River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-02-02
soft Place brigade.

A HflOSGECliAE AhM1 OlIirAN ALL
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24.-Both houses
and near ly all of the departm ents have
been greatly excited to-day over the
rumored great damage that Senator
Plumb's army bill will cause if passed.
As a matter of fact it will scarcely af-
feet the military service proper, but it
will cause an unprecedented upheaval
in the Soft Place brigade-an annex of
the army which has received the atten-
ton of the Herald on several occasions.
Should the bill in its present shape sur
mount the quiet but determined oppo-
sition in store for it, and find place in
the Statutes-at-L Large, several estlmable
gentlemen who have never served a
day with troops since they received
their commissions as officers of the
United States army, will actually find
themselves in command of companies
of veterans, and even of independent
posts and garrisons. Altogether thirty
eight officers will be relieved from cler-
ical, civil, and quasi-military duties.
Ten of these officers have been on de-
tached service from three TO five years,
ten from five to ten years, eleven from
ten to fourteen years, and seven up
ward of fourteen years. Among the
latter are four who have never joined
any command since they were appoint
ed in the army, and several of the 9TH
eTs have never served with the regl-
ments upon whose rolls they are borne.
These facts suggest very pertinent
question, namely: If regiment can
get along ten or fifteen years with two
or three officers less than its legal COM
plement, are not those officers practi-
cally supernumerary, or at any rate
superfluous?
HAVOC AMONG THE AIDS.
From the roster given below it will
be seen that, under the proposed law,
the military families of all the general
officers except the junior brigadier
General Milesl will be either wholly
or partially broken up and dispersed.
The General of the Army will lose the
services of the two captains of cavalry
who have shared his fortunes these
dozen years or more with the rank and
pay of colonies of cavalry. One of
these captains will have to place him
self at the head of troop of colored
cavalrymen in New Mexico, and the
other take command of his white troops
at the School of Application, Fort
Leay enworth, Kansas. Tie lieuten-
ant-general's military secretary who
has been absent from his regiment
nearly fourteen years, will have to re-
Join it at Fort A. Lincoln, Dakota. The
two senior aides of General Han
cock will have to bid farewell
to the pleasant retirement of Cover
nor's Island and the attractions of New
York and betake themselves to Texas.
Generals Schoville, Mcdowell, Terry,
and Augur will have to select new sets
of aids, all their young gentlemen
coming within the proposed statue of
limitations. General Popes senior aide,
who has been eleven years captain of
artillery, but has never done duty in
that arm of the service, will have to
take command of his battery at Little
Rock, Ark. The two senior aids of
General Howard will have to migrate
from West Point to Wyoming and
Washington Territories, and one Of
General Crooks aids, on leave of alb
sence since November, 1879, will be re-
legated to his regiment, in other d.
rections there will be few important
changes calling for special notice, but
the officers concerned are not on mil
itary duty.