Lieut. Col. Charles H. Tompkins, deputy quartermaster-general, since November, 30, 1877, on duty as chief quartermaster Department of Dakota, Saint Paul, Minn. Lieut. Col. James A. Ekin, deputy quartermaster-general in charge of the general depot of the Quartermaster's Department at Jeffersonville, Ind., disbursing agent of the Quartermaster's Department at Louisville, Ky., and in charge of National Military Cemeteries in Kentucky and Tennessee. Lieut. Col. A. R. Eddy, deputy quartermaster-general, chief quartermaster Department of the Columbia until April 15, 1878, when he was granted leave of absence, being in ill health. Lieut. Col. Rufus Saxton, deputy quartermaster-general, chief quartermaster Department of the Missouri, Fort Leavenworth, Kans. Lieut. Col. A. J. Perry, deputy quartermaster-general, chief quartermaster Department of Texas, San Antonio, Tex., until April 25, 1878, since chief quartermaster Department of the East, and post quartermaster, New York. Maj. J. G. Chandler, quartermaster, chief quartermaster Department of the South, at headquarters Department of the South. Maj. William Myers, quartermaster, depot quartermaster, San Francisco, Cal. Maj. J. A. Potter, quartermaster, chief quartermaster department of the Gulf, New Orleans, La., until June 1, 1878, when, on his own application, he was ordered to Painesville, Ohio, to settle his accounts, contemplating an application to be retired from active service under existing laws. Maj. M. I. Ludington, quartermaster, chief quartermaster Department of the Platte, Omaha, Nebr. Maj. B. C. Card, quartermaster, chief quartermaster Department of Dakota until relieved by Lieut. Col. Chas. H. Tompkins, when he proceeded to San Antonio, Tex., and relieved Lieut. Col. A. J. Perry as chief quartermaster Department of Texas. Maj. C. A. Reynolds, quartermaster, chief quartermaster Department of Arizona until June 9, 1878, when he proceeded to Oregon as depot quartermaster at Fort Vancouver. Maj. C. G. Sawtelle, quartermaster, chief quartermaster Department of Columbia since May 14, 1878. INSPECTION BRANCH. This branch of the office keeps the monthly reports of all officers doing duty in the Quartermaster's Department, papers relating to the assignment to duty of officers, distribution of hired civilians, and the annual reports of officers. In it are filed and distributed orders, circulars, rolls of honor, and all other printed documents. It prepares the monthly roster of officers of the Quartermaster's Department. It keeps files of letters sent and received relating individually to officers, agents, and employés of the department. It received 100,000 written and printed papers, and distributed 85,000 during the year. TRANSPORTATION. The movement during the year was of 79,260 persons, 11,400 beasts, and 109,261 tons of material. The larger movements of troops were: First Cavalry, companies A and C, from Department of California to Department of the Columbia, 920 miles. Second Cavalry, headquarters and four companies, C, D, K, and M, Department of the Platte to Department of Dakota, 470 miles. Third Cavalry, four companies, E, H, L, and M, Department of the Platte to Department of Dakota, 881 miles. Fourth Cavalry, headquarters and six companies, A, C, D, K, L, and M, Department of the Missouri to Texas, 916 miles. Companies C and Dreturned from Texas to Department of the Missouri, 790 miles, and back to Texas, and Company È from Department of Missouri to Texas, 916 miles. Tenth Cavalry, two companies, A and I, from Texas to Department of the Missouri, 461 miles. Second Artillery, Company C, from Department of the East to Department of the South, 466 miles. E, F, G, and L, Department of the East to Texas, 1,805 miles. Company M from the Department of the South to Department of the East, 910 miles. Fourth Artillery, Company E, from Department of the Columbia to Department of California, 650 miles. Fifth Artillery, four companies, B, D, E, and I, from Department of the South to the Department of the East and returned, 1,830 miles. Second Infantry, headquarters and ten companies from Department of the South to Department of the Columbia, 4,311 miles. Third Infantry, headquarters and ten companies from Department of the Gulf to Department of the East, and thence to Department of Dakota, 4,356 miles. Eighth Infantry, headquarters from Arizona to Department of California, 1,021 miles. Twelfth Infantry, headquarters from Department of California to Arizona, 1,021 miles; Company D, from Department of California to Department of the Columbia and returned, 3,445 miles. Thirteenth Infantry, headquarters and eight companies, A, B, C, E, F, H, I, and K, from Department of the Gulf to Department of the East and returned, 2,950 miles. Eighteenth Infantry, eight companies, B, C, D, E, G, H, I, and K, from Department of the South to Department of the East and returned, 1,659 miles. Twentieth Infantry, headquarters and ten companies from Department of Dakota to Texas, 1,937 