Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-17
respect to this matter, will BE- submitted
to congress Ut an early date.

~ NbhSiS 81 AZ cdi ~ udlc.
THREE-BATTALIOS FORMATION.
As military question there is no diff
ference Of opinion as TO the ACCESSIBILITY
and necessity of the three battalion tor
nation for infantry. Every European
power has adopted it, and ull the leading
generals of our country Including Grant,
Sherman and Sheridan, have recon-
melded It. Now that our small army
can be stationed in larger posts. the con-
ditIons of service are fully suited 10 its
use. IT already prevails 10 the other
arms of the service, and there are even
stronger reasons for It in the infantry;
besides, all ought to be uniform. II We
were ever met by q military contingency
We should then be forced TO adopt IL,
and without proper preparation. Otcers
are regularly detailed TO instruct this
militia and colleges, and they necessarily
instruct ia that system of organization
which is recognized and fixed by our
laws. The country will not ADOPT d
higher standard of military organization
than that which the government offers to
II as Il model. Our army is simply
nucleus, skeleton organization on
which TO build in case OF necessity, and
9 correct organization is more I'm portant
than numbers. If the present system is
as erroneous rs ali military men agree in
saying it is, and believe that-to be the
case, there ought 10 be some way found
for making the required change. AS
the matter requires legislative action 1
can only commend the subject &c the
careful consideration of congress.
RETIREMENT OF OFFICERS.
BY law the officers must bs retired
when they reach the age of sixty -four
years, and may be retired on their own
q ffer hur
very few avail themselves of this privi-
lege. such retiremeuts are new I'M
limited, but the numOe of sll other re-
tirements is restricted by the statutes to
400. That is, enforced retIrenents made
in pursuance TO general policy can be
made without limit while the only re-
tirements which are made because of the
actual present incapacity of the officer 10
perform duty are expressly restricted
Retirements ought to be carefully limited
in some proper way. The retired list, or
any privileged class, should be strictly
confined within the narrOwest limits
compatible with the necessity which re-
Quires its creation. But, having such II
law, it should be just one-just TO the
officers it is intended to benefit aud just
to the service il was intended TO relievs.
The number of officers now awaiting re-
performing no service whatever, but re-
oeive full pay, while junior officers doing
their duties for them are unjustly de-
prived of both the pay and the rank
which the law intends to attach TO the
positions they are filling.
OF the 400 officers on the limited re-
tired list hfty-three were retired by rea-
son of the loss of limb, and ninety
others, making l43 in all, were retired
for wounds. Only eighty-seven of the
400 are West Point graduates, and all
but twenty three of the " hole number
served N the war of the rebellion. This
limited retired list is q legacy of the war.
In about oue-b half the cases the records
show aflirmatively that the retirements
were made for disability contracted dur
ing that period. In fact, by direction OF
the act of January IS, 1866, some of
these 400 officers were appointed in the
regular army at its close because of their
wounds; and of substantially all 1t may
be said that after having undergone the
severe strain of the war they were the
more readily disabled by their subse-
Guent service and exposure in the Indian
campaigns. It is to be observed also that
these men, if not in the army, would be
generally drawing large pensions.
The incopgruity of the present law is
illustrated by the fact that where an
officer is disabled IN the line of duty, in
stead of opening the way for the promo
ton of juniors, it may and often does
actually retard it. An officer put upon
the limited retired list remains there SO
long as he lives, even IL he survives tue
age of sixty-four by many years, thereby
preventing the retirement of another
officer and the consequent promotion OF
juniors. IL he had been retired for age
in regular course this could not occur.
The limit now established is proper
enough il the law were so amended that
this limit could be construed according
to the reasonable intent of its purpose.
An amendment providing for the trans
fer of officers from the limited to the I'M
limited list when they reach the age of
sixty-four would still permit only 400
retirements other than those who could
be retired for forty years service, or by
virtue of the sixty-four year provision.
Whatever the limit be, such is the OILY
reasonable basis for it. A bill to that
effect is already pending IN congress.
and if it be enacted 1 believe that With
the limit as 1t now is the evil will correct
itself.
REBELLION RECORDS.
The publication of the Rebellion rec
ords since the reorganization of the work
in July of last year, is progressing as sat
isfaotorily as possible in the view of the
size of the appropriation. The great
item of expense is the printing, and that
can only be completed as funds are avail
eble. A large part Of the appropriation
for the past year has been devoted TO the
printing and distribution of volumes al
ready in type. Ten books were pub
lished and distributed containing the ac-
counts Of the charlottesville and Get
tysburgh campaigns and the important
sieges of Vicksburg and Hudson. in the
preparatory work seven more books have
been stereotyped and twelve indexed, OF
which eleven were ready for publication
at the end of the fiscal year, thus carry
ing the official accounts to the end of
1868. Forty-tive books have been pub
lished and distributed up to June 80,
1890.
SIGNAL CORPS.
By the act approved October /, 1890,
the weather bureau service, which has
heretofore been under the charge OF the
signal corps, is to be transferred on thu
1st day of next July to the department