sumption of fitness and superiority, because of seniority, that makes seniority a ground of promotion; but, like all presumptions, it may be rebutted, and, if the man is shown to be unfit, the reason utterly fails.

In the Navy, examination for promotion to a higher grade in the service has been the law since 1864. This examination is intended to ascertain the officer's "mental, moral, and professional fitness to perform all his duties at sea;" and it must also appear that a board of surgeons has pronounced him "physically qualified to perform all" those duties. R. S., sec. 1493-1510. All agree that these examinations have been of great benefit to our naval service, and cannot be abandoned.

In the English army, examinations are required for promotion up to the grade of field officer. In the Austrian, an examination is required on entering the service, and another, which is very exacting, for the grade of field officer. In the German army, examinations are required. Such investigation as we have been able to make in this department fails to disclose any service except our own where, in the line of the Army, seniority alone is the rule of promotion.

I would therefore suggest for the consideration of Congress that general law be enacted, with provisions respecting examination similar to those which govern promotion in the Navy, with such changes and limitations, in regard to the number of examinations, and to what grades of rank and to what arms of the service they shall be extended, as may be considered necessary in applying the law to the Army.

THE MILITARY ACADEMY.

The Superintendent reports that there were present September 1, 1886, three hundred and nine cadets. The total number of officers for duty at the post, including eight professors and two surgeons, is fiftyeight.

The Superintendent strongly favors the general adoption of the competitive system in the selection of candidates for the Academy, and states that in the ten years beginning with 1873 and including 1882 two hundred and sixty-nine cadets graduated out of five hundred and sixty-nine appointed after competition, and two hundred and fifty cadets graduated out of one thousand and one appointed without previous competition. In other words, there is a difference of nearly 100 per cent. in favor of the success at the Academy of those selected by competitive examination.

An examination of the records of the Academy shows that the first six months' course is a fair test of a youth's ability to succeed. If his position in his class is doubtful then, he is very sure, sooner or later, to be found deficient. If this fact were more generally recognized, it would relieve the officers of the Academy of much useless labor, and the friends. of deficient cadets of much fruitless exertion and anxiety.

The discipline has been excellent throughout the year, with but one exception. On August 28, thirty-eight cadets violated the orders in

regard to the reception of the furlough class. Six of the cadet officers were tried before a general court-martial, convicted, and sentenced to dismissal. The sentence was approved by the President, but so much thereof as related to dismissal was remitted and the officers were re duced to the ranks. The others who took a culpable part in the affair were punished under the authority vested in the Superintendent. The report of the Board of Visitors has not yet been received at this Department.

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT.

The annual encampments of the militia were inspected in nineteen of the States by officers of the Army, in compliance with requests from the State authorities. It is highly important that the encampments in all the States should be inspected annually by officers detailed from this Department, thus enabling the militia to receive the benefit of contact with trained and instructed soldiers. The reports of the inspecting officers show that this contact is of the greatest advantage; but, to obtain the highest efficiency, the militia should be armed and equipped like the regular Army, and therefore an increase of the appropriation provided in section 1661 of the Revised Statutes should be made, as provided in the bill (S. 222) which passed the Senate at its last session, and is now pending in the House with an amendment.

The suggestions of the Adjutant-General as to drills, uniform, the selection of officers, and the location and duration of encampments, should receive the careful consideration of State officials.

When the Adjutant-General's report was prepared there were thirtynine officers detailed at colleges under the authority granted by section 1225 of the Revised Statutes and the amendments thereto. The total average number of male students at these colleges was 7,601, of whom 432 were under 15 years of age. The total average attendance at artillery drills was 530, and at infantry drills 3,282. The least average num. ber of students at any college was 52, and the largest average 630. Last year only three colleges had an average attendance of over 150 male students; at twenty-two it was below 100, at twelve it was under 60, and five of the latter had an average attendance of less than 40. This year nineteen have an average attendance of over 150, at eleven it is over 100, while there are but eight with an average attendance of less than 100, of which but one is under 60-a very satisfactory increase and evidence of the growing interest manifested in military education. There is still room for improvement, however. At some of the colleges it would be gratifying if a greater interest was manifested by the faculty, and to accomplish this the officer detailed as professor of tactics and military science should be a recognized member of the faculty, with an equal vote, and military instruction should be given an equal position with other departments of study.

It is intended during the coming year to issue a new edition of the Army Regulations, revised and condensed, in a more compact form, and omitting many provisions which do not form any proper part of the regulations of the Army. The small appropriation for the military prison has caused much embarrassment and made it necessary to retain prisoners at posts, awaiting vacancies at the prison. The estimates are prepared with great care, and it is hoped the full amount asked for will be appropriated.

In the pension branch of the Adjutant-General's Office during the last year there was an increase of 12,757 calls for information from the Pension Office as compared with the previous year; this year there were 186,239 calls received, an increase of 25,238 over last year. There were 55,946 unanswered calls on hand on the 1st of October, 1886, equal to about three months' work. In other divisions of this office there has been a large increase of work growing out of recent legislation in regard to the re-muster of volunteer officers and the removal of the charge of desertion, so that the work of the office is necessarily falling behind. In consequence of this the Adjutant-General asks for an increase of twenty-five clerks for his office.

INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT.

During the year all the military posts have been inspected as required by regulations. Numerous special inspections have also been made, and the money accounts of all disbursing officers have been verified.

