Mr. SHERLEY. So that you are apparently getting competition in the prices that are submitted?

Gen. SHARPE. I think so, sir. On certain articles that I spoke about we buy through the Council of National Defense. Of course, in that case we do not advertise. They indicate where we shall place the orders and the price, but even then, when you come down to buying things, the Council of National Defense indicates the parties where they are placed. For instance, on shoes they control the price of leather, the leather that goes into the shoes. Then they announce that it will be sold for so much per square foot and ascertain how much they will bid to furnish the shoes. Prices have gone down very much on this last opening. I think some seventy-odd manufacturers bid. They make an abstract of the bids, the same as we do, and then make the awards to the lowest bidder.

Mr. SHERLEY. Take the matter of field kitchens. Of course the manufacturer of them must buy his steel, and the cost of manufacture is dependent somewhat upon the price he must pay for his raw material. Has there been any aid extended by the Council of National Defense in undertaking to supply those people with their raw material, like the leather they have arranged to supply to shoemakers for making shoes?

Gen. SHARPE. Iron and steel were the items about which we were first to consult the council, but after looking into the matter of the manufacture of these stoves for bakeries they said that the quantity required was comparatively so small, as compared to the large quantities being used elsewhere, that that matter would not have to go through them. We only go to them in case some manufacturer finds there is difficulty in getting his supply of the raw material from the steel plant. We either go to them or the Secretary himself writes direct, or we write by the Secretary's authority and say that this is intended for the use of the Army, and we request immediate delivery of this contract; and in all of those cases they have given our orders preference over other orders.

Mr. SHERLEY. In point of fact, with the exception of fuel and forage

Gen. SHARPE (interposing). And cotton and woolen goods.

Mr. SHERLEY. You have bought through your own organization, without the help of the Council of National Defense.

Gen. SHARPE. Yes; with the exception of wagons; we have had the Council of National Defense at work on wagons for us, but that comes under another item. However, we have advertised for automobiles ourselves.

Mr. SHERLEY. But the things I have been reading out of this itemized statement of $95,000,000, heretofore appropriated, you have been buying through your usual organization, except as indicated? Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir.

Mr. SHERLEY. The only change being that you have not had the 30-day advertised solicitations for bids?

Gen. SHARPE. That is all; yes.

Mr. CANNON. Do you think you have real competition?
Gen. SHARPE. Yes; I think we have, Mr. Cannon.

MILITARY POST EXCHANGES.

(See p. 338.)

The CHAIRMAN. Do you disburse the money for military exchanges?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir; for the construction of the buildings. The CHAIRMAN. I mean, do you disburse the money to operate them?

Gen. SHARPE. No; that is done by the organizations at the posts. We provide the heat and light for the maintenance of these exchanges, but the operation of the exchanges is carried on by the posts themselves.

The CHAIRMAN. The magazines and newspapers go to these exchanges?

Gen. SHARPE. Not to these exchanges, as I understand it, but they go to the companies.

The CHAIRMAN. They do not go into the exchanges?

Gen. SHARPE. I do not understand that they do.

The CHAIRMAN. Are you familiar with any arrangements that have been made by a committee on training-camp activities?

Gen. SHARPE. No.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you ever heard of it?

Gen. SHARPE. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you know about any such organization?

Gen. SHARPE. I have not heard of any such organization. The only thing that I have heard about is a committee of ladies who have joined together to give these entertainments.

The CHAIRMAN. This is a committee of which Mr. Fosdick is the head?

Gen. SHARPE. No; I do not know anything about that.

The CHAIRMAN. My understanding is that that committee has arranged to furnish libraries at each of these training camps and cantonments for the different organizations that will be there? Gen. SHARPE. I have not heard of that at all, sir.

INCIDENTAL EXPENSES, QUARTERMASTER CORPS.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "Incidental expenses, Quartermaster Corps." You had $10,000,000 and you are asking for $11,010,799?

