The Portland daily press., 1876-01-08
Reduction of the ARMY.

The Democratic proposition to reduce the
army to $4,000 men will not be likely to CON-
mend itself to the judgment of the people
1t comes from suspicious source. Without
imputing unworthy motives to the sixty
o0d Confederate colonels in the House it is
no more than reasonable to suppose that they
do not cherish the warmest feelings of admi-
ration and gratitude for our military estab.
lishment. and that they are impelled by the
public sentiment of the section they repre-
sent to make an effort to so weaken the mill
tary arm of the government that it will be
p0werless to suppress domestic insurrection
if such should arise. Many army officers
go farther than this, and insist that the South
contemplate temporary reduction only, and
that the force will be increased to or above
its old numbers as soon as the South are in a
condition to name the new officers who will
be required. The South only are spoken of
in this connection, for the Democratic North
reasen very little upon the subject. 1t is
sufficient for them to know that their allies
desire reduction.
That the army is national police, and
should be strong enough to make itself felt in
case of an emergency is not open to contro-
versy. So long as it is sufficiently strong, so
long as there exists police at the instant
service of the government adequate to en-
force its authority, there will seldom be any
occasion, except on our borders and in the
territories, to call it out. The mere fact of
its existence is sufficient restraint. But let
it once be known among the unruly classes
that the government has virtually dis
armed, that there is no force capable of
sustaining the national authority, at
that moment civil processes and all the
resources of state authority can be sue
cessfully defed. There frequently does
come time when courts and juries fail,
and when the only restraint is knowledge
of the fact that the government has at its
disposal force sufficient in numbers TO sup
press domestic insurrection, force, too,
officered by loyal men who will not hesitate
to do their duty because of sympathy with
the disaffected classes. There is no assur-
ance that the insolent lawlessness which has
prevailed in some of the Southern States has
entirely given way to the dictates of patriot
ISM and good sense. The way to suppress
that lawlessness is certainly not to offer it
impunity.
It is to be much doubted too if the army
is any larger than we need to guard our
frontiers, to maintain peace among the In
dians, and to garrison our harbors and forts,
The duties which our troops are called upon
to perform are arduous and varied. They
are used to guard the Atlantic, Pacific, and
Gulf coasts, to keep in subsection 24O,0OO In
dians scattered over the immense area from
the Rio Grande to the upper Missouri, and
to guard the people on the Texan frontier
from Mexican marauders. But week or
two since Democratic Congressman from
Texas called upon the President and asked
that more troops be sent to that state to
guard the line Of the Rio Grande. Where
the troops were to come from they did not
state. Certainly men cannot be drawn from
tI,e r,s>,si-al -a-ri--,.s te AtI,n.ie coasts
nor fiom the scattered regiments who are
engaged in keeping down the Indians. If
one or two regiments cannot now be spared
for the protection Of Texas, how can the
army be cut down two-fifths, how can ten
thousand men be spared from the servicep