The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-11-20
AT WASHINGTON.
Happenings at the Capital on
Thursday.
AND STILL THE WAR GOES ON.
A Batch of kilograms from Various
Quarters, Containing Inter
eEting News Items.
washington whispers.

WASHINGTON, November 10. = The
second comptroller of the Treasury, to-
day, furnished the following statement
in relation to the claims which have
been disallowed by him in adjusting the
accounts of a navy pay-director. The
second comptroller discovered two YOU
cheers, one for$27, purporting to be for $40
i've cent foreign postage stamps, and
the other for $50. purporting to be pho
tOgraphing fifty anatomical specimens
of the naval dispenSary. They were
both made out in the name of woman
who is an artist, residing in Washing
ton, and were certified to and approved
by Philip S. Wales. chief OF the bureau
of medicine and surgery. The comp
troller reports that the investigation
proved that they were both false and
fraudulent, and the money was actu
ally paid for two crayon portraits of
Wales drawn by the artist. She signed
the vouchers upon the representation
that there was no appropriation out of
which the expenditures could be prop
erly paid, and it was necessary TO make
the vouchers in this form in order to
obtain payment, and it was customary
to do. The comptroller directs that the
amount be charged against Surgeon
Wales. The comptroller also disalloWs,
in the accounts of this pay-directo-,
an item of Sal, for the subsistence of
the committee on appropriations of
the House of Representatives, while
making a visit on board the United
States steamer TdIldpOOsd, from Wash
ington to Norfolk, Fort Monroe and
Hampton, March 2Sth to 31st inclusive
There was no resolution of Congress
authorizing the committee to make the
trip at the government expense. and
the Secretary of the Navy had no
authority to furnish the committee
with subsistence and pay for the same
out Of the appropriation for the support
of the navy. The Comptroller also dis
allows an item of 81, $40, for 10, $50 miles
of travel, claimed to have been per-
formed by Surgeon Billings in attend
ing the International Medical Confer
ence IN London, in August, 1881. and
travelling elsewhere through the various
other countries IN Europe, under orders
from the Navy Department, May 13, 1881.
The Comptroller holds that the War
Department had no authority to send
q delegate to the international Medical
Congress at the government expense;
that Congress alone could authorize
such a representation, and that the
service was in no way a military one.
The amount paid is ordered charged
against Surgeon Billings.
Colonel G.. G. McCauley, commandment
of the Marine Corps, in his annual re-
port. says: The Panama expedition
shows, in the sGongest manner, what
he for years stated to the Department;
that the marine corps has not enough
officers and men. All the shore sta
tons were nearly stripped and
left without adequate protection, and
the guards were Withdrawn from
many ships which gave rise to much
inconvenience Some Oh the captains
OF the corps had been twenty-one years
in that grade and several ieutenants
had been twenty years in, the service.
Unless there is some increase In Nthe
higher grades. Colonel McCanley says,
and better distribution of the number
of officers allowed, this C, 1dition of af-
fairs must continue. to the great dis
enlargement Of ambition and profess
sional pride. He recommends that
the corps be increased by 500 privates.
Estimates aggregating 1918. 81 are sub
United tor the next fiscal year.