Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-04-18
Injustice to Gen. Sherman.

To the Editor of THE, EVENING STAR:
Has any thought Of the breach of faith and the in
gratitude involved in the retirement Of Gen Sherman
which will take place under the bill pending In Con-
We breach Of faith because when the position
was given him it was supposed to be for life. 1t is al
very well for him to say, in generous and unselfsh
way that he is willing to retire himsef-that On no
count does he desire an exception made in his interest,"
Al The more should the country consider bis services
bis ~ f give promotion to any one else The
bis as long lives t be VIII consent to Keep t. In
the event Of another war-which Heaven forbid-t
has attained but only ia this way could s retirement
head Of the army until his death Gem Sherman Il 1
the full ygor of health and his services valuable
It would be rather hard to crowd many more
misstatements Of facts into so short space as
are found in the above in Saturdays STAR,
There Is not whit more "breech Of faith" in
the retirement Of General Sherman than there
is In the retirement of any other officer The
rank OF General was given for life, and it will be
held for that time; but it was never supposed
that anyone necessarily held the command for
life. General Sherman's retirement does give
promotion, not, Of course to the actual rank he
holds, but it would promote General Sheridan
from the command of division to that of the
army. General Sherman has held this command
for more than fourteen years! Does any one
undertake to say that Sheridan should not hold
1t for few years before he, too Is retired?
General Scott did not ''retan his position at the
head OF the army until his DEATH" He was one
OF those officers who opposed any law for the
retirement of old officers before the war claim
Ing up to the last moment that he was vet fit
for duty. When the war began in 1851, as he
could not even mount horse, Of course he had
to be retired. General Sherman knows as
well as any officer in the army that COM
pulsory retirement Of officers for age is an abso-
lutte necessity for the good Of the service, and
he is willing that no exception shall be made in
his case, simply upon the broad ground of duty,
as the commander Of the army. No one sup
poses that as Gen. Sherman simply, he would
not be willing to be excepted But It can yery
readily be seen that his sense of duty extends
somewhat beyond nero consideration of self.
and 1t Is greatly to be regretted that other off,
GERS OF not 80 great prominence and who have
not title OF the claims for exception that Gen.
Sherman justly has, have not some measure Of
this same sense OF duty. Congress will no
doubt look to the claims Of these officers as
well as to those of many other officers who were
major generals, and held great and important
commands during the war, but who are yet
only colonies, or holding even lower rank. AS
a matter Of fact none of these officers are q nee
essity in time Of peace, and In times Of war the
history Of this world shows very conclusively
that no one man, or set of men, have ever been
or are ever likely to be an absolute necessity.
NO matter what the emergency, the man to
meet it is ever found.
Retirement at fixed age Is q principle. the
application Of which Is OF the most urgent nee.
essity for the good Of the service, and not for
the advantage or disadvantage Of any particu-
lar officer, or staff Of officers,
April 16 1882