Table showing apportionment of details at colleges, universities, &c., under section 1225 Revised Statutes.

Table showing apportionment of details at colleges, universities, &c., under section 1225 Revised Statutes-Continued.

Lorisiana.

Texas.
Arkansas.

Towa

Minnesota

Nebraska..

California..

Oregon.......

Nevada..........

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, October 1, 1881.

MILITARY PRISON.

The administration of the affairs of the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., during the past year has been in a marked degree successful. The views expressed by its originators and promoters, that such an institution would become an important factor in the discipline of the service, have been fully verified. The prisoners confined therein. are only such as have been convicted of purely military offenses by general courts-martial, and who, under the wholesome restraint and discipline to which they are subjected, joined to the system of mechanical instruction adopted, are discharged at the expiration of their terms of confinement better fitted to re-enter the service or to become useful members of society.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1881, there were 373 men received into the prison and 273 discharged. But 1 death occurred during the year, and only 6 prisoners escaped during the same period. The actual number of men confined on June 30, 1881, was 447. The résumé of the diversified labor of these men, taken from the reports of the prison officials, hereinafter noted, demonstrates the wisdom of the measures adopted, from an economical point of view, to keep them employed for the direct benefit of the Army. There still remain other industries to be introduced with the same end in view, so that there may be not a single case of enforced idleness. Thus far in the history of the institution a large number of the prisoners have been engaged in the work of constructing a circumvallating wall and upon the buildings within the prison yard.

The board of commissioners have made the inspections required by law; have, at each visit, afforded the prisoners the fullest opportunity to make such representations or complaints as they desired to present for consideration; have carefully noted the character of the punishments imposed by the prison authorities for violations of the established rules and regulations; the methods and kind of labor; the quality of food provided; and they have been fully satisfied, in all respects, with the condition and government of the prison. The governor, while on duty under his brevet rank of colonel, actually receives only the pay and allowances of his actual rank, viz, that of captain. Considering that his position demands the possession, in the incumbent, of administrative ability of the highest degree, combined with the rare mechanical powers required for the successful management of an institution embracing many and varied branches of industry, I most earnestly recommend that the local rank of colonel, with the pay and allowances of that grade, be attached to the office of the governor of the prison. This officer has a greater amount of labor and responsibility than any regimental commander. He governs and controls between 500 and 600 persons. Prac tically, he is at one and the same time the superintendent of a large manufacturing establishment, embracing diversified branches of industry, and the military director of all affairs within the prison. The adoption of the measure, not only suggested, but earnestly pressed from a pure sense of justice, would be a grateful recognition of the eminent services of an officer to whose zeal and fidelity, united to high executive and administrative ability, the success of the institution is almost wholly due.

I beg to renew the recommendation of last year that legislative authority be obtained to apply the earnings of the prison to its maintenance. A bill with this end in view was pending in the Senate last winter, and I sincerely hope it may become a law during the next session of Congress.

The improvements made during the fiscal year 1880-'81 were 1 set of cottage quarters, one-story frame, 3 rooms, each 16 feet square; an extension to the prison-shop building, two-story, 24 by 46 feet, brick, with slate roof; a frame building, 16 by 36 feet, one and a half story; an addition of one room, 12 by 16 feet, to a set of quarters already occupied; 1,620 lineal feet of board fence around the cottage quarters, and nearly two miles of fencing around the prison farm. This farm fence was all swept away by high water and rebuilt with old material. One set of cottage quarters (4 rooms each, 16 feet square) was in process of erection but not quite completed at the end of the year. A new floor of hard pine was laid in prison building No. 2, 37 by 97 feet.

The prison wall (except the coping) was completed, 186 feet being built during the year, making a total of 2,022 feet; and 381 feet of coping has been laid thereon. The stone for the wall has been quarried by prison labor on the military reservation, but the coping has been purchased, there being no stone suitable for the purpose on the government land.

