The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-12-24

| livery Need of the Government
Claimed to Be Embodied i'm the
Minority Substitute, Which stip-
uiates That the Standing Army
Shall Consist of 10000 Men
Temporary Provisions.
! WASHINGTON, Dee. 23-The minor
| lty of the house committee on military
affairs today filed with the clerk their
report In opposition to the Hull bill for
the increase Of the regular army to
100000 men. 1t is as follows:
Tne minority Of the committee dissent from
the majority of the committee because the
Dill reported permanent standing army for
the United States of over 100 coo men. Such
an army Is not necessary to be maintained
IN this country now. neither because of our
relations to the islands of the sea- nor because
| OF any necessity which in the past year has
arisen in this country itself The evils Of
! stahulhg armies are too we'll known to ba
| d1lated upon here. Such a standing army aS
| the one proposed would in time of peace
| be menace to the liberty of citizens and in
ume OF war would not be sufficient to meef
successfully the armies of the frst-cIass
powers of the world. Happily we are so
situated that large standing army is not
a Aecesslty' ana would only be luxury to
be supported by the taxes of the DeonIe II
is estimated that the Hull bill will cost the
people annually the sum Of $3.50 O0O G00 Tbig
would be permanent charge upon the peo.
pie and $l45, 900 are being annually nsif
70 the soldiers of the Civil war. and the waf
WF1h Spain, thus placing a permanent charge
OF o,Oo0,ON0 upon the people Of the United
States. and this to maintain the miIitarj
establishment alone to say nothing of thu
navy. The passage of this bill means thS
practicaI destruction of the national guard
ana the volunteer troops of the states With
such large standing army the citizen SOL
dlery OF the country would feel that 1t was not
necessary to prepare for war in time Of peace.
nor to go to war in time of war;
BURDENSOME TAXATION.
The taxes which now SO burdensome 10
the people will continue to be collected and
Will rather be increased than otherwise. M
hope of economical administration can he In
duiged in wbtle such permanent and lavish
| expenditure is provided for
| 1T IS We'll understood that the great COR
| porate interests of the country are demanding
this large standing army. and their reasons
for such demand are too obvious to be
pointed out These interests want force to
enforce their demands and domf19qe1 bv
such interests a standing army would be the
means to invade the liberties of the people
TO suppress freedom of speech and to dsss-
crate tne palIot box itself
1t is needless. however to continue tn
point out the main evils of this bill; suffice Ii
TO say that both in form and in substance II
oyerturns the policy which has been nur
sued SO successfully by this government
for so many years, and launches the country
upon a course which can only terminate in
the destruction of the liberties of the peo
pie.
The minority. holding the Views above ex-
nQhr fhntr
country to present to the house Of representa-.
yves substitute for the bill reported by the
majority. They herewith report said snbstf
tute, as embOdying every need Of the gov,
ernment In the present condition and at tha
same time preserving with scrupuIous cara
the liberty of the citizens and avoiding ths
evils OF great standing army
SUBSTITUTE PROVISIONS.
The substitute provides for perma-
nent standing army of 10000 enlisted
meh-about the number in the armv
before the war with Spain. The or
gan1zation provided for in the substi
tute conforms to what it has been. with
some few important changes. A larger
number of men is provided for the
artillery than usual. by reason of the
| necessity of manning our coast de-
lenses, upon which large sums have
been spent. The substitute also nro-
vides for $4,000 volunteers. to be taken
from the states and territories. and the
District of Columbia, in proportion TO
population. These volunteers are TO ba
mustered out Of the service two wears
from the passage of the act un1ess
sooner designated. Their organization
Is to be the same as that of the reeu-
lar army.
Volunteer organizations now in serv
Ice are to be given preference as to re-
enlistment All volunteers now in the
service Of the United States are to he
mustered out within sixty days from
the passage of this act. The substi-
tute Is not to operate to discharge any
commissioned officer who was in the
army of the United States prior to the
war with Spain.
The necessity for this body of volun-
teeT troops arises from the relations
which the United States government
now bears to Porto Rico Cuba tba
Philippine islands, the Hawaiian ISL
ands and the Ladrone islands. Fiftv
thousand men are very near the mark
which the general Of the army said
would be necessary in these islands.
IN his testimony before the committee
on military affairs
Representatives Hay, of Virginia.
who prepared the minority report, esti
mates that the regular army establish
ment provided for in the minority sub
stitute would entail an annual ex-
penditure of $4,000, 900, or about 81 900
per man. and that the volunteer force
of $4,000, by the same calculation, would
cost 100000, or a total during the
existence of the volunteer army of $780,
O00,OOO
The war department is preparing off,
cial estimates, which will be ready in
few days.