Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1884 — THE ARMY. [ARTICLE]

THE ARMY.

Leading and Interesting Features in the Annual Report of Secretary Lincoln. The Estimates Increased to Fifty Millions for the Year Ending in 1886. Stronger Fortifications, Improved Ordnance, and Increase of the Army Recommended. The annual report of the Secretary of War shows the expenditures of that department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, to have been as follows: Salaries, contingent expenses, and postage, $2,173,941.88; militiry establishment, Army and Military Academy, $25,640,67142; pnblto works, Including river and harbor imScments, $ 10,662,593.69; miscellaneous ob- , *3,856,668.34; tot.l, *42,332,876.21, which ided the sum of $1,586,035.72 not drawn from the Treasury, but credited nnder the act of March 3, 1879. to the subsidized Pacifio Ballroads for transportation services rendered the War Department during the fiscal year 1884 and prior years. The amount carried to the surplus fund June 30, 1884, was *1,010,548. W. The appropriations for the fiscal year ending June so, 1885, were ai follows: Salaries, contingent expenses, and postage, *2,088,634.66; military establishment, army and military academy, *24,742,133.50; publio works, lnolndlng river and harbor improvements, $15,887,485; miscellaneous objects, $3,052,308.47; total, $45,570,581.53. The estimates for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, are aa follows: Salaries, contingent expenses, and postage, $2,118,318; military establishment, army and military academy, $26,439,577.45; publio works, inohxiing river and harbor Improvements, and new seaooast fortifications, $18,497,460,48; miscellaneous 0bje0te,*3,806,147.65; total, $80,850,500.58. The estimates for the fiscal year 1886 are below those for 1885, with few exceptions, the principal increase being for fortifications and other works of defense, $6,303,000: building for signal office, $350,000; artificial limbs, $450,000: and support of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer 501d1er5,5199,096.88. The reports of military oommanders show an unprecedented quiet among the Indians, there having been reported during the year no disturbance to oanse the firing of a single musket. The policy of concentrating the many small frontier outposts in larger permanent stations, which the rapid extension or railways has made feasible, has been continued as far as the appropriations for barraoks and quarters would permit. This concentration is resulting m greatly Increased eoonomv of supply and the improvement of military discipline. The Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point reports an Improvement In the tone and discipline of the oorps, and the Secretary recommends the rigid enforcement of the statute which prohibits the return to the academy of any cadet found deficient In his studies or conduct, except upon the recommendation of the Academic Board. Ho recommends also, that a professor of law, or the same rank and tenure as the other professors, bo placed iu charge of the instruction in legal principles now given at the academy. The interest among the students In aohools and colleges where military Instruction is grlvcn by the forty officers assigned to this work by the department Is steadily Increasing. Out of a total average attendance of 6,474 at these Institutions, 2,529 attended Infantry drills and 424 artillery drills during the last year. The Secretary recommends that thirty-five years of honorable and faithful service in the firmy entitle enlisted mo to be plaoed on the retired list, and that tho term of enlistment he reduced from five to three years as a means of reducing the number of desertions of men who become discontented by reason of Inaptitude for tho scrvlco and the contemplation of the present contract of enlistment. Tho acting Judge Advocate General reports the number of trials by general courts-martial during tho year to bo 3,2*0, which is an increaso over lust year of 295; number of convictions for desertion, 700; number of trials by garrison and regimental courts-martial, 10,983, which Is an Increase over last year of 1,605, making a total increaso of trials by oourts-martlal of 1,960. Total number of trials by general, garrison, and regimental courts during the yoar ending Bout. 30, 1884, 13,263. '■ The report of the Quartermaster General’s Department Bhows that at tho beginning of the last fiscal year there remained In the Treasury, as balanoca applicable to exponses of prior years, the sum of $1,295,279.01. There was appropriated for the year the sum of $10,158,734.85* including $200,000 for military posts and $2,500 for road to National Cemetery at Chattanooga, Tenn. Tho balance undrawn on the 3cth of June, J 864, was *1,103,962.54. The report of the Commissary General el Subsistence shows a total expenditure the lan tlsoal year of $3,217,224.33, of which $1,905,7* was embezzled by an officer of the army, who deserted, and, it Is believed, fled to M extern This is believed to be the only sum lost to the Treasury by the dishonesty of any person It tho military service. In the other three Instances of dishonesty during the present administration, the sums embezzled have been restored. Of the sioo 000 appropriated by Congress for persons made destitute by the flood* o' the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, *326,618.24 was expended on the Ohio and Its tributaries, and $160,439.34 on tne Mississippi, leaving unexpended $13,942.42. The chief of engineer shows the urgent necessity of beginning at once the construction of coast defenses. Steel forts and turrets to resist guns which send A projeotfle weighing a ton through sixty feet of sand, and whioh must have like guns, with machinery to load and manipulate them, cannot be buUt in the time an enemy would give after the cessation of diplomatic intercourse.

The balance in the Treasury July I, 1883, for Improving harbors anti rivers was 110,031,849.58. The amount appropriated for 1884 was-$1,319,-634.62,und the amount drawn from the Treasury was $8,228,703.64, leaving a balance of $8,112,580.63 in the Treasury July 1, 1884. Of the 147 places enumerated in the river and harbor act of Aug. 2,1882, seventy-six were reported as not worthy of Improvement. During the year ending Kept. 9, 1884, the channel of the South Pass of the Mississippi River was maintained uninterruptedly. During that time SIOO,OOO was paid for maintenance of the pass and $50,000 in interest on the $1,000,000 retained was paid Mr. Eads, making the total expenditure for the improvement to the latter date, $5,000,000. The Bccretary urges Congress to make liberal and permanent appropriations to the ordinance department for the purchase of gun material. The steel-makers of the country require the Inducement of being fairly remuner-, at ad lor outlays necessary to enlarge their plants sufficiently to produce steel in masses of sufficient size and of suitable quality for gun construction. The manufacture and test of experimental guns will requite four or five yea s, aud prompt a tion by Congress In making this appropriation and establishing 1 Oorernment gun factories to secure within a reasonable time officiant menus of coast defense. Pending this Congressional action, the department is proceeding with the conversion of smooth-bore «ntts into rifles; fifty will be thus converted this year. The zeal and entepriso of tho Greely relief expedition receive the highest commendation, and a vigorous defense is entered against the assertion of the chief signal officer that after the arrival of the Proteus party at St. Johns, Kept. 13, 188:), there was still time to send sufficient relief. To send an expedition with such preparation as could bo made after the middle of September, the Secretary thinks, would have been practically useless. Persons whoso experience and studies give their opinions weight were consulted by the Secretatles of War and the Navy, and the conclusion reached that under most favorable conditions a vessel could not have gone further north that season than Upernavik, a point 700 miles from Littleton Island, which distance is Impassable for boats or sledges. The impossibility of overcoming the difficulties of arctic travel by land or sea was illustrated by the fact that two-thirds of the Greely 'party starved to death at Cape Kablne with 160 I>ounds of meat untouched at Cape Isabella, thirty miles distant, and 2W rations at Littleton Island, about the same distance, but separated by Smith's Sound. Commander Schley, of the Greely expedition. In his official report to the navy department, said: “In view of the disaster to tho Lady Franklin Bay expedition at Cape Sabine, and the conclusion of the department last vear that it was impracticable to send another vessel north after the Yantlc's return to St. Johns, Sept. 13, 1883, 41 th the report of the loss of the Proteus, I would state that the post winter In Melville Bay was the most severe experienced for thirty years.”