,
no importation Of arms, no rebel rams, no
Alabama cruisers, no destruction of American
shipping, and the rebellion, instead of swell
ing to the formidable dimensions OF the great
est civil war in the history of the world, would
have been mere instruction that a few
months would have suf1iced to suppress. The
Of Southern counsels in the fed
eral government for a long period prior to the
war kept our regular army so small that when
the South was ready to secede it had only to
march into the federal forts without resistance.
If we had maintained an adequate regular
army the country would have been spared the
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