Incidental expenses. -For the supply of box lockers and refrigerators, the purchase, erection, and repair of flagstaffs, and the purchase of grass seed and trees for the improvement of military reservations, $53,424.32. APPROPRIATION FOR BARRACKS AND QUARTERS. The amount appropriated under this head was expended or allotted as follows: For extra-duty pay.. For purchase of land at Fort Sam Houston. For alterations and repairs to buildings, printing, advertising, etc Total allotted.. Unallotted balance.. Total.. APPROPRIATION FOR MILITARY POSTS. $2,013, 713.49 63, 387.50 6,000.00 341, 794. 87 82, 582.73 41, 629. 66 12, 876.00 300,000.00 551, 244.62 3, 413, 228. 87 75, 721. 13 3, 488, 950.00 A summarized statement of allotments made from this appropriation for the fiscal year 1906 is given below. The amounts cover construction only, the plumbing, heating, wiring, and gas piping being charged to appropriations "Army transportation and regular supplies. D. A. Russell, Fort, Wyo., barracks for Hospital Corps Company D. A. Russell, Fort, Wyo., cavalry drill hall.. Des Moines, Fort, Iowa, cavalry drill hall. Du Pont, Fort, Del., one single barrack.. Leavenworth, Fort, Kans., central administration and school building (Grant Hall). $53,900.00 54, 231.00 47, 649.00 30, 500.00 49, 420.00 Leavenworth, Fort, Kans., remodeling storehouse into school (Sheridan 26, 400.00 Leavenworth, Fort, Kans., one single field-artillery barracks. 39, 205.00 Wright, Fort, Wash., two double barracks.. Minor allotments for extra work, printing, advertising, etc Total allotted.. Balance unallotted.. 45, 688.00 9, 344. 32 44, 978.00 12, 183. 25 80,000.00 86, 102. 28 104, 570.00 7, 340. 64 991, 298. 49 373, 725.70 Total... 1, 365, 024. 19 APPROPRIATION FOR MILITARY POST EXCHANGES. Following is a statement of allotments made from this appropriation during the fiscal year 1906. The amounts stated include all lighting, heating, and gymnastic apparatus, plumbing, etc., authorized in connection with the construction of the buildings. Andrews, Fort, Mass., post exchange and gymnasium Bayard, Fort, N. Mex., post exchange and bowling alley Benjamin Harrison, Fort, Ind., post exchange and gymnasium Columbia, Fort, Wash.: Post exchange.. Window guards and bowling alleys for gymnasium Crook, Fort, Nebr., converting mess hall into post exchange and gym nasium.. $22,667.00 21, 587.00 17, 417.30 22, 977.00 15, 481.00 2,100.00 2, 584.00 24, 566.75 Columbus Barracks, Ohio, post exchange and gymnasium. 28, 207.00 H. G. Wright, Fort, N. Y., two temporary buildings for gymnasium, school room, and library. 1, 763.40 Key West Barracks, Fla., post exchange and gymnasium. 14, 832. 50 9, 322.00 McPherson, Fort, Ga., converting general mess hall into post exchange and gymnasium.. 28, 742.50 Omaha, Fort, Nebr., post exchange and gymnasium. 20, 856.00 11, 683.00 Sam Houston, Fort, Tex., converting general mess into post exchange and gymnasium.. Strong, Fort, Mass., converting Barracks 24 and 25 into post exchange and gymnasium... Total for construction. Allotted for repairs, apparatus, etc. Total allotted.. Unallotted balance. Total. 31, 483.00 2,719.00 278, 988. 45 37, 512.00 316, 500.45 16, 999. 55 333, 500.00 APPROPRIATION FOR HOSPITAL AND HOSPITAL STEWARDS' QUARTERS. Allotments from these appropriations are based on estimates approved by the Surgeon-General, and the amounts are shown in the following table: Construction of hospitals (including plumbing and electric wiring). Hospital stewards' quarters.--Construction of buildings (including plumbing and electric wiring): Angel Island, Cal., hospital sergeants' quarters.. D. A. Russell, Fort, Wyo., hospital sergeants' quarters. Total for construction.. Total allotted. Balance unallotted.. Total..... $1,700.00 3,855.00 2, 396.35 7,951.35 6, 738.09 14, 689. 44 310.56 15,000.00 Special appropriation of $45,000 for construction and repair of hospitals at San Francisco. No funds were allotted from this appropriation during the fiscal year 1906, for the reason that the act in which it is carried was approved on June 30, 1906, the last day of the fiscal year. Allotment has since been made. Appropriation for Army General Hospital, Washington, D. C. Expenditures from this appropriation were confined to purchase of site, $98,222.90, and preparation of plans and specifications, $1,991.35. The work of construction will be under way during the current fiscal year. Appropriation for shooting galleries and ranges. This appropriation is disbursed on estimates approved by the Chief of Staff. Construction of shelter for the enlarged Army. As a matter of interest, in connection with the increase of the Regular Army from 25,000, as it was before the Spanish-American war, to approximately 65,000, as it now is, the following table showing expenditures during the last four fiscal years to provide quarters, etc., in the United States, for the additional strength is submitted: Appropriations for specified construction. The views upon this matter exprest in my last annual report (p. 7) are still entertained and have been strengthened by subsequent experience. It not infrequently happens that after the estimates for army transportation and regular supplies from the former of which are provided plumbing and the latter heating and lighting fixtures-have been submitted large appropriations for construction of specific buildings are made, involving very considerable expenditures from those appropriations, not known at the time the regular estimates were prepared. Such action embarrasses the Department in carrying out projects for which it had estimated and received appropriations. General hospitals. Similar views (see p. 8, Annual Report, 1905) were exprest and are still held with reference to appropriations for the general