The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-04-24

Washington, April 2S.-The house to-
day passed the army reorganization
bill, at the urgent request of the presl-
dent and secretary of war. but the SEN
ate did not remain in session as was
expected, and the bill will not go to the
president until next week. Some fear
was expressed on the Democratic side
| that the bill might increase the regu-
/ lar army in time of peace, but an
| amendment prepared by Mr.. Bailey,
which removed all doubt on this score,
was accepted by Mr.. Hull, and the bill
| passed by unanimous consent.
The bill reorganizes the army into
/ the three battalion formation, and au-
thorizes the 25 regiments of the infantry
| arm OF the service to be recruited u
| to a total of 81, 500 enlisted men. 1t au-
| thorizeS the recruitment of the ten reg
iments of the cavalry arm of the ser
vice to a total of 1900 enlisted men.
the seven regiments of the artillery
arm of the service to 16,457 men, and
/ the engineer battalion of five companies
UP to 752 enlisted men, including two
| nom commissioned officers, which makes
| total for those four arms of the ser
vice, when at maximum strength, OF
| LOO.
INCREASE OF OFFICERS.
The increase of officers provided for
! in the bill is:
First, % majors, as provided in the
| first section of the bill.
These majors are to be a permanent
addition to the command officers of the
regular army.
Second. $50 commissioned officers, to
| Gov ta inf "a
in the third battalion. for each of the
% regiments of infantry.
| Third, "a second lieutenantS, being
| one for each of the S4 batteries of ar
! tillery, when recruited TO a war
| strength. The second lieutenants are
only to be added in the discretion OF
| the president, but, assuming that the
extra lieutenant is necessary, and will
be commissioned for each battery of
artillery, it was a total of commissioned
| officers in excess of the present number
authorized by law of 259.
OF this number, as above stated, %
are majors for the permanent second
battalion, and the other 235 officers, 1t
is provided in the last section of the
bill, shall, on the conclusion of hostil1-
| ties, be either absorbed by filling any
vacancies existing in the other COM
| panies of the service, or by an honor
| able discharge, which may be deemed
necessary reduce the commissioned Of
ficers of the army to the number now
provided for by the first section of this
act.
PROCEEDINGS
| The house met at 10 o'clock, and Mr..
Hull Immediately called up the army
bill.
The bill has been materially modified
since it was recommitted by the house
a fortnight ago
| The following important proviso was
| offered by the committee as an amend
ment:
Provided, That, in the event of call
| by the president for either volunteers
or the militia of the country, the presi-
| dent is authorized to accept the quotas
of troops of the various states and ter
ritories, including the District of Co
! lUmbia, as organized IN Ter the laws of
the states and territories. including the
District ot Columbia
INFANTRY SERVICE.
1t was decided to limit The general
debate to half an hour. Mr.. Hull
! briefly explained some of the features
| of the bill He said the infantry force
! of the army, as at present organized
was not efficient in time of war with
only so privates. 1t placed but % men
/
and made the regular army, which
cost. on a peace footing, s2S,0o0,OOO pei
annum, merely ornamental. The num-
| Der of privateS in each company had
been placed in the bill at "a to con-
form with the organization of the Ma
tional Guard in the majority of states
LANDING IN CUBA.
Mr.. Hull said that it was the purpose
| of the general army to effect land
| ing in Cuba at the earliest possible mo-
ment 1t would take six weeks or two
months to equip the volunteer army
/ The United States was doing what nc
other country on earth would dare do
it was going into war without provis-
| ions for a land force. Congress made
no provision for war until war was al
hand. The volunteer army would be
| organized while war existed Our eX-
perts on coast defenses said 1t WOULD
be absolutely impossible TO place vol
unteer forces upon the coast defenses
! within three months, owing to the
complicated character of the new ma
chinery on the siege guns. This made
| the increase in the regular army artll-
lery force imperative.
Mr.. Hull was besieged by questions
as to the manner in which the reduc-
ton of the army would take place
:
planned that the officers of the skeleton
regiments would be absorbed by pro-
motions.
Mr.. Underwood (Dem.. Ala) vigor-
ously opposed the measure, which, he
declared, could not possible pass save
under the stress of war pressure.
Mr.. Hay (Dem., Va, who warmly
advocated the bill, denied that the pur-
pose of the bill was to give West Point
| officers commands which they would
otherwise not obtain.
Mr.. Cox Dem., TENN, a member OF
the committee, supported the bill
which, he said, would make the army
] efficient in time of war.
FAULTS IN FORMER BILL
Mr.. Marsh (Rep., Ills.), also a mem
her of the committee, said that IN JUS
tice to the war department and TO the
regular army, he would state that the
former bill, which prc-ided for lnfan-
try companies of $50 men, met the ap-
proval of neither The bill did not pro-
vide the mode and method OF muster
ing out the supernumerary officers
when hostilities ceased Additional leg
islation would be required TO accom-
plish this, or possibly the bill could be
construed as comforting this authority
on the president.
| Mr.. Hull said there could be no doubt
about the construction of the law. The
| s,,nernumeraries would be mustered out
when the war ceased
SORRY ADMISSION.
Mr.. Bailey said he thought it was not
a very high compliment to the army
TO be told that the inefficiency of the