Year: 1878

mlnous, consisting OF IA sections anu nii-


ing 294 pages. The greater part of it is OF


little interest except to the army itself, and


we will note only such points as civilians


are likely to care about, passing all matters


relating to the mere details of military adj


m;nistration.


This elaborate bill is not merely meas
ure of economy: it is that and great deal


more. 1t proposes comprehensive recon-
struction of all the laws relating to the mil


itary service and is a substitute for them.
But while it is SO much more than mere


measure Of economy, this feature of it, in


cluding the means by which the projected
saving is to be attained, is the one OF chief
interest to citizens.


| The bill proposes no reduction of the
| rank and file of the army, but it declares


that nothing in this act shall authorize
| any increase of the total enlisted strength
Of the army, exclusive of the signal soldiers,


to more than twenty-five thousand men. ;"
The reductions are to include only officers,


and the process of wedding out is to be as
gentle as is consistent with the contem-
plated economy.


The bill abolishes the Offices Of the
general, the lieutenant general, of one
major general and two brigadier gen.
erals, but not in such a manner as to
abridge the tenure of the present in
cumbents. These offices, which are the
reward of distinguished merit and services,
are to expire only as vacancies occur in
them, ''and thereafter the corps OF general
officers shallconsist of but two major gen.
erals and four brigadier generals" There
is no reason why the friends of General
Sherman and Lieutenant General Sheridan,


or Of the other generals whose offices are to
cease when they vacate them, should be
dissatisfied with this part of the bill. There
is no reason why these great and splendid
positions should remain to be filed with
soldiers who have done nothing to deserve
them.


When the bill descends below the corps
of general officers it is not quite SO tender,
although it is still considerate and aims to
be just. There is to be large pruning of
the list of line and staff officers, but none
are to be abruptly dismissed and left with
out means of support. The sitting is to be
accomplished by different methods in diff
ferent cases-by voluntary transfers to the
retired list, by involuntary transfers to that
or a new reserved list" provided for in the
bill. and by discharges the last, however,
with gratuitjes amounting to from ono to
three years pay. according to the merit or
demerit Of the discharged officer. Even an
of,o ,1o yaI 10 osk tu
strong drink is not to be turned adrift
empty handed, sand no officer shall be
thus retired or discharged until he has
been allowed an opportunity to appear be-
fore the Board and show cause against such
action"


The transfers to the retired list are to be
in some cases matter of choice and in
others Of compulsion. Every officer who
has been thirty years in the service may,


upon his own application, be placed upon
the retired list. Every other officer uhe
corps Of generals excepted) who shall be
sixty-two years of age and have served
twenty years shall be at once retired. All
officers dhe generals always e1cepted) be-
tween the ages of sixty and sixty-two shall
be transferred to the reserved list" "a new
list created by this act) and placed on the
retired list as they reach the age of sixty
two. Every officer sixty years of age who
has not rendered twenty years. service as
an officer is to be discharged with gra-
tuity. In all cases each years service in
time of war is to count as two years Of
ordinary service.


The last of these classes-the class which
is to be absolutely discharged-of course in
cludes no graduates Of West Point who
have remained continuously in the service.
An officer of sixty who has not served
twenty years must either have come into the
army from civil life after he was forty years
of age or he must have resigned his COM
mission and gone into civil life soon after
his graduation. In either case he may
be presumed to have some quail
fcations for getting his living as q
civilian, and discharge with three
years pay will be no great hardship.
All the graduates Of the Military Academy
who came back to the army at once on the
breaking out Of the war, in 1861, will es-
cape discharge under this provision, be-
cause seventeen years service since 1861,
plus the four years of the war, make more
than the twenty years service which en-
title them to place on the retired list.
None Of the West Point men are hardly
treated by this bill, unless it be for dis
ability to perform military duties.


Every officer other than those retired for
age who is unfit for the efficient perform
ance Of his duties is to be either discharged
or placed on the retired list. If his dis
ability is the result Of intemperance or
other vicious habits he is to be discharged,
with gratuity Of one years pay If he has
served three years but if it is not the re-
sult Of vicious habits he is to be discharged
.C for