3d Session. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. DECEMBER 12, 1878.-Ordered to be printed. No. 554. Mr. MORGAN, from the Committee on Patents, submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany bill S. 550.] The Committee on Patents, to whom was referred the bill (S. 550) to authorize the Commissioner of Patents to hear and determine the application of Frederick Cook for extension of patent, have had the same under consideration, and report: That there seems to be no sufficient reason to justify the extension of this patent. The invention, which is called "an open-slot cotton-tie buckle,” was not originally a very important invention, except with reference to the tax that it would impose, under the patent laws, upon the cotton-producing parts of the country. There is nothing in the open-slot cotton-tie buckle that involved great exertion of thought or labor in its invention, or any considerable expense in getting up the models or designs required to be submitted in obtaining a patent, while the amount of money received on this and other patented inventions that have followed it, and are said to have infringed it, is very large-certainly as much as such inventions deserve, through this system of taxation, if it may be properly so called. The inventor of this buckle has not made a large sum of money out of his invention, but this is owing in large part to the fact that the introduction of iron,ties for binding cotton bales was slow in progress; but on the 2d March next this patent will have run, under the original grant and one extension of seven years, for the period of twenty-one years. The cotton-growing regions of this country have almost universally adopted the iron tie as a substitute for all others, and this has been a very beneficial change in the mode of preparing cotton for shipment, but it cannot justly be claimed that this change is the consequence of the invention of this tie-buckle, or of any other of the many devices that have crowded upon the attention of planters and merchants. Your committee report adversely to the bill, and recommend that it be indefinitely postponed. 3d Session. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. DECEMBER 12, 1878.—Ordered to be printed. No. 555. Mr. BURNSIDE, from the Joint Committee on the Reorganization of the Army, submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany bill S. 1491.] The Joint Committee of the two houses, appointed under the following sections of an act of Congress approved on the 18th day of June, 1878, viz SEC. 10. That three Senators, to be appointed by the President of the Senate, and five members of the House, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House, are hereby constituted a joint committee, to whom the whole subject-matter of reform and reorganization of the Army of the United States shall be and is hereby referred, and said committee shall have power to send for persons and papers, to employ a clerk and stenographer, and shall have leave to sit during the recess of Congress; and the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to detail, upon the request of the committee, one or more officers to act as secretaries thereof. The Public Printer shall print such documents as the committee may require. SEC. 11. That said committee shall carefully and thoroughly examine into the matter with reference to the demands of the public service, as to the number and pay of men and officers, and the proportion of the several arms; and also as to the rank, pay, and duties of the several staff corps, and whether any and what reductions can be made, either in the line, field, or staff, in numbers or in pay, by consolidation or otherwise, consistently with the public service, having in view a just and reasonable economy in the expenditure of public money, the actual necessities of the military service, and in the capacity for rapid and effective increase in time of war. SEC. 12. That said committee shall assemble as soon as practicable at such place as they may select, and proceed to the consideration of the matters with which they are charged, and make report to Congress by the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, with all the evidence, of record or otherwise, which they shall have received and considered. And the sum of five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to defray the expenses of said committee, to be expended under the direction of the chairman thereof met and organized in this city on the 20th day of June, 1878. After an informal discussion it was decided to call upon the general officers, and the chiefs of the staff departments of the Army, and certain prominent men of military experience outside of the Army, for draughts of bills for the reorganization of the Army, and for such views upon the subject as they might see fit to present to the committee. It was then decided to hold the first meeting of the committee at the White Sulphur Springs, Va., to commence on the 22d day of July. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third United States Artillery, was appointed military secretary, and Col. D. R. Larned, clerk of the committee. A stenographer was not deemed necessary, and none was appointed. An adjournment was then made to meet as above indicated. On the 22d day of July the sessions of the committee were resumed at the White Sulphur Springs, and continued from day to day until Wednesday, the 31st. For reasons which the committee deemed good and sufficient, it was decided to conduct the proceedings with closed doors, and to give nothing to the public touching its action until the re port was made to Congress. After diligent work and mature deliberation the main features of a bill were unanimously agreed upon, and the session adjourned to meet in New York City on the 18th day of November. The chairman was instructed to prepare in the mean time the details of the bill. The committee met in the city of New York, pursuant to adjournment, on the 18th of November. The report of the chairman was presented, carefully examined, discussed and amended in such particulars as were necessary to make it conform to the views of the committee, but it was in its