The national Republican., 1866-12-20
NatiaaaI Aepnblifa1
THE DEPARTMENTS.
(osslcnr-I

term Of two year,, and who desire TO be ex
amined for admission 70 The regular Navy,
~ provided IN the cot of Congress approved
July 70. 1866; WIN st once make application,
sddresed " iOommodoss O. p. LEA Hart
ford, Conn, who viii notify them vixen 70
appear. Those who do not mako application
prior TO the lst Of January nsxt Or who do
not present themselves when noti1sd, wfll be
considered Is having waived their claim for
examination. Csndidstes viii take with
them, whsn Summoned, thsir oficisl papers
showing their naval record. .'@ s,,,,l,x s9 s.,
:. ,sei1sI lsa.T GfpEox WnLLrs, y .
iss,Ss- W ,s.7 Secretary Of the Navy.
"a . THs AsxuIL Rsrox, o, zns PAYnAsri.
GnRRAis-@The annual report Of the Pay.
master, General, which an exceedingly In
tsrestin9 document, hes Just bean given to
lie press. The tabular statements sccom-
panying The report show in dstsil the amount
Of iunds On hand Il the beginning OF the
'psessnt fiscal year, tie receipts and disburse.
ments during the year ending with June,
1866. The disbursements are shown 10 have
covered sass, ,a74, ,3l7, much the greater ,por-
=, ton hsving been applied in final payments
to diabandsd yoluntecns !. Two hundred and
twenty thousand Of these have been paid
since the date Of Gen. Brice's report, (Octo.
Der 81, 1861 During the last twelve months
. two hundred end twenty thousand discharged
troops were paid, making total Of one mil
lion and twenty thousand officers and men
paid on discharge by the Department since
the cessation . hostilities, more than nine
tenths of:which were paid during the last
troops inservice, regular and volunteer, have
during the yesr amounted to S30, 0,250, ,0O0.L
Besides the 6nal payments TO discharged
troops, apd the current payments to troops in
actual service, the ,claiihs' for back pay and
boundes and extra pay to ofacers and mon,
which could not be fully settled on the rolls
ct the time Of muster-out, or have since been
created by new enactInents, have demanded
and received the unremitted attention Of the
division Of referred claims" sttached to the
Paymsster Generals Once. The returns Of
this division show that during the fiscal year
there wersreceived SO ,e78 individual claims, Of
which 34,477 were approved and paid, ,l89
returned dissllowed, leaving ON hand not yet
examined IL ,2i2. The disbursements for the
period amounted to 81, ,662, ,736. This Depart.
msnt hss also paid, during the year, 97,464
Treasury certificates issued by the Second Au-
ditor, chiefly for arrears to heirs Of deceased
soldiers, amounting to 8l6,l8Y247. The
items Of sxpenditare for the fiscal year sre
snmmatily ststed q follows: To mustered.
out txoeps 32os. ~, ,S24i TO troops in service,
$30,250 Ol0; 20 referred claims y 81 ,661, ,7s6;
e ssS Tssssu.E e. ssradeate', slslss.247. Total
General Brice states that (st the date Of
his report, October 20, 1885, no payments
- AAA k,,A L. Al
July 20, 1866, had been made. The only
record in existence by which the validity q
bounty claims under this law can be tested
q And ascartAined consists Of the " muster and
peyFolls Of the respective organizations tc
/ which claimants belonged, and which alone
Of the public records show their several his
tories as to service, pay, bounty, &c. Of
these rolls there Is but one copy for each pc
riod in the archives OF the Government
The experience Of the past year in the fire.
quent handling, unfolding and refolding, In
tAe work OF examination or individual claims
demonstrates that the rolls could not much
longer resist; the wear and tear Of successive
examinations; that, already much worn and
defaced, they would be reduced to illegible
shreds before 1.-THE Of the cases existing
under this law could be disposed Of il taken
up separately. + .
In regard to the classification of claims by
regiments, bAttslions or other separate or
ganixations, as provided Ter by regulations
issued by The War Depannent, the Paymas
ter General says: "Bnt though this prelim
mary classification {ensbEag all claims per
taiaing 10 any eae roll 10 be disposed Of at
. one exsmination) imposes unavoidable delay
means Of hastening xhe desired end-the nj
timate payment Of an; end such would be
the case even II the safety Of the records
were not Q consideration to be regarded
The classification Is now in rapid daily
progress as the applications are received
each being registered and fled as Of the
proper State, regiment and company Il
which the claimants name belongs. Ever
this preliminary labor is huge one, the
daily arrival Of applications being countet
by hundreds, each requiring o registry a'
above, as well as q separate letter Of &c
knowledgment. From these statements Il
Is obviously apparent that payments in any
considerable number Of cases cannot begiI
till the SIX months Limitation Of the regula
tons has passed" tn
El At the date Of the Generals last repor,
there remained in service two hundred snt
ten additional paymasters," retained fol
volunteer payments. These have been re
uuced 10 ntty-elght, accounted Tor as t0lloW8
Mustered out during the year, las; resigned
3; died, 3; cashiered, !. The appointment
to The original vacancies created in this De
partment by the act Of July I'd, 1866, moi
yet having been filed, the pay department
Of the regular army remains, as to orgsniEa
ton and strength, without material change
The clerical force Of the Office now consists
Of one hundred and ffty-fve clerks Of thu
various classes, which is the maximum va
complement ,--....,,. s.,,s;..--s...
,s In closing his report, Paymaster Genera
Brice says: II am gratifed to be able to re
new the very favorable statement with whicl
! closed my report Of last year. After fur
ther large disbursements and the closing o
the accounts Of over l52 paymasters dis
charged am enabled TO reiterate the un
precedented result that since July, 1861, OF
the expenditure Of 81, ,0s3, 900, 900 disburse'
by the Department In minute sums, and sur
rounded by difficulties and hazards, the tota
cost TO the Government In expenses an,
losses OF every character cannot, IN the mos
possible evsnt, exceed three-fourths Of on
per cent. And in this estimate include tn
u A 4