per cent in the Fourteenth Infantry-the average per cent of all desertions for the last year in these organizations, according to ratio of strength represented, being 6.1 for the Fourth Cavalry, 5.2 for the Fifth Artillery and Fourteenth Infantry, and 2.6 for the Fourth Infantry. Comparing posts, an equally unexplained showing is found. There has been a decrease of 80 per cent at Fort Spokane, of 50 per cent at Fort Canby, an increase of 20. per cent at Fort Walla Walla, Vancouver, and Boise Barracks, of 60 per cent at Fort Sherman, and 130 per cent at Fort Townsend. Another year the figures may be reversed, the results depending largely on the character of recruits received and the outside influences which attract them. Fewer deserters are now arrested and delivered to the military anthorities than formerly, owing, it is believed, to the recent reduction in the amount of apprehension money allowed. If the infrequency of confinements and court-martial trials is an indication of discipline, the troops of the department, when measured by that standard, are gradually improving. Mean enlisted strength taken into the computation, it is ascertained that confinements for the year ended last June were 20 per cent less than for the previous year and that there were 21 per cent fewer trials by courts-martial. The number of general court-martial cases was 7 per cent less and there was a large reduction in trials by inferior courts; and yet, notwithstanding this reduction in confinements and trials, there was a difference of only 9 per cent in the number of men tried by all courts between the total of each of the two years considered. These seemingly contradictory statements are reconciled by the fact that many men are confined and tried more than once during the computed period. For instance, in the last year 26 per cent of the men tried were tried more than once, and some five or six times. The percentage of men of the garrison of each post tried by courts-martial of every kind during last year was, for Fort Canby, Vancouver Barracks, and Fort Spokane, less than 30 of mean strength, for Fort Sherman and Boise Barracks, 38, and for Fort Walla Walla, 54, which is a marked reduction in Forts Canby, Sher man, and Spokane, a slight reduction in Boise and Vancouver Barracks, and an increase of 8 per cent in Fort Walla Walla. This ratio at every one of the posts might still appear large, but it should be remembered that the great majority of cases tried by courts only involved very short illegal absences or slight infractions of discipline, offenses which in former years would be met either by reprimand or a brief confinement in the guardhouse and release without trial. In March a detailed system of practical instruction was prescribed, which went into effect on April 1. The orders prescribing it directed the kind and extent of practice which should be had in every month of the practice season, ending with October, for each arm of the service concerned. The absence of detached duty has enabled the troops to prosecute the course and become efficient in tactical exercises and maneuvers in so far as strength of garrisons would permit. During the ensuing two months marches, camping, escort and outpost duty, attack and defense of positions, with attendant reconnoissance and hasty intrenchments, will be practiced. Field notes, sketches, journals, and maps of routes traveled will be submitted, with reports on the character of marches and nature of exercises. These exercises must for the most part be conducted by posts independently of each other, as transportation by rail is not available and the amount of post transportation at hand for such purposes is limited. I do not, however, place much importance on the training acquired in a camp maintained for several successive days, as for two or three weeks at a time. The interest of officers and men so situated quickly diminishes and soon is lost. The march and bivouac, with troops divided into separate forces and marching in the same neighborhood with hostile intent, uniting occasionally for practice in a camp of very short duration, give the best results. This is possible for most of the garrisons of the department which may keep within a radius of 20 or 30 miles from the posts and so circumstanced that they can be readily supplied and can repeat their field exercises several times during the fall months of the year. Since July 1 I have visited all of the posts of the department and inspected all with the exception of Fort Walla Walla, where time did not permit of a sufficiently extended stay for the full performance of that duty. I inspected it very completely the latter part of June, 1894, and on this latter occasion had only opportunity to witness a review and look through the barracks. It would have been more satisfactory had the visits been deferred until later, when troops would have received the full benefits of the season's post instruction. The troops, however, made a satisfactory appearance, showed careful instruction in tactical exercises, and at some of the posts displayed a marked proficiency therein. All commanding officers have been active in the interests of Government, and their troops are in a good state of discipline. The posts are economically administered. Department instructions were given regarding reported expenditures as affecting property accountability, and the attention of commanding officers was called to the necessity of a more rigid supervision on their part in this matter, as in some instances considerable "surplus" property was found which, responsible