provides for four additional clerks, one at $1,600, two at $1,400, and one at $1,200, and then $1,500 additional for necessary office expenses. This latter item of miscellaneous expenses is $1,500 more for next year than was provided for the current year. The office is growing, due to increased requirements from the militia. We are engaged in the very important work of securing better protection for Government property issued to the States,and accountability therefor, which has been neglected for a long time due to various reasons, and these additional clerks are absolutely essential to carry out that work. Mr. JOHNSON. Is the work of the Office of Militia Affairs increasing as the years go by?

Gen. MILLS. Yes, sir; for the reason that the Federal Government is making a greater effort to improve the field efficiency of the militia by reason of the increased expenditures now made for that purpose. The office is growing right along; and if further legislation is had which is asked for by the Organized Militia, the office will grow much beyond what it is now. I have personally gone into these requests, as explained here, and can vouch for the absolute necessity. for what is asked for.

Mr. JOHNSON. On page 159 there is a proposed amendment leaving out the language that we have been carrying in the legislative bill. I presume that you really do not object to that language. It simply shows where the money is coming from and keeps these items separate. Beginning with the dollar mark on page 159, there is a request for us to drop that language beginning: "Which sum, together with the foregoing amount for salaries and rents, shall be paid from the permanent appropriation for militia under the provisions of section 1661, Revised Statutes," etc.

Gen. MILLS. Has there been any request to drop it?

Mr. COURTS. It does not appear in the estimates as submitted.

Mr. JOHNSON. Was it deemed proper or desirable to cut that out? Gen. MILLS. I can not see, if this small increase we have asked for is given, that the retention of that clause would be objectionable in any way.

Mr. JOHNSON. The difference would be this: With that clause there it comes out of the permanent appropriation you referred to a moment ago under section 1661, but with this clause omitted, as that punctuation there would indicate, then it would be paid out of the Treasury.

Gen. MILLS. I rather think it would be a good idea to keep that in so as to make the appropriations for the Organized Militia pay the expense. I do not see anything objectionable in it.

Mr. JOHNSON. Has there been any increase in the activities of the Organized Militia or an increase in the enrollment?

Gen. MILLS. The Government is moving to make the militia more efficient. In 1911 the additional officers bill-that is, the bill authorizing additional officers for the Army-permitted the detail of, so far, some 70 officers from the Army who are now on duty with the Organized Militia as inspector-instructors. These officers, in addition to other duties, have taken up a very important work. For many years the Federal Government has been making appropriations for the militia. For some 80 years the appropriation was $200,000, but in 1880 it was increased to $400,000. In 1890 it became $1,000,000 and now it is

$2,000,000. In addition, under section 13 of the militia law there is an additional $2,000,000 provided for the purchase of supplies of all kinds for issue to the militia. The first $2,000,000 is to provide ordnance stores, camp equipment, etc., for the militia, while a certain amount of this appropriation in each State has to be used for target practice. The rest is intended to be spent in carrying on field and camp instruction work which they are required to do to get this money. The $2,000,000 that is provided under section 13 of the militia law is an annual appropriation and is expended for arms and all kinds of supplies, uniforms, equipment, and all stores and supplies that are provided for the Regular Army.

Section 1661 of the Revised Statutes and section 13 of the militia law both require that all property issued to the States under these two appropriations remain Federal property, and that the governors shall annually account for the same. We are just now taking up these returns of property which have been neglected for various reasons and for which there is a good explanation, in order to ascertain exactly what property the States now have on their governor's return, and whether they have on hand sufficient equipment to make the militia effective for actual field service. These 70 inspectorinstructors are distributed throughout the United States, and they have counted all the property that the States have on hand. Now, this has been the first actual count by the Government that has ever taken place of that property. We are straightening out the matter by comparing what has been actually counted with what each State is accountable for. We need now and will continue in the future to need these additional clerks to do this very important work and duty. The governors of the States can only drop this property in the way provided by law; that is, when property has been lost or stolen or becomes unserviceable or unsuitable through use in the service it. can only be dropped on the approved report of a surveying officer designated by the governor of the State to make the survey, the record of which survey the governor has to furnish the Secretary of War. The Secretary of War has to act on this report and determine whether this property has been lost, destroyed, or become unserviceable through proper causes, or whether there has been neglect in caring for it or protecting it from the elements or other causes. The Secretary of War has to determine from the reports of these boards of survey whether that property can be dropped. We are now engaged in that work.