There were manufactured 34,163 pair of boots, 25,944 pair of shoes, 4,356 corn brooms, 1,656 barrack-chairs, 110 arm-chairs, 100 chair-rungs, 220 chair-bolts, 1,263 packing-boxes, 80 crates, 100 sets of four-mule ambulance harness, 75 sets of six-mule wagon harness, and, in addition to the above, all the doors, sashes, &c., for new buildings, and the work incident to the necessary repairs to buildings already erected. Two thousand nine hundred and seventy bushels of lime have been, during the past year, burned and used in the erection of the buildings and wall and for sanitary purposes.

The cost per pair of boots and shoes manufactured during the year is, for boots, $2.90; shoes, $1.85; which includes cost of material, wages of foreman, and per diem allowances for prison labor.

The produce of the farm (although the latter was entirely inundated after the planting in the spring of 1881, and had to be replanted) amounted to 2,600 bushels of potatoes, 400 bushels of turnips, 3,900 heads of cabbage, 700 bushels of corn, 170 bushels of onions, 600 bushels of tomatoes, besides other vegetables, all grown by prison labor. About 50 acres are now under cultivation.

The work performed by prisoners for the Quartermaster's Department amounted to 30,241 days of skilled labor and 19,024 days of purely mechanical or unskilled labor.

The appropriation of $55,910.80 has all been expended, the larger amount being on account of permanent improvements.

I beg to invite your attention to the very full details and statistics of the operations of the prison for the past year, contained in the several reports, already submitted, made by the officers of the prison.

GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.

The following is a list of persons admitted into the above-named institution, under orders of the Secretary of War, from October 1, 1880, to October 1, 1881:

Military prisoners...

Employés of the Quartermaster's Department, U. S. Army.
Employés of the Subsistence Departinent, U. S. Army.

Total.....

OFFICERS ON DUTY AT REMOTE POINTS.

1

2

1

5

1

1

57

The great inconvenience to officers at distant stations, resulting in the difficulty, and in some cases the impossibility, of procuring assistance in supplying their personal wants and the care of their property, seems to demand that section 1232 of the Revised Statutes should be somewhat modified, so that officers at remote posts where private help cannot be procured may be authorized, with, in every case, the consent of the soldier himself, to secure the services of an enlisted man for the performance of those duties. The entire time and attention of officers serving with troops is required in looking after the comfort and wants of their commands and the care of government property and interests. Even if the performance of these domestic duties were suited to their positions, they could only do so by neglecting some of the important and respon sible public duties so absolutely essential to the well-being and efficiency of their respective commands and the best interests of the serv ice and government.

Instances could be cited of officers who, rather than violate the section named, have conscientiously abstained from the employment of their men in preparing their food or caring for their animals, and have themselves performed these duties. It is not believed that Congress contemplated such a condition of affairs, and I sincerely hope an effort will be made looking to the repeal of that section, or, preferably, to its modification, so that, in such cases, and conditional on the consent of the soldier and the approval of the department commander, officers may be allowed the services of an enlisted man of their immediate command, the pay proper of the soldier being withheld by the government and paid by the officer benefitted.

ALLOWANCES TO OFFICERS ON COURTS-MARTIAL AND MILITARY BOARDS.

Many cases have come to my knowledge of the hardships resulting from the detail of officers for duty on important courts-martial or mili tary boards convened at points away from the proper stations of such officers, and I beg to invite your earnest attention to this matter. Selected by reason of eminent fitness for the special duty to which assigned, they have no control over the length of the period of time during which the court-martial or board must remain in session to complete its labors, and, under section 1269 of the Revised Statutes, forbidding any allowance being made to an officer in addition to his pay, the increased expenses incident to their stay in cities fall so heavily upon them in the discharge of imposed duty that, it seems to me, the action of Congress reviving, in such cases, the old per diem allowance would be a simple act of justice. That, however, there may be proper restriction and avoidance of abuse, I beg to suggest the decision, in each case, be left absolutely to the discretion of the honorable the Secretary of War.