The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-05

The Army Bill.


At the beginning of the Fifty-sixth Con-
gress almost everybody in the country in
terested in army reform Rugged the de-
fusion that before this time there would
be introduced. considered and passed an
Army Reorganization law which should
embody the experience of the Govern
ment gained in Cuba and the Philippines
during the Spanish war. the leading prln-
ciples and methods of organization recog-
nized by the chief military powers of the
world. and represent the demand of the
people for standing army which should
not be materially larger than it was five
years ago, when on peace basis.
Instead of that we have bill which is
not satisfactory tc the Administration,
TO the Lieutenant General Commanding
the Army, to the champions of the obso-
lete staff which ought to be reorgaaiged
out of all resemblance TO its present self,
to the friends of scientific army reform.
or to the opponents of an establishment
which can be increased from minimum
fifty eight thousand to maximum Of one
hundred thousand at the will or within Of
the President
In the face of the last named PROPOSE
tion it is almost unnecessary to discuss
the other features of the Army Reorgani-
cation bill No President of the United
States ever has been endowed with such
arbitrary and dangerous power and au-
thority. To propose it is at once an in
suit to the legislative branch of the Gov
eminent whose right it is to establish
and provide for the support of the nations
military arm, and at all times and in all
circumstances to say what its strength
shall be. 1t is a proposition to withdraw
another of the powers once held by the
representatives of the people and rams
fer it to the President. 1t cannot be de-
Tended on any ground of present or future
necessity, or of public policy.
The report OF the Senate Committee on
Military Affairs, offered by Senator Haw-
ley, is sufficient evidence that the Admin
istration itself is afraid of this obnoxious
feature of the bill. The report is eloquent
and voluminous upon the subject Of the
canteen, but silent about the attempt to
create an imperial army under executive
control. Senator Hswley does not offer
the smallest explanation of the reasons. if
such there be. why Mr. Mckinley should
be authorized to add forty-two thousand
officers and men to the military forces of
the country at his own individual option
and without consultation with anybody.
The idea held out by the Administra-
ton advocates of the measure is that too
much confidence cannot be placed in the
President that connection fl is as wei
TO remember that, under similar con-
dition of national confidence, Mr.. McKin-
ley undertook and waged an executive war
in China, which, granting that its initial
steps and movements were dictated by
necessity. nevertheless was unconstitu-
tional, and should have been cured Of that
vice by the earliest possible resort to the
war making power, which is Congress. Yet
We do not learn that the slightest excuse
or explanation of that departure from
right principles" has been vouchsafed
Under the powers proposed to be con-
ferred by the pending bill there would be
nothing to prevent The recall Of large
army from the Philippines, to garri-
son industrial districts in a condition
of discomfort because Of oppression by
private monopolies without regard 10
the merits of the Philippine question,
there is no apparent serious DISPOSE
ton to withheld from Mr. Mckinley force
of soldiers large enough 10 establish the
sovereignty Of the United States in the
archipelago. 1t is probable that pro-
vision for the enlistment and organization
of a special force for service in the Philip
pines only, and to be reduced to the pro-
portions Of police force for local pur-
poses, or disbanded altogether at the end
Of the insurrection in Luzon and other
islands, would meet with but slight re-
sistance. What the Hawley bill does pro-
pose is the most presumptuous scheme of
imperial army control ever preached in a
country with free democratic Institutions