Bureau of the War Department to which the expenditure appertains, and if such commander be serving in a Military Department, he shall send a copy of the order to the Headquarters of the Department. [Regs. 1863, ¶ 446.] * * 670. Orders and instructions will be transmitted through intermediate commanders, in the order of rank, except when they are of such a character as to leave the intermediate commanders no discretionary power to modify or suspend them. In such exceptional cases, the orders or instructions will be sent direct to the officer under whose authority they are to be executed, copies being furnished to the intermediate commanders.-[Regs. 1863, ¶ 438; G. O. 127, 1870.] 671. Orders for any body of troops will be addressed to its commander, will be opened and executed by the commander present, and will be published and distributed by him when necessary. [Regs. 1863, ¶ 439.] * * * * * * * 676. The orderly hours being fixed at each headquarters, the Staff officers and chiefs of the special services either attend in person or send their assistants to obtain the orders of the day and the 1st Sergeants of companies repair for that purpose to the Adjutant's office.-[Regs. 1863, ¶ 443.] 677. During marches and active operations, and when the regular orderly hours cannot be observed, all orders will be either sent direct to the troops, or the respective commanders of regi-. ments or corps will be informed when to send to headquarters for them. Under the same circumstances, orders will be read to the troops during a halt, without waiting for the regular parades.— [Regs. 1863, ¶ 444.] 679. All field officers not serving at the headquarters of their regiments will make monthly reports to their regimental commanders. These reports must embrace everything essential to a correct record of their services. The number, date, and source of authority of every order affecting their duties must be stated, with the date of its receipt, their execution of its requirements, and the time they were so employed. The date of departure of a field officer from his post or station, whether on leave or on duty, as well as the date of his return to his post, must in all cases be specified.— [Regs. 1863, ¶ 459; G. O. 1, 1855.] From Officers on Leave.-[See ¶¶ 87, 98.] 680. Officers on detached duty will report, monthly, to the commanders of their posts, of their regiments or corps, and to the Adjutant General, their stations, the nature of their duties, and the authority placing them thereon-likewise each change of address.-[Regs. 1863, ¶ 468.] 681. All officers doing duty in the Quartermaster's Department are required to make out and forward to the Quartermaster General, on the first day of each month, a personal report, giving their postoffice address, and a statement of the duty upon which they have been employed since their last report.―[Regs. 1863, Ap. B, ¶ 62.] 682. On the first day of each month the officers of the Subsistence Department will report by letter to the Commissary General their stations and duties during the preceding month. This letter is required from Commissaries of Subsistence only, and not from officers acting as such.—[Regs. 1863, ¶ 1266.] * 684. Every Medical officer will report to the Surgeon General and to the Medical Director the date when he arrives at a station, or when he leaves it, and the orders under which he acts. At the end of each month he will send a personal report to the Surgeon General, giving his post-office address for the next month, and a statement of the duty upon which he has been employed, or if on leave of absence, since his last report.—[ Regs. 1863, ¶ 1302, and Ap. B, ¶ 75.] * * * * * 687. Company, post, and regimental commanders will make a report annually, on the 1st day of July, through the usual military channel, of any officers under their command who, by special aptitude or study, are notably well fitted for any branch of service, science, or art, either civil or military. Such reports will give full particulars of qualifications and preparation. This information will be useful to the General of the Army in making details and selections for duty.-[G. O. 49, 1880.] 688. The date of appointment, of detail, and of removal of all Staff officers, or of officers selected for duty in Staff Departments, which may entitle them to receive additional pay, will be immediately reported by the officer making such appointment, detail, or removal, to the Adjutant General, and to the Paymaster of the Department or command to which such officers belong.-[ Regs. 1863, 466.] 689. Whenever any change takes place in the position or location of troops, the fact will be immediately reported by the commanding officer to General, Division, and Department Headquarters, specifying the date of departure of the whole or any part of the troops, or of the arrival of any detachment, as well as all other circumstances connected with such changes in the command. These special reports will always be accompanied by an exact return of the troops according to the established printed forms. A similar report will be noted on the next monthly return of the post or station.-[Regs. 1863, ¶ 467.] ARTICLE L. USE OF THE TELEGRAPH. [G. O. 88, 1875, and G. O. 57 and 81, 1879.] 690. The telegraph should be used only in cases of urgent and imperative necessity, where the delay of the mail would be prejudicial to the public interest. 691. In framing telegrams, all superfluous words not important to the sense of the communication will be omitted. 692. Copies of the telegrams must accompany vouchers for their payment when they can be procured, except they be of a confidential nature. If the copies cannot be procured, the account may be paid by a Paymaster, upon the certificate of the Commanding General of the Department or the commanding officer of the post, showing that the telegrams were on public business, and that the matter demanded this mode of communication. The officer presenting the account must certify as to each telