Gen. MCCAIN. All the force is working that way, and a whole lot of them are working two hours additional.

The CHAIRMAN. What I am asking about is this: There was some controversy about the clerks working only seven hours or seven and one-half hours a day, and I wanted to ask what is the situation in your office relative to the hours of this great force you have?

Gen. MCCAIN. They are working regularly from 8.30 in the morning to 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Then, we have a night shift, but none of those people who work from 8.30 in the morning to 5 o'clock in the afternoon are required to work at night. Many of them volunteer to do it, but none of them are required to work at night.

Mr. CANNON. Do you pay them for overtime?

Gen. MCCAIN. No, sir; we do not pay them for overtime.
Mr. CANNON. Nor for the night work?

Gen. MCCAIN. No, sir.

Mr. CANNON. You say they volunteer-you do not compel them? Gen. MCCAIN. No, sir; they volunteer. In emergencies we do not pay any regard to the hours. In a war emergency we would not pay any regard to hours, if necessary, for either clerks or officers.

The CHAIRMAN. You are not able to estimate the number of clerks you will eventually need?

Gen. MCCAIN. No, sir; I can not do it.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any diminution of the work in sight, from your knowledge of the situation?

Gen. MCCAIN. It is going to increase enormously, because we are just getting the National Guard. It was drafted in the service on the 5th of this month, and when the National Army comes in toward the end of the month we can see that it is bound to increase.

ADDITIONAL CLERKS FOR HEADQUARTERS OF THE SEVERAL TERRITORIAL DEPARTMENTS, TERRITORIAL DISTRICTS, TACTICAL DIVISIONS AND BRIGADES, AND SERVICE SCHOOLS.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is as follows:

For additional clerks during the fiscal year 1918, at annual rates of compensation, as follows: Thirty at $2,000 each, 64 at $1,800 each, 240 at $1,600 each, 636 at $1,400 each, 1,790 at $1,200 each, 740 at $1,000 each; in all, $4,337,600.

You have now about $1,500,000 for clerks of this character?

Gen. MCCAIN. We have 1,170 authorized.

The CHAIRMAN. You have more than that, have you not?

Gen. MCCAIN. These are field clerks. There are 1,170 authorized.

The CHAIRMAN. And 139 messengers.

Gen. MCCAIN. I ask for 3,500 more clerks.

The CHAIRMAN. What are all these clerks required for? How did you estimate this?

Gen. MCCAIN. Well, you take an army hearquarters, and they will require 350 clerks.

The CHAIRMAN. Are they assigned to divisions?

Gen. MCCAIN. Yes, sir; and they are assigned to the headquarters of a field army, a part of a corps, or brigade, as well.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you some definite basis upon which this estimate is based?

Gen. MCCAIN. Yes, sir. I have a memorandum here, if I can read from it. If you do not mind, I will read this.

The CHAIRMAN. I mean that it is not a haphazard guess.

Gen. MCCAIN. No, sir. For one army headquarters there will be required 10 clerks at $2,000, 20 at $1,800, 40 at $1,600, 60 at $1,400, 220 at $1,200, making a total of 350; for 20 field army headquarters there will be required for each, 1 at $2,000, 2 at $1,800, 4 at $1,600, 6 at $1,400, 12 at $1,200, making a total of 500; for 50 division headquarters there will be required for each, 1 at $1,600, 2 at $1,400 3 at $1,200, making a total of 300; for 200 brigade headquarters there will be required for each, 1 at $1,400 and 1 at $1,200, making a total of 400; for 32 mobilization camps there will be required for each, 1 at $1,600, 1 at $1,400, 5 at $1,200, and 5 at $1,000, making a total of 384; for 10 concentration camps there will be required for each, 1 at $1.600, 1 at $1,400, 8 at $1,200, and 5 at $1,000, making a total of 150; for 4 ports of embarkation there will be required for each, 1 at $1,800, 2 at $1,600, 3 at $1,400, 10 at $1,200, and 5 at $1,000, making a total of 84. For 6 territorial departments in the United States there will be required for each, 10 at $1,400, 90 at $1,200, and 50 at $1,000, making a total of 900. Now, that leaves 432 that are not actually assigned, and they are to be used when they are required. That is to make allowance for an inadequate estimate.

Mr. CANNON. It is an unassigned force that you are authorized to employ?