miles. RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION. Forty-two thousand eight hundred and fifty persons, 9,354 beasts, and 50,782 tons of material were moved by railroad. For transportation by railroads of troops sent to protect their lines and their property during the riots attending the strike on the railroads of the Middle States in the summer of 1877, bills to the amount of $74,000.93 have been presented and paid; the decision of the government being the same as that made during the war: That the United States was bound to furnish troops upon the constitutional call of a State, and to do this at the cost of the General Government, and not at that of the State or of the citizens whose property needed protection by the power of the nation at large. The railroad business of the Army is conducted under rules and with forms of requests, receipts, and accounts established in general orders of the Secretary of War. These rules are the result of long experience, and have been corrected and amended from time to time as defects have been discovered by use. The relations of the department and of the Army with the railroads are harmonious and satisfactory. The work is cheerfully and promptly performed and the services are promptly paid for on presentation of the evidence. The regulation of Congress in reference to the land-grant railroads has embarrassed the service to officers, who suffer loss from the prohibition to pay for any transportation on such roads and who are not always able to make clear to railroad agents, officers, and conductors, their right to transportation without purchase of tickets. The Supreme Court has in several cases, in every one appealed to it and decided by it, decided against the claim set up by the United States, and awarded compensation to the railroads. It appears to be now a simple act of justice to the railroads to rescind the prohibitory legislation under which none of the land-grant railroads can secure compensation, decided in principle by the highest court to be just, without the expense and delay attendant upon instituting and prosecuting suit for every claim. All moneys earned by the Pacific Railroads are, under the Revised Statutes, section 5260, paid over to the Secretary of the Treasury as trustee, to be credited upon the account of the United States against these railroads for interest on bonds issued by the United States to them. The military transportation services of the Pacific Railroads, during the fiscal year, included transportation of 13,543 passengers, 6,286 beasts, and 48,486,878 pounds of military stores, as follows: The total earnings of these roads by military transportation, from their opening to 30th June, 1878, are: At the close of the fiscal year there remained in this office and at the Treasury Department unsettled accounts of the Pacific railroads to the amount of $362,964.55 in the Treasury, and $148,717.39 in this office, a total of $511,681.94. None of the service of these railroads during the fiscal year 1877-'78 has been settled, except the sum of $23,003.65 for the Union Pacific Railroad. The transportation appropriation for 1877-78 is exhausted, and an estimate for deficiency has been submitted. The unsettled accounts of the Pacific railroads for the year 1877-78 are estimated at $825,000. The appropriation of this money will not lead to any actual payment of money from the Treasury, but will enable it to close accounts by giving credit to the railroads for sums earned, which earnings will go to relieve them of charges for interest paid to the United States on bonds issued to the railroads. WAGON AND STAGE TRANSPORTATION. There were 70 contracts for wagon transportation during the year; 26,559 tons of supplies were moved by wagon-teams and 2,802 passengers by stage. WATER TRANSPORTATION. Thirty-three thousand six hundred and eight passengers, 2,046 beasts, and 63,830,327 pounds of stores were carried by vessel. The following vessels owned by the Quartermaster's Department have been in service during the year, viz: Steamboat Henry Smith, in New York Harbor; screw-propeller General McPherson, in San Francisco Harbor; steam-launches Monroe, at Fortress Monroe, Va.; Hamilton, in New York Harbor, at Fort Hamilton, transferred to the Potomac, and on duty between Washington and Fort Foote, and since the termination of the fiscal year sent to David's Island, New York Harbor, for service at the general recruiting depot; Thayer, in Boston Harbor; General Greene, at Fort McHenry, Baltimore; General Jesup, at Fort Adams, Rhode Island; Ordnance, in New York Harbor, to keep up communication with the ordnance-proving grounds at Sandy Hook; lightdraught river steamer General Sherman, on the Upper Missouri and the Yellowstone and Big Horn Rivers. The schooner Matchless is employed at Key West, Fla., and the sloop-yacht Phantom at Fort Barrancas. These vessels, except the General Sherman, are employed in attendance upon certain military posts to keep up daily communication. The Sherman is employed in