Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-01-03
mas : LUMBER 1l9 nyny


~ Lle suS pension 0LlIle1 1AeioDhyb blley 7.aa
J departments were too brief oEYaSge to at-
IL orJmueh assistance In correcting the Oer-Ha
\, rbfs.' Meanwhile dea hsI removals fJl0ha
Il the State, and other reasualtie3awere c6llri3
/ pliratng the MISUNDERSTANDING n,w
A vouchers Aand aiuiih ighing 'the. Cha leess NfsE
final settlement, or.sata best the State was
i iIswg the interest upon the edaHge sums
l. I Ny own military experience assured damsef
4, that HttIe progress would effnade iuEtlroJ
! settIenit ntof9this bilsihessJnnleS ,iteopldT
/ hespersonallyJ vi attended to by an expect in,
4 the business of the Quartermasteps atd.N
l. Qommlssary's Departments. % 'AniexaAnina-io
4, tion of the GLAZING aHgls stt4geaasssef suspen-
sion had .bsellS begun pK General Day, The
q oQuartermaster Genera OF the State. Bat no
appropriation for the salary of that Office
+ b d-been made at your adjournment, anu
i Jle appropriations for the other 'ofiicss
7 would. not justify the employment of q
( competent person for this purpose. lntffis
\ embarrassment the difficulty was. s6lvedbyi
I q generous 0ffernon the parteo General
I Day, to continue his labors without salary
( until 1t could be determined whether such"
\ service could hasten the eolleetions Of the
h class oflclaims specially belonging to his A
/, department The result, has justified my
| hope, and of the claims peculiarly belong4So
| ing to the IQuartermaster's sDepartmeRty
! about two-thirds, amounting to $lS7, ,009,33,
! have been satisfactorily corrected and set"
tied with the United States Treasury, andoo
/ the amount credited to the State OIL itsrdi7
+ rect tax, whilst the other third is ip such -,
state OF forwardness as to, give reasonable !"
confidence in the early payment ofall thatoe
can,pfn any manners be allowed under ,eX7
| isting laws. j may properly say that 1
L know these claims could not have beehc Il"
lected this year but for the course labONead
indicated, and where the ultimate collec- n
tondepends upon procuring vouchers or
testimony from great numbers of persons,
time viii rapidly diminish thu probabilities ~
of any settlement. As the Uuitedy States,v
allows no interest, that item alone upon the,
amount above reported as collected this -
year, would pay the salary of a compctenb
officer for more than five years. b3lb,asvv
The report Of the Quartermaster General -
contains clear and full statement Of his y
action in regard to these collections, ASH
well of the other businessIof his 9fics
not transferred by law to other depart- 4,
ments. Notwithstanding the fact that
General Day has performed this laborYith-' q
out charge for his services, | would res
specially ree9mmend that, a reasonable
compensation be allowed him.
REDUCTION OF N LITARY OFFICES. ',,
The close of the war has made it proper :.
to reduce he military offices Of The Statei'
to the smallest number possible, and H.
heartily accord with the general pelicy on rt
that subject adopted at your. last session.
1t was not to be ,eXpet ted, however, that "a
tie reduction from so extended and eofn-1s
plicated system as we had had for several ul
years, to tue modest limits of a. peace ,es=.
tablishment could be made without some'
difficulties arising which could ON Cbe-riiA
come apparent after the change was made.sd
Down 10 the year 1861 the fixed GUS
tom in this State had been for the Gov -
ernor, as Commander i'm Chief to appoint bs
Officers TO ALI the staff positions usually
filled IN time of war so that in any emer-
'gency he might be able to call upon asstst-t9t
ants whose duties were distiiictly khowhal3
and assigned, and be a0leyto do whateverss
might be necessary for the safety Of the q
State or the control of Its militia, without
the delay of securing competent bfficersi
after the eXigeney had arisen.a That tbesad
happy continuance OF peace should reduce, 81
these positions to nominal and honorary
ones was a blessing to the state, but would 10
not justify their abolition. Tie LAdjutantiob
q General and the Quartermaster General
were usually residents of the State capital .
and were paid tor such portion of their9aa
time as was devoted to the actual perform Vd
ance of duty, and the other officers receiy-sF
ed payjwhateyer. To have paid one ,otli- "a,
Ger for his whole time, and put upon him
all the duties of the active staff, would, inEsi
my Judgment, have been preferable, andE
toward this point should prefer to reduce
the paid staff as rapidly as the interests of
the State will permit. Such | understandiis
to be also the spirit OF the legislation of 10
last winter. af G1 l' 4o7d sBw tgmsos assGt
COLLECTION OF MILITARY CLAIMS, ETc. 1fuoo
In my opinion, theeollsction of imilitaryilE
claims, whether of the State or of soldiers
can be most properly conducted through
the staff departments, and as the work theiiW
principal offices decreases, s,INonldadviseoY j
the concentration of this labor IA them, ,q
dispensing first with the new Offices screa-
tp1 since the hpUinninO Of the w
then as rapidly as possible with all others ti
that may be unnecessary, II, the work, Of
the State Bureau of Soldiers Claims is to
be continued, / would advise its consolida- -
tiOn with the Quarteimaster Generals .
office. If the Washington agency is to ,beear
continued, j would advise that lis head be 4
made Assistant Quartermaster General,
and that that department. be charged with en
Ithe duty cof lhastening e the correction, Of
vouchers and settlement Of all claims A
against the United States growing out of =
the military expenditures OF the State. sAsv0l
this work is accomplished or odiminished,;w
still further concentration into the office ot,S
the Adiutant General can be made; or, il
the State continues practically without aa.jm
orgahized militia, all paid staff officers exessiA
cept military storekeeper al the arsenalsods
omight. be dispensed with. Before this Is,
done, however, the files and records or
those Offices which win Some daybe loozedoE
upon aspreeivus lnateriah for the ihistoryfsE
of the iStatg during the great rebellion, fo
,ishonld be most carefully arranged. and put
beyond tile reach Of accident or pilfefingi0W
! up ''oa oFFIcni2rl ii 23lo BONDS saoo ssw nosaM
!. Among the anomalies ia the present cohsHe9
,dition of these departments pperthity heotosQs
call attention to tue irregularity in regard,
ito official bonds, The arsenal Of the State;H
oand tile arms and other property OF great 70
value have been transferred from the Quarsssy
, terinastera Generalsifwho wasspnder fftysas
thousand dollars bonds for their safe keep \.
0ing, to The Adjutant General, who givesfi 10 2td
bond. The collection Of soldlefs' claims ist8g
divided betNeem the Oomnissionepof thatlia
I. Bureau, who gives heavy bond and the,aa
State. agent at Washington, who Gives
lnone; and these two offices are wiioiiysnI
ndisconnected.t o'nothat lotheir lub0rd f1sBt
Z often much Increased, ,sfbyF sdeublipgeth
OF correspondence in regard to the same
eitems of business. In the, matter of bonds,
Z the recognized high character 0f the 0fl'Yn
. ticers above feierred to- who abt vfithOutsla
/, them, has made any sense Of insecurity iW1 y
possible, but those who, have been Obliged
by law to give them are ip equal good re-. -.
plite, and any distlnctlon In tbs respect isf4
= lirdesirablech Asithae occurred In the aeesw
"A la, of dutu. and NOT s1rr