Evening star., 1898-11-17
RECORDS AND PENSIONS
Col. Ainsworth's Report on the Work Of
His Bureau.
Large Increase i'm the Number of
Cases Disposed of Last
Year.

Col. F. c. Ainsworth. chief of the record
and pension office, War Department, in his
annuel report to the Secretary of War, says
that 1913 ,296 cases were received and dis
posed of during the past fiscal year, and
that there were no cases on hand at it's
close. The current business Of the office
during the year was much greater than
that of the preceding year. There was a
net increase of 4S9 cases received and
disposed of, being more than - per cent.
The increase was distributed among all
classes of cases which the office has had to
do with the largest increase being in the
number of applications for the recognition
of commissioned officers under the remus-
ter act of February "a 1897. providing for
the relief of certain. officers and enlisted
men of the volunteer forces in the war of
the rebellion. very marked increase is
also noted in the number of calls from the
commissioner of pensions and the auditor
for the War Department for the military
histories of former officers and soldiers for
use in the adjudication of pending claims
The increase in the former class over the
receipts for the preceding year was more
than % per cent, and of the latter class
more than 43 per cent. The number of de-
sertion cases was increased more than 20
per cent, and the number of miscellaneous
cases nearly 10 per cent.
Military Telegraph Corps.
vice in the military telegraph corps, the
issue of which was authorized by an act
approved January &c, 1881 Colonel AIMS
worth says, that some questions had arisen
as to the class or classes of persons enti-
tied to the certificates provided for by the
law. he says that the act, according to it's
title is for the relief of telegraph opera
tors only, but the act itself specifically
provides that certificates of honorable ser
vice shall be issued to persons Cor to their
representatives, who served for the requi-
site period lin the operation of military
telegraph lines and it has been decided
by the assistant secretary of war that the
act Included not only telegraph operators"
but "all who performed services for the
United States in the matter of the opera
ton of military telegraph lines" and these
are deemed to include "all classes of en-
ployes of the government engaged in the
matter of maintaining and operating the
lines themselves over which the messages
We're sent, including the operators and
other civil employees who were engaged in
sending, receiving and delivering the tele-
graphic messages.
1t has been decided by the assistant sec
retary Of war that men in the military
service who We're detailed for or employed
en- telegraphic duty are entitled to the GER
tificates the same as civilians hired for that
duty
Work of Card Indexing.
The great mass CT the volunteer records
engaged Except those of the recent war
with Spain, which have rot yet been fled
have been carded and the worN during the
past year has been generally confined to
those of a miscellaneous character, difficult
o. reproduction, and the transcription of
which is necessarily slow. The records,
however. are of great Importance, and it is
essential that those containing evidence of
personal military service shall be included
/ system of r6s
This is especially the case with regard to
service in the revolutionary war the only
evidence of service in that war being in
many instances the personal mention found
in the miscellaneous and fragmentary rec
ords now in process of examination and
reproduction.
The ircex-record card work for the fiscal
year included the preparation of tr}7 t:33 mil
itary cards and 9O67 medical cards, making.
with the number prepared in prior years,
a total of 4o.2l5,914 of the former! and
6.9'oG} of the latter class, aggregatng
"a 1S6.11I indeX-record cards prepared I'D
tC and including June 80 1898. ~
Revolutionary Records.
One object of the transfer of the records
of the revolutionary war and the war of
1872 to the War Department. as announced
in the act approved August IS, 1894, pro
vidlng for their transfer was that they
should be prepared for publication" In
consequent slow progress of the work of
compilation Col. AinSworth says that the
date of the conte emplated publication is
necessarily uncertain and cannot even be
approximated with any degree of accuracy,
but it Is evident that the date of publica-
ton is still somewhat remote.
1T is due to the employees of the office"
says Col. Answorth, ito state that the
prompt and satisfactory dispatch of the
business of the office is the natural result
of the commendabie industry faithfulness
and zeal which they displayed in the per-
forrnances of their -eSpective duties"