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the following heads, viz: The purchase of sites and materials for, and construction and repairs of the various fortifications throughout the United States; construction and repairs of roads, bridges, bridge-trains, &c., for armies in the field; surveys on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts; examination and surveys of the northern and western lakes and rivers; construction and repairs of breakwaters; repairs and improvement of harbors, both on sea and lake coasts; improvement of rivers and purchase of snag and dredge boats for the same; and the expenses of the Military Academy at West Point.

The transactions of the subsistence and engineer branches for the fiscal year are shown by the following statement, viz:

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Number of vouchers examined, 162,895; number of letters written, 1,852; number of differences written, 1,290; number of calls answered, 620; number of clerks employed, 9.

THE CLAIMS DIVISION.

This division has the settlement of claims of a miscellaneous character arising in the various branches of service in the War Department, and growing out of the purchase or appropriation of supplies and stores for the Army; the purchase, hire, or appropriation of water craft, railroad stock, horses, wagons, and other means of transportation; the transportation contracts of the Army; the occupation of real estate for camps, barracks, hospitals, fortifications, &c.; the hire of employés, mileage, courts-martial fees, traveling expenses, commutations, &c.; claims for compensation for vessels, railroad cars, engines, &c., lost in the military service; claims growing out of the Oregon and Washington war of 1855 and 1856, and other Indian wars; claims of various descriptions under special acts of Congress, and claims not otherwise assigned for adjudi

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MISCELLANEOUS CLAIMS for fiscal year 1880-'81-Continued.

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a This is the amount claimed in 11,410 cases, the amount claimed in the other 1,603 cases not being stated. b This is the amount claimed in 2,575 cases, the amount claimed in the other 215 cases not being stated. e This is the amount claimed in 2,341 cases, the amount claimed in the other 163 cases not being stated. d This is the amount claimed in 11,644 cases, the amount claimed in the other 1,655 cases not being stated. e This is the amount claimed in 338 cases, the amount claimed in the other 369 cases not being stated. f This is the amount claimed in 36 cases, the amount claimed in the other 20 cases not being stated. This is the amount claimed in 52 cases, the amount claimed in the other 23 cases not being stated. This is the amount claimed in 322 cases, the amount claimed in the other 366 cases not being stated.

The number of letters received during the year was 142; number writ ten during the year, 2,334.

STATE AND HORSE CLAIMS DIVISION.

The duties of this division embrace the settlement, under the various acts and resolutions of Congress relating thereto, of all claims of the several States and Territories for the costs, charges, and expenses properly incurred by them for enrolling, subsisting, clothing, supplying, arming, equipping, paying, and transporting their troops employed in aiding to suppress the recent insurrection against the United States, and all claims arising out of Indian and other border invasions. Also the settlement of claims for compensation for loss of horses and equipage sustained by officers or enlisted men while in the military service of the United States, and for the loss of horses, mules, oxen, wagons, sleighs, and harness, while in said service, by impressment or contract.

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Number of briefs, 522; number of claims examined and suspended, 2,089; number of letters received, 4,986; number of letters written, 5,590; number of clerks employed, 6.

COLLECTION DIVISION.

STATEMENT of BUSINESS TRANSACTED by the COLLECTION DIVISION during the year ended June 30, 1881.

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The current work of this divisien has steadily increased during the fiscal year and additional clerical force is required to keep it up. Work has been continued in abstracting the names of soldiers of the war of 1812, for the purpose of arrangement in alphabetical registers, with all the clerical force available. During the year, one hundred and sixtythree thousand two hundred and thirty-two payments have been ab stracted, making a total, up to the end of the present fiscal year, of five hundred and nine thousand six hundred and sixty-four payments. In order to complete these registers within a period of time that will be available to the old soldiers and their widows, whose applications for pension are now pending in the office of the Commissioner of Pensions, but whose service cannot be traced for lack of data to base a search upon, and for historical purposes, an increase in the clerical force in this divis ion is necessary.

In many cases (of widows especially, who know the fact by tradition that their former husbands served in the war of 1812) the claimants do not know the names of the officers under whom they (or their busbands) served. Until these alphabetical registers are completed, this office is unable to trace the service of any soldier without the name of the captain or colonel under whom the soldier served. When these registers shall be completed, a knowledge of the name of the soldier will be a sufficient clue to trace his military service. After the abstract slips shall have been entered upon registers, they may be sent to the respective States from which the soldiers enlisted, to become a part of the records of the State, and I recommend proper action looking to a distribution of these slips among the several States to which the service pertains.

ARMY PENSION DIVISION.

The duties of this division embrace the settlement of all accounts which pertain to the payment of army pensions throughout the United States. An account is kept with each pension agent, charging him with

Bounty land and
pension cases
examined.

Letters written.

Names of soldiers

of the war of 1812 abstracted.

Days comparing.

Cases prepared

for suit.

all moneys advanced for payment to pensioners, under the proper bond and fiscal year. At the end of each month the agent forwards his vouchers, abstracts, and money statement direct to this office, where a preliminary examination is made to see if the money advanced is properly accounted for. The receipt of the account is then acknowledged, and the account filed for audit. Each voucher is subsequently examined, and the payment entered on the roll-book opposite the pensioner's The agent's account, when audited, is reported to the Second Comptroller for his revision, and a copy of the statement of errors, if any, sent to the agent for his information and explanation. The account when revised, is returned by the Second Comptroller to this office and placed in the settled files, where it permanently remains. The following tables show the operations of this division during the fiscal year:

Army pensions 1878 and prior years:

Amount refunded and deposited during the year ended June 30, 1881.

Army pensions 1879:

Balance to credit of appropriation June 30, 1880..
Amount deposited during the year

$6,152 17

1,242,976 65

2, 191 79

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The following tabular statement shows the number of accounts received and audited during the fiscal year:

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Pension checks verified before payment, 92, amounting to

Settlements for lost checks made, 29, amounting to

Settlements for forged checks made, 3, amounting to.

Settlements for repayments, 3, amounting to

Amount paid Judith Brown, "special act" May 31, 1880.

Amount paid for printing pension checks, being unexpended balance of 1880.

Checks unpaid covered to outstanding liabilities, 519, in amount ................

34,515 929

12, 665

1,674 2,094

405 7,570

28, 394

759, 773

734, 810

25, 680

2,252

242

308

5,3-0

3,292

4, 154 3,28 3,286 $6,380 93 1,594 05

78.00

68 64

66 09

664 00

12,069 89

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