The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-04 00:00:00

THE DECLINE .OF AMERICAN COMMERCE,

A Washington despatch of the 15th of December states
that a delegation of New York gentlemen have arrived
there for the purpose of presenting their views on the
causes of the decline of American commerce, and the
remedy for them to the Congressional Committee ap-
pointed to investigate the subject. A special meeting was
held in order that the delegates mightpresent their views
and a paper was read setting forth the opinions of the
New York Association for the Restoration of American
Shipping Interests. Great stress was laid upon the abso-
lute necessity of some action being immediately taken to
prevent the total destruction of American international
commerce, and also to set forth the principle that the
true policy of the Government was to foster and encou-
rage American shipbuilding, as they believe that a nation's
prosperity is reflected in the prosperity of its commercial
marine. It was further proposed that Congress should
legislate to allow the American shipbuilder an equivalent
on all American material used by him in the construction
of the finished ship, equal to the amount of duty which
the Government would receive should such raw material
be of foreign production. After the reading of the paper
a discussion took place as to the proper remedy for the evils
existing. It was declared that if American mechanics
were given the same opportunity enjoyed by foreign
mechanics to shew their skill, no doubt in a short time a
now class of American steamers would appear which would
rccomplish the run to Europe in seven days,

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR.

WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON CITY, Nov 20, 1869.
Mr. President—l have the honour to submit my report
as Secretary of War, together with the report of the
General of the Army, and the different bureaus of the de-
partment made since the last annual report. I took charge
of the office on November 1, 1869, relievicg the General
of the Army, who had, with marked zeal and ability, per-
formed its duties since the death of Secretary John A.
Rawlins, on September 6, 1869. Of General Rawlins it
can with truth be said that the virtues of true manhood
characterized his life as soldier, citizen, and statesman,
while on the records of the department will ever remain the
evidences of his high honour, his patriotism, and his saga-
•ions judgment. During the month of October the Gene-
ral of the Army was acting as Secretary of War, and the
annual reports, which were by his direction addressed to
the Adjutant General of the Army, have been, with his
own report, transmitted to me. As the duties of the office
were assumed but a few days prior to the date of this re-
port, few recommendations will be made at length, but the
material matters of the reports presented will be referred
to as concisely as possible.
The report of the General of the Army gives a clear
view of the administration of the army, and is very full,
both in the statement of its present condition and recom-
mendations for its future organization. Its importance is
such that a synopsis cannot justly be given, and it is sub-
mitted with the following remarks: —There are twelve de-
partments and three districts, each under the command of a
general officer, and the departments aro formed into four
military divisions, commanded by the four generals next
in rank to the General of the Army. The regular army
consists of five regiments of artillery, ten of cavalry,
twenty-five of infantry, the battalion of engineers, and the
corps of cadets, the latter undergoing instruction at the
Military Academy. All the regiments are on duty.
After the consolidation made in accordance with the
Act of March 3, 1869, there remained, on November 1,
509 unattached officers. All of these have been assigned
to duty excepting 156, who are " awaiting orders." It
seems equitable and just, should a reduction be made,
that officers awaiting orders by their own request, and
preferring that to active duty, should have less claim for
retention than those who applied for assignment. Of this
class there are 139 officers. Some of them, however, bad
special reasons for asking to be placed on the "awaiting
orders" list, which the Department recognized, and which
should be regarded. It, is certainly fair that the conse-
quences of reduction el officers should fall proportionately
on cavalry, artillery, and infantry, and, should Congress
act in the matter, •,t is proper that this consideration
should not be overlooked. In reference to the question
of reduction, I co..icur with the report in recommending
that authority be given to retire a greater number of officers
for cause than is now allowed by law-7 per cent. of the
officers of the whole army. This present maximum of
the army is 52,`13 t enlisted men. Relying on two-thirds
for actual service, the number of men is 34,822. By the
plan of organ' nation submitted in the report there would
be 42,650 men.. Two-thirds for actual service would be
29,750 men, l• elow which it would not be prudent to go,
as the neeessi':ies of the country and the great extent of
territory to to protected will require every man of that
number.
The expense s of the Quartermaster's Department dur-
ing the fiscal -year ending June 30, 1869, were $21,963,484
08, a roductio a of fourteen and a half millions below those
of the precod ing fiscal year. lu February, 1869, the num-
ber of civil fans hired by this department exceeded ten
thousand, T which has since been reduced to four thousand.
Five bund• ed line officers have done duty in the Quarter-
master's I )opartruent, in addition to the officers of that
estaloliale went, 84 in number. The report states that the
clerical :force of this office has been reduced so low by late
legiBlo4o la Ile to fivrioway retard the public buainesa, and