Gen. MCCAIN. Yes, sir. I said that this was not a haphazard estimate, but nobody can tell you that these figures are right. I am giving you the best advice I can, but it would not be right to limit me to just exactly the number that I am estimating for. Now, these are the clerks that we are employing now. You authorized me to have so many, and I am employing them as we need them. We have an eligible list that we get them on. I employ them as I actually need them, and not before, and out of the 1,000 I have about 620 employed; but when they organize those divisions and brigades, and as the Army increases in France, there will be a tremendous call for field clerks.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you anticipate that this will be required during this fiscal year?

Gen. MCCAIN. Yes, sir; I do.

The CHAIRMAN. Was this based upon an Army of 1,000,000 men or 2,000,000 men?

Gen. MCCAIN. It is based on an Army of 2,000,000 men.

The CHAIRMAN. Are these enlisted men?

Gen. MCCAIN. They are really officers. It has been decided that they are officers, but they receive no commissions. They wear a prescribed uniform, and after a cetrain fixed period of service are entitled to certain allowances.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there a regular rating for them?

Gen. MCCAIN. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there a rating of their compensation?
Gen. MCCAIN. You put the compensation on here.

The CHAIRMAN. How are they selected?

Gen. MCCAIN. They are selected, except the temporary ones, after a written examination, which is similar to that used in the civil

service, with the changes made necessary by their status as field clerks. We subject them to court-martial, and the like.

Mr. CANNON. You subsist them?

Gen. MCCAIN. No; but they have commissary privileges and can buy from the commissary. We have to look after them in the field. Mr. CANNON. Do you clothe them?

Gen. MCCAIN. No, sir; they clothe themselves.

The CHAIRMAN. But you feed them?

Gen. MCCAIN. Yes, sir: when on duty in the field with troops in rime of war.

Mr. BYRNS. Are there any age limitations?

Gen. MCCAIN. We put 30 years in the regulations, but, in view of the draft, we try to get them outside of that.

MILITARY POST EXCHANGES.

(See pp. 338, 602.)

The CHAIRMAN. Are the military post exchanges under you? Gen. MCCAIN. No, sir; they are under the local commanding generals.

The CHAIRMAN. The Quartermaster General says they are under

νου.

Gen. MCCAIN. Let me explain a little about that. The post exchanges are left to the department commanders. They are permitted to run them under regulations drawn up by the War Department, and we have them inspected every year to see whether they are functioning right and whether they are doing what they ought to do. We supervise into them pretty thoroughly, but we do not interfere with them unless they are found to be irregular, and then the Secretary takes the matter into his own hands. These post exchanges for the new Army that we are creating are going to be run a little differently. They will all be under a commanding general. just as the present post exchanges are, and they will be run under regulations drawn up in my office. This committee on training activities is helping us out on that. They are helping us to start. You see, the National Army starts out without any money, or each regiment starts out without any money for post exchanges, and this committee on training activities is going to try to help start it.

The CHAIRMAN. They propose a pretty good start with $1,000,000. Gen. MCCAIN. I did not make any estimate for that. Here is what they do: These post exchanges will give entertainments, and they will supply articles that the enlisted men can buy. They can buy a toilet article, for instance, and cigarettes, etc.

The CHAIRMAN. What is to happen to our capital? Gen. MCCAIN. After it is once started and after you get it on its feet, you can get your capital back if you make the law that way. The CHAIRMAN. Is there any reason why we should not? all these exchanges conducted at a profit?

Are

Gen. MCCAIN. They are conducted at a profit, and the profit goes to the enlisted men's mess to improve the food supply, and some of it goes to musicians in the bands, to the hospitals, etc. It adds very materially to the comfort and contentment of the men. They have reading rooms at the exchanges.

The CHAIRMAN. Just what are the functions of the committee on training activities?

Gen. MCCAIN. I think they can tell you more about that than I can. However, they are helping. They are coming in from the outside to help us all they can, and they are taking a very active part.

The CHAIRMAN. We want to hear them, but we want your statement about it first.

Gen. MCCAIN. They are helping out. They are helping to start it up.

The CHAIRMAN. Are they going to conduct it?

Gen. MCCAIN. No, sir; it will be conducted under the division commanders and the camp commanders. We will appoint a captain quartermaster of the Army Reserve, who will have charge of the post exchanges in that division, and with each regiment we will have a post exchange officer who will also be an Army officer.

