The daily gazette., 1877-04-05
The Army Bill.

~
An impression prevails in some
quarters that If the constitutional
rights OF South Carolina and Louis
lana are fully established before the
extra session OF Congress, by the re-
moval Of the troops and other OBJ
structions, the Army bill in the old
form will pass without difficulty. That
belief Is not well founded.
In the first place, 1t Is no concession
on the part of the Administration to
retire the troops from the occupancy
OF the State Houses, where they have
been kept without color of law or a
pretext of justification. There Is no
more occasion for an armed occupa>
tion in Columbia and New Orleans
than in Albany or Boston. The peace
Is not disturbed. There has been no
insurrection justifying a call for FEEDER
al interference. The troops them
selves are q standing menace to tran,
quilllty, by encouraging q faction
which exercises no authority and is
held in no respect beyond the tramp
Ing ground Of the soldier on guard.
Take him awav, and the shams would
vanish into thin air.
The proposed reduction of the army
to II, COO men, with the clause Prohibi-
ting employment Of the troops to prop
up fraudulent Governments, was not
intended as threat to drive a bargain.
First. it is a part Of the plan of econ
omy for cutting down the public ex-
penditures to peace standard; and
secondly, it asserts a principle in vot-
ing the public money, which is the
right of the representatives of the
people to protect them against unlaw-
full intervention by the Executive, and
such inspiration Of power as has been
witnessed during the last eight years.
Instead Of restoring the army to the
old standard of $4,000 men as is now
suggested, the retrenchment ought to
be carried still further than the bill of
the last session proposing a reduction
of $4,000. Mr.. Morrison of Illinois,
who submitted the final conference re-
pert, undertook to say he would be con-
tent with compromise ON 20, 600 mon
for the army. He had no authority to
make that offer, which did net repre-
sent any vote taken in the House, and
certainly does not reflect the general
opinion of the country in regard to q
stand army. Ten thousand men are
quite soldiers enough.
There is a class of legislators who,
after more than three years of the
hardest experie ace through which the
country has ever passed in time of
peace, do not yet seem to understand
that the expenditures for carrying ON
the Government must be graduated by
the suffering condition of the tax-
payers. 1t is ignorantly assumed, be-
cause salaries were raised, extravag-
ance was stimulated. and patronage
was multiplied ten years ago, and
since then during the era of wild ex-
pansion, that, therefore, the public
serv ce is to be injured by looping off
these excrescences and returning to
the plain and economical system that
existed before civil war and its attend
ant corruptions afflicted the land.
There has been little, If any recovery
from the prostration caused by the
crash of 1878. An industrial crisis
now actually paralyzes or threatens
the prosperity OF all the nations of Eu-
rope, which necessarily reacts on the
United States. The prospect is not
cheerful by any means. But with the
mighty resources and energies OF our
people there is no cause for defpon.
dency: We are paying off debt crea-
ted by folly, speculation, improvi-
dence, and loose legislation.
Every individual is forced to econo-
my, as q means of being relieved of
his share Of the general burden. Why
should the general Government be ex-
pected from this rule? Why should
extravaganceo of any kind be tolerated
when hundreds Of thousands of mi
ners, mechanics, and lahoring men,
who are willing to werk and whose
families are almost destitute, are idl-
| ing because enterprise is stagnant?
Why should a great army and great
navy be kept sp, merely to support The
consequence Of favored class.
During the last ten years, beginning
in 1867, two years after the proclama
tion of peace, there have been expen-
ded for the army in round numbers
the enormous sum of $594, ,000, 900, and
for the navy nearly $235, ,000, 900, or.
together, $S29, 900, ,000l These are ap-
palling figures to consider, when COM
pared with the results attained. The
army has been chiefly employed in
subjugating States and serving as a
partisan police, aud the navy has been
yachting around the worl, as If pleas
ure was the first duty to be discharged.
1t is easy to cut down these two
sources of expenditure, so as to re-
lieve the Treasury and the taxpayers.
The people demand this retrenchment
and Thorough overhauling of the
whole service, in order that every doll
lar Of waste shall be stopped. The
country is to work its way out of the
present suffering and strain by sys-
tenn Of rigid economy, applied without
fear or favor. Whoever stands as an
obsatcle to this policy must be thrust
aside and held up to his constituency,
an enemy to reform. Compromises
iika that nf Mr.. Marriaou ou tho q rm "