Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1874 — The War Department. [ARTICLE]

The War Department.

Washington, Dec. 8. The Secretary of War states that the actual expenditures of the War Department for the year ending June 30,1873, including river and harbor improvements, were $46,325,308.21, and the same for the last fiscal year, ending June 30, 1874, were $42,826,314.71, showing a reduction of $3,998,903.50. The report trill also contain the following recommendations: Monthly additions to be allowed to the pay of officers acting §5 Assistant Quartermas-

annually for the manufacture of arms. An Increased appropriation is desired for arming and equipping the militia. Steps should be taken to relieve the various States from the indebtedness for arms charged to them during the rebellion. Sales of various arsenals, such as those at Allegheny, Columbus, Detroit, Flkesville, Watertown and Washington, are recommended. The Springfield Armory, the Frankfort Arsenal and a few others are recommended to be retained. The proceeds of those sold should be applied to the erection of one grand arsenal for manufacturing purposes, to be established near New York. The proceeds of the sales of those named would be amply sufficient for that purpose, and (here is no necessity for their retention. A powder depot and experimental grounds, for testing heavy ordnance, are estimated for. The revised statues which were enacted Into a law at the last session of Congress included much absolute legislation, which has been inconsiderately Included, and attention is called thereto. Desertion should he considered felony, cognizable by courts at criminal jurisdiction; the offenders should he arrested by Marshals and deputies, like othfficriminals, but the jurisdiction should be concurrent with that of the military courts. Jurisdiction is recommended to be conferred on military persons charged with mprder and other felonies. The reduction of the army is discouraged at present. A reduction of the number of men without a reduction of officers and posts is not economical. A larger appropriation for the publication of official records of the war of the rebellion, both of the Union and Confederate armies, is desirable. This should become immediately available. The President should be authorized to drop from the rolls of the officers of the army those who intentionally and criminally duplicate their pay-accounts—in other words, present accounts for the same month more than once and obtain payment thereon. The provisions of the act of May, 1874, as to the extension of time during leave of absence in which full pay can be drawn should apply to all officers stationed In the Department of Texas. Calling attention to the names of those officers who have been 6ent to the Senate for brevet Appointment for service in the field in action with the Itfdians, the confirmation of these brevet appointments is recommended. The pay of Sergeants should be increased. An appropriation for a permanent military prison is recommended. Payment of soldiers by checks is discouraged, and attention to the Paymaster-Gener-al’s application for the appointment of additional Paymasters is invited. Appropriations for walls and lodges at certain national cemeteries are recommended. The recommendation is made that the hill which passed the House of Representatives authorizing the President to establish a regulation for tne army should be taken up and passed by the Senate. Boys should be enlisted as field musicians, as formerly. When vacancies occur in the office of Regimental Quartermaster and Adjutant, no reappointment should be made to these positions, bnt the duties now performed by them should be performed by detailed officers. The establishment of a professorship of rhetoric and English literature at West Point is recommended. THE ORDNANCE BUREAU. The Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, in his annual report, recommends the rearmament of the navy with breech-loading rifled cannon, which can be done at a very small cost in view of the reduced number of ships and of guns required. The present types of foreign armed cruising ships carry four and one-half and six inches of armor, and at present we have no guns except the fif-teen-inch in the monitors which will seriously injure the lightest of these armored Vessels. Substitute a seven or eight inch rL fie for the eleven-inch' smooth-bore, which even our smallest ships carry, and few of them would come off without great damage. The Chief of Ordnance says the recent experiment on the conversion of smooth-bore to rifled cannon developed no unexpected*results, and he does not deem it possible .to convert a cast-iron smooth-bore Into an efficient rifle by any system of rifling.