Capt. DALY. That is for postage, $50,000; telegrams and telephones, $625,000; laborers at depots, camps, etc., $880,854; clerks, $300,000; other employees, $1,550.000; recruiting, $1,540,000; apprehension of deserters, $350,000; donations of $5 to discharged prisoners, $75,000; picket ropes, $15,000; issue outfits and commissary chests, $53,270; lime, disinfectants, crude oil, flagstaffs, etc., $620,000; horse and mule shoes and horseshoe nails, $1,620,000; towels and laundering of same, $158.550; and office equipment, $573,188; a total of $8.410.799, to which is to be added six months' reserve stock, $2,600,000.

The CHAIRMAN. What does this reserve stock consist of?

Capt. DALY. Horseshoes, lime and disinfectants, office furniture and office equipment.

POSTAGE.

The CHAIRMAN. What postage do you pay?

Capt. DALY. We pay registry, parcel post, etc. We have to pay parcel post on all packages over 4 pounds; a great many packages are shipped in that way by the depots, wherever it is cheaper than express. We have to pay postage on communications to foreign countries to our military attachés.

The CHAIRMAN. How much was allotted for that purpose before? Capt. DALY. I think it was $40,000 in the last appropriation.

TELEGRAMS AND TELEPHONES.

The CHAIRMAN. For telegrams and telephones, $625,000? Capt. DALY. That is a big item at this time because we have to rent direct trunk lines; we have a direct line between the quartermaster general's office and the port of embarkation at New York, the depot at New York, and the depot at Philadelphia; we must have a direct communication in order to facilitate the business.

The CHAIRMAN. What does a trunk line from Washington to New York cost?

Capt. DALY. $350 a month.

The CHAIRMAN. How much was allotted out of the last appropriation for this item?

Capt. DALY. I think practically the same amount; I am not certain about that, but I think about that amount. This estmiate is based on practically the previous estimates.

LABORERS AT DEPOTS.

The CHAIRMAN. For laborers at depots, etc., $880,854?

Capt. DALY. That is less than the previous estimate for the same purpose. That word "depots" means, of course, camps as well, and we contemplate employing labor at auxiliary remount depots.

CLERKS.

The CHAIRMAN. Clerks, $300,000?

Capt. DALY. Those are additional clerks required at the divisional camps and cantonments. In order to prepare ourselves and train the clerks we have had to employ, since about the middle of May, an additional force of about 403 clerks; we had not a sufficient number of clerks to do the work. We engaged those clerks at $1,000 a year, and when they finish their course of training and are assigned to provisional camps-that is, those who are nominated by the officer under whom they have been trained-they are sent out to the divisional camps at $1,200.

The CHAIRMAN. Is that the maximum pay?

Capt. DALY. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. You say you are training a force?

Capt. DALY. Yes; we have them at all of the depots and department headquarters. There are 44 clerks in training at the New York depot, 32 at Governors Island, 30 at Boston, 30 at Atlanta, 30 at St. Louis, 15 at Chicago, 20 at Omaha, I do not recall how many at San Francisco, and we have them at Portland and Seattle.

4400-17-- -28

The CHAIRMAN. Are they all in the classified service?

Capt. DALY. Yes; they are all probationary appointees, selected from the civil-service list of eligibles.

COOKS, BAKERS, AND OTHER EMPLOYEES.

The CHAIRMAN. For other employees, $1,550,000. What is the character of these employees?

Gen. SHARPE. The large item in that will be covered by these cooks that we are putting in at the different camps for the National Army. They require 45 cooks for every regiment. Of course, they come there absolutely uninformed as far as organization is concerned, and the problem is to be able to handle them from the time they arrive there. We would require some 11,000 cooks if we were able to employ the cooks to put into the organizations. We have gotten a number of the hotel people together throughout the country, and have appointed a committee of the hotel and chef organizations, and they are now endeavoring to get 15 men for each regiment which will be at these camps. Those 15 men we purpose having at the camps near the 25th of August, if we can, so that when the camps open there will be a force of men there who will be able to prepare the meals for the men arriving at the camps. Then these men will be assigned, 15 to a regiment, and will instruct the men who are assigned to that regiment in cooking. We will hold them until they have gotten those men partially instructed. At the same time we are commencing to establish at every one of these camps our schools for bakers and cooks, so that we will be able to turn out competent cooks to replace. these men.

