220 



CONGRESS. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



which should be undertaken by State authority or by 

 individual enterprise. 



It is hoped that the report of the congressional com- 

 mittee heretofore appointed to investigate this < and 

 other like matters, will aid in the accomplishment of 

 proper legislation on this subject. 



The report of the Secretary of War is herewith sub- 

 mitted. The attention of Congress is invited to the 

 detailed account which it contains of the administra- 

 tion of his department, and his recommendations and 

 . suggestions for the improvement of the service. 



The Army consisted, at the date of the last consoli- 

 dated returns, of 2,154 officers and 24,705 enlisted 

 men. 



The expenses of the departments for the fiscal year 

 ended June 30, 1835, including $13,164,394.60 for pub- 

 lie works and river and harbor improvements, were 

 $45,850,999.54. 



Besides the troops which were dispatched in pursuit 

 of the small band of Indians who left their reserva- 

 tion in Arizona and committed murders and outrages, 

 two regiments of cavalry and one of infantry were 

 sent last July to the Indian Territory to prevent an 

 outbreak which seemed imminent. They remained 

 to aid if necessary in the expulsion of intruders upon 

 the reservation, who seemed to have caused the dis- 

 content among the Indians, but the Executive procla- 

 mation warning them to remove was complied with 

 without their interference. 



Troops were also sent to Eock Springs in Wyoming 

 Territory, after the massacre of Chinese there to pre- 

 vent further disturbance, and afterward to Seattle, in 

 Washington Territory, to avert a threatened attack 

 upon Chinese laborers and domestic violence there. 

 In both cases, the mere presence of the troops had the 

 desired effect. 



It appears that the number of desertions have dimin- 

 ished, but that during the last fiscal year they num- 

 bered 2,927 ; and one instance is given by the Lieu- 

 tenant-General of six desertions by the same recruit. 

 I am convinced that this number of desertions can be 

 much diminished by better discipline and treatment; 

 but the punishment should be increased for repeated 

 offenses. 



These desertions might also be reduced by lessening 

 the term of first enlistments, thus allowing a discon- 

 tented recruit to contemplate a nearer discharge, and 

 the Army a profitable riddance. After one term of 

 service a re-enlistment would be o^uite apt to secure a 

 contented recruit and a good soldier. 



The Acting Judge- Advocate-General reports that 

 the number of trials by general courts-martial during 

 the year was 2,328, and that 11,851 trials took place 

 before garrison and regimental courts-martial. The 

 suggestion that probably more than half the Army 

 have been tried for offenses great and small, in one 

 year, may well arrest attention. Of course, many of 

 these trials before garrison and regimental courts-mar- 

 tial were for offenses almost frivolous ; and there 

 should, I think, be a way devised to dispose of these 

 in a more summary and less inconvenient manner 

 than by court-marti'al. 



If some of the proceedings of courts-martial which 

 I have had occasion to examine present the ideas of 

 justice which generally prevail in these tribunals, I 

 am satisfied that they should be much reformed, if 

 the honor and honesty of the Army and Navy are by 

 their instrumentality to be vindicated and protected. 



The board on fortifications or other defenses, ap- 

 pointed in pursuance of the provisions of the act of 

 Congress approved March 3, 1885, will in a short 

 time present their report; and it is hoped that this 

 may greatly aid the legislation so necessary to remedy 

 the present defenseless condition of our sea-coasts. 



The work of the Signal Service has been prose- 

 cuted during the last year, with results of increasing 

 benefit to the country. The field of instruction has 

 been enlarged with a view of adding to its usefulness. 

 The number of stations in operation June 30, 1885, 

 was 489. Telegraphic reports are received daily from 



160 stations. Reports are also received from 25 Cana- 

 dian stations, 375 volunteer observers, 52 army-sur- 

 geons at military posts, and 333 foreign stations. The 

 expense of the service during the fiscal year after de- 

 ducting receipts from military telegraph lines was 

 $792,592.97. In view of the fact referred to by the 

 Secretary of War ; that the work of this service ordi- 

 narily is of a scientific nature, and the further fact 

 that it is assuming larger proportions constantly, and 

 becoming more and more unsuited to the fixed rules 

 which must govern the Army, I am inclined to agree 

 with him in the opinion that it should be separately 

 established. If this is done, the scope and extent of 

 its operations should, as nearly as possible, be defi- 

 nitely prescribed by law, and always capable of exact 

 ascertainment. 



The Military Academy at West Point is reported as 

 being in a high state of efficiency, and well equipped 

 for the satisfactory accomplishment of the purposes of 

 its maintenance. 



The tact that the class which graduates next year 

 is an unusually large one, has constrained me to de- 

 cline to make appointments to second-lieutenancies in 

 the Army from civil life, so that such vacancies as ex- 

 ist in these places may be reserved for such gradu- 

 ates; and yet it is not probable that there will be 

 enough vacancies to provide positions for them all 

 when they leave the military school. Under the pre- 

 vailing law and usage those not thus assigned to duty 

 never actively enter the military service. It is sug- 

 gested that the law on this subject be changed, so that 

 such of these young men as are not at once assigned 

 to duty after graduation may be retained as second- 

 lieutenants in the Army if they desire it, subject to 

 assignment when opportunity occurs, and under 

 proper rules as to priority of selection. 



The expenditures on account of the Military Acad- 

 emy for the last fiscal year, exclusive of the sum taken 

 for its purposes from appropriations for the support 

 of the Army, were $290,712.07. 



The act approved March 3, 1885, designed to com- 

 pensate officers and enlisted men for loss of private 

 property while in the service of the United States, is 

 so indefinite in its terms, and apparently admits so 

 many claims the adjustment of which could not have 

 been contemplated, that if it is to remain upon the 

 statute-book it needs amendment. 



There should be a general law of Congress prohib- 

 iting the construction of bridges over navigable waters 

 in such manner as to obstruct navigation, with pro- 

 visions for preventing the same. It seems that under 

 existing statutes the Government can not intervene 

 to prevent such a construction when entered upon 

 without its consent, though when such consent is 

 asked and granted upon condition, the authority to 

 insist upon such condition is clear. Thus it is repre- 

 sented that while the officers of the Government are 

 with great care guarding against the obstruction of 

 navigation by a bridge across the Mississippi River at 

 Saint Paul, a large pier for a bridge has been built 

 just below this place directly in the navigable. chan- 

 nel of the river. If such things are to be permitted, 

 a strong argument is presented against the appropri- 

 ation of large sums of money to improve the naviga- 

 tion of this and other important highways of com- 

 merce. 



The report of the Secretary of the Navy gives a 

 history of the operations of h'is department and the 

 present condition of the work committed to his charge. 



He details in full the course pursued by him to pro- 

 tect the rights of the Government in respect of certain 

 vessels unfinished at the time of his accession to 

 office, and also concerning the dispatch-boat Dolphin, 

 claimed to be completed and awaiting the acceptance 

 of the department. No one can fail to see, from re- 

 citals contained in this report, that only; the applica- 

 tion of business principles has been insisted upon in 

 the treatment of these subjects, and that whatever 

 controversy has arisen was caused by the exaction on 

 the part of the department of contract obligations as 





