The daily gazette., 1877-11-21
i<''.s .Es1Ns FsEEs &.I.Is99,


.!-...G - layo. OF increasing the army 10
$4,000 men seems to afford the editor of the
Rspubtican great deal of pleasure. 1t is a
rare thing for it to have the pleasure of rub
hing its hands with glee over a vote in
eiJher House of Congress- It did not enjoy
such pleasure even when it had Repre-
sentative in the House of its own choice.
We are in favor of an economical admins
tration, as we were assured Messrs. Bay
ard anu Williams were and the army is
one OF the least useful branches OF the gov
ernment in time of peace, and at this time,
when there are so many drilled soldiers all
over the country, we thought 1t the best
time to reduce it, especially as the Indian
war had just been concluded.
In order that our contemporary may be
treated fairly, we give what he says in the
JOY of the moment; '
"WHAT ARE You GOING TO DO ABOUT
1T ?p-That is the question we want the IA
zETTE TO answer. now that Senator Bayard
and Hon. James Williams have both put
themselves on record in favor of limiting
the army to 25.000 men.
The vote on the adoption of the Senate
amendment limiting the army to the figure
named was 1874 yeas to 1870 nays. the yeas
were all Republicans except Messrs. Will
liams Mich } Williams, (Del) Culber.
son, Schleicher, Glddings, Mills and
ThrOck morton, (Texas, and Luttrell .(Cal0
Had these Democrats voted against the bill
it would have been lost by IL majority.
Asthe passage ofthe army bill fixing the
limit at 25,ooe men, and these eight men
dare act for themselves without regard TO
the behests of party we ask again what
will the GAZETTE do about it How silent
it was on Monday about Mr.. Williams
vote. 1t even had selections from other
Democratic papers, making the army bill
"A party test but said not a word about Mr.
Williams laying aside the Democratic
yoke. ..' ~
1t has published selections from speeches
made against the army, but not a word OF
explanation about Mr.. Williams VOTE
And again 1t has nothing TO say about Mr.
Bayard voting with the Repub blicans in the
Senate on the army bill question.
9 What is going 10 happen? Are we going
TO have q Democratic rebellion in Della
ware. and are the Messrs Bayard and VIII.
liams to head the rebellion, and that TOO
without asking leave of the "GaBette." we
ask again in all seriousness, oh, most DO
tential Ga zette" what are you going to do
about 1t?
Messrs. Bayard and Williams are not
answerable to for their votes, They
know that their course in Congress is view
ed by the tax payers of Delaware. and to
them as their constituents must the rea
sons be assigned for voting for an army of
25,000 men. Perhaps they can assign good
reasons for their votes. They usually have
reasons for their acts. II may be that an
explanation would cause us to commend
their votes But so far we have seen moth
ing to induce us to believe that Mr.. Will
liams' vote for increase of the army was
wise To say 1t was wise would be
equivalent to Joining in the exultant cry of
noCAery and ridicule that went up from
hundreds of such Radical journals as the
Repesoticdn, and numerous so-called indie
pendent papers, that branded the $50 Demo
Gratis who voted on the bill as ignorant
and presuming wranglers whose speeches
were disgrace to the House, and only put
Ting the country to useless expense.
The Republican cannot induce us to speak
disparagingly of Messrs. Bayard and VIII.
liams; nor do the readers of the GAZETTE
look for anything of that kind from us. AS
il wants to know "what we are going to do
about it," we viii just add that we shall
continue to denounce the taxing of the
country with large standing army and
urge the President to abstain from recruit
ing 1t; and If possible to reduce 1t to a lower
NUMBER than now exists by discharetnp
about one half of the 10 800 officers which
help to compose II and supply their places
win good private soldiers. The pay of the
omcers averages about 81 500 per year: that
OF the pr1vates $3.50. There are now abont
as many privates as officers. Such is the
way the Radicals have the army now
When the Democrats get into power we
hope this will be remedied, and the army
put in such good fghting trim that no In.
dian Will dare attack it. At present the In
dams appear to be better equipped than our
army. We do not now fear to trust the
President, although we do believe that hay-
ing so small force saved us from a war
with Mexico.