Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-06-20
aa. From the Boston journal.
The Democracy and the Army Bill.

4ea From the Boston Journal.
The Democracy and the Army Bill.
II is certainly hazardous thing to point
to any one MEASURE enacted or attempted
by the present Congress As the most des-
perate and reckless. A host of prof cts
claim that dishonorable distinct )n-.be
River aud Harbor bill, tie Potter inyesti-
cation, and the various schemes tor subsi-
dy and plumber among the rest. Blu, the
Army bill, in the form in which il was first
passed by the House, must be accorded a
pltce among the most wicked piece OF leg
islation attempted 10y this or any other
Congress. II pped Of oue-ifh of our
already pung and mad .quate force; it
threw upon the remainder not only the
extra labor necessarily involved by this
cnrlail nent. but the care of Indian affairs
hitherto resting with the Department of
the Interior; and put a premium upon
mob vicl ,nce by forbidding the use of
troops by the Executive without the direct
warrant of Congress. The republican
Senate however, refused to consent to the
reduction of the army, modified the pro
visions concerning the use of troops in
peace, and referred the questions of reor-
ganization and the transfer of the Indian
Bureau to special commissions tor consid-
GRAFTON. II would surrender none of these
positions, AMI the House, reluctantly aud
with i'll grace. abandoned it plans.
Had this project for crippling the army
Leeh undertaken in a time OF profound quiet
and settled prosperity, when no special
dangers threatened us. there might have
been some excuse for it, But there has
rarely been time-eXcept whe1 we were
directly engaged in war-shen the uses
for the army were so arduous and various.
IN most Of our large cities there are ON
inous agitations among the lower q asses
and chiefly among dangerous and in
flana he foreign element which, if i'm
munjty from punishment were assured.
might fame up into open violence AT any
time. Ga The Mexican frontier there are
ioraVs by freebooters. cattle thieves and
revoisgionists TO be watched. checked and
resisted. In ease of a war in Europe oar
northern frontier woul need to be care
fully watched and guarded, to prevent yio-
lations Of neutrality; while in tle West an
Indian war, whose extent and cost cannot
yet be predicted. has actually begun, and
the Ind ms already engaged in it are nu.
merous enough to laugh at the skeleton
con plnies Of regular troops gathered
against them. The "laga beds of dark
aud bloody memory, are the hidng-place
of wel-armed and murderous savapes.
whose dislodgment and suppression must
require very considerable force while
thousands of hostile Sioux, under the
Leadership of Sitting Bull, are threatening
a descent upon the settlements from the
north. And this was the time, of all 9th.
ers, that the democratic House took tn
C ipple the army, overload it with work
and destroy It's effectiveness. Already
military operations have been impeded
aud much needless blOodshed has been
occasioned by the necessity of moving our
scattered and scanty forces from one point
TO another along the vast extent OF terri
tory to Le guarded; bat if the House dem
ocrats had had their way W. should soon
have no army TO move, and would be al
together al the mercy Of " xiean maraud-
ers. communistic rioters and hostile In.
dians. Demagogues have stood np ia Com
gress 10 make special plea for the rail-
road rioters al Pittsburg and elsewhere
last suaDier, aud 10 charact .rize their
bloody and destructive lawlessness AZ
simply temporary check upon the wheels
Or chHitsl. The same have also recon.
paepdsd s]ls settlers upon the Western
frSnHsfDtut imsds together for their own
fsistsetltAs 80 es u dispense with the ser
fless ofiLs arm yn ~ The settlers are ing
BaiehARsd aew y theK cabins aud ranches
wsils u1nfshddg sSispsslsfs as best they
can l.sssq Srreel a. bseasasgi
The point which should be borne in