Year: 1876

In military circles there Is great
disgust expressed at the reduction of
the army appropriation for the COM
ing year, and with no small show Of
reason. At best the support Of our
military force has never been equal to
the demands of the times even when
We have been at peace, and never to
this hour, has the compensation Of
the Office up to General been adequate
to the maintenance Of the require
ments Of his station. The life of a
soldier, whether private or officer,
does not lead him through the paths
of pleasantness although they may
nominally be the paths Of peace, but
the present half century will see no
peace. Although through the bles-
sing Of q beneficent providence we
are in state Of tranquility at home
as we'll as with the outer world, our
soldiers have hardships to endure and
pecuinary burdens to bear that come
as heavily upon them as though they
were in active service in the field, in
active campaign life. From ignorance
Of the situation few can appreciate the
real status of our soldiers or under
stand their condition and wants un-
less they have had an experience, and
none are so totally uninformed rs those
Of our Eastern representatives who
should have practical knowledge of
this department. Since the war the
entire army nas been reduced to less
than forty thousand men. Most of this
force Is scattered over the plains in de-
tached bodies, liable to be called upon
at any moment to depart for any point
even q thousand miles from their
permanent station; and the
accomplishment of such changes is not
attended with little expense. The
chief vocation of our army now is to
keep the Indians In check, and to ac-
complish this desired end quick march,
ss and great expense are necessary.
Looking on the matter from any
point Of view, the appropriations have
never been sufficient, aud now there
are grounds for believing that within
the coming six months there will be
use for all of the troops we have West
Of thd Rocky mountains as well as OH
the Eastern slope. The Sioux In Ne
braska. Montana, Colorado and Dako-
ta number at the least reckoning for
ty-two thousand, nine hundred head;
the Kiowas, Camanches and Apach es
five thousand three hundred odd; the
Arapahoes and Cheyennes three thou
sand three hundred and fifty. Here
we have in what we may term a sim
gle district, oyer fifty thousand ene-
mics already preparing to enter upon
the work of obstruction and murder,
and to meet this element we have in
all about thirty-eight thousand men.
A large portion of this force is detailed
for duty In the South to aid in the ell
forcement of political measures. The
other fraction is scattered over "A dis
trict extending from Oregon to Mexi-
CO and located in a country where ev
cry movement is attended with extra
ordinary expense. That Indian trou-
bles will periodically occur there can
be no doubt and our military expense
will be In proportion. 1t was an act
of mistaken economy to reduce the ap-
propriations, in view of these facts and
a still greater error to reduce the
strength of our army. Double the
force that we have in the field will he
needed In less than year to protect
the frontiersmen on the Rocky noun
tain slopes and plains. Indeed before
Congress adjourns we believe it will
be demonstrated that both in the re-
duction of the army and the appropri-
alton serious blund ers have been COM
mitted.