manent appointments shall be made in those departments or corps after the original vacancies created by this act shall have been filled. Such details shall be made from the grade in which the vacancies exist, under such system of examination as the President may from time to time prescribe. All officers so detailed shall serve for a period of four years, at the expiration of which time they shall return to duty with the line, and officers below the rank of lieutenant-colonel shall not again be eligible for selection in any staff department until they shall have served two years with the line. That when vacancies shall occur in the position of chief of any staff corps or department the President may appoint to such vacancies, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, officers of the Army at large not below the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and who shall hold office for terms of four years. When a vacancy in the position of chief of any staff corps or department is filled by the appointment of an officer below the rank now provided by law for said office, said chief shall, while so serving, have the same rank, pay, and allowances now provided for the chief of such corps or department. And any officer now holding office in any corps or department who shall hereafter serve as chief of a staff corps or department and shall subsequently be retired, shall be retired with the rank, pay, and allowances authorized by law for the retirement of such corps or department chief: Provided, "That so long as there remain in service officers of any staff corps or department holding permanent appointments, the chief of such staff corps or department shall be selected from the officers so remaining therein. SEC. 27. That each position vacated by officers of the line, transferred to any department of the staff for tours of service under this. act, shall be filled by promotion in the line until the total number detailed equals the number authorized for duty in each staff department. Thereafter vacancies caused by details from the line to the staff shall be filled by officers returning from tours of staff duty. If under the operation of this act the number of officers returned to any particular arm of the service at any time exceeds the number authorized by law in any grade, promotions to that grade shall cease until the number has been reduced to that authorized. AN ACT making appropriations for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and two. Provided, That appointments to fill original vacancies the grade of captain in the Quartermaster's Department, in may be made from officers of volunteers commissioned since April twentyfirst, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. THE SUBSISTENCE DEPARTMENT. The earliest legislation relative to the subsistence of the Army is found in the resolution of the Continental Congress dated June 16, 1775, creating the office of Commissary-General of Stores and Provisions. The range of duties of that office was so extensive that much dissatisfaction prevailed with respect to the administration of the affairs of the department, and Congress, June 10, 1777, instituted a new system, creating two great branches--one under a CommissaryGeneral of Purchases and the other under a Commissary-General of Issues, the former, by resolution of June 11, "to keep his office in the place where Congress shall sit." The ordinance of June 17, 1777, regulating the Clothing Department, placed it in charge of a ClothierGeneral, and, April 10, 1782, this officer was directed to receive his instructions from the War Office. November 25, 1779, the two departments of purchase and issues, heretofore acting under the direction and control of a committee of Congress, were placed under the superintendence of the Board of War. July 10, 1781, Congress directed the Superintendent of Finance_to procure on contract all necessary supplies for the Army, and under this resolution the commissariat system of subsisting the Army was discontinued and the methods of contracts for rations adopted in its stead. There was no further legislation on the subject of subsistence of the Army until after the reorganization of the Government under the Constitution. The act of March 8, 1792, again devolved upon the Treasury Department the duty of making all purchases and contracts for supplying the Army with provisions, etc., and by the act of February 23, 1795, the Treasury official charged with that duty was denominated "purveyor of public supplies." This act was repealed by the law of July 16, 1798, which required all purchases and contracts for supplies to be made under the direction of the Secretary of War. The act of March 16, 1802, provided for three military agents and assistants, whose duty was to purchase, receive, and forward to their proper destination all military supplies. But the military agency system proved to be unsatisfactory and was abolished by the act of March 28, 1812, which created anew the office of Commissary-General of Purchases. This office was abolished by act of August 23, 1842, and its duties transferred to the Quartermaster's Department. The act of April 14, 1818, first created the office of CommissaryGeneral, the incumbent to be appointed as soon as the state of existing contracts for the subsistence of the Army would permit. The new system did not, however, go into operation until June 1, 1819. Apr. 18, 1818.-Col. (Bvt. Maj. Gen., May 30, 1848) George Gibson (Pennsylvania). Sept. 29, 1861.-Col. (Bvt. Brig. Gen., Feb. 9, 1863) Joseph P. Taylor (Kentucky). June 29, 1864.-Brig. Gen. (Bvt. Maj. Gen., Mar. 13, 1865) Amos B. Eaton (New Hampshire). June 23, 1874.-Brig. Gen. (Bvt. Maj. Gen., Mar. 13, 1865) Alexander E. Shiras (New Jersey). Apr. 14, 1875.-Brig. Gen. Robert Macfeely (Pennsylvania). July 10, 1890.-Brig. Gen. Beekman du Barry (District of Columbia). Dec. 22, 1892.-Brig. Gen. John P. Hawkins (Indiana). Oct. 8, 1894.-Brig. Gen. Michael R. Morgan (Louisiana). Jan. 17, 1897.-Brig. Gen. Thomas C. Sullivan (Ohio). Nov. 14, 1897.-Brig. Gen. William H. Bell (Pennsylvania). Jan. 28, 1898.-Brig. Gen. Samuel T. Cushing (Rhode Island). Apr. 21, 1898.-Brig. Gen. William H. Nash (Ohio). May 3, 1898.-Brig. Gen. Charles P. Eagan (Washington Territory). |