Amounts charged against officers, still in service, on account of funds alleged to have been lost by theft, &c., and for which relief can only be obtained in the Court of Claims under sections 1059 and 1062, Revised Statutes, (including all sums of this character heretofore entered in this statement), as follows:

Subsistence of the Army, 1879 and prior years....

Total resources..

$2,772 86

$3,760, 177 65

EXPENDITURES.

Amounts expended on the books of the Treasury from the appropriations of the Subsistence Department during the fiscal year 1881, as follows: Subsistence of the Army, 1877 and prior years, act

June 16, 1880...

Subsistence of the Army, 1878 and prior years, deficiency act March 3, 1881....

$3,368 95

2,212 44

Commutation of rations to prisoners of war in rebel
States, per act June 16, 1880......

8,221 38

Amounts disbursed by officers of the Subsistence Department and officers doing duty in the Subsistence Department during the fiscal year 1881, as follows:

62,789 09

Subsistence of the Army, 1880.
Subsistence of the Army, 1881

390, 150 14 2,835, 953 36

3,226, 103 50

Amounts dropped by officers doing duty in the Subsistence Department in correction of errors in their accounts during the fiscal year 1881: Subsistence of the Army, 1881......

260 04

Amount deposited to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States and covered into the Treasury as "miscellaneous receipts on account of sale of public property ".

54 10

Amounts in the Treasury to the credit of appropriations of the Subsistence Department on June 30, 1881, as follows:

22,653 07

Amounts to the credit of officers of the Subsistence Department, and of officers doing duty in the Subsistence Department, with the Treasurer, assistant treasurers, and designated depositaries, and in their personal possession, on June 30, 1881, as follows:

Amounts refunded to the Treasury near close of fiscal year 1881, but not carried to the credit of the appropriations by June 30, 1881:

$2.25
60 00

37 50

$99 75

Amount in hands of representatives of deceased officer to be collected:
Subsistence of the Army, 1878..

Amounts charged against officers (deceased and resigned) on account of
funds alleged to have been lost by theft, &c., as follows:
Subsistence of the Army, 1879 and prior years

Amounts charged against officers, still in service, on account of funds
alleged to have been lost by theft, &c., and for which relief can only
be obtained in the Court of Claims under sections 1059 and 1062, Re-
vised Statutes, (including all sums of this character heretofore entered
in this statement), as follows:

Subsistence of the Army, 1879 and prior years...
Subsistence of the Army, 1880

Subsistence of the Army, 1881

Total balances unexpended.......

109 84

3,000 89

2,772 86
393 96

265 47

3,432 29 $441,792 92

SOURCES OF SUPPLY OF SUBSISTENCE STORES.

The settled rule of the department of making all purchases of subsistence stores as near the points of consumption as practicable-regard being had to quality and prices, as compared with those of stores procurable at remote places, including cost of transportation-has been adhered to during the fiscal year. Tabular statements of the stores required in bulk for the various military departments where troops are serving in large bodies are, under existing orders, transmitted to the CommissaryGeneral, at proper intervals, who orders the articles from the different purchasing stations; and thus stores of the best quality for Army use obtainable in particular sections or markets of the country are procured. In future it is intended to authorize chief commissaries of departments, after their tabular statements have been acted upon by the CommissaryGeneral, to draw, directly upon the purchasing depots selected by him, at such times and for such quantities named on the tabular statements as in their opinion may be necessary. The Commissary-General will thus select the localities from which the supplies are to be obtained, with a view of obtaining for the Army the best and cheapest articles the markets of the country afford, leaving to the chief commissaries of the departments the details as to quantities and times of the respective shipments, which are often dependent upon or influenced by local contingencies, best known to the chief commissaries themselves.

CONTRACTS AND PURCHASES.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1881, 154 newspaper advertisements and 191 circulars and posters, inviting proposals for subsistence stores, were reported to this office. The disbursements for advertising for the year, on accounts approved by the Secretary of War, amounted to $7,829.45. There were also received, during the same period, 219 contracts for fresh meats, 29 contracts for miscellaneous articles, 34 contracts for complete rations for recruiting parties and recruits, and 2,384 informal contracts made under written proposals and acceptances.

