Show Eu0 1 So SOLDIERS I Sum of i116U364 411e quired for their Neels Next Year I HOUSE CONSIDERS BILL Last Appropriation for Army was 80000000 A BIG DEFICIENCY LEFT Chairman Hull of the Committee on Military Affairs Explains the Present Pres-ent Bill Mr Jctt of the Same Committee Analyzed tho Measure and Expressed Opinion that tho Appropriations it Carried were not Sufilcicnt and There Must Inevitably Inevita-bly bo a Deficit Ho also Criticised the System of Promoting Officers for Immediate Retirement Especially Espe-cially tho Higher Grades Ridgcloy of Kansas Afraid of Soldiers Denounced De-nounced the Tendency Toward Militarism Washington March 2GThe House entered upon the consideration of the army appropriation bill 1 but the debate i was without exciting Incident being confined to the discussion of army matters mat-ters Chairman Hull In charge of tho bill explained its provisions The 11C pension bills favorably acted upon by the House ln committee of the whole last Friday were put thrcugh the final stages at the opening of the session of the House today and the army appropriation bill was then taken up jVlIiSibffortsto roachV an agreement as to theilngth of time general debate on the bill should run failed BILL IS EXPLAINED Mr Hull of Iowa chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs In charge of the measure made u general gen-eral statement regarding Its contents The bill carries 1H600331 l The estimates esti-mates ore 127712163 The last appropriation ap-propriation bill carried about sOOOOOO and there was a deficiency of about 547000000 Mr Hull said he did not think there would be any considerable deficiency In any of the Items In the present bill JETT CRITICISES SYSTEM Mr Hull was followed by Mr Jctt of Illinois a member of the committee commit-tee who analyzed the bill and expressed I tho opinion that the appropriations it carried were not sufllcelnt and there must Inevitably be a deficit Mr JeLL criticised the system of promoting of llccrs for Immediate retirement and especially the higher officers who were rushed ho said through tho final grades and retired with the highest rank possible Under the law there could be but three MajorGenerals and six BrigadierGenerals He read a list of threw MajorGenerals and twenty seven BrigadierGenerals who had been promoted and retired almost Immediately Imme-diately during the last three years In some cases an otllcer was promoted lo the grade of BrigadierGeneral one day and retired the next ENTITLED TO RETIREMENT Mr Parker called attention to the fact that nearly every one of these officers of-ficers had served In the Civil war and said men who had served the country for forty years were entitled to retirement re-tirement as Brigadiers Mr Steele of Indiana called attention to the case of Colj Burko who had served actively for over forty years in the army but who through misfortune had not reached tho raaik to which he was entitled before ho had to retire because of age He had very properly been retired Mr Steele said as a BrigadlcrGuncral MIGHT BE EXCEPTIONAL CASE I Mr Jott agreed that there might be I exceptional cases saying what he complained com-plained of was the wholesale practice of crowding men through the higher ranks simply for the purpose of giving I giv-ing them more retired pay Mr McClellan of New York discussed I the necessity for tho reorganization of the army He believed he said In the maintenance of a standing army in time of peace large enough und no larger larg-er to be expanded in lime of war to make a first line of defense strong enough to hold off a foreign enemy until un-til the voters can be organized to constitute con-stitute the second line AFRAID OF SOLDIERS Mr Ridgcley of Kansas denounced I the tendency toward militarism charg ing that It was menace to tho peace and welfare of the people He charged that the demand for a large standing army came from the officers who would be benefited and from organized capital capi-tal which desired a large army to protect pro-tect their property in time oi discontent discon-tent WJJat Is there In this bill that Increases In-creases tho army asked Mr Hull Within three years replied Mr Ridgcley the standing army has been Increased threefold and Its cost to thy pcoplo fourfold INJECT PHILIPPINE QUESTION Mr Cox of Tennessee < introduced the Philippine question into the debate criticising time policy of the Administration Adminis-tration In using the army to put down the insurrootlon there and announcing I if he could have his way not one dollar dol-lar should be voted to subjugate the Filipinos The soldiers serving in the Philippines In acquitted of ill blame They werQ doing their duty and le servotJ wjjitt of their country The fault lay with those who had 1 Inaugurated Inaugu-rated the unholy war Mr Cox predicted pre-dicted that not in the memory of tee man now ifvlpg would the firmy ever get back to its peace footing of 5000 When he came to Congress the appropriations appro-priations for tho army were 520000000 Lust year they were 120000000 WOULD REORGANIZE ARMY Mr Driggs of New York favored a reorganization of tho army that would Increase the artillery and cavalry blanches of the service 5 and decrease tho Infantry arm Mr Meyer of Louisiana opposed the retention of the Philippine islands But If they wero to he retained he argued that American products should be protected pro-tected against free competition from products of the Islands His remarks i had not been completed when the House ut 610 p m adjourned I |