The Peace Army of the United States.
The following figures are believed to be approximately accurate, and most interesting and instructive they are:
| French army, peace footing. | 523,283 |
| German army, peace footing. | 445,417 |
| United States army of pensioners, peace footing. | 400,000 |
One of the great evils of a huge standing army is the cost of its support—a constant drain upon the national resources.
It does not seem that in this respect we have so very much the advantage of France or Germany, loaded down as those nations are with military burdens.
The great difference is that, while all or nearly all of the French and German soldiers, supported at the national expense, are available in case of a national emergency, few or none of ours are.
Is this enormous burden a just debt?
The question is best answered by another question. Is it not fair to assume that in 1877, twelve years after the end of the civil war, about all the equitable claims for pensions on account of that war had been put in and allowed?
Yet since 1877, the number of pensioners on our rolls has almost doubled; and the annual cost of maintaining them has nearly trebled.—N. Y. Sun.