The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-09-25

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| which Gen MCCLELLAN rests the case he
has sought to make out. But as none Of these
conditions exist. II will not stand scrutiny,
and is not adapted TO situation wholly the
reverse of that necessary to give it coun-
| tcnancc. Speculation az to results that
might have been attained ut the outbreak
of the civil war; If the army had been larger
than it was at that timc and differences
drawn from expenditures in the remote
| past, that might have been better utilized,
| have no bearing whatever upon the stern
| facts that the country is now compelled to
| confront aud to act upon.
| I; is an incxcusablo mistake to assume
that the reduction of the army advocated in
the last Congress by the Democratic House
OF Representatives was proposed through "a
| very well founded suspicion of the purposes
of the Republican party" as the World puts
| 1t, in reviewing the article of Gen. McCLEL-
Ian. Such reduction was part Of general
policy Of economy and reform, clearly and
forcibly set forth in the budget prepared by
Mr.. RANDALL, then at the head OF
the Committee on Appropriations. In
that budget, the same principle and
the same processes of retrcnchmcnt
were applied to the army rs were APP
| piled TO the navy and to all branches of tho
civil service, and precisely for the same
| reasons. There had been extravaganza,
waste, and excess of expenditure beyond the
public needs and they must be corrected.
The estimates sent in at the first session
Of the last Congress aggregated $203,-
| 100000, In round numbers, and the bills
as they passed the House summed up
Sl3S,OO0,0OO. The Republican Senate and the
Administration threw every obstacle in the
way Of this economy, dcnouncing II as an
attempt TO destroy the efficiency of the pub
lie service. They raised the appropriations
| 10y twenty millions, and aftcra long struggle
between the two branches n compromise was
effected by which the appropriations aggrc-
gated 100000, or nine millions more than
the House had originally voted, though
thirty millions less than the Republican Con-
gress had granted the previous year.
The army was not included in the re-
trenchment Of 1875, because when the
policy WIS about to be applied TO it the
Sioux outbreak occurred, followed by the
loss of CUSTER and his small command I;
and this was at once magnifed into
the proportions OF a great Indian war,
for effect on Congress. Under the inGu-
| ence Of that well concerted alarm the army
maximum was preserved and twenty-five
hundred cavalry were added. What hap
| pened at the last session Is we'll known from
the publicity given to the facts by the fail
ure of the Appropriation bill Now we are
soon to be brought face to face with the
| practical question whether the army is to
be exempt from any reform. or is to stand
out as a glazing exception 10 the national
necessity OF retrenchment, wherever re-
trenchmcnt is possible. The country is in an
abnormal condition, and after four years Of
unprecedented hardship, Is still struggling
under burdens which tax all its resources
and energies to the utmost. Everybody and
everything have felt this prostration, and
especially the laboring masses, upon whom
the heaviest weight falls.
In the last ten years ofpeace, five hundred
and sixty millions of dollars have been cx-
pended for the maintenance of the regu-
lar army, whose chief duty during that
time was to serve as political police in
the reconstructed States. 1t matters not
who ordered these troops on that service
or how they deported themselves. The
compliments OF Gen. MCCLELLAN count
for little, when we remember how Legis-
|
| point Of the bayonct, how people seeking
peaceably and lawfully TO assert thoir rights
were stigmatized and threatened as bandit
ii. and, only recently, how the great Elec-
toral Conspiracy was consummated in the
presence Of troops gathered from the distant
frontier, and with artillery trained to bear
on the House Of Representatives.. II there
had been no large army to furnish that in
| timidating force. which was kept for months
on a war footing, and commanded by the
General OF the Army, the conspiracy would
| have been ridiculous. The conspirators
| knew well what was behind them when they
stole the Presidency. and loudly threatened
revolution at the capital TO insure the sue
cess Of their plot. These events are too
recent 10 be forgotten. and though the y
seem not to have attracted the atten-
ton of Gen. MCCLELLAN, they have none
the less made lasting impression on
the public mind, intensfying the patri-
otto warning against large standing army
time OF peace Tho immediate prac-
teal and unanswerable reason for re-
ducing the army, however, Is the state
Of the public finances and revenues, and
| the general depression of business, which
makes every dollar of unnecessary taxation
almost a crime.
Why should the regular army stand alone,
as an exception TO a system 81 economy z
Why appropriate Tor that branch of the pub
lie service fifteen or twenty millions n year
more than IS absolutely needed few hun
dred Indians in the Northwest rebel against
the United States because they have been
cheated by Government agents out Of their
annuities and supplies, and their lands have
been stolen. Deal honestly with them and
they will return to obedience. The abored
effort to get up n war with Mexico, in the
interest Of iobbers and spectators, has
signaly failed 10y an example of good faith
on the part Of that Government which We
would do well TO initiate.
There is no cause, then, TO Justify the drain
on the Treasury for an army Of twenty-five
thousand men, let alone forty thousand
when ten thousand are adequate to all our
wants A great army is only n luxury
for those who hold life estates as OIL
GERS, and whose families are pensionod