The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-11-23
TIE MILITARY CITY.
The Annual Report of the Secre-
tary Of War.
SOME OF THE POINTS HE MAKES.

SOlIE OF THE POINTS HE MAKES.
The Fighting Strength of the Companies Now
Ready For the FieId-The Usual
Concert To-day.
Referring to the annual report of the
secretary Of war just made public, we no.
tice several paragraphs which, if concurred
in by Congress, will be to the best interest
of the service. Relating to court martials
Secretary Proctor says: SPY the act of
April II, 1890, the time within a person can
be prosecuted for desertion has been lin
tied to two years this act defines that the
party deserving must remain in the United
States continuously for period of two
I! years in excess of the time which he would
have had to serve to complete his contract
OF enlistment, proof of such residence
clears his skirts of desertion). The act of
October 1, 1890, instituting summary courts
for the trial of petty offenses, has proven
satisfactory. The object of this court is to
try the soldier for missing calls, etc.,
within twenty-four hours after the offense
has been committed, and do away with a
long term in the guard house awaiting
trial, and relieve the investigation Of his
case from the cumbrous machinery of a
formal court martial. The i'll defined lin
its OF punishment in the articles OF war has
been corrected by the act of September 81,
1880, authorizing the President, when pun
ishments are left by those articles to the
discretion of the court martial, to prescribe
and define limits which, in time of peace,
they shall not exceed.
AS thlrty-two of the thirty-four articles
OF war under which enlisted men can be
| tried leave the punishment entirely TO the
| discretion of the court martial, the only
check heretofore upon their vartiblnesS
and the disparity of punishment prevailing
In olferent departments has been the eX-
ecutlve clemency. 1t has been the aim of
the department, by system OF remission
of sentences deemed excessive, to partially
| remedy that evil, course only defensible
on the ground of its imperative necessity,
since 1T tended to impair one of the most
| salutary elements of all punishment, its
certainty, and to peryert the proper use of
| the pardoning power. The act places the
whole subject upon very proper and sat-
isfactory basis. 1t may be interesting to
note that, although the legislation referred
to was enacted too late to have had effect
during the present year, still the number
OF courts martial were reduced to 1,7S2 the
past year from 1899 the year before, a de-
crease OF 2l7 or IL per cent. This in itself
is Indicative of the improving tone of the
army.
The secretary devotes much space to de-
sertlon, stating the number Of assertions.
For twelve months ending September 80,
1890, 2,OS6 deserted against 2,751 for the
year preceding, decrease of "A per cent.
Since the act of June 16, 1890, to prevent
assertions, which did not become fully eff
fective till July 26, the record of August
and September assertions was 30S, as COM
pared with 459 for the same months of 1889
and 515 for the same period Of 1888, de-
crease of 80 and 40 per cent. Commenting
further he says that although assertions
are greatly reduced, as long as they con-
tinue in considerable numbers, they must
necessarily have a bad effect upon the
morale OF the army and entail large and
needless expense. s'Tne practical solution
OF this somewhat vexed question assumes
three phases: First, how to make the SER
vice more desirable; second, how to re-
move the artificial restraints which, by
binding man intiexibly to a long service
which has become distasteful to him, natu-
rally drive man to desperate means;
third, how to make the punishment for the
crime Of desertion SO certain that if more
worthy motives fail men may be warned by
lts fear. AS to the second and third there
is now legislation enough, at least with our
present experience. With respect to the
first there is, l think, need of more My
| experience SO far confirms an observation
which made one year ago, that the pith of
the whole question is to make the service
worth seeking, and then enough good men
will seek it and be glad to stay in it. But
there is fundamental difficulty. The pay
OF the second lieutenant is SI1667 per
month that of first sergeant only S22, and
unfortunately this difference in pay largely
regulates the actural difference between
their relative positions. That distance is
too great. The individual elements of the
army are separated by too large a gap for
the best interests of either"
Referring to promotions from the ranks,
Secretary Proctor says that the act of June
Is, 1878, providing for the promotion of
meritorious uncOmmissioned offiters to the
grade of second lieutenant makes favor
able recommendation from company,
troop or battery commander an essential
qualification for examination. This re-
qulrement he says, to great extent de-
feats the purpose of the statute by making
the privilege depend absolutely upon the
discretion of the officer for the time being
in command of the company
practically" says he, 'itis now possible
for company commanders to give these
valuable appointments to young men who
have enlisted for that sole purpose, and
who have not rendered any meritorious
service, except to qualify for the examina-
ton, thus excluding bona fde soldiers who
have been Induced to enlist in the hope of
obtaining hard earned and legitimate pro-
motion. The present system gives great
opportunity for favoritiSm. Doubtless
there have been cases Of it, and there is
danger that the abuse may become very
serious one. In order to insure exact JUS
tice to all, and give full effect to the bene-
ficient purposes of Congress, the initiatory
step should be with the men themselves
Any enlisted man of two years. service,
who Is a citizen Of the United States, should,
under certain fixed rules, be permitted to
compete for commission. By this means
the operation of the law would be made
absolutely impersonal, and every man
entering the army would be impressed
with the fact that he had an exact and even
chance for commission. This information
extensively disseminated would it is hoped,
further recommend the army to desirable
men,
The secretary also speaks of the urgent
necessity OF congressional action on the
three battalion measure for the infantry
army of the service. He further states
that the expenditures Of the war depart
ment for fiscal year ending June 80, 1890,
amounted to s47,S57, 756. AZ, the amount ex
pended on the military establishment
| Support of army and military academy
was So, 961 ,309.95. The appropriations for
year ending June 80, 1890, amounted to
$50, 799. 1896. As; pass, 596. go being for army
and military academy. He estimates that
his department will need Sf3, 749, 936.7 for
year ending June 80, 1892, and that S26,-
l60, 93l.T will be required for mainuen-
ance OF the army and military academy.