General Merriam also reports that the Shoshone and Arapaho had been more or less restless, though there was no rebellious or defiant spirit shown, the Indians being discontented under certain conditions, viz, no issue of seeds, a delay in the issue of rations, and the abolition of the sun dance, which General Merriam thinks harmless.

In practical instruction, General Merriam has required his troops to make a practice march one day each week. General conditions satisfactory.

The

Gen. H. C. Merriam, also commanding Department of the Missouri, republishes his orders in regard to theoretical and practical instruction of troops, requiring a lyceum two days of each week during four months of the year, also noncommissioned officers' schools. instruction of recruits, as such, is limited in the case of infantry recruits, to fifteen days, and artillery and cavalry recruits to twenty days. Field exercises once per week, entire units being required to

turn out.

The report of the officer in charge of Apache prisoners of war at Fort Sill shows a satisfactory state of affairs, and a gain of one-fifth in the number of cattle on hand. The number of acres under cultivation has largely increased. The number of persons has (apparently) decreased to 266 (?), there being reported a loss of 13 during the year. The health of the Indians continues poor, due to tuberculosis, . said to have been contracted in Florida.

Maj. A. C. Sharpe, acting inspector-general, Department of Missouri, recommends as the most urgent need of the Army the reestablishment of the Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley schools of application. Every young officer who has entered the Army during the past three years should pass through these schools as soon as possible. With a class of 200 it would require seven or eight years to pass them all through. Meanwhile great emphasis should be laid on lyceum work and professional reading and study.

Brig. Gen. George M. Randall, commanding the Department of Alaska, reports that the severe weather conditions in the vicinity of Fort St. Michael in all the latter part of the season, preventing the unloading of supplies from the transport Kvarven, causes him to recommend that all supplies for St. Michael be shipped in future in vessels of light draft, not to exceed 16 feet, and that they be sent in the early summer, to arrive not later than September 1, nor before June 12, the average date of the opening of St. Michael Bay.

General Randall also reports that the tendency to lawlessness in the vicinity of Cape Nome having somewhat subsided, the most important work of the department has become the construction of military telegraph lines and roads; that the telegraph line up the Yukon River from Fort St. Michael is being pushed and is expected to arrive at Fort Gibbon before September, and that the soft tundra country between St. Michael and the Yukon Valley delays construction on account of the difficulty of transportation, except during the winter. He recommends that there be employed along the line at each telegraph station two natives as line-repair men. He reports further that the work upon the trans-Alaskan military road, under Captain Abercrombie, Second Infantry, to Port Valdez and Port William Sound and Fort Egbert on the Yukon River, opening up the fine agricultural and mineral country

of the Copper River gully was prosecuted with energy, and that the crossing of the Tanana is expected to be reached next November; 60 miles lower down the Tanana is a navigable tributary of the Yukon.

Owing to the peculiarities of the country, instruction in drill and target practice has been hindered, and, as the troops must otherwise deteriorate in military efficiency, he recommends that they serve in Alaska no longer than two years.

The mails to and from interior posts go by water in the summer; during the winter by dog sled up the Yukon River to Dawson, thence to Skagway, and thence to the States. Printed matter being excluded, he recommends that all orders and circulars be forwarded in ordinary letter envelope.

The condition of the mining prospectors is reported as being more favorable. There have been less cases of destitution among them, and the same can be said of the natives for the past year.

It is also reported that there are no books in the lyceum library. The chief paymaster finds it impossible to pay troops in person during nine months of the year, and recommends that arrangements to obtain funds be made with the Alaskan Commercial Company. The chief quartermaster recommends the substitution of dog transportation for that of mule during the winter, and states with regard to reindeer that they are not as serviceable as dogs.

Col. James N. Wheelan, Twelfth United States Cavalry, commanding Department of Texas, reports that the most serious event occurring during the year was the disastrous storm at Galveston, which had been reported on already by the former department commander. He recommends that in construction of posts provision be made for the keeping together entire squadrons (the squadron being the tactical unit for the cavalry), and squadron commanders be made responsible for the discipline and instruction of their commands, and that increased accommodations be provided for one squadron at Fort Bliss, it now having quarters for but one troop. He calls attention to the "travesty upon justice," caused by the detention of one field officer and thirty-six men as witnesses in criminal cases before the State courts for eighteen months (this detention apparently still continuing). He also calls attention to the difficulty of obtaining water at Fort Ringgold, an artesian well being recommended; also to the condition of Fort Brown, on which no further expenditures can be made by order of the Secretary of War. If the post is to be garrisoned by one or more troops or companies, extensive repairs are necessary.

