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Money value of free messages sent; also the aggregate of business transacted on the military telegraph lines during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1895.

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The condition of the appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1895, with the expenditures thereunder, balances, and probable demands on such balances, report of which is required to be rendered by the act of Congress approved May 1, 1820, is as follows:

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Military telegraph line, Fort Ringgold, Tex., to Fort McIntosh, Tex.

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$17,000.00 13, 283. 44

3, 716. 56 3, 612. 30

17,000.00 14, 839. 82

Balance

Military telegraph line, El Paso, Tex., to New Fort Bliss, Tex., 1895:

Appropriated

Expended

Balance

Probable demands

2, 160. 18

960.00 834.87

125. 13

33.75

REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE RECORD

AND PENSION OFFICE.

WAR 95-VOL I-38

593

REPORT

OF THE

CHIEF OF THE RECORD AND PENSION OFFICE.

RECORD AND PENSION OFFICE, WAR DEPARTMENT,

October 1, 1895.

SIR: The record of this office for the past fiscal year does not differ materially from that of previous years, except in the fact that the current work has been of a much more difficult character and has required the expenditure of much more time and labor than that of any previous year in the history of the office. This condition is a natural one, and may be expected to continue for some years to come, because the greater part of that class of pension, pay, bounty, and other claims arising out of the service of volunteers in the war of the rebellion and earlier wars, in which no action by the War Department is required beyond that of furnishing to the officials of other Departments who are charged with the adjudication of the claims a simple statement of military service or medical history as shown by the official records, has been settled and finally disposed of; but in a very large proportion of the claims that are now pending in or being presented to other Departments, technical questions are involved that require special investigation or administrative action on the part of this office.

In other words, as the period of war service becomes more remote the proportion of simple and easily adjudicated cases diminishes, while that of the more difficult and complicated class steadily increases. This change in the character of the cases received and considered by this office, and the consequent increase in the labor involved in their disposition, has been noticeable for several years, but was especially marked during the past fiscal year. While the total number of cases received during the year was slightly less than the number received during the previous year, 43,596 of these cases were of the class requiring special investigation or administrative action, being an increase of nearly 34 per cent in one year in the number of cases of the same class received and disposed of.

The transfer of the Confederate archives and the military records of the Revolution and the war of 1812 to this office has also added materially to the current work. Many reports and statements of service are furnished from the Confederate archives for use in connection with cases pending in the Court of Claims, to veterans' homes and associations to enable them to pass upon applications for relief or membership, and to societies and individuals for historical purposes. The recent revival of interest in matters pertaining to the Revolution, due largely to the efforts of the various patriotic societies, has given rise to a steadily increasing demand for information from the military records of

that war, and since those records have been reproduced and made available for use by the index-record card system the answering of inquiries with regard to them has become a prominent part of the general correspondence of the office and has increased the current work in a corresponding degree.

The approaching completion of the work of reproducing by the indexrecord card system the records of the personnel of the war of the rebellion, the Mexican war, and the various Indian wars enabled the chief of the office to recommend a reduction of 300 in the clerical force of the office, to take effect at the beginning of the last fiscal year, and a similar reduction of 50 to take effect at the beginning of the present year, or a total of 350. These reductions were made accordingly, and the permanent annual saving resulting therefrom amounts to $400,000 in salaries alone. This great saving was made possible chiefly through the operation of the index-record card system which had its origin and first practical application in this office, although it has since been adopted, in whole or in part, by other bureaus of the Government, State officials, and private business establishments. In the light of the results that have been accomplished in this office by means of that system, further comment as to its value appears to be unnecessary.

Notwithstanding the increased labor, the current business, as heretofore during the existence of the Record and Pension Office, has been kept up to date, 93 per cent of the cases received, averaging 700 per day, having been disposed of within twenty-four hours from the time of their receipt, the remaining 7 per cent being delayed only so long as was necessary for the investigation and consideration that their importance required, and at the close of business hours on the last day of the fiscal year not one case remained unacted upon. The total number of cases received and disposed of during the year was as follows: From the Pension Office....

From the office of the Auditor for the War Department..

Remuster cases

Desertion cases

All other cases, miscellaneous.

Total...

On hand June 30, 1895..

REMOVAL OF THE CHARGE OF DESERTION.

152,075 25, 242 11, 026 2,371 20, 415

211, 129 None.

At the date of the last annual report the act of March 2, 1889, and the acts amendatory thereof, providing relief for "certain volunteer and regular soldiers of the late war and the war with Mexico" charged with the crime of desertion, had expired by statutory limitation, but by an act approved March 2, 1895, the original enactment was so amended as to remove the limitation of time within which applications for relief may be received and acted upon, thus enabling the Department to extend to present applicants the same measure of relief that was afforded those who earlier became aware of the existence of the law and took advantage of its provisions. The number of worthy cases brought to the attention of the Department since the revival of the law sufficiently attests the propriety of the amendatory legislation.

REMUSTER.

The time for filing claims under the act of June 3, 1884, as amended by the act of February 3, 1887, and extended by the acts of August 13, 1888, and February 9, 1893, expired on the 3d of June last, These

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