officers were ordered to restore to the papers. Theoretical instruction was pursued for six months of the year, commencing on November 1 and extending to April 30. For officers two recitations each week, each of an hour's duration, were prescribed, and the subjects given for investigation were for the most part those a knowledge of which is necessary to pass successfully the promotion examinations. The courses of study pursued in lyceums and the work accomplished in lyceums and schools are shown in Exhibits 4 and 6 of the report of the assistant adjutant-general, hereto appended. THE STAFF DEPARTMENTS. Officers of the personal, department, and general staff serving at these headquarters have performed their duties to my entire satisfaction, and have rendered that support and willing assistance which have prevented friction in all official transactions. The late reduction in number of department staff officers, while it has thrown more labor upon some, especially the assistant adjutant-general and the representative of my personal staff, has not in anywise retarded the prompt execution of business. The pay department has had but two representatives, and although all garrisons are required to be paid monthly, the payments have been promptly made. The supply departments have been economically administered. The chief commissary of subsistence is also the purchasing commissary for the principal articles comprising the established ration, as well as for many of the subsistence stores kept for sale. Purchases in this market permit frequent and small shipments at the least cost of transportation, affording fresh articles for consumption and avoiding loss through damage and waste. The loss of stores in the past year through condemnation because of deterioration is practically nothing, and a comparison of results of several past years shows a great reduction in prices, singularly so in the item of flour, the cost of which last year was only 45 per cent of what it was in 1883. Beef, too, cost less last year than ever before, and was only 52 per cent of its cost in 1885. The quartermaster's department shows a much greater gradual decrease of expenditure. The average of its total yearly expenditure for fifteen years was $404,457. In 1881 it was $600,409, and last year $206,941-$40,000 less than for any previous year, although an extra $10,000 was paid out for the transportation of troops in the emergency service. The strength in numbers of the department military force has remained about the same through all this period, and was greater last year than usual; but scattered garrisons have been united and nearly all are placed on competing lines of railroads, thereby saving the large sums which were formerly paid out for wagon transportation. In this item alone, which was at one time more than $250,000, there is a reduction of 70 per cent. Attention is respectfully invited to the fact that while the average yearly expenditure for the last fifteen years for the barracks and quarters of the posts of the department was upward of $48,000, that for last year was but $16,370, and for the present year will be considerably less still. For the past three years the average was but $24,832. In the desire to meet the demands of this section of country a considerable share of future appropriations for barracks and quarters might therefore, with good reason, be employed in improving its present permanent posts and in the erection of the new ones which it seems expediency, wisdom, and necessity call for. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, E. S. OTIS, Brigadier-General, Commanding. The ADJUTANT-GENERAL UNITED STATES ARMY, Washington, D. C. REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. JAMES W. FORSYTH. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA, SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of operations in this department during the past year: By virtue of assignment by the President I assumed command of the department on November 22, 1894. Company C, Tenth Infantry, was relieved from duty in the department and left San Diego Barracks on October 5, 1894, by rail en route to Fort Sill, Okla. Company H, First Infantry, changed station from Angel Island to San Diego Barracks, leaving the former on October 2 and arriving at the latter on October 3, 1894. Company B, First Infantry, on June 24 last changed station from Angel Island to Benicia Barracks, and Company E, First Infantry, on the same day changed station from Benicia Barracks to Angel Island. Pursuant to instructions of the Lieutenant-General of the Army, dated March 21 last, Troop K, Fourth Cavalry, Capt. Alexander Rodgers commanding, left the Presidio of San Francisco on May 9 for the Yosemite National Park for the purpose of protecting the same from trespass, under instructions received from the Interior Depart ment, and arrived at the park on May 21; and Troop I, Fourth Cavalry, left the Presidio of San Francisco on May 9 for the performance of similar duty in the Sequoia and General Grant national parks, and arrived there on the 29th of that month. These troops have since continued in effective performance of the duties specified. Under the provisions of General Orders, No. 105, Adjutant-General's Office, series of 1888, all the available troops in the department, consisting of the First Infantry (except Company H), Light Battery D, Fifth Artillery, and Troops B and C, Fourth Cavalry, were assembled at Monterey, Cal., on July 16 for the purpose of instruction in camp duties and the minor operations of war under my supervision. Instruction in this camp was not completed until August 19, which was too late to admit of a satisfactory report of the work done being incorporated herewith. A supplementary report will be made as soon as it can be prepared. Pursuant to the provisions of General Orders, No. 18, current series, Adjutant-General's Office, I have personally inspected all the troops in the department except Troop I, Fourth Cavalry, at the Sequoia Park, and Company H, First Infantry, at San Diego Barracks. I have not had an opportunity to inspect these two organizations since the publication of General Orders, No. 18, but expect to do so as soon as practicable. I have not yet become thoroughly acquainted with the personnel of my command, but, so far as I was able to judge in the inspections made, officers and men are efficient in the performance of their duties and are satisfactorily drilled and instructed, supplies are properly distributed, proper care is taken in the purchase and preservation of public property, and proper economy is exercised in all public expenditures. A statement presenting the methods and indicating results of the instruction had at the lyceums of the several posts is attached hereto, marked Exhibit A. The condition in respect to discipline has been excellent. For the year ended June 30, 1895, there was a marked decrease in the per cent of desertions over that of each of the two years preceding, as is shown in Exhibit G to Document A. The report of target practice in small-arms firing, not attached hereto, will be forwarded at the close of the practice season. The heavy artillery practice of the batteries of the Fifth Artillery at the Presidio of San Francisco, Alcatraz Island, and Fort Mason has been satisfactory. The annual firing practice of Light Battery D, Fifth Artillery, is now being had at Monterey, and it is my intention that Light Battery F shall make a march of instruction in September or October, when its practice will be had. A fire broke out in the gun shed of the latter battery about 2 o'clock a. m. on June 19. The entire shed was destroyed, together with most of its contents, except the new guns stored there. The gun carriages were rendered entirely unserviceable. It is expected that the battery will be refitted at an early date. For particulars relating to administration in the several staff departments and recommendations by their chiefs on duty at these headquar ters, attention is requested to their reports herewith transmitted, as follows: Col. O. D. Greene, adjutant-general. Lieut. Col. William H. Bell, chief commissary of subsistence. Lieut. Col. J. V. D. Middleton, medical director. Lieut. Col. Amos S. Kimball, chief quartermaster. Lieut. Col. Edward Hunter, judge-advocate. First Lieut. J. F. Reynolds Landis, aid-de-camp, inspector of smallarms practice, acting engineer officer and in charge of the office of the inspector of artillery. First Lieut. Frank Greene, chief signal officer. Very respectfully, ENERAL JAMES W. FORSYTH, Brigadier-General, Commanding. The ADJUTANT-GENERAL UNITED STATES ARMY, Washington, D. C. REPORT OF BRIG. GEN. Z. R. BLISS. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF TEXAS, SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of this department: In obedience to General Orders, No. 27, Adjutant-General's Office, on April 30, 1895, I assumed command of the Department of Texas the 18th of May, relieving Brig. and Bvt. Maj. Gen. Frank Wheaton. There has been nothing in the condition of affairs in this department, or on the boundary requiring special activity of the troops, and their movements have been confined to the usual practice marches, which are reported in detail by the adjutant-general of the department. Owing to the damaged condition of the barracks at Fort Bliss, Companies A and C, Eighteenth Infantry, were transferred to Fort Sam Houston. Troop G, Seventh Cavalry, was relieved from outpost duty at Eagle Pass and returned to Fort Clark November 16, 1894. Troop B, Fifth Cavalry, was on outpost duty at Eagle Pass until May 15, 1895, when it was relieved by Troop F, which is still there. Troop B returned to its station at Fort Clark May 15. The presence of a detachment of cavalry at camp near Edinburg being considered no longer necessary, it was returned to Fort Ringgold June 13, 1895. On the 29th of May I started to inspect the troops and posts on the lower Rio Grande, as directed by General Orders, No. 18, current series, Adjutant-General's Office. I found them in good condition, the troops well drilled and instructed, and well and promptly supplied with subsistence and quartermaster stores of excellent quality, and all post commanders expressed themselves as well satisfied with the quantity and quality of supplies received. These remarks are also true in regard to all the posts in the department. The quarters and troops at Fort McIntosh are in excellent condition. They have a good post garden, which is irrigated from tanks in the post. The only special requirements of this post are an oil house and magazine, which should be supplied as soon as practicable. I proceeded from Fort McIntosh by rail to Hebronville, and thence by ambulance about 80 miles to Fort Ringgold. The barracks and quarters are in fine condition. The plan of the barracks is considered especially good and convenient in every respect. There is some danger that the Rio Grande may cut its way through into a lagoon on the Mexican side of the river and follow an old river bed, leaving Fort Ringgold about 3 miles from water. In case this occurs, the garrison will have to depend |