ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



31 



State Central Committee, which subsequent- 

 ly named 0. E. Cunningham. The platform 

 adopted arraigns the Democratic party for rob- 

 bing the school-fund, for robbing the State 

 Treasury of nearly $250,000, and for various 

 other acts entailing evil consequences. 



ELECTION RETURNS. At the election, on the 

 4th of September, the Democratic ticket was 

 elected. The vote for Governor was as follows : 

 Berry, 87,675 ; Slack, 49,352; Garland, 10,142. 

 The vote on the liquor-license question was 

 78,889 for license, and 45,041 against. Only 

 twelve counties (Ashley, Columbia, Franklin, 

 Grant, Johnson, Logan, Madison, Marion, Pope, 

 St. Francis, Washington, and Woodruff) voted 

 against license. The Senate consists of 27 

 Democrats, 2 Republicans, and 2 Greenback- 

 ers ; the House, of 78 Democrats, 13 Repub- 

 licans, and 2 Greenbackers. 



The following were the Democratic nomi- 

 nees for district Congressmen : First District, 

 Poindexter Dunn, of St. Francis County ; Sec- 

 ond District, James K. Jones, of Hempstead 

 County; Third District, John H. Rogers, of 

 Sebastian County ; Fourth District, Samuel W. 

 Peel, of Benton County. They were elected 

 on the 7th of November over their opponents. 

 The following is the vote : First District, Dunn, 

 12,496; opposition, 719. Second District, 

 Jones, 14,831 ; J. A. Williams, 11,475 ; others, 

 367. Third District, Rogers, 10,522; M. W. 

 Benjamin, 7,840. Fourth District, Peel, 5,657; 

 others, 1,240. Congressman-at-large, Breck- 

 inridge, 43,327 ; C. E. Cunningham, 21,394. 



MISCELLANEOUS. The University of Little 

 Rock, a Methodist institution, was opened 

 during the year. Eureka Springs has assumed 

 importance as a health resort. In the spring 

 the Mississippi Valley was visited by unusually 

 destructive floods, from which the towns of 

 Helena and Arkansas City suffered severely. 

 A State Bar Association was organized in May. 

 At the close of the year the new insane asy- 

 lum, about three miles from Little Rock, had 

 been completed. 



ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. The 

 expenditures of the War Department for the 

 fiscal year ending June 30, 1882, were $45,- 

 349,319 ; the appropriations for the fiscal year 

 ending in 1883 were $55,662,420; and the 

 estimates for the fiscal year ending in 1884 

 amounted to $38,897,620. Seven thousand 

 three hundred and forty-one enlistments had 

 been made during the year, while 3,721 deser- 

 tions had taken place. The necessity of pro- 

 viding some remedy for the frequency of de- 

 sertions, which is not only very expensive, but 

 is very hurtful to the morale of the Army, was 

 apparent. The Secretary of War suggested 

 that a partial remedy might be found in restor- 

 ing the standard of pay to what it was in 1865, 

 or to sixteen dollars a month for a private sol- 

 dier, and a proportionate amount for each non- 

 commissioned officer. The Quartermaster's 

 Department having had a balance of $1,705,296 

 at the beginning of the fiscal year, and having 



received appropriations of $11,923,385, re- 

 turned at the close of the -year a balance of 

 $1,182,239. One hundred and nineteen new 

 buildings had been authorized, at an estimated 

 cost of $175,950, at military posts in twenty 

 different States and Territories; repairs to 

 military buildings throughout the country had 

 cost, it was estimated, $428,508 ; $4,899 had 

 been expended on account of buildings for 

 school and religious purposes ; and $7,494 had 

 been applied to the construction and repair of 

 hospitals. The Ordnance Department had on 

 hand 53,542 small-arms, as a reserve supply, 

 the number showing an increase of 16,000 dur- 

 ing the year. The Springfield breech-loading 

 arm still continued to give satisfaction, and was 

 believed to have no superior as a single breech- 

 loader for troops, and to be destined to hold 

 its place till it is superseded by a magazine- 

 gun. The Paymaster-General accounted for 

 the receipt and expenditure in his department 

 of $15,132,245, without loss, and reported that 

 the deposit system, which had been instituted 

 for the benefit of enlisted men, was tending to 

 encourage habits of economy and to check de- 

 sertion. During the ten years that the system 

 had been in operation, $3,813,081 had been de- 

 posited by the men, and $2,766,613 drawn out 

 by them, leaving $1,046,468 still on deposit. 

 The number of deaths of soldiers during the 

 year had been 250, of which 161 were from 

 disease, and 89 from wounds, accidents, and 

 injuries. The whole number of deaths was 

 equivalent to 10 per thousand of the mean 

 strength of the force. The proportion of fatal 

 results to cases treated was 1 to 161. The 

 Artillery School at Fortress Monroe, and the 

 new School of Application for Infantry and 

 Cavalry at Fort Leaven worth, were serving a 

 most useful purpose. Their cost is not more 

 than that of garrisons of the same size, "and 

 they are, in fact, only large posts, in which 

 every officer and soldier is being, by practice, 

 better fitted for his duties." The Department 

 of West Point had been abolished by the opera- 

 tion of changes in the commands of the various 

 departments, and the Military Academy at that 

 place had been, at the beginning of the current 

 academic year, restored to its former position 

 under the law. A good account has been given 

 of the condition of discipline in the Academy. 

 The report of the Adjutant-General represented 

 that interest in the militia was increasing in 

 many States. Whenever it was requested, the 

 Department sent officers of the Army to the 

 State encampments, to inspect them, and afford 

 such assistance as might properly be given. A 

 board, authorized by a previous act of Con- 

 gress, had sat for fifteen months from July 5, 

 1881, to September 30, 1882 in the examina- 

 tion of guns, and submitted its report on the 

 latter day. Forty guns on thirteen different 

 systems were tested by it, and six selected 

 from the number as best enduring the trials 

 were subjected to severe supplementary tests. 

 The three of the latter number that stood all 



