The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-06-03

The Next Phase OF the Army Struggle.
Congress is but half through tho woods,
ON its road to army reduction and through
! the easier half II was safe 60 count on
some retrenchmeht In tile House.; II Is
equally safe to look for opposition in the
Senate; the real battle Is yet TO be fought
between the two Houses.
We can now see the virtue and value OF
that dsbandmont section which Mr.. BAN
MING had the courage to weave into his first
Army bill, and the tmidtc nftcrward to
tear out. That section provided that the
army should exist so long A. Congress made
appropriations for it. and no longer; that
whenever The end of Il fiscal year should ar
rive without appropriations having been
made for the next, the army, by sheer vr-
tue Of that failure, should be disbandcd
forthwith Mr.. BRAGG repaired the obvious
defects OF this clause by separate bill pro-
viding that officers ON the retired list should
temporarily take charge of Government
posts and property, ON such disbaudmcnt
until Congress should otherwise direct.
We're n statute of constructive disband-
ment In force to-day, there would be no great
struggle In prospect between the Senate and
the House. Tho Senate would be forced TO
choose between reducing the army substan-
TALLY as the House proposes and disband-
ing it altogether The boot IS now on the
other leg it is the House that Is placed in n
dilemma the dilemma of sacrificing some
of its measures of economy to the will of the
Senate, or securing no economy at all
Should the Houses fail to agree. cxpcndi-
ILL
on the present inflated basis Of $4,000 enlist
ed men and 2,1Gi commissioned officers. with
the existing salaries. When like failure
occurred about fifteen months ago. this CON
tlnuance of army expenditures at existing
rates WAS practised and the present House,
In its extra session last year, formally sane
toned the practice. Such is the dilemma
which it has created for itself When the
friends of army reduction obtain clear ma
jOrty in both Houses. lot them remember
this dilemma, and provide a remedy Tor its
recurrence by adopting the much gncd
constructive disbandmcnt law.
Turning To the approaching struggle be-
tween House and Senate. we say that II the
former cannot stand it, ground on its main
measures. it will hardly be- worth while 10
Maggie over minor details. Never WAS So
called retrcnchmcnt made moro tcndcrly
and gingerly. In place of cutting the army
down to 10000 men, the House fixes the
number OF enlisted men at 10000, with. we
should say, about / 800 officers. or an aggrc-
gate Of 81 500 Cannot the House find back
bone enough 10 stick to that?
Instead OF making summary reductions I'm
the stan corps. as II was entitled Ia do. and
as the people expected it to do. the House
has provided for boards. consisting wholly
of army officers, TO perform the greater
part of this task for it. Surely there il
nothing SO ultra in this reform that tho
House cannot stand by II. The House has
also made sundry rcgimcntal consolida-
tiOns. particularly in the infantry Very
possibly the Senate may proclaim this to be
sacrilcge. But II we look at the infantry
organizations 81 other countries. we find the
number Of soldiers commanded by each
officer, on the peace basis t. bee almost in
variably larger than in our own country
The House bill prohibits the employment
of the army as posse cOmHdius for cXccut-
ing laws, except when expressly authorized
by Congress No one can deny that it Is
time 10 mako that enactment. The Consti-
tuition, in giving Congress power "todcclarc
war, adds directly, n a curollary, " to raise
and support armies % but power quite dis
tinct is vtcrward conferred -"to provide
for calling forth the militia 10 execute thc
laws OF tll" Union. suppress iu-urrcctions.
and repol invasions." Thus two distinct
classes of duties and two distinct agencies
are provided. II IL true thata statute aftcr-
ward PASSED by Congress provided that the
land and naval forces might aid the militia
OF the States during an instruction" in
any state against the Government there
off, But what the HAYES Administration
has done is 10 cQnstruo labor strike against
a corporation as an Instruction against the
Government Of the State; and it has nisuscd
the army and navy TO carry out that dan
gerous and despotic Interpretation. Let the
House take courage TO stand by its legsa-
tion in behalf of economy and of popular
rights. II break must be made with the
Senate there is no better time and no better
Issue than the present for that purpose.