Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1893-12-09
ARMY AND NAVY REPORT
Lamont's Review Of the Work oj
His Department.
Sixs OF the Standing Army..Secretary Re-
commends That the Period OF First
Enlistment Ee Three Instead
OF Five Years.

WASHINGTON, Nov. S0.--The annual
report of the secretary of war gives the
usual review of the conditions and oper,
ations' of the army, and in addition is
devoted especially to the progress of the
sea coast defenses.
Secretary Lamont's report says it may
be assursed that Indian warfare is prac
ticaily at an end in the United States
that demands for the employment of tn,
army must become infrequent, as state
! authority, on which that obligation
properly rests, demonstrates its com
plete ability to discharge it, and that 10
consequence the general concentration
| of the army on the sea coast and frontier
Is prescribed by the conditions Of the
time. ANY considerable increase in the
numbers Of the army would not meei
with popular favor, and it is not sug.
gested 10y any contingency, immediate or
remote; but the work of fortification at
| l3 of our largest sea ports already begun
or projected for the near future, renders
the conversion of IA portion OF the In
fantry to the artillery army manifest
necessity of the period directly ahead
| Of us.
Size OF Our Standing Army.
The total strength of the army on
Sept. 20. 1898. was z, l44 officers and 25,-
IT'S enlisted men. From various causes,
discharge, purchase, desertion, ETC., the
army lost 9,4l6 enlisted men during the
year and gained 3,674 recruits.
The secretary recommends strongly
the repeal of the law fixing 10 years as
the maximum period of enlistment and
favors reduction of the period of first
enlistment to three years instead of five.
The prosecution OF the experiment Of en-.
| listing Indian companies will be contin-
ued only on the present small scale until
its success or failure has been proved
The adoption of the new magazine
rifle is the most important step taken
for the infantry since the civil war. A
limited number will be completed with
in GO days at the Springfield armory aud
the entire infantry force will be
equipped with the new arms before the
close of the coming year.
One-third of the report is devoted to
the progress of the last eight years in
manufacture of heavy ordnance and in
the Pacific coast defense under the pro
! ject of the Endicott board of 1885.
Have Made slow Progress.
The invention and manufacture OF
American brown and smokeless powders
for heavy ordnance and the magazine
rifles have made slow progress and the
secretary of way urges manufacturers
to solve the problem for their own profit
and our national pride.
Growing interest in the military in.
struction at colleges and schools is re.
ported In 1S90.9i, 1866 students were
reported under instruction by officers at
these Institutions. In ls0293 the nun
Der was 1880, gain Of AZ per cent.
Mr.. Lamont recommends military i'm.
struction by army officers be extended
to the high schools of the large cities.
The latest returns reportl an organized
militia of ll2 ,5g7 in the states
Wants a Memorial bridge Erected.
Mr.. Lamont recommends the erection
of memorial bridge from Washington
to Potomac Heights, both for CONNER.
cial and military pnrposss. and especial
ly as a suitable approach to the national
cemetery Mt Arlington.
The sum Of S563,0l7 has been ex.
pended by the states on the field OF
Gettysburg in addition to considerable
sums contributed by private organiza
tions, and in the absence of any pro.
vision for the permanent maintenance o,
the field and its monuments, it has beer
suggested that the general government
be entrusted with it's control. Th,
greater part of the work of establishing
the Chicamauga aud Chattanooga ma,
tional military parks have been com
pleted and the states are beginning to
erect monuments on the fields to thei,
troops.
| The work of the record and pension
Office in the compilation and arrange
ment of the records of the service has 50
far advanced that the secretary reports
that reduction of S3i5, 900 can be mad,
in the cost OF its maintenance during th.
coming year. 1t is recommended tina,
congress take appropriate action for tho
relief of the sufferers in the accident al
the old Ford theater building.