Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1874 — The War Department. [ARTICLE]

The War Department.

Washington, Dec. 3. Tlie 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 $42,326,314.71, showing a reduction of $3,998,903.50. The report will also contain the following recommendations: v Monthly additions to be-allowod to toe pay of officers"acting as Assistant Quartermasters; a renewal of recommendations for the purchase of sites of posts in Texas, in accordance with the report previously made to Congress; a system of mileage, and the paviitent of officers and employes traveling on duty to be restored, in lieu of the actual expenses, as now allowed under the law of last year; that private soldiers be permitted to "compete for the position of Commissary Sergeants as well as noncommissioned officers; the exemption of subsistence stores from the operation of tlie lawrequiring the proceeds of sales of public property to be covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous at the expiration of each fiscal year, the law to be so changed that appropriations for subsistence stores can be made available prior to the commencement of tlie fiscal year for which they are appropriated; that provision be made for the publication of 5,000 additional copies of the Medical and Surgical History of the War. Attention is called to the recommendation of the Chief of Engineers for an additional appropriation for ammunition for target-firing, which is recommended. Much larger appropriations than have heretofore been made should be made annually for the manufaetui ‘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 toe rebellion. Sales of various arsenals, such as those at Allegheny-, Columbus, Detroit, Pikesville, 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 tlie erection of one grand arsenal for manufacturing purposes, to be established near New York. The proceeds of the sales of those named would he amply sufficient for that purpose, and there is no necessity for their retention. A powder depot and experimental grounds, for testing heavy ordnance, are estimated for. The revised statutes 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 be considered felony, cognizable by courts of criminal jurisdiction; the offenders should be arrested hy Marshals and deputies, like other criminals, but the jurisdiction should be concurrent with that of the military courts. Jurisdiction is recommended to be confei red on military persons charged with murder 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 mqre than once and obtain payment dhereon. 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 tlie Department of Texas. Calling attention to the names of those officers who have been sent to the Senate for brevet appointment for service in the field in action with the Indians, the confirmation of those brevet appointment is recommended. The pay of Sergeants should be increased. An appropriation for a permanent military prison is recommended. Pay ment of soldiers by checks is discouraged, and attention to the Paymftster-GeneraPs-application for the appointment of additional Paymasters is invited. Appropriations for walls aud lodges at certain national cemeteries are recommended. The recommendation is made that the bill which passed the House of Representatives authorizing the President to establish a regulation for the army should be taken up and passedby 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, but the dut'es now performed hy 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 rilled cannon, which can he done at a very small cost iu 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 fifteeninch in the monitors which will seriously injure the lightest of these armored vessels. Substitute a seven or eight inch rifle 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 Ordinance says the reeent 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 rilling. —The servants of a family living in Providence, R. 1., were alarmed the other morning by an unusual rustling sound proceeding from a box of rubbish in the cellar. The box was carried into the yard and turned upon its side, when a pair of sharp black eyes and a brown, hairy, pointed nose peered forth from within. The family cat was called upon, but refused to attack the stranger, though she had previously encountered large rats without any hesitancy. A gentleman finally advanced with a club find after a vigorous. assault dragged out a line large woodchuck. —A boy went to visit his cousins in Kentucky, near the Ohio River. His parents, "fearing the water, had bidden him to shun the boat which his cousins used, and the lad had promised. A letter to his father graphically described various excursions and the “ good time” he had enjoyed, among the very last, one in w hich the cousins had desired to visit the Ohio shore. ” They went over in the boat,” writes the boy, “ but I remembered your wishes in that respect, and so swam the river.” —The North Carolina State debt is $38,921,848.05. « , r. ‘