Capt. C. D. Roberts, acting judge-advocate, Department of Texas, reports one of the main objects of the "Act to prevent a failure of military justice" being the adequate punishment of offenders at smaller posts, which appears to be easily defeated by offenders objecting to trial by summary court, thus reducing the punishing power of the summary court and offering the alternative of either allowing the accused to escape with an inadequate punishment, or necessitating his being sent elsewhere for trial.

Maj. Peter J. A. Cleary, chief surgeon, Department of Texas, reports:

It may be well to invite attention to the medical officers serving in this department, known as contract surgeons. A more anomalous or singular body does not

exist in any army or organization in the world. They are not commissioned officers, yet they are entitled to wear uniform, and while they may wear it, they can not be required to. They perform the duties of commissioned officers, but have not the privileges or rights of one. They may be court-martialed, or may be dismissed or discharged without trial. They may be appointed without any examination as to their qualifications, or may have to undergo an examination. To enter the medical corps of the Regular Army the candidate must pass a rigid examination, and then gets the rank and pay of a first lieutenant (mounted), $1,600. The contract surgeon may not be examined, but, if examined, the examination is not nearly so strict, and enters at once with the pay of a captain (not mounted), $1,800.

Finally, while there are many excellent and highly qualified men in the ranks of the contract surgeons, yet, as a body, they are below par in the estimation of officers and enlisted men, and through no fault of their own, but because of the absurd and contradictory circumstances in their position, all of which have not been referred to— for instance, about quarters. One may be ordered to duty where there are no Government quarters, in which case he is not entitled to commutation as officers are, but must provide himself as best he can. It is also a fact that his pay has been stopped while off duty sick with disease contracted in the discharge of his duty. Whether this ruling prevails now or not, I have not inquired.

This condition could easily be remedied with benefit to the service, a saving to the Government, and to the satisfaction of the majority of those affected, by very simple means. Give every one of them a commission of first lieutenant (mounted), and abolish the thing forever.

We have now the medical officers of the regular establishment. We have also medical officers, assistant surgeons, and surgeons of volunteers. Now, let the contract surgeons be commissioned as additional assistant surgeons of the army and eligible for promotion to the grade of captain (mounted), and holding office so long as their services may be needed-to be appointed and commissioned by the President, on recommendation of the Surgeon-General, and to be discharged or service terminated in the same manner by the President, or on recommendation of chief surgeon, approved by the Surgeon-General.

REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

A recent tour of the Philippine Islands and brief visit to Japan and Eastern China suggest several important needs of the service, especially of the army in the Philippines.

ARMY TRANSPORT SERVICE- -MAILS AND CABLE TO THE PHILIPPINES.

The army transport service on the Pacific, which was organized as a military necessity immediately following the American occupation of the Philippine Islands, while honestly and efficiently administered under the direction of sailing masters of experience and ability, is, under the present order of things, believed to be costing the Government considerably more than its men and military stores could be carried in ships of commercial companies. Commercial steamship lines would have the advantage (denied to the Government) of transporting passengers, freight, and mails to the Orient, both on outward and homeward voyages, and meet the needs for increasing American trade in the Orient. It would seem that Congress could with safety offer certain inducements to those engaged in the shipping business of the United States to install a line of steamers under such charters as would in time of necessity serve the Government as reserve army and navy transports and while employed on regular sailings, the Government to have every facility for the shipment of men and stores.

This scheme should not only embrace our needs on the Pacific, but should be extended to all ships properly constructed and arranged for troop ships, to provide a competent service for the future and avoid the possibilities of the hardships, embarrassments, and inconveniences

resulting in the forwarding of the expeditionary forces to Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines during the Spanish-American war. The Government interests would be far more economically administered than under the present method and just as efficient, and avoid in the hour of necessity the chartering of ships, few of which would be fitted or convertible into transports suitable to bunk and subsist an army and carry military stores. This was the main obstacle encountered in recent experiences, and it would seem to be no less than our duty to provide a system that would save this embarrassment to those coming after us. A well-organized and trained force of competent seamen (officers and men) would be at the disposal of the Government for transportation of its forces and war material at all times and to any destination and in good order, and with due regard for the comfort and safety of troops and the necessities of the campaign, saving the Government the employing of a large number of officers and men of either the Army or Navy-men skilled and schooled not only in navigation, but in loading, lightering, and unloading of cargoes.