carrying troops and supplies to the upper posts on the Missouri and its tributaries. The great bulk of the sea, lake, and river transportation is done by the established commercial lines, and on the Upper Missouri under advertisement and contract. Such frontier service is costly, but it is effectually and promptly performed, and each year as the number of vessels plying up these rivers increases with the occupation of the country, the rates of service become less through competition, though the quantity of stores and number of passengers increase so that this remains still a considerable portion of the expenditure for transportation of the Army. The cost of running and maintaining the vessels owned by the department during the year was $92,170.62. There was paid for vessels hired and chartered during the same time, $7,446.13. INDEBTED RAILROADS. On the 1st of July, 1877, there remained due to the United States by certain railroads for material sold them on credit at the end of the war, under Executive orders of 8th August and 14th October, 1865..... During the fiscal year 1877-78 accrued interest and charges on these debts amounted to..... Payments in military transportation and postal service amounted to... And the sum remaining due and charged to the indebted railroads with whom no compromise or settlement has been effected under the various acts for their relief, was, on 1st July, 1878.... $1,865, 793 22 71,172 80 44, 288 91 1,892, 677 11 Accounts in favor of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, amounting to $58,991.49, remain unsettled, the act of March 3, 1875, forbidding payment to the road. In postal earnings there are due to The McMinnville and Manchester Railroad. Total. $5,054 37 55,581 92 60,636 29 These sums are due and payable to the Quartermaster's Department, to be credited, when paid, upon the debt incurred by those two roads. The sum of $16,897.98, postal earnings of the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad Company, has been paid under the appropriation made by Congress for that purpose, and credited to the company. Last year I reported a judgment in favor of the United States against the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad Company, of Tennessee, obtained at the October term of the United States court for the middle district of Tennessee, to the amount of $866,150; execution issued and placed in the hands of the United States marshal for collection. The railroad had passed into the control of the Nashville, Chattanooga and Saint Louis Railroad, which refused to transport troops and munitions of the United States, alleging that it is not paid for such service. The department has no means of enforcing service or of payment. But on 26th July, 1878, the Nashville, Chattanooga and Saint Louis Railroad Company, present owners of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, delivered to this department a draft on the Post-Office Department for $79,607.09, the amount due for postal service on that railroad subsequent to 1st July, 1871, in part payment of the amount of the debt for which the said Nashville, Chattanooga and Saint Louis Railroad was responsible. On this draft the Post-Office Department has paid $26,501. The balance, $53,106.09, cannot be paid by the Post-Office Department until the amount is appropriated for that purpose by Congress. In addition, the sum of $2,475.83, covered by drafts, on account of postal earnings, cannot be paid for want of funds. The total appropriation needed to settle the account for postal earnings is $55,581.92. This amount, I understand, will be reported to Congress by the Treasury Department as a balance due for carrying the mails, and an appropriation to settle the account will be asked. This order on the Post-Office Department to pay over to the Quartermaster's Department $79,607.09 on account of postal earnings of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad-in addition to postal earnings amounting to $17,653.54 previously paid to the Quartermaster's Department, and military transportation amounting to $19,263.23, which had already been credited to the company, making a total of $116,523.86— was accepted by the Secretary of War in liquidation of so much of the judgment as applied to the rolling-stock sold by the United States in 1865 to the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad which had come into and been found by the United States marshal in possession of the Nashville, Chattanooga and Saint Louis Railroad Company. The then value of said stock was estimated as not greater than $116,523.86. The remainder of the judgment and interest thereon amounted to $969,492.21; deducting the $116,523.86 settled as above stated, there remains due from the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad Company $852,968.35, for which there seems to be no recourse. The Nashville and Northwestern Railroad has been sold out under prior liens of the State of Tennessee, and the judgment, it appears, can |