spensing with the usual
examination and finding by a retiring board and all other ordinary
prerequisites of retirement.

Appointments to the Army under the authority of special legislation
which names the proposed appointee, and the purpose of which is the
immediate retirement of the appointee, are open to serious objections,
though I confess I have been persuaded through sympathy and sentiment on
a number of occasions to approve such legislation. When, however, it is
proposed to make the retirement compulsory and without reference to age
or previous examination, a most objectionable feature is introduced.

The cases covered by the special enactments referred to are usually such
as should, if worthy of any consideration, be provided for under general
or private pension laws, leaving the retired list of the Army to serve
the legitimate purpose for which it was established.

A recent discussion in the House of Representatives upon a bill similar
to the one now before me drew from a member of the House Committee on
Military Affairs the declaration that hundreds of such bills were before
that committee and that there were fifty precedents for the passage of
the particular one then under discussion.

It seems to me that this condition suggests such an encroachment upon
the retired list of the Army as should lead to the virtual abandonment
of the legislation referred to.

In addition to the objections to such legislation based upon sound
policy and good administration, there are facts connected with the case
covered by the bill now before me which, in my judgment, forbid its
favorable consideration.

The beneficiary named in this bill entered the military service as first
lieutenant in 1861. In September or October, 1870, then being a captain,
a charge of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman was preferred
against him with a view to his trial on said charge before a
court-martial.

The Articles of War provide that any officer convicted of this offense
shall be dismissed the service.

The first specification under this charge alleged that Captain Wells did
violently and without just cause or provocation assault First Lieutenant
P.H. Breslin "by furiously striking and hitting him (Lieutenant Breslin)
upon the head with a hickory stick, the butt end of a billiard cue, and
did continue the assault (upon Lieutenant Breslin) until forced to
desist therefrom by First Lieutenant Carl Veitenhimer, Fourth United
State