The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1898-01-20

Washington. Jan. 17.-This was Dis
trict of Columbia day in the house, and
after the reading of the journal, Mr..
Curtis of the District of Columbia COM
mittee claimed the day. and the house
proceeded to the consideration of Dis
trct of Columbia business. After the
consideration of three bills of purely To-
cal Importance, the house resumed con-
sideration of the army appropriation bill
which begun on Saturday.
In the course of the general debate
Mr.. Griffith rep of Iowa, defended the
policy of retiring army officers on three
quarters pay. The debate was made
significant. by an attack upon the .eef-
ficiency of the several branches of the
army by Mr.. Mcclellan (dem.) of New
York, son of Gen. George b. Mcclellan.
The army today. he declared was little
better than clumsily organized ma
tional police force. The army should, he
dc',arcd. be entirely recognized. He
said this in no spirit of jingoism, but for
the purpose of calling the attention of
the country to the fact that we were
army, utterly unprepared for war, while
II very small additional expenditure,
with proper organization, would work
wonders
Mr.. Mcclellan went into detailed dis
cuSsion of the various branches of the
service Our infantry formations, he
said. would have been considered cNccll-
cnt in the Seventeenth century. He
criticised particularly the organization of
the cavalry. As Indicating the poor
quality or condition of the mounts pur-
chased for the cavalry. he said. we
were each year replacing 20 per cent of
the cavalry horses while Europe, Aus
tra, for instance. but - per cent of the
cavalry horses were replaced annually.
One of the gravest defects in the present
organization, he said, was the lack of
properly instructed and competent
staff. In the modern sense of the word,
we had 10 staff. Our ammunition plan
was, he said, hopclessly deficient. At
the present rate of accumulation of re-
serve. he said, at the end of five years
we would only have enough ammunition
to supply the infantry for two days at
the firing rate of the battle of Gettys-
burg.
Mr.. Lewis (dem.) of Washington made
a speech against any increase of the
army. He charged that trusts were in
control of the country, and constituted
the mailed hand of power behind the de
crecs of the courts. Mr.. Lewis quoted
II telegram which he said Senator Hanna
had received from Frankfort, Germany,
signed by A. Seligman, as follows:
Il congratulate you on your election.
1t is most satisfactory to me.
That message. he said came from the
man who helped TO place mortgage on
this government of S20O,OOO,0OO. Its in
science. he said, had no parallel in his
tory save in the message sent by POntius
Plate to the eXecutioner of Jesus Christ,
cCnEratuating him that his work was
veil done.
Mr.. Grosvenor INTERRUPTED to ask If
Mr.. Lewis was aware that Mr.. Seligman
was an American citizen.
II am" responded Mr evils. she is
IN unpatriotic citizen" applause on the
democratic side).
Governor Grosvenor recalled the fact
that Mr.. Scligman with the credit of his
house rendered invaluable aid to the
Union cause during tho war. TO this
Mr. Lewis replied with the statement
that Mr.. Seligman had removed his resi-
dence from this country at a time when
he feared the income tax won d compel
him to pay his share to the support of
the government.
''He is the last man." said he. "whom
| should take pride in calling an Ameri-
can citizen"
Mr.. Hull (rep) of Iowa. chairman of
the committee on military affairs ex-
pressed concurrence in the views of Mr..
Mcclellan to the extent that he believed
the army should be reorganized rs the
present organization was obsolete.
The discussion of the needs Of the
army was continued by Messrs. Wheel
cr tdcm) of Alabama. Gov (dem.) Of
Tennessee. and others. Without COM
pleting the bill the committee arose and
ut 0:lO p. m, the house adjourned.