to provide for the settlement of the accounts some increase
in the force is necessary. A building capable of accom-
modating all the bureaus of the War Department, fire-
proof and secure, is much needed. Military records of
great value are exposed to destruction, and are so scat-
tered as to impede and delay the public businehs. The
monthly rental of buildings in Washington and lots occu-
pied by buildings owned by the United States amounted
to $4,264 19, being a yearly rental of $50,954 28.
The railway companies, to which the military railroad
material of the Quartermaster's Department wai sold on
credit at the end of the year, incurred a debt originally of
$7,591,406. interest has increased this amount to
$9,000,000, about one-half of which has been paid ; but
some railroads being in default, and showing no disposition
to meet their obligations, suit has bean lately ordered to
be brought against them. But few vessels have been
owned by this department during the year. The railroads
of the country, having declined to adhere to the war rates
of transportation, have been paid during the fiscal year
upon their general tariffs, with a classification of military
supplies settled in conference at a convention of general
freight agents. There have boon paid for water trans-
portation. during the year $1,424,222 82, and for rail-
road transportation, $?,253,304 30. Of this amount
$933,166 21 was paid •to the Pacific railroads, one-halt
being paid in cash, and the other half retained in the Trea-
sury to meet the interest on the bonds guaranteed by the
United States. During the year 96,000 persons, 3,700
animals, and 62,000 tons of stores have been moved by
water, and 60,000 persons, 14,000 animals; and 40,000 tons
of stores by railroad. 27,000 tons ,of stores have been
moved by contractors for waggon transportation. Tho
Pacific Railroad has occupied some of the principal routes
of former waggon transportatioe, and has saved the Cio-
vernment much money in supplying the posts along its
line.

By arrangement between the Departments of War and
the Interior, supplies, for the Indian service are now
transported by the Quartermaster's Department on routes
in tlif, Indian Territory —the actual cost, under the con-
tracts, being refunded to the War Department out of the
appropriation of $2,000,000 for the pacification of the
Indians, granted April 10, 1869. Although the amount
of clothing and equipage on hand at the end of the war
has been reduced by sales and issues, there still remains a
stock valued at over $42,000,000. The general depots have
been reduced to four, and at only two of them is there
any large collection of material, viz., at the Schuylkill
Arsenal on the Schuylkill, and at Jeffersonville, on the
Ohio. This latter is being drawn upon constantly, but
it still contains over fourteen million dollars' worth of war
material. There are seventy-two national cemeteries and
three hundred and thirteen local, post, or private ceme-
teries in which soldiers lie buried. The titles of seventy-
one of the national cemeteries have been approved as per-
fect by the Attorney-General. Three hundred and
twenty-two thousand six hundred and seven interments
are reported, of which 171,946 have beet identified. The
expenditure on this work has been nearly three millions
of dollars. During the year 5,835 animals were purchased
and 3,492 were sold. These latter produced the sum of
$223,238 28. _ _ _

The current expenditures of the Medical Department
doting the fiscal year ending June 30, 1869, were
8933,561 21; total expenditure of that department, in-
cluding " war debts" and " refunduients," was $708,305
36, and the available balance on hand at the close of the
year was $1,792,050 73. The health of the troops has been
good. Yellow fever has appeared at Key West only, and
at this point there were forty-three cases and twenty-one
deaths ; but by the prompt removal of the troops to a new
station the ravages of the disease were at once stopped.
The total number of cases on the sick list during the year
was 104,235 The average number constantly on sick re-
port was 2,367, or about 5.5 per cent. The number of deaths
was 548, of discharges for disability, 1,128. The number
of commissioned medical officers for duty on June 30, 1869,
was 161, being an average of one medical officer to 204
men. The experience of the past three years has shown
that the present organization .of the medical staff is satis-
factory.