JUL 13 The attention of chiefs of bureaus is called to the provision in the act making appropriation to supply deficiencies, &c., approved March 2, 1889 (25 Stat., 912), as follows: That the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to transfer and deliver to the Secretary of War, from time to time, as may be necessary, the pay-rolls of the volunteer forces during the late war, now on file in the office of the Second Auditor, in order to enable the Secretary of War to have the card-index records of the volunteer forces in the late war made complete from all the rolls, pay, muster, and detached, morning and all other reports containing any information as to such soldiers, as to service, pay, bounty, and allowances of all kinds, said rolls to be returned to the Treasury Department in the like condition in which received, unavoidable wear excepted. and to the remarks contained in the report made to the Senate March 28, 1889, by the Senate select committee to examine the methods of business in the Executive Departments, as follows: If the object and intent of the foregoing provision of law be carried out in the proper spirit, the whole work can be completed in a comparatively short time, without any increase of clerical force or additional expense, and complete card-index records of every soldier in the late war made, and the musterrolls saved in their present condition. Within six to ten months the Pension and Record Division of the Surgeon General's Office will have completed the card-index records of all the soldiers whose names appear on any of such records and rolls. And then about two hundred experienced and skilled clerks from that office can be put to work in co-operation with the force in the office of [the] Adjutant General in making such card-index records from such pay, muster, and all other rolls. And as the work progresses the force can be increased, while at the same time calls for information from other offices can be answered more promptly, and all arrears of such calls brought up to current work, as has been done so successfully and completely in that division of the Surgeon General's Office. In the opinion of your committee this great work can be completed within four years from July 1, 1889, and most probably in three years from such date. On page 29: In order to carry out the will of Congress, as expressed so plainly in the clause of the last deficiency appropriation law hereinbefore quoted, and to carry into speedy and successful completion this card-index record system, your committee suggest and recommend to the Secretary of War to appoint a commission of three experienced and competent employés of the War Department to superintend and direct the transfer of the pay-rolls from the office of the Second Auditor to the War Department, and then to the proper divisions in the War Department where there may be the most available force for the work, so as to keep employed upon the work all the available force in the offices of [the] Surgeon General and Adjutant General which can be spared from time to time for work upon these card-index records. And when the card-index records of the rolls, records, &c., of a company or regiment are completed and ready for the critical and final examination and comparison, to confer with the Second Auditor and the Second Comptroller, and secure the proper clerks from each of said offices to make such examination and comparison, so that the Second Auditor and the Second Comptroller can properly certify to the amount of any and all arrears of pay, bounty, and any and all allowances which may be found to be due and unpaid to any officer or soldier, his widow, children, or legal representatives; and then, when such examinations and comparisons are completed, to arrange for the proper disposi tion and preservation of such card-index records in the office of the Adjutant General, so as to be most convenient and accessible for obtaining and furnishing therefrom any and all information which may be called for from any office or person. In accordance with the foregoing, and pursuant to the authority contained in sections 161, 166, and 217 of the Revised Statutes, the following changes are made in the custody of records and the distri bution of employés: 1. The records, files, and property of the Record and Pension Division of the Surgeon General's Office (except the Statistical Branch of the said division, and the current medical records of the Army, which will remain under the control of the Surgeon General), and of the following divisions of the Volunteer Enlisted Branch of the Adjutant General's Office, viz: Volunteer Rolls and Returns (1st and 2d Divisions), Prisoners of War, Volunteer Registers, and Pension Record, and the persons now employed therein, are hereby transferred to a division of the office of the Secretary of War to be known as the "Record and Pension Division of the War Department.” The divisions thus transferred will remain in their present quarters, subject to such changes as it may be necessary to make to concentrate and hasten the work, and to accomplish this it may be necessary to transfer other divisions and clerks, which will be announced hereafter. The laboratory, the Statistical Subdivision, and the current medical records of the Medical Department of the Army, with the persons employed on the work, now in the building on Tenth street, will be transferred elsewhere by the Surgeon General, the space now occupied by the Record and Pension Division in the Medical Museum and Library Building not, however, to be reduced. The officer in charge of the division, in addition to the custody, under the Secretary of War, of the records mentioned, will be allowed access to any other records containing information affecting claims of soldiers for pension, pay, bounty, &c., and may call for reports from said records; and he will also have charge of the building on Tenth street, the persons employed therein, and the rooms occupied by the Record and Pension Division in the Medical Museum and Library Building. 2. To economize space needed in the transaction of the public business, the divisions having charge of stationery and miscellaneous supplies in the several bureaus, except the Signal Office, will be dis. continued as rapidly as possible, and hereafter a supply of such articles only as may be needed for current demands will be kept on hand in the divisions, branches, and subdivisions of the several bureaus and offices of the department. The names of the persons employed on the work to be discontinued will be reported to the Secretary of War for assignment to other duty. The Supply Division was created for the purpose of procuring and keeping in stock articles of stationery and miscellaneous supplies, and an accumulation of such articles in the bureaus requires space and the time of clerks, messengers, and laborers needed for other purposes. The stock of such articles now on hand in the bureaus will be retained until expended. The library of the department is easily accessible and open at all times during business hours for official purposes. Chiefs of bureaus are therefore requested to transfer to said library such books in their respective libraries as are not works of reference for professional, scientific, or official purposes. 3. Captain F. C. Ainsworth, assistant surgeon, U. S. Army, will report to the Secretary of War, and will be responsible for the prompt execution of the work required by the act of March 2, 1889. The clerks and other employés mentioned in paragraph 1 will report to him for duty. OFFICIAL COPY: REDFIELD PROCTOR, AC Chief Clerk. |