We have now 2,500 reports of boards of survey that it is absolutely essential to go over in order to put Federal property that is in the hands of the States on a proper basis so we will know what they have got. Again, the militia law requires that before any of the money appropriated under it can be made available the militia must have sufficient equipment for field service, and then in section 13 of the militia law there is provided a clothing allowance for each State per man in order that they may be sufficiently or properly clothed. For these reasons, too, it is essential for us to know, before this clothing allowance can be granted the State or money paid it for camp instruction, whether the State has sufficient clothing for its militia. Of course, this is rather a hasty explanation, but I hope it is clear. Mr. JOHNSON. We are very much obliged to you.

Gen. MILLS. I have given you as concise a statement as possible, showing the necessity for what is asked for. The work referred to can be done only with some additional clerical force. Later on we will probably have to have more assistance, especially if the bill that is now before Congress goes through. That will increase the work of this division immensely.

FRIDAY, November 22, 1912.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS.

STATEMENT OF COL. SPENCER COSBY, IN CHARGE OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS.

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT.

Col. COSBY. There is very little increase in my estimates. They are just about the same as last year, I think, with two exceptions. One of them is an increase for the landscape architect from $2,400 to $3,000 a year. We have a little note that explains that.

Mr. JOHNSON. On page 162 you ask for an increase for the landscape architect from $2,400 to $3,000. The note states that by reason of the Potomac Park and certain other park enterprises it will be necessary to employ a man of high skill. You are not going to turn the man off, are you?

Col. COSBY. No, sir; we have a man of high skill at the present time, but we are having difficulty in keeping him. He has now an offer of $4,000 from the University of Illinois, and that offer may be increased. He is a man who is satisfactory to us in every way, but he is a man of such high skill that, as I said, we have difficulty in keeping him. He is exactly the kind of man we need.

Mr. JOHNSON. How long has he been in the service?

Col. COSBY. Over two years.

Mr. JOHNSON. Is he a graduate of a military school?

Col. COSBY. No, sir; he is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he took a course in landscape architecture. After that he took a postgraduate course at Harvard University, and then went to Europe for one or two years and studied there. He was assistant professor of landscape architecture at Cornell when he came to us. He has had a training of many years in this particular work, and is a very skillful man as well as a man of great imagination.

PARK POLICE.

Mr. JOHNSON. I see you are asking to have these watchmen changed in their designation, the explanation being that they are police officers under the law in fact if not in name. Suppose we make them police officers in name, would there be any obligation incurred by the Government that it does not now incur in the matter of retirement or pensions?

Col. COSBY. No, sir; absolutely none. The misnomer is a decided disadvantage. People write to us about the park police and in our replies we call them park watchmen. This gives rise to constant misunderstanding. That, however, is a small matter. The material

trouble lies in this: We are not getting very satisfactory men from the Civil Service Commission. They have a watchmen's register, and they certify eligibles to fill these park-police positions from men who take the examination for watchman. A year ago when I first asked for a certification they certified the names of three men who were over 60 years old. None of them was able to perform the duties of a policeman. Yet that was the only register the commission had. Our men are designated as watchmen, and therefore they certify names to us only from the watchmen's register. One of the advantages that a change in the designation would give is this, that I would ask the Civil Service Commission to at once establish a register of park policemen.

Mr. JOHNSON. If you were to do that, would it not result in doing just exactly the opposite of what was originally intended in providing these places-that is, that they should be filled by old soldiers, who, of course, are old men?

Col. COSBY. If that was the original intention, I know nothing about it.

Mr. COURTS. Before these positions were placed under the civil service it was the practice to take honorably discharged soldiers for watchmen. Subsequent to that practice they passed laws imposing upon these watchmen the same police powers that were possessed by the Metropolitan police, and I understand that in recent years they do not take the honorably discharged soldiers

Col. COSBY (interposing). Before the Civil Service Commission put these men on their watchmen's register we had a little civilservice arrangement of our own by which we accepted only honorably discharged men from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps; but among our restrictions was one that no man would be accepted who was over 45 years of age. Another restriction was that the man should have had at least eight years' service, because we wanted men with military training and experience. In other words, it was our effort to get men whose records showed them to be particularly well fitted for the work of a policeman and at the same time to give some recognition to men who had given good service to the Government. However, as I have stated, we limited our selection to men under 45 years of age.

Mr. JOHNSON. Taking the force as a whole, it is composed mostly of old men, is it not?

Col. COSBY. Not now. I do not believe that we have over seven or possibly eight men who are over 60 years old.

Mr. COURTS. That is the case in the department buildings only, I think. They have been taking old men in the departments.

Col. COSBY. It is just that designation of watchman that sometimes in the past has forced us to take old men for duty in the parks which should be performed by active policemen. Twenty of our men are mounted on bicycles. They have to go from park to park or through the big parks and do police work. They have to make a great many arrests of drunken men, for instance. They have many fights and they are sometimes injured. They have to be strong and active men. Mr. JOHNSON. On page 163 you are asking for an additional second sergeant of park police.

Col. COSBY. Yes, sir; there is now one second sergeant, and I have asked for two.

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Mr. JOHNSON. Do you propose to promote somebody to that position?

Col. COSBY. Yes, sir; one of the men who has been practically acting as sergeant for two years; it is proposed to promote this man.

PRINTING AND BINDING.

Mr. JOHNSON. In the paragraph on page 165, for contingent and incidental expenses, you have added the words "including printing and binding." What do you want to have printed and bound?

Col. COSBY. That was put in in order to meet the provision in one of the appropriation acts that no printing or binding should be done from any appropriation unless it is specifically mentioned in the appropriation. We have very little printing done, possibly $20 worth a year, but this is to enable us to have that little amount done. It will not make any difference in the amount.

Mr. JOHNSON. For contingent and incidental expenses you have had $700 for years. Do you spend all of it?

Col. COSBY. We had a balance last year of $6.

BICYCLES AND REVOLVERS.

Mr. JOHNSON. The next item is for the purchase and repair of bicycles and revolvers, $400.

Čol. COSBY. The committee increased that last year, and I told them if they increased it to $1,000 we would get enough bicycles and revolvers to equip all the men. That was another thing that we found necessary that is, for our men to have revolvers.

UNIFORMS FOR POLICE.

Mr. JOHNSON. On page 166 there is an item for purchasing and supplying uniforms to park police, $2,800. Is that sufficient? Col. COSBY. Yes, sir; our men are well uniformed now.

Mr. JOHNSON. How much does it cost to provide a man with a uniform?

Col. COSBY. $54, practically, for a man on foot and about $50 for a man on bicycle.

Mr. JOHNSON. How much uniform does that give him?

Col. COSBY. I have a list here showing exactly what it is. Each man is allowed one blouse, two pairs of trousers, one blue cap, one white cap, two pairs of white gloves, one frock coat every two years, one overcoat every two years, one rubber coat every two years. Mr. JOHNSON. And that foots up about $54 a year?

Col. COSBY. Yes, sir; and these things have to last him that length of time. The man on a bicycle gets very nearly the same, except that he gets an additional blouse instead of a frock coat and he does not get an overcoat.

STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENT BUILDING. STATEMENT OF CAPT. U. S. GRANT, 3D, SUPERINTENDENT. SALARY INCREASES.

[See p. 101.]

Capt. GRANT. I have asked for a few increases in salaries. The reason for that is that for the three years that I have been superin