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Show THfi ARM". Tha "Herald" Set R'hr. and the Solder's Hard Life Portrayed- Aa Offijflr Defends the Present System. Camp Docclas, Utau, March 29tn, 1S73. Editors Herald: In the article appearing in the Herald of this date headed "The Army," wefindeoire figures referring refer-ring to our pay which would make it much greater than any of us have yet experienced. As tbe writer docs ot believe that the article was written writ-ten to mislead, he desires to coricct ao much of it as refers to the pay of captaim. Tbe article &Utes tbt the pay of a captain is $2,000 a year. After teQ years' service he gets $000 increase as longevity allowance; tuen $61S for house rent; $H5 for fuel, and $2i0 for forage; total $3,G33. The pay prescribed by act of congress, con-gress, approved July 15th, 1870, which govern?, ia aa follows: Pay of captain, mounted, $2,000 with 10 per cent, on each year's pay for every five years' service after the first five yearB. This give3 alter five yeais' Bervice $2,200 per annum; after ten years' service $2,400, and not $3,633. Tbis is for a captain mounted, who must furnish his own horse and equipment. Tbe pay of a captain not mounted ia $1,800, previous pre-vious to five years' service, and 10 per cent, additional fur every fivo years' Bervice afterwards up to twenty years. Quarters and fuel in kind are allowed to officers in garrison, where tbey can be furnished. No forage is allowed save to officers authorized by law to be mounted, and they must keep tbe horses. Let us consider for a moment the pay and experience of tbe captains nominally stationed at this post. Their pay is each $1,S00 per annum, to which add 30 per cent, ior over fifteen fif-teen years' Bervice. This gives their ac'ual pay at $2,250 and quarters and fuel, and not $3,633 as stated. Whether thia ia too much for Uncle Sam to pay his captains, I leave to your candor after considering the lol-lowing lol-lowing facts: Following inclinations with wbioh they are created, and in which captains are not unlike their fellow citizens iu civil life, they took aome of thsm uuto themselves nivea. ExperieLce h:va shown iu our army that in campaigning, or when on detached service, it is not practicable prac-ticable for an olhcer to have bis family fam-ily w'th him; hence, referring to the captains above mentioned, they have not had the privilege of beiDg with their iarnilies, during the last two years, more than ball of that time, and in previoua years muoh leas than that. The married lieutenants are similarly situated, and in Ihia tbey are no worse ell than their brother officers at other posts and stations. This necessitates the keeping up of two establishments, so to apeak, one for the wife and children of the officer wherever he may ba lorlunate enough to find a temporary home for them, and aome kind of an outfit fjr himself wherever his duty may call him. It sometimes some-times calls him to cities where be in compelled to pay hotel bills and remain much longer than either his purse r his inclination will justify. He occasionally finds himself sta tioned at a post near a city where bo thinltH perhaps he may remain a year or two. He holds a council with bis wile aud, rrjoicing in the hope that they are to have a rest, they buy a little lurulture, get a carpet and an easy chair or two, spruce themselves up, start tbe children to school, and begin to live a little like other folks; but influences beyoud their ken or coutrol are at wjrk. Ten to one that before the new carpet is fairly dowo or the children Btarted in their studies stud-ies the order comes to march. Usually these orders come by tele gram, and rarely does an officer koow for more than a day or two beforehand before-hand that he is to change Btation. Well, tbe children are compelled to drop their studies. John Crane comes up and gives whatever be can afford to pay for tbe household articles of cox fort or necessity, which were to have been enjoyed; the books, clothing, cloth-ing, bedding, table furniture, and such other articles as are indispensable, indispens-able, are packed, carefully weighed for the cup tain is only allowed 1,500 pounds transportation and the lieutenants lieu-tenants much less rand marked for shipment to Dakota, Arizona, New Mexico, or Philadelphia. A bud or blossom whose full bloom, it was hoped in fctiluv ia broken off nom some shrub or bush as a souvenir, or as a remembrance remem-brance of hopes and expectations unfulfilled. Hasty farewells are said to friends and "we're on on the morning train." Now, the "average citizen who would gladly accept the position with three times the work for one-third tbe pay," is, I presume, the man Mr. Banning is looking for. 1 might add much moro, but I only took up the pen in behalf of the captain at whom you struck the hardest hard-est blow. Sherman and Sheridan seem to have taken care of themselves d urine; the war pretty well, and as our legislators ore a ted the posilieoa they occupy for them, I auppoje we must stand it. Longevity. |