, 1874-12-05
TOO MucH HEAD For THE noDY.

The Army Register for 1B11 shown very
remarkable disprol'orton bctwocn tho n,lta-
bor Of enlisted men md the n,,,,lbor Of COM
nlissioncd officers. According to Tie lsegiHtor
tile army now numbers 26,UO0 men. having
bocn reduced 1000 by tloaths anil t1rHertio,ls
a'nco Inst Jnnunry, nnl, as there in very Ron-
era! opposition to a,ly increnao thereof, it
viii only t.lso four or five years Mt tls relo
TO wipo 1t ont altogether. To command thiB
little mindful Of mon, 1t appears that 2,0Co
officers aro necessary, not counting Surgeons,
Assistant Surgeons, and limo officers selected
for transfcr to the Ordnance Department.
Tho permanent staff officers number 52l, so
TINT there is one stall officer to each
sq1tud OF four line officers and forty
eight men, and one commissioned off,
Ger to each dozen men. The dispropor-
ton is MI nbsurd che OIL the face Of it, and
probably obtains also III the navy, although
we have not the figures at hand. It is III
army with tremendous lead and little body,
looking something like tadpolo. This dis
proportion becomes all the more absurd when
it is considered that the rank and flo OF the
army iu constantly diminishing and tile Of
fcers are constantly increasing, since they do
not suffer from desertion, very little by death
or resignation, and Wost Point grinds out its
grist every year with unvarylng regularity,
At this rnte Of increase and decrease how
long will it be before the army will bo mnde
up Of officers without commands? The plea
for this proportion is tint tile officers, al
though not needed now, mny bo Of use whom
Tie emergency Of war occurs. But in
case Of war the country must depend upon
its volunteer army, mud experience has nj
ready shown that the same course which pro-
vidou volunteers for the rank and flo can also
provide volunteer officers in any number who
| nre not only brave men but quickly become
| qualified to command, as was abundanty
| shown in the War OF tho Rebellion both in
| the South md the North. And tho War Of
| the Rebellion showed another thing, viz {;
TINT otliccra who Ind gono through West Point
and afterwards resigned into the wallss Of
private life, can bo recalled to the army on
tile tap Of the drum aud on the firing Of tho
first hostile shot. It is wholly useless, there
fore, to keep thousands Of educated, skillful
officers in idleness OH the national pay-rolls
all tleir livcs, waiting for the 'noxt war;"
Tho absurd disproportion which the Regis
ter shows is in itself an argument for the re-
d,lction Of tho number Of officers. The re-
duction Of the enlisted men is taking care Of
itself with sufficient rapidity. If the officers
are to be constantly increased, then the army
should be increased also, or the War Depart.
mcnt will speedily be department. OF Bine-
cures. Gen. Bellnap, in his annual report,
has taken very sensible position in this re-
spect, especially in his argument that the
present system Of reducing the army by dis
charging men without diminishing tho num-
her Of officers il unsym1netrical and not Geo.
nomcal. The army now is reduced to mill
i1num which ought not to be further dis
turbcd. The reduction should hereafter be
made in the officers and posts. Let West
Point go on with Its work and furnish the
officers, but it is not necessary to keep them
in idleness. A part Of them can be retired
without detriment, as they can be called upor
at any timo in m emergency.