Mr. SCHENCK. That was from 5 to 3. The experience acquired by our fathers in the Revolution led them, in 1790 and 1791, and thereafter by successive enactments, to fix the term of enlistment at 3 years, and it was only some few years before the late rebellion that the term was prolonged to 5 years. What the committee proposes new is, that having changed it from 5 years to 3 in 1862, we shall koe it as it is. There is much orce in the argument used lli nce osf by the gentleman in reference to the exeriences that men acquire in the service an the advantage of having old soldiers. He only concurs in the o winien of every otheer who speaks on the su )ject. If it were left to the officers themselves to settle the question, they would require men to serve ten years instead of 5. But when you come to legislate upon this matter you must take into consideration the character of our people, the kind of men we propose to fill up the ranks of the Army with. [hequestion then becomes one of politics, or of political economy, and all that reates to the in usirial pursuits of our people have to be taken into consideration as well as the question of simply getting good veteran soldiers. Now, sir, our Army is to be made up of men drawn from all the walks of life. Young farmers, onrneymen mechanics, and young men who have not yet settled themselves in any particular pursuit, form the great body of the Army, and by far its best material and I undertake to say that 3 years carved out of the life of a young American belonging to either of these classes isequal to about ten years taken out of the slow lifi: of a European. I mean to say that our young men are not willing as a body to give 5 years of their time to the service of the country, while 100s and 1,000s of the very same young men might be willing to dedicate 3 years to this m1 itary work. Take a young farmer 18 years of age. He wants to see somethiuw of the world in a new phase; he wants to lodk at it in a military aspect, and he is willing to enter the Army for 3 years, but not to spare 5 years of his youth for that service and come back at the age of 23, 24, or 25 to settle himself in life. I go further than that. Then hIam not given to vain glorious praise of the pee le of this country, yet I believe that a young mer ican learns more and is worth more in his 3 years service than most Europeans inten years. Our young men acquire military knowl edge quicker, they have more spirit, and they perform military service better and they are more fitted even for command after 3 years experience as privates than any other people on the face of the earth. I prefer, therefore, to accommodate our legislation somewhat to the character of the people of the country, whom we expect to call upon to fill up and constitute the great body of our standing Army or of any army that we ever put into the field. For these reasons, without dwelling upon them more at length though much ceul be said, perhaps, on both sides of this question I am not convinced of the propriety of going back to the old terms of 5 years, particularly when, as a part of the system, the ComMilAffr, looking to legislation upon this subject with a view to a cure of an evi, have preposed a bill (No. 450) to reulate the pay and compensation of officers an soldiers of the Army and as it may be inconvenient for gentlemen to turn to their files to look at that bill I will read one of its provisions. Section feur contains this provision: Abife:, That the pay and allow all non-commissionedofficers and enlisted men in the Army of the U.S shall continue the sameas provided by the not entitled "An act to increase the pay of soldiers in the U.S. Army, and for other purposes, " approved Jane 20, 1864 and by other existing laws: but hereaftereach enlisted man shall, instead of any nllowanc for bounty, receive an increaseon his pay proper o one dollar permonth for each month of laithlul service in the 2nd year of his enlistment and a further like increaseof one dollar more permonth for faithful servicein the 3rd yenrpf Hamill “Uncut; and when any soldier reenlistsimmediately, or Within 90 days after the expiration of a previous term of enlistment. it shall becountedas one continuous term of enlistment, and he shall receive from year to your additional pay at the rate of one dollar permonth in eachsuccessiveyearthat he remainsin the Service At the proper time the committee hope to have an opportunity of insisting upon that proposition, as a means of curing some of the avi now existing, and of elevating the character of the service, as a scheme by means of which the services of the soldiers may be secured continuously for the benefit of the Government and though it would seem to entail a heavy additional expense upon the Government, by increasing the pay of the soldier a dollar a month for each successive year, so that he shall receive 17 dollars a month the 2nd year, 18 dollars a month the 3rd year, and 19 dollars a month the 4th year, if he shall reenlist, and so on from year to year of service, yet it is more than compensated even upon the score of economy. as a means of get ting rid of this whole difficult question of bounty hereafter, and substituting a gradual increase of pay in its stead to the faithful soldier and I hope we shall keep the time of 3 years in this section.