Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1867-08-28

MILWAUKEE, Wis, August. 10.

DEAR SIR: I have received numer.
Gus letters from soldiers of our State en-
titled to extra bounty under the act of
July 70, 1860, which disclose the exist
ence OF serious dissatisfaction with the
progress made in the settlement of these
bounties, and anxiety to assertion who is
responsible for the delay-whether it is
unavoidable, and whether any remedy of
the evil is to be expected. Finding it
difficult to answer at length all INQUIRIES
on this subject l take the liberty of ad-
dressing you a public letter for the in
formation of all concerned.
AT the commencement of the last ses-
sion OF Congress, the House of Repre-
sentatives adopted resolution directing
to inform that body whether additional
the Secretaries of the Treasury and Of War
legislation was necessary to expedite
the payment of the extra bounties. The
substance of the information conveyed by
their replies, and by the verbal statements
of the Second Auditor to members of the
House, was that, in cases of claims made
| by living soldiers, the Paymaster Gener-
al makes the payment upon certificates
furnished on his application by the Sec
ond Auditor, who has the custody of the
muster-out rolls of the army, and upon an
examination Of these rolls certifes the
fact in each case; that forty-fve clerks
were employed in the examination of the
rolls and preparation of these certificates
for the Paymaster General, and for the
Commissioner of Pensions, who settlea
| certain claims for pensions upon like GER
| tiGcates; that as many clerks were engag-
ed in this work as could be safely and
proftably employed; that there had al
| ready accumulated In the Office of the
Second Auditor 10000 unanswered ap-
plications of the Paymaster General for
! such information, and in the Paymaster
Generals Office about $4,000 cases in
which applications had not been forward
ed to the Second Auditor; that during
the last three months the Second Auditor
had answered the Paymaster Generals
applications at the rate Of 1858 per
month, and hoped eventually to reach
5000 per month; that all the bounties
| due under the act could not be effected
in less than three years
This information, if correct, showed
that the delay would be remedyless, un-
| less some plan could be devised by which
more clerks could be assigned to this du-
ty. A joint resolution, prepared by an
officer Of the Pay Department, was passed
by the House of Representatives, provid
ing that Photographic copies of the mus
ter-out rolls should be taken for the use
of the Paymaster General, which would
furnish him a fac sinaile of every roll, and
so render it possible to increase the cler.
cal force employed on extra bounty claims.
We were assured by a photographer who
had been employed many years in the
Treasury Department, and had copied
papers much larger than the largest Of
these rolls, that the provisions of the
joint resolution were entirely practicable.
But the resolution was defeated by the
Senate.
It is said that the Second Auditor had
80, 900 muster-out rolls for the year 1865,
alone; that the expense of photographing
would be very great; that to many of these
rolls papers Of various sizes gwere so at
tached as to cover parts of the rolls and
render it impossible perfectly to photo
graph either the rolls or the appendages;
and that many of the entries were in red
ink, which could not be copied by the
Photographic process. The photographer
referred to thought these difficulties
could be easily surmounted; but the
joint resolution was indefinitely postponed
| by the Senate On motion of Senator Will
son, who said that when we passed the
Bounty Bill it was not supposed the work
could be completed under three or four
years. sgs
On his motion the Senate disposed of
the subject by adopting a resolution call
ing upon the Secretaries of the Treasury
and of War for the same information
which they had already furnished in
obedience to the order of the House Of
Representatives. The information that
the Second Auditor had in his Office So
900 muster-out rolls for the year 1865,
and therefore probably 10000 in all,
led me, and [ think many other Repre-
sentatives, to doubt whether it was certain
that only forty-fve clerks could be en-
ployed in their examination. / could not
see why each clerk must have 5000 rolls.
could not see why, with sufficient Office
room and labor properly systematized,
500 or even 1000 clerks might not be
employed in the examination of $50 900
rolls did not regret that the House
resolution was defeated in the Senate, be-
cause [ thought [ saw prospect of OBJ
tanning relief by employment of an in
reased force upon the original rolls
themselves. The impression was very ex'
tensive in the House that after all there
might be at the bottom of the trouble