The average price each month of each of the principal components of the Army ration, purchased at the principal subsistence purchasing depots, is reported monthly to the Commissary-General of Subsistence, under the Army regulations. The following table, prepared after the manner pursued in the preparation of like tables heretofore published, exhibits the average for the twelve months of the fiscal year, 1881, of these monthly average prices, taken from the monthly reports referred to, viz:

Average (for the twelve months of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1881) of the monthly average prices paid for the component parts of the ration purchased for

the United States

Army at the

principal

purchasing

depots.

A statement of the average prices per pound (independent of quanti ties purchased), in each State and Territory, for fresh beef, supplied to the Army on contract, during the fiscal years 1880, 1881, and 1882, is as follows, viz:

The amounts expended on account of the purchase of subsistence supplies at the principal purchasing stations during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1881, were as follows:

SALES OF SUBSISTENCE STORES TO OFFICERS AND ENLISTED MEN.

The proviso which has been introduced in the acts making appropriation for the support of the Army for the past two fiscal years, directing that "to the cost of all stores and other articles [subsistence] sold to officers and enlisted men, except tobacco, as provided for in section 1149 of the Revised Statutes, ten per centum shall be added to cover wastage, transportation, and other incidental charges," is considered onerous and

unjust by officers and enlisted men of the Army, and I would respectfully recommend that the proviso referred to be recommended by the Secretary of War to be omitted from the appropriation act for the fiscal year 1883, and the following be substituted therefor, viz: "Provided, That hereafter sales of articles of subsistence supplies to officers and enlisted men of the Army shall be made at the invoice price of the last lot of the respective articles received by the officers by whom the sales are made."

TOBACCO.

There were supplied to the officers and enlisted men of the Army, during the fiscal year 1881, as appears by the returns of subsistence stores rendered to this office for that period, 216,719 pounds of chewing tobacco, and 75,262 pounds of smoking tobacco.

The value of such of the above tobacco as was furnished enlisted men during the year under section 1149, Revised Statutes, was $107,658.24. There was collected by the Pay Department from enlisted men on this account, and returned to the appropriations of the Subsistence Department during the same period, the sum of $68,767.45.

By act of March 3, 1865 (section 1149, Rev. Stat.), Congress directed the Secretary of War to cause tobacco, in quantities not exceeding 16 ounces per man per month, to be furnished to the enlisted men of the Army at cost prices, exclusive of the cost of transportation, the amount due therefor to be deducted from their pay, in the same manner as then provided for the settlement of clothing accounts.

At the succeeding session, by act of July 28, 1866 (section 1144, Rev. Stat.), the office of sutler was abolished, and the Subsistence Department was required to furnish for sales to officers and enlisted men such articles as should be designated for the purpose by the inspectors-general of the Army, and if not paid for when purchased, the amount due to be deducted by the paymaster at the next payment following the purchase. Measures for carrying into effect the tobacco law (section 1149, Rev. Stat.) were taken as soon as practicable after the passage of the act, and as the statute prescribed that the money due by enlisted men for tobacco should be deducted from their pay as then prescribed for the settlement of clothing accounts, an elaborate system of settlement had to be adopted, involving accountability in both the Subsistence and Pay Departments, and necessitating the making out and handling of many papers in drawing and issuing the tobacco to the enlisted men, in accounting for such issues to the Subsistence Department, in charging such issues against the men on the pay-rolls, in summing up those charges by the Paymaster General on the pay-rolls of the entire Army, and in the final transfer, on the books of the Treasury, of the aggregates so found due to the appropriations of the Subsistence Department. The system then perfected has continued in operation to the present time. It is not only cumbersome, but, as may be seen, the clerical labor involved in the Pay and Subsistence Departments renders the system very expensive.

Upon investigation it furthermore appears that since the tobacco law first went into operation, up to the date of this report, about $23,000 worth of tobacco has been issued to the enlisted men of the Army, the money value of which will never be transferred from the appropriations of the Pay Department to those of the Subsistence Department, owing to deaths, desertions, forfeitures, and other contingencies of service occurring after the men had drawn their tobacco and before the next pay day had arrived.

When the law of 1866 (section 1144, Rev. Stat.) came to be put in