The National tribune., 1888-06-07

of the condition 81 the records. Ia the 47th
Congress he had occasion o. examine into that
matter, and found thu The number Of volumes
of records in the office was over l1.000, aud
that they were uniudeEed, TO find the record
of any particular soldier i'm that office required
the manipulation of several ol these uniBdeEed
records, and only limited number Of persons
can examine them at the same time. lie thought
the number OF employees sufficient but the con-
ditiOn of the records IS what caused the delay
Then too numbers of these records were being
continually worn out and were in the hands Of
the binders for Tebiuding and in the hands of
copyists 60 be recopled. He introduced a res0-
luton in the nth Congress looking TO the in
deIing Of all these records, and found that they
could be iudeXed without interrupting the
current business, and that at the end Of three
years the office would be in a condition to get
rid of all this confusion and delay and would
be able to dispeuse with twO-thirds of the
clerks now required; but il was not considered
necessary to make the change, and the couse-
ouence is that we have boon poking on in the
vav that has been described ever since. The
iudexing of these il 900 volumes of records in
the Surgeon Generals Office was absolutely
necessary to the proper transaction OF the BUSH
ness, yet nobody came forward to make pro-
vision for it.
Mr. Grosvenor remarked that he had not ex-
amined carefully the proposition of the Com
mttee on Appropriations, and therefore was
not in a position to criticize their recommends
ton but he wanted to supplement what had
been said by his colleague Mr.. Ezra B. Taylor,
that there was still another Department in
which he had encountered vastly more delay
/ in pension cases that had come under his care
than in the Pensions Department itself He
referred to the Adjutant Generals Office, and
/ thought ii had been the experience Of Members
/ of Congress generally that they received more
/ suggestions of delay, and had been Oftener and
/ longer put Off by the Adiutant- Generals Office
/ than by the Pensions Office. He did not under
/ take to say that the Adiutant- Generals Office
was at all to blame for this, and did not know
! that there was in that Office any lack of system
! or industry, although in regard to the latter he
4 may have some suspicion; but he did know
/ that there was something lacking there, and
/ hence. having the interests of the soldiers as
near to his heart as they are, he did not think
/ it wise to run counter to the suggestion Of the
/ Committee on Appropriations which looked
i simply 10 a result growing out of the change
! in the location of the bureaus Of the Pension
! Department He thought wisdom called upon
US not only to provide the means for indexing
the Surgeon Generals records, but TO provide
in some way that would be effective a reform
in the Adiutant-Generals Office.
Mr. Cannon stated IN regard to the Surgeon
/ Generals Office and the work in the Office
touching pensions he understood that the force
Of the oiiice is now substantially engaged upon
current work.
There was some delay up to probably year
or 10 months ago, when the Surgeon Generals
Office commenced doing extra work, and that
I extra work was done for some time by the force
of clerks already in the oliice-trained clerks
and they caught up.
AS to the propriety Of reproducing the rec
ords in the SuTgeoa-Geuerai's Office, that mat
ter has been from time to time inquired into.
At one time there was proposition to photo
hthograph the records; but that, on considera-
ton, was thought not to be practicable. There
is now in the Surgeon Generals Office sub
stautially the same force of clerks as for FIVE or
six years past. In the 47th Congress the force
Of clerks in the Surgeon-Generals Office, the
Adjutant-Generais Office, and the Pension
Office was, upon the recommendation Of the
Committee on Appropriations substantially
doubled
So far IS concerns the Adiutant- Generals
Office there IS continuation of the same force
lie understood chat in pension work the Ad-
iutaut-G Generals Office Is very nearly UPS
doing something approaching current work, OF
has at least made very great gain in the last is
months The clerks in that office have done
extra work partGf that time: and he believed
that she force in tho Adiutant- Generals Office
being q trained force and having access to tbs
records being housed IN the State, War and
Navy Department building, should be en-
coaaged-ay, more, required TO do extra work
aud that, if necessary we should do rs we have
done heretofore, give additional compensation
Tor that extra work. We have done this iu re
pecb 70 Che Treasury Department. aHd believe
it has been done in The War Department also
ID is much better to DO this than to grant an
additional number OF clerks
His opinion was that IN the Pension Office
/ the SuTgcou-G Generals Office, and the Adju
taut Generals Office the clerical force is "a laTg,
! as can work to advantage and that if eXtr;
speed ia the performance of the work Is to b.
I 81
the existing force and better administration
lie thought the existing force could work eztr;
hours, and in that way bring up the business
, (as suggested by friends from Indiana on thi
! side aud on the other; or at least can make
! great gain upon the present condition of bust
ness He acknowledged that there is grounC
for complaint in regard to the present condition
, Of the work, but thinks the practical way L
meet the case is in the administration and a
one Member of the House stands really to Civ
9 his vote IN favor OF additional compensation
for such extra work There has already beer
: presented to the Committee on Appropriation
a claim for pay for extra work in the Adjutaut
Generals Oiiice-work done outside of regula
hOurs-by the present trained force, that caI
do more work in one hour than any raw fore
, which might he put in could do in six hours
= and he proposes to vote in favor of paying tina
extra compensation.
: THURSDAY, MAY 81.
7 The Senate passed the Des Moines River Ian,
! bill after long discussion, in which grea
j many Senators took part
5 Senator Sherman submitted resolution
4 which was agreed to- directing the Secretar.
e of the Treasury to transmit to the Senate til
amount due each claimant for bounty, back pa
z and other allowances, whose claims have bee
a allowed il whole or in part since the com
n mencement Of the present session Of Congress
i and not already reported by him to Congress.
y In the House the legislative, judicial an
u executive appropriation bill was under discus
0 sion, and Mr.. Randall demanded the previou
5, question upon the passage OF the BILL Stain
II that under the action Of the Committee of tn
II Whole House. blanks have been left in the hi
p for Al salaries, 80 or 40 Of which are increases
K and one or two decreases. 1t is not proper fo
7. the bill to 90 to the Senate in this shape, bU
u as points of order had been made these blank
ie occur. The aggregate amounts have not bee
O. changed SO that, while salaries have not bee
u fixed by the bill, the amounts are the same
s. those reported by the committee, which WI
~ guided by the present law. He asked unan
y nous consent for these amendments, but NJ
Buchanan objected, stating that the committC
y had disoheyed the rules Of the House. Upo
X this Mr. Randall moved TO recommit the bill
IS which was so ordered.