main features approved. The changes in this report and the absence of two members of the committee made it proper to delay final action until a meeting could be had in this city, and an adjournment was made on the 26th of November until the 7th day of December, at which time your committee met and resumed their work. It is not deemed necessary to give in this report minute details of the changes made in the laws touching the Army, as the bill explains itself. Many of the sections of the bill are identical with those now in the Revised Statutes; but as many changes in the present laws have been recommended by the committee, it was deemed wise to make a new arrangement of all the sections to replace all the laws upon the statute books touching the Army, except such chapters as the committee recommends to leave unchanged; so that this bill, if adopted, will, with the unchanged chapters referred to, make a condensed and complete military code. The bill provides that the general officers shall be reduced to 6, viz: 2 major-generals and 4 brigadier-generals, for the permanent organization, instead of 11 as at present; but the reduction is to take place by casualties. That the offices of General and Lieutenant-General shall cease to exist with the present incumbents. That the Adjutant-General's Department and Inspector-General's Department be consolidated under one head, viz: "The General Staff," composed of 1 brigadier-general, 3 colonels, 6 lieutenant-colonels, and 8 majors, making a total reduction of 6 officers. That the Quartermaster's Department be composed of 1 brigadiergeneral, 2 colonels, 5 lieutenant-colonels, 8 majors; in all, 16—a reduction of 48 officers. That the Subsistence Department be composed of 1 brigadier-general, 1 colonel, 2 lieutenant-colonels, and 5 majors; in all, 9 officers-La reduction of 17 officers. That the Medical Department be composed of 1 brigadier-general, 6 colonels, 10 lieutenant-colonels, 48 majors, and 120 captains and first lieutenants; in all, 187 officers-making a reduction of 11 officers. That the Pay Department be composed of 1 brigadier-general, 1 colonel, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 25 majors; in all, 28-making a reduction of 27 officers. That the Ordnance Department be composed of 1 brigadier-general, 2 colonels, 4 lieutenant-colonels, and 8 majors; in all, 15 officers-making a reduction of 49 officers. That the Bureau of Military Justice be composed of 1 colonel and 2 majors; in all, 3 officers-a reduction of 6 officers. That the Signal-Service remain unchanged. That the office of post chaplain be abolished; but that 1 regimental chaplain be appointed for each cavalry and infantry regiment, in all 26 officers; making a reduction of 8. That the officers of the Corps of Engineers remain unchanged. That the corps of artillery shall consist of 5 regiments as at present, with a reduction of 15 in the number of officers. That the corps of cavalry shall consist of 8 regiments instead of 10, as at present. That the Corps of Infantry shall consist of 18 regiments instead of 25 as at present, with a reduction of 136 in the number of officers. That each regiment of the line shall consist of 4 battalions-three of which are to be officered, but the fourth to remain unofficered and unmanned until especially authorized by Congress. That three battalions of each regiment of cavalry shall be manned for the present. That but two battalions of each of the regiments of artillery and infantry shall be manned for the present. That the company officers of the line shall be detailed for service in the staff departments, as nearly as possible, in rotation. That promotions shall be made by seniority in the different corps and departments, but that appointments to the rank of major (the lowest established grade) in the staff departments (other than in Medical Department), shall be made from the captains and first lieutenants of the line in the order of merit and service in the said departments, but such appointments in the Ordnance Department are to be made only from the artillery. That when it becomes necessary to officer and man the fourth battalion the appointment of officers shall be made by seniority in the separate corps, and vacancies in the lower grade shall be filled by West Point graduates and meritorious soldiers. That the present organization shall consist of not to exceed 25,000 enlisted men, exclusive of signal soldiers. That the limit to the retired-list be removed for the present and that certain officers not provided for in the new organization be placed upon it. That a reserved list shall be created upon which supernumerary officers, made so by the new organization, are to be placed for a period not to exceed three years, unless otherwise ordered by Congress. That necessary boards shall be ordered and organized to make recommendations for the proposed reduction, and that the reduction shall begin on the 1st of July, 1879, and be completed by the 1st of January, 1880. That in the assignment of officers retained in the new organization, seniority of commission in the Army shall govern the order, but assignments shall be made without reference to corps. That the manufacture of ordnance and ordnance stores by the Ordnance Department be prohibited, and that all purchase of arms and ammunition be made in open market, or by contract. That the office of post-trader be abolished, and that the Subsistence Department shall furnish, in addition to its present supplies, such articles as a board of officers shall designate. The committee have not deemed it advisable to make any change as to pay of officers and soldiers, except in the cases of certain non-com missioned officers, as appears in the bill. That fuel be issued in kind within given amounts, but that all surplus fuel shall belong to, and at stated periods be turned into the Quartermaster's Department, and that under no circumstances shall commutaton be allowed. That quarters shall be allowed much in the same way as at present. That general officers be placed on the retired-list when sixty-five years of age, unless otherwise directed by the President. That all other officers be retired on arriving at sixty-two years of age. |