hospitals. The appropriations for their use should provide for all purposes of their construction and repair, not only because the present method creates unexpected and unanticipated demands upon the general appropriations from which are constructed and maintained plumbing, heating, and lighting systems, but because it would simplify the handling of appropriations and be, in the end, of advantage to the hospitals. Under the law providing for post exchanges this is now the practise concerning such buildings, and it is found to work most satisfactorily. The same provision ought to apply to general hospitals, and at the same time the limit of cost for permanent buildings without special authority of Congress, established by section 1136 Revised Statutes, should be increased to $60,000, if not for all buildings at least for hospitals at established posts. Revision of standard plans for buildings. This important work, fully explained in my report of last year (p. 9), has been continued with excellent results, both as to architectural appearance and interior arrangement of the buildings. Care of buildings.-While reports indicate that better care than formerly is being taken of buildings, there is yet room for improvement in this respect. This is a matter in which the work of this department is at best little more than advisory, actual results depending upon commanding officers. Wall lockers.-The new steel wall lockers described in last year's report have been a decided success. Barracks will be equipped with them entirely in the future as being altogether cheaper, better, and more sanitary than the old-style wooden ones. Trunk lockers, panniers, and field desks.—These articles of the style and material described in last year's report have in actual use proved all that preliminary tests promised and all reports on them have been highly commendatory. Future supply will be of these improved makes. Water supply.-Authority was given during the fiscal year for sinking wells at 7 posts, construction of tunnels at 2, and for the installation and improvement of water systems at 27. All necessary repairs have been authorized, but new construction and extensions have, because of lack of funds, been restricted within the narrowest possible bounds. At 3 coast artillery posts it was found necessary, on account of the character of the water, to install distilling plants. The water consumption at many to be far in excess of actual needs. WAR 1906-VOL 2-2 military posts has been found This has resulted largely from negligence on the part of consumers, and if not corrected it will be necessary to specify the amount of water that may be used, necessitating the installation of meters. The use of Forbes sterilizers for the purification of water by sterilization has been continued. These sterilizers are kept in stock for immediate distribution to troops. A transportable sterilizer mounted on wheels has been under consideration and two of them have been purchased for trial. The efficacy thereof in actual use has not yet been tested. Sewer systems. Authority was given during the fiscal year for installation and improvement of sewer systems at 13 posts, and the installation of sewage purification plants and garbage crematories at 4. Disposal of sewage in camps.-For military camps the McCall incinerator and latrine and urinal troughs, together with odorless excavating tank wagons and pumps, have proved to be the best means obtainable. Lighting systems. During the fiscal year authority was given for introducing and enlarging lighting systems at 20 posts. Seventy posts in the United States, including all new ones, are now lighted by electricity. Nine posts are partially or wholly lighted by gas, 2 of them using acetylene gas. The remaining stations are lighted by mineral oil. The consumption of electric current for lighting became so excessive that it was necessary to request the Secretary of War to issue a general order covering the amount that might be properly consumed. This is set forth in General Orders, No. 88, War Department, 1906, and it is hoped that during the next fiscal year a large saving will be made under the provisions of this order. Heating systems. During the fiscal year authority was given for the installation and improvement of heating plants in buildings already built at 12 posts. Experience has shown that it is the best practice to heat all buildings south of the thirty-ninth parallel and all buildings on the Pacific coast situated in the United States, where heating plants are necesessary, with hot water. In the higher latitudes steam must necessarily be used in order to reduce the amount of radiation in the room and keep the size of the plant commensurate with the building. All hot-air furnaces, as they become worn out, are being replaced by modern steam or hot-water systems. Upon the recommendation of the Surgeon-General, the use of hot water is retained for all hospitals, whatever the latitude. In some of the higher latitudes this has been very expensive, both on account of the size of the plants and on account of the number of square feet of radiation necessary to give the needed heat. It is thought that in high latitudes modern steam-heating systems should be used in hospitals as well as in other buildings. Ice machines.-Those already at posts in the United States have been maintained and kept in repair. No new ones have been established, but a plant at Fort Sam Houston, Tex., installed by post labor, was transferred to the department. Post laundries.-There is urgent need at many military posts for laundry facilities for enlisted men. The work could be done much more economically and with greater convenience than under the present system or want of system, by which enlisted men have to |