JOB PRINTING. PAR. 188. Job printing required will be executed under contract, thirty days' notice, when practicable, being given of the opening of the proposals. The period of the contract will not extend beyond the end of the fiscal year in which made, and the contract will be submitted to the secretary of public works for approval. PAR. 189. Printed letter and note headings for district offices will contain only the designation of the office, post-office address, and blank date. Names of officials or other persons will not be printed on letter or note headings for use in any branch of the service. PAR. 190. Officials will, as a rule, obtain all blank forms, blank books, etc., by requisition upon the secretary of public works. PAR. 191. When specifications are printed for material or labor for works of the department, and pertaining to work to be done or materials to be used in actual construction, 50 copies will be printed and forwarded to the secretary of public works, in addition to the number required by the officer in immediate charge of the work. CORRESPONDENCE. PAR. 192. Official letters from an employee to one of his superiors must be transmitted through official channels, i. e., through his immediate superior, and so on. Superiors will in each case duly transmit such letters without delay, but will be permitted to accompany them by such remarks as may be pertinent. Should an inferior employee have reason to believe that his letter has not been transmitted, he can send a copy direct, accompanied by an explanation of the reason for such action. PAR. 193. An official letter should refer to one subject only; letters of transmittal will be used only when necessary, and when used must refer only to the matter transmitted; none are required with rolls, returns, or periodical reports. Telegrams will be followed by official copies sent by first mail. PAR. 194. Letter paper will be folded in three, and foolscap in four equal folds parallel with the writing. The first fold will be used exclusively for a brief analysis of the contents of the communication, the office marks, and note of inclosures. PAR. 195. The post-office address of an official's station will be given in his official letters. Indefinite expressions of locality, which do not indicate where the letter was written, will not be used. PAR. 196. Official communications will be signed or authenticated with the pen and not by facsimiles. Signatures will be plainly and legibly written. PAR. 197. A letter will be properly briefed at the first office at which it is received and entered. PAR. 198. Indorsements commence at the top of the second fold and are numbered serially in order of dates on the successive folds, leaving room after each for office marks. Additional space for indorsements will be provided by pasting slips of paper on the under side of the last fold (right edge of original paper), each slip, when attached, to have the same length and width as the original fold and to turn back upon the last fold like the leaf of a book. The first fold on which the brief is made is always on the outside. Printed labels, by way of indorsement, will not be pasted on official papers. In no case will a loose wrapper be placed around an official paper, except as a mere covering. PAR. 199. All inclosures will be numbered and given the proper office mark. Inclosures to the original communication are noted on the first fold, just below the brief. If others are added when an indorsement is made, their number will be noted at the foot of the indorsement to which they pertain and also on the first fold of the original communication. To the latter notation will be added the number of the indorsement to which they belong, thus: "One inclosure fifth indorsement." Inclosures to indorsements are numbered in the same series as those to the original paper, and the number of the indorsement to which they belong is added below. If few in number and not bulky, inclosures may be kept inside the original paper; otherwise they will be folded together in a wrapper marked "inclosures." STATIONERY. PAR. 200. Official stationery will be used for official business only. Blank forms as approved by the governor of the island, official paper, and penalty envelopes will be obtained from the secretary of public works on application. PAR. 201. Official communications and other mailable matter relating exclusively to the public business will be transmitted through the mails free of postage if inclosed in the penalty envelope." PAR. 202. Packages of public property weighing not more than four pounds may be sent through the mails under cover of the penalty envelope. Penalty envelopes with return address may be furnished to any person from whom official information is desired, or for the return of official vouchers, but will not be furnished to merchants or other dealers to cover the transmission of public property. PAR. 203. The use of freight or express lines for transmitting official letters or packages that can be sent by mail is forbidden. PAR. 204. The penalty envelope will not be used for foreign correspondence. No. 249. HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF CUBA, For the information and guidance of all concerned the military governor of Cuba directs the publication of the following regulations to govern the conduct of public works of the island of Cuba, paid for out of island funds, and which are in the charge of officers of the United States Army. All provisions, orders, or laws, or parts thereof, in conflict with these regulations are hereby revoked. J. B. HICKEY, Assistant Adjutant-General. I. Disbursements for public works under the charge of officers of the Army will be made on the forms issued by the auditor of the island. II. All projects for commencing new works must be submitted to the governor of the island through military channels for consideration. When plans of any kind for public work have been approved by the governor of the island they must not be departed from in any particular