The CHAIRMAN. You do not intend to have civilians?

Gen. MCCAIN. They will always employ some civilians in the work. They will employ civilians for clerks, salesmen, and things like that. The CHAIRMAN. Suppose you state the character of supplies carried in the post exchanges?

Gen. MCCAIN. They have special clothing that is not furnished by the Quartermaster Department-that is, civilian clothing; they have cigars, cigarettes, writing paper, candies, soft drinks, and a lunch counter where they can buy things of that kind. They have game rooms where they play cards and have a billiard room. They also have a writing room and a reading room. Then, they buy phonographs for entertainment. Frequently there is a place for dancing, or a dance hall and a screen for motion pictures. The exchange is conducted under the supervision of the officers, and a ful report is made to the commanding officer and the department commander. All sales are recorded and audited. The post exchanges are inspected annually by the Inspector General, and as often as may otherwise be necessary, to see that they are run for the benefit of the soldiers and with a reasonable profit on the sales. They do not permit extravagance. In fact, we are endeavoring to run helpful and sanitary amusement places for the soldiers.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1917.

MILITARY ACADEMY.

STATEMENTS OF LIEUT. COL. E. R. STUART AND MAJ. C. C. CARTER.

PURCHASE OF COAL, WOOD, ETC.

The CHAIRMAN. For coal, wood, charcoal, stoves, grates, heaters, furnaces, ranges and fixtures, fire bricks, clay, sand, and for repairs of steam-heating and coal-conveying apparatus, grates, stoves, heaters, ranges, furnaces, and mica, and repair, improvement, and maintenance of power plant, $15,000.

The appropriation was $45,000, which was the amount of the estimate. What is the necessity for this additional money?

Col. STUART. That is on account of the increased cost of material, which is shown by the attempts to purchase the same.

The CHAIRMAN. Has a price yet been fixed for this coal?
Maj. CARTER. It has not, so far as we know.

The CHAIRMAN. Has that been taken up?

Maj. CARTER. Yes; with the Council of National Defense.
The CHAIRMAN. Did they make any arrangements!

Maj. CARTER. No definite arrangements were communicated to the quartermaster at West Point except that it would be at current prices; that is the best that could be gotten.

The CHAIRMAN. I understand they are fixing prices for all the Army.

Maj. CARTER. That has not been communicated to us. It is being handled here, so far as we understand.

The CHAIRMAN. Then you do not know yet whether a price has been fixed that would enable you to get through or not?

Maj. CARTER. No, sir. At the time this supplemental estimate was presented, the latest bid from any of the concerns indicated an increase of about $1.68 per ton, and so far as we know that has not changed recently.

PURCHASE OF GAS RETORTS.

The CHAIRMAN. "For gas pipes, gas and electric fixtures, electric lamps, telephone and lighting supplies, lamp-posts, gasometers, and retorts, and annual repairs of the same," you are asking $1,500 additional.

Maj. CARTER. It is necessary to replace two gas retorts, which will cost the greater part of the $1.500 asked for.

The CHAIRMAN. Why not get them out of the current appropriation; it is for that purpose, is it not?

Maj. CARTER. This is a Military Academy item.

The CHAIRMAN. But you have $5,500 for this purpose. Why do you not buy the gas retorts out of that appropriation?

Maj. CARTER. That is the current expenditure which has been made right along for other and smaller fixtures, as a rule. The proposition was made two years ago to do away with the gas plant, but that was not approved by the committee, I believe, and it has been necessary to keep the plant up and keep gas in a good many of the buildings at the academy, and the $5,500 is spent ordinarily for repairs and maintenance charges.

The CHAIRMAN. You say it was disapproved by the Military Affairs Committee?

It is

Maj. CARTER. It never got through Congress. It was taken up. I think, by Mr. McKellar. He was the one who looked particularly into that item. At the last hearing before the Military Affairs Committee of the House by Gen. Biddle the matter was discussed. necessary to maintain the plant under present conditions. The CHAIRMAN. You use electricity up there, do you? Maj. CARTER. We have an electric plant.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you use gas for?

Maj. CARTER. There are certain buildings which have not been wired for electricity, and there are certain buildings in which the electrical installation has been duplicated in gas; that is, some of the