The Inspector-General reports that the officers of the Army are sober, orderly, capable, intelligent, and ambitious to excel; while the enlisted men are sufficiently intelligent and educated, and as well set up and instructed in drill as opportunity permits. They are orderly, subordinate, and faithful, and endure the hardships of their calling with commendable fortitude. He reports the Army as a whole "in a very healthy and gratifying condition."

The clothing is satisfactory and the food was never better than at present. He recommends that a tailor and cook be enlisted for each company, troop, battery, and band; the tailor to receive 50 cents per day extra-duty pay; that no charge should be made against enlisted men for altering their clothing, and that the cook should be paid such extra-duty pay as will make his total compensation $30 per month. I concur in these recommendations, and attention is called to the report of the Commissary-General on this subject.

The condition of the post cemeteries is not satisfactory, and the post commanders have no funds to put and keep them in proper repair.

JUDGE-ADVOCATE-GENRRAL'S DEPARTMENT.

The records show that the number of cases tried by general courtmartial during last year was less by 345 than the previous year. This

decrease, the first in seven years, was accompanied by a decrease of 1,627 cases tried by regimental and garrison courts. While this is an improvement, there is still much to be done. It must be remembered, as I stated in my report of last year, that there is now no provision of law by which an enlisted man can be punished for any offense against good order and discipline, except by the action of a court-martial. In the armies of all other civilized nations, the court-martial is relieved from the trial of slight derelictions of duty, and the power of summary punishment for minor offenses is vested in commanding officers.

In the Army the desire for a change in the present method is almost universal, and such change would be attended with beneficial results both to officers and enlisted men. The report of the Acting Judge-Advocate-General indicates the present methods of punishment in the English service, and some similar provisions might with advantage be adopted in our own. He also invites attention to his report of last year, in which he recommended that the Articles of War should be revised. I am of opinion that many of the articles should be changed; and I hope to present to Congress at an early day such changes as may be considered necessary for the present needs of the service. Our pres ent code is of English origin and we have adhered to it, although the English have made great and essential changes in its provisions.

Attention is invited to the condition of the law with regard to civilian witnesses. The result of a decision by the Attorney-General, to the effect that a court-martial has no power to punish a civilian witness for refusing to testify, leaves the court in a condition which may at times lead to an entire failure of justice. This subject was referred to in last year's report, and the suggestion is renewed that a statute should be enacted whereby an attachment against such witness for contempt would issue upon application to a United States court.

The limits of the amount of punishment allowed by our Articles of War are undoubtedly too extended. In forty-two of the fifty-four articles which practically constitute the military penal code, the punishment is left to the discretion of the court. The result of this is that similar offenses, if tried before different courts, may meet with widely different punishments.

This is a great evil, and can only be remedied by legislation limiting the extent of punishinent for the different offenses under the military code.

I must also call attention to the decision of the Supreme Court, that neither a police officer nor a private citizen can arrest and detain a deserter. This decision will deprive the Army, in arresting and securing deserters, of the assistance of civilians and police officers, who have heretofore rendered valuable services in that direction. It has always been considered that arrests could be thus made for the purpose of delivering as soon as possible the offender to the military authorities, and that the rule of the common law in that regard could properly be fol.

lowed. The importance of securing such assistance is so manifest, in cases where it is not always possible to have in the hands of the party who is able to arrest the deserter a written warrant or military order, that I feel called upon to suggest that a statute be enacted applying the common-law rule to deserters, authorizing their arrest, as in cases of felony, by private citizens or police officers, for the purpose of surrendering them to the proper authorities for trial.

CLAIMS OF OFFICERS AND ENLISTED MEN FOR LOSSES OF PERSONAL PROPERTY, UNDER THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 1885.

Seventy-two claims of officers and enlisted men of the Army for losses of personal property, under the act of March 3, 1885, 23 Statutes, 350, have been filed since the subject was presented to Congress in my annual report of last year. The claims vary in amount from $13.64 to $6,582.29. Two of the claims presented are for value of property lost on the steamship San Francisco in 1853, and although both claimants received from the Government the "eight months' pay and allowances" granted by Congress in the act of March 27, 1854, 10 Statutes, 269, as an equivalent for their personal property lost on that vessel, indemnity is now demanded for the specific articles alleged to have been lost. Both claims have been rejected by the Third Auditor of the Treasury, but under a ruling of the Second Comptroller the Secretary of War must first certify the articles which are "reasonable, useful, necessary, and proper," before a claim, however unjust, can be rejected by the accounting officers. Several claims by officers for value of horses and equipments lost in the military service have also been filed. It is contended that these fall within the purview of this act, which, it is alleged, removes the limitations of the act of January 9, 1883, 22 Statutes, 401, for the adjudication of such claims. It would appear that the Secretary of War could with propriety under the act of March 3, 1885, certify such property (horses and equipments) to be "useful, necessary, and proper for such officers * while in quarters, engaged in the public service in the line of duty," and it seems to be desirable, in the consideration of this subject, now understood to be before the Committee on Military Affairs of the Senate, that the scope of the act should be more clearly defined. It is suggested there would be less difficulty if the entire adjudication of the claims should be lodged with the accounting officers in conformity to the provisions of section 236 of the Revised Statutes. A bill for the repeal of the act having been introduced and referred dur ing the last session, this Department, pending the action of Congress, has suspended action upon the claims.

QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT.

For the construction of buildings and the enlargement of such mili. tary posts as in the judgment of the Secretary of War might be neces