without the express permission of the approving official. III. The authority of the governor of the island must be obtained for the erection of temporary wharves and buildings required in the progress of a work; for the purchase of surveying instruments, professional books, maps, and charts; of medicines; of means of transportation of surveying parties; for the rent of office room and purchase of furniture for same, and for the purchase or hire of any vessel or boat; and the application for the authority must state the probable cost to be entailed. Extensive repairs upon any wharf, building, vessel, or boat must first be authorized by the governor. His authority must also be obtained for the employment and rate of compensation of assistant engineers, scientists, physicians, inspectors, draftsman, clerks, copyists, overseers, steamboat captains, mates, and pilots. When from the emergency of the work antecedent authority has not been obtained, approval after the fact may be given by the governor at his discretion. In such cases the official making the purchase or procuring the service in reporting the same to the governor shall certify that the emergency of the work was such that the antecedent authority of the governor could not be obtained. IV. The repairs of instruments may be made under the direction of the officer responsible for them when the exigencies of the service in his opinion require it, and the cost thereof charged to the work on which they are in use. V. Officers in charge of public works may order journeys made by their subordinates on duty connected with public works within the limits of the districts under their charge. When the emergency is such that time does not permit of obtaining an order previous to making the journey, it may be approved after the fact. In this case the official should certify upon the traveling voucher "that urgent public duty required the journey to be performed without previous orders," and the voucher must be accompanied by the approval of the journey by the proper authority. VI. Officials traveling under orders on duty connected with the public works will be paid travel expenses from the appropriations for the work for which the journey is required. VII. The following books and files for each work will be required to be kept by the official in charge: 1. A cash book, with daily record of receipts and expenditures. 2. An appropriation or allotment book. 3. A roll file, showing the name, occupation, time employed, and amount paid to each hired person each month. 4. A file containing a journal of operations, showing a daily record of the occupation of the persons employed on the work, the application of their labor, and miscellaneous facts connected with the work; with contract work, a record of the quantity of work done by the contractor daily, if possible, or at such times as the work can be measured, stating daily the number and occupation of men employed, and number and kind of machines used by contractor. 5. A file of letters sent. 6. A file of letters received. 7. A file of orders received. 8. A press copy book or file. 9. A property file. 10. An index will be kept with each book and file. VIII. The following reports and returns for public works will be sent to the military governor, through proper channels, by the officer in charge within ten days after the expiration of the month to which they relate, viz: Monthly report of operations. Monthly return of employees. Monthly abstract of property purchased. Property returns must be rendered through the same channels for the quarters ending June 30 and December 31 of each year within twenty days after the end of the quarter to which they relate. After a complete return has been furnished, if there have been but few changes during a subsequent quarter, it will be sufficient to state these changes for the quarters ending March 31 and September 30. IX. Each monthly report of operations will contain a brief financial statement in the following form: Total cost of work as given in approved project. Total allotments previously reported. Allotments received during month. Total expenditures previously reported. Expenditures during month. Cash balance, subject to order of disbursing officer at end of monta. Estimated other outstanding liabilities. Estimated available balance at end of month. X. All money papers relating to each public work of the island, under the charge of officers of the Army, will be sent, within ten days after the expiration of the month to which they relate, by the disbursing officers responsible, direct to the chief of the bureau of accounts of the office of the governor of the island for administrative audit. Accounts current will be made in triplicate; two copies, accompanied by two sets of abstracts and one set of vouchers complete, will be forwarded. The approval of the head of the bureau of these accounts, in so far as relates to the necessity or expediency of the expenditure and the prices paid and his certificate that the mode of expenditure adopted, under the laws and regulations from higher authority, was the most economical and advantageous to the Government, shall be final. If the disbursing officer certifies that the mode of expenditure was the most economical and advantageous to the Government, the certificate of the head of that bureau to that effect may be omitted, and will be covered by the approval of said head of bureau indorsed on the account current. XI. The proceeds arising from authorized sales of public property shall be deposited promptly to the credit of the treasurer of the island, and by him placed to the credit of the appropriation for the work from which they were derived, to be available for requisitions on estimates, in addition to the regular appropriation, if needed. XII. No official has authority to insure public money or property. Disbursing officers are not authorized to settle with heirs, executors, or administrators except by instructions and approval from the governor of the island. XIII. When an