The CHAIRMAN. We gave you authority to employ 1,200?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir. We are trying to get 3,800 of those cooks, and we hope to take the best men from that number and get the 1,200 men which you gave to us and use them as cook instructors. The CHAIRMAN. Do you train the enlisted men to cook?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir. We are going to have one of these schools in every camp-schools for bakers and cooks.

The CHAIRMAN. How are they assigned to that duty?

Gen. SHARPE. In time of peace, in each department there is a cook school-a baker school and a cook school. The men are assigned there, so many from each regiment, and the course is ordinarily four months, after which they graduate as cooks. Then they also give them a course as mess stewards, when they go back to their organizations and are assigned as cooks and mess stewards by the captains of the various organizations. Those men who graduate as bakers eventually get into our corps and become bakers in the corps and are stationed at the different posts. Then when the bakery company is mobolized they are all turned away from the different posts and go with the bakery company and move out with that bakery company. It is a very efficient organization that they have as far as the cooks' and bakers' schools are concerned.

Mr. CANNON. Are they enlisted men?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes. It may be interesting to state in that connection that the baker situation is very much more easily handled than the cook situation. As an illustration of that, down at Nogales, when the troops were on the border, a man arrived there one day and reported the arrival of one baker. He was a head instructor in

baking and came from the Washington Barracks. They said "We have the bakery equipment but we have nobody to produce the bread." He said "I will do that for you," and inside of 12 hours he had the bakery up and was producing bread for them. He trained those men in baking and made some excellent bakers out of them. Of course, with cooking it is a different thing. The only way we can handle that is to get them at the schools and have them cooking for the organizations of the different posts, and then after the men have graduated we send the men back to their companies. We also send around to every regiment one of these instructors who gces through each mess every day. They make up a bill of fare for them and teach them how to take advantage of the ration and how to keep the expenditures within the allowance. These 1,200 men that you have given us must be taught how to do the work and also how to do the cooking outdoors. I would like to say that all of the hotel people have been very responsive to the requests to come on here and have conferences with us; they have done that at their own expense and they are all joining in to get this work going.

Mr. CANNON. These men are assigned by the colonels of the regiments or the captains from among the enlisted men?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir; the captains of the various companies can appoint their own cooks.

Mr. CANNON. They must appoint them from among the enlisted men?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir. That at once gives them an advance in pay. In ordinary times, before the war, the pay of a private was $15 a month, but a cook got $30; so that you can see it was to a man's advantage to qualify so as to receive that appointment as cook. The CHAIRMAN. What other class of employees is included besides the cooks?

Capt. DALY, Blacksmiths, plumbers, and carpenters.

The CHAIRMAN. What you call your repair gangs?

Capt. DALY. Yes; they are on duty at the camps and cantonments.

RECRUITING EXPENSES.

The CHAIRMAN. For recruiting you are asking $1,540,000? Capt. DALY. That is practically the same amount as the last estimate.

etc.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the character of this expense?

Capt. DALY. It is advertising, bill posting, theater advertising,

The CHAIRMAN. When you made up your original estimate for recruiting it was on the theory that the army was to be a volunteer army, and, of course, a large part of that money will not be needed because of the draft system?

Capt. DALY. But the ordinary enlistments still go on.

The CHAIRMAN. We gave you that amount of money on the theory that there would be voluntary enlistments, but a great part of it you will never use because of the draft?

Capt. DALY. I think you will find that a great part of that money has been obligated for recruiting, and the recruiting expenses are

great.

The CHAIRMAN. What particular expense, for instance?