roads or trails and their maintenance through the ten-year period; and (3) construction of development roads, the value or location of which is not yet fixed. Whether the plans of the board can be carried out and the proposed roads constructed depends upon the appropriations received from Congress or contributed by the territorial legislature. While the amount of the appropriations received naturally limits the work, the particular objects for which they will be spent is left to the discretion of the board, as Congress appropriates a lump sum to be used by it. During the fiscal year 1922 the work done consisted mainly of rehabilitation and maintenance of the existing road system, because of the size of the appropriations and of the fact that during the war period large sections of the system were not kept in repair. The total expenditures during the fiscal year were $236,251.91 for construction and $446,995.77 for maintenance. Up to June 30, 1922, the total length of roads and trails constructed by the commission aggregated 6854 miles, consisting of 1114 miles of wagon road, 623 miles of sled road, and 4404 miles of permanent trail and 712 miles of temporary trail. Under the heading of miscellaneous activities are the following, one of which was temporary but typical: 1. The president of the board is district engineer for the Juneau, Alaska, river and harbor district. The other two members of the board are also assigned to river and harbor work and placed under his orders, and the secretary and disbursing officer of the board is disbursing officer for the district. 2. The president of the board is detailed for consultation or to superintend the construction or repair of any aid to navigation authorized by Congress in the Sixteenth Lighthouse District, which includes the territory of Alaska. In this work he is responsible to the Secretary of Commerce. 3. By an agreement with the territorial board of road commissioners, the board agreed to permit its superintendent for the southwestern district and its assistant superintendent for the Yukon district to be appointed chairman and secretaries of the Third and Fourth Territorial road districts, to supervise their operations and to certify vouchers to the territorial treasurer. 4. The president of the board is the representative of the War Department on the Inter-Departmental Alaska Council and acts for the Department of the Interior on certain matters relating to the improvement and development of national parks in Alaska. 5. The president of the board, at the request of the commanding officer of the post, made an examination of the water main supplying Fort Seward and the town Haines, and submitted a report with recommendations for its repair and reconstruction. The report was approved by the War Department and the board was charged with the supervision of the work, the funds being allotted from quartermaster funds. At the end of the year the water service had been restored and reconstruction of the system was in progress. 6. The president of the board acts as consulting engineer of the territory and as such is in charge of all territorial public works. Erection of Monuments Outside the District of Columbia. The work of the Corps of Engineers in erecting monuments outside the District of Columbia consists mainly in drawing up the specifications, letting the contract, supervising its execution, and acting as a disbursing agency. The district engineers do the work for any monument that is erected in their territory. During the fiscal year 1922 specifications were drawn up for the McDonough Memorials at Lake Champlain and approved by the Chief of Engineers, but as all the bids received in response to advertisements for proposals to construct the monuments were greater than the funds available, they were rejected; the monument on the battlefield at Princeton was dedicated and turned over to the Princeton Battle Monument Association for care, as provided by Congress. CHAPTER III ORGANIZATION The Office of the Chief of Engineers naturally reflects in its organization the fact that it is primarily concerned with its military duties. The attempt will be made here to describe only that part of the Office of the Chief of Engineers devoted to the nonmilitary activities, but it must be remembered that in some instances the military cannot be separated from the non-military activities. Personnel. The Chief of Engineers is responsible to the Secretary of War for both military and non-military activities. As has been indicated in the previous chapters he is not only the administrative head of the service but also has large regulatory powers. It is manifestly impossible for one man to acquaint himself with all the details of the many projects and problems submitted to him, so the Chief of Engineers in making his decisions has to depend on the recommendations of the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors and of the district engineer officers. The position of district engineer and the other high administrative positions connected with the non-military activities are all held by officers of the Corps of Engineers. The annual report of the Chief of Engineers for 1922 shows that of the 514 officers composing the Corps of Engineers the following, in addition to the Chief of Engineers and his immediate assistants, were occupied with non-military activities for, at least, part of their time: River and harbor work and fortifications.. 32 River and harbor work, lighthouse work, and fortifications 13 40 River and harbor work and lighthouse work. 5 Public buildings and grounds, District of Columbia. 2 4 These 106 officers, on whom a large part of the responsibility for the non-military activities rests, are officers of the United States Army and as such are subject to the same rules and regulations as all the other officers. Their method of entering the service, their pay and promotion, their retirement, and other duties and privileges are the same as those of the other officers of the Army. They are also subject to the general policy of the War Department by which officers are kept on a tour of duty and very seldom allowed to remain on any one assignment more than three years.1 The rest of the personnel concerned with the non-military activities of the Office of the Chief of Engineers may be roughly divided into two groups. The first includes the civilian engineers, technical men, such as draftsmen and surveyors, inspectors, foremen, and a large clerical force. These are under the Civil Service examinations and regulations and are permanently employed. The other group consists of the artisans and laborers. Some of these, like the crews on boats, are permanently employed, but the great majority are on a daily or monthly basis. The number varies with the seasons and with the size of the appropriations made by Congress. In some years as many as 20,000 have been employed. Organization. The Office of the Chief of Engineers is divided into the Engineer Bureau, including all the divisions and units in Washington; the Engineer Department at Large, which consists of the field service in charge of river and harbor work, miscellaneous non-military work and fortification construction work; and a third branch consisting of the field service in charge of the Engineer School, engineer depots, and connected with purely military affairs. The Office of the Chief of Engineers in Washington is divided into: 1. Finance Division, which has charge of the examination and preliminary auditing of money and property accounts, the com 'The effects of this policy on the non-military works have been strongly criticised by those who urge that the river and harbor works should be put in the charge of civilians. They maintain that the engineer officers, who have had a military education, do not stay long enough in one district to become fully acquainted with its details, that they are often transferred without regard to the status of the improvements under their supervision, and that consequently the actual work is done by civilian assistants who have no hope of promotion to the higher positions. pilation of estimates, the preparation of contracts and claims, and the administration of matters relating to civilian personnel in the field. 2. Office Division, which has charge of the internal administration; the records, mailing, supplies, pay rolls and disbursements; the mechanical reproduction; the distribution of documents; and historical compilations. 3. Civil Division, under which is the river and harbor work, and the other non-military activities. 4. Troop Division. 5. Military Construction Division. 6. Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, which reviews the examinations and surveys of projects for the improvement of rivers and harbors, makes studies of harbors and terminal facilities, and designs equipment. 7. The Washington, D. C., District Engineer Office, which is included in the organization of the Office of the Chief of Engineers in Washington because of its location. It differs from the other district engineer offices in that some miscellaneous activities, such as the care of Washington Aqueduct, the construction of Georgetown Bridge, and the construction of facilities to increase the water supply, have been added to the usual duties involved in the improvement of the rivers and harbors in its jurisdiction. It is also in charge of the works for the defense of Washington. The Engineer Department at Large, which is composed of the field service in charge of non-military activities and of fortification construction work is divided into ten divisions, which are further divided into forty-six districts. Both include all the rivers and harbors in their jurisdiction without regard to state lines. The divisions and districts are as follows: Northeast Division Boston Providence New York City (District No. 1) |