official is relieved from duty on any work, he shall certify the outstanding debts to his successor and transmit an account of the same to the governor. Unless otherwise ordered, he will turn over the public money and property and the books and papers appertaining to the service from which he is relieved to his successor. XIV. Certified checks may be accepted as guaranties to proposals and as securities for contracts. XV. Extensions of contracts can be made only by permission of the officer authorized to approve contracts. XVI. Whenever a contract is extended, and because of such extension deductions are to be made from sums due or to become due the contractor, the deductions shall be shown upon the vouchers and the balance shall be paid to the contractor. Payment of the expenses due to extensions of contracts shall never be demanded of contractors or received from them by officials or agents in the island government. XVII. Vouchers in support of partial payments, or on which there are retained percentages, shall be made in triplicate, one copy to be retained by the disbursing officer and two to be forwarded to the accounting officers. It is proposed that the two vouchers be examined and compared when the officer's accounts are adjusted, one to be subsequently withdrawn by the auditor and filed as a subvoucher with the voucher for final payment. The triplicate vouchers referred to can be made without receipts and without copies of any subvouchers which may be filed with the original vouchers; they should, however, be complete in all respects and certified to by the proper officials. XVIII. All movable public property will, if practicable, be conspicuously branded, or stamped, if of metal, “O. P." before being used. XIX. An inspector of public property will be detailed by the governor of the island, at such times as the needs of the service require one. It will be the duty of the inspector to examine all property properly presented for inspection. His action will be to condemn and destroy, recommend to be sold, or declare such property still serviceable. XX. The purchase of supplies and the execution of work will be conducted in the manner most economical and advantageous to the island government. If it be desired to purchase supplies in open market, or to carry on a work by hired labor, in cases not provided for in the Army Regulations, specific authority must first be obtained from the officer authorized to approve the project for the work. XXI. Except as modified in the foregoing paragraphs, previous orders from these headquarters, and, in so far as they are applicable, the United States Army Regulations, will govern officers in the conduct of the public works. XXII. The above provisions shall go into effect on and after the 1st of July, 1900. Special attention is invited to the reports of Maj. W. M. Black, chief engineer of the department, and Sr. José R. Villalón, secretary of public works, which accompany this report and set forth in great detail the work accomplished. In closing this report, I desire to express my sincere thanks to the secretaries and officials of the insular government for the painstaking and loyal manner in which they have performed their duties and carried out the policy of the military government. Their conscientious performance of duty has contributed very largely to the measure of success that has been attained. I also desire to thank the civil governors and Cuban officials throughout the island for the faithful and conscientious manner in which they have carried out the orders and instructions of the military government. In reference to the military officers charged with the administration of civil affairs, these officers have, without exception, performed their duties with singular ability and fidelity. Important engineering works, school laws, systematic organization of hospitals and charitable institutions, in fact, work in all departments of the insular government has fallen to their lot. To the best of my knowledge, each and every officer has devoted himself loyally and conscientiously to the performance of the duty assigned to him, and to their faithful work, combined with that of the insular officials, is due whatever success has been obtained by the military government. They have all worked faithfully and devotedly. I also desire to express my thanks to the officers of my personal and department staff. One and all, they have given their best energies to forwarding the purposes of the military government. Especially do I desire to express my high appreciation of the services performed by Gen. Adna R. Chaffee, chief of staff; Cols. W. V. Richards and H. L. Scott, and Maj. J. B. Hickey, adjutants-general; Col. George H. Burton, inspector-general, and Maj. R. H. Rolfe, his assistant; Maj. E. S. Dudley, judge-advocate, and Maj. George M. Dunn, his assistant; Lieut. Col. C. F. Humphrey and Maj. C. B. Baker, quartermasters; Maj. Valery Havard, chief surgeon, and Maj. William C. Gorgas, for general sanitation; Maj. William M. Black and Lieut. W. J. Barden, engineer officers; Col. H. H. C. Dunwoody, chief signal officer; Maj. Tasker H. Bliss, chief of customs service; Maj. E. F. Ladd, treasurer, and Capt. E. C. Brooks, auditor of the island, for able and efficient services in their respective departments; Lieut. Commander Lucien Young, captain of the port: Maj. E. St. J. Greble, superintendent of charities and hospitals; Maj. L. V. Caziare, supervisor of police; Capt. H. J. Slocum, superintendent of the rural guard; Mr. M. C. Fosnes, director-general of posts, and to my personal aids for their efficient services in various departments. I also desire to invite attention to the able work of the chief clerk of the military governor, Mr. F. Steinhart, whose devotion to duty has been unremitting and whose conduct of his office has been marked by the highest efficiency and ability. Very respectfully, LEONARD WOOD, Major-General, U. S. V., Military Governor. The ADJUTANT-GENERAL, UNITED STATES ARMY, Washington, D. C. |