Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-02-24
The Bill Cor Grants Retiraey.


-.. The Bill Cor Grants Retiraey.
Judging from the urgency with which
John A. Logan pushes his so-called
Grant relief blu, onesmight suppose that
Grant was freezing and starving id some
back afley. n = Sra N*sa asas@
The Logan bill should not become a
law. for the following reasons. szss
1. The array retired list is, by the
very terms of its creation. a listfor the
use Of officers of the army only; and
Grant is not an officer 81 the army.
3 2.The unlber Of this LIST is limited
by law to four hundred. There are now
three hundred and ninety nine on it, and
unless the terms of the original bill are
modified it will bar out for the present
all others, however deserving. by grab
bling the last place for Grant. "a
8. The retired list is limited to per-
sons who, by reason of age or of wounds
or disease, are deemed unfit for active
service. Grant has not reached the
statute age, has4wno wounds or disease
acquired in the line of service, and can
not be retired under any of the Statute
~ provisions.
4. The act of July Is, 1870, still in
force, prescribes that officers on the re-
tired list ..sshall receive seventy-five per
centum of the pay of the rank upon
which they are retired" The Logan
bill declares that Grant shall have the
full pay of General, in violation Of this
statute, thereby also drawing an unjust
discrimination in Grants favor over ev-
cry other person on the list, and over
officers who have been far longer con-
nected with the army than he was. Cen
eral Sherman. who has risen to as high
rank as Grant, will only be retired on
three-fourths pay.
5. The retired list was. created for
the purpose of withdrawing officers who
shall be disabled or superannuated,
from active command. The Logan bill,
overriding the whole theory of the re-
tired list, declares THAT at any time
when the President shall consider that
an emergency has arisen requiring the
services of General Ulysses s. Grant on
active duty, he is hereby authorized to
assign him to any. command common
surate with the rank of General."s This
extraordinary misuse of the retired list
is not made subject to the desire or de-
mand of Congress, but to the mere
opinion or will of the President.
6. Congress, considering that the two
highest grades in our standing army
were totally disproportioned to the
number of troops, declared by a law
still in force that ''when a vacancy
| occurs in the office of General or Lieu
tenant General. such Office shall cease,
and all enactments creating or regula-
ting such offices shall, respectively, be
held to be repealed" The Logan bill,
ovcrthrowing this law, creates another
General, and does not permit the office
to necessarily lapse when vacated by its
present incumbent, General w. T.
| Sherman. t
z. A system of organization and set
of military laws have been framed.
based on Title XIV. of the Revised
Statutes, whose first words declare that
.sThe army of the United States shall
consist of one General" etc. The Lo-
gan bill brings two Generals into the
army; and, with no attempt at first re-
| vising military customs and the regula-
tions prescribing the duties, the rights
and the privileges of :the General -
as the wording of the laws now runs.
simply opens a way for suddenly, and
in moment of emergency, making the
grade of General double-headed.
8. Should it be said that there is NO
intent to call Grant into active service,
but that the provision looking to that
end is merely designed to justify the
award of full pay instead of three
fourths pay, the precedent becomes in
the highest degree dangerous-the Gre
alton Of a sinecure by aresort to a sub
terfuge.
9. Grant quilted the army in order to
Iget larger pay, a higher office and more
extended fame as President. Having
served eight years in that Office, he has
no claims to return to the army for the
purpose not of rendering service but OF
drawing a salary. ---s.
10. There is nothing in Grants pc
cuniary condition justifying this appeal
for his relief. If there were, the prop
er method of procuring him pension
would not be one that violates all mill.
tary laws and customs of service that
stand in the way.-N. Y. Sun.