Although the transport service will have to be continued for some months to come, yet Congress should take proper steps to permit the discontinuance of this service and enact the legislation authorizing the Department to advertise for bids for carrying men and freight on the Pacific, to go into effect at the beginning-say the first-of the fiscal year, such service to be surrounded by safeguards that would insure a well-regulated service in ships suitable and economical for the Government's requirements at this time, as well as looking to provisions for an efficient service in time of war.

This would also permit the Post-Office Department to make contracts for the carrying of mails upon regular schedules, which is of prime importance to our Army and the commercial interests of the islands. Ever since the American occupation of the Philippines nothing has been so uncertain as the mails and nothing so unsatisfactory to the military and civil government. The Post-Office Department in the past has depended upon the army transports to carry the mails, and the transport service, to meet the exigencies of the military service, has been, in the nature of things, very irregular. I understand that there is no contract for carrying mails, but that such carriage is wholly dependent on our transports. The Post-Office Department under these conditions has done its best to give us a good service. Another and kindred subject, and perhaps of equal importance, is the necessity for a domestic cable running from the Pacific coast to the Philippines, one over which the business of the Government can be transmitted within reasonable limitations of cost and within its own jurisdiction. I say domestic service for the reason that the cable communication now existent is through Europe, Asia, China, and Japan, and which, for obvious reasons, should be discontinued at the earliest date. The present tariff practically prohibits any really efficient service, yet the requirements and urgency of the public exigencies have been such as to compel a use of the cable, the cost of which is far in excess of what it should be, $2.38 per word being the regular tariff of the cable companies now doing service between here and Manila.

The cipher of the Department, however, is being rewritten to adjust itself to the cable service, which, when it is completed, will insure a very considerable saving in the cost of messages over the present code

now in use.

The question of water transportation will doubtless be more comprehensively treated by the Quartermaster-General in his report for this year; but the convictions which are here mentioned are the result of close observations, which make it my bounden duty to invite your careful consideration to these very important subjects for the welfare of the Army and the economy of its administration.

BARRACKS AND QUARTERS FOR TROOPS IN THE PHILIPPINES.

The comparative order now prevailing in the Philippine Archipelago would make it wise at an early date to assemble the troops at certain strategic points and house them in comfortable quarters. At this time the troops are still occupying temporary quarters in such places and buildings as are available and which in times past the military necessity required; but economical considerations now suggest the erection of permanent quarters, which will be less expensive than the present method, more conducive to the general health and comfort of the troops, and at the same time meet future military requirements.

Storehouses. Another thing that is very urgent and which requires immediate consideration is an appropriation for the erection of storehouses in Manila and vicinity. Investigation while there showed that at this time the Government is paying no less than $300,000 American money annually for rent of storehouses, and very largely this expenditure is being made in the city of Manila. At other principal points it was found that the old Spanish storehouses had been repaired by the labor of troops, or otherwise, so as to answer the needs of the supply departments.

If these suggestions are adopted the cost of maintaining troops in the archipelago will be scarcely more than that on home stations, and the health and comfort of the officers and men be assured.

UNIFORMS.

Recent extensive observations suggest the desirability, if not necessity, of many changes in the uniforms of officers, especially with regard to belts, shoulder knots, and shoulder straps. The heavy dress hats, now prescribed by the regulations, are cumbersome, expensive, and not adapted to the present requirements of the service. This question should have the early consideration of a competent board authorized to recommend uniforms more suitable to the present needs and wide range of our service.

OFFICERS' SERVANTS.

Officers in active service should be provided with servants duly enlisted as such, but whose compensation should be reimbursed by the officers. These men should be provided with the uniform that will distinguish them from the rank and file, and it is also important that the employees of the Quartermaster's Department-such as teamsters, farriers, wagon masters, and packers-should in like manner be enlisted for that service with a prescribed uniform different from that of the regularly enlisted men. The importance of this was illustrated in the recent experiences covering the operations in China, where there is abundant evidence that on several occasions the good name and discipline of General Chaffee's Army was called into question by the rowdyism of noncombatants dressed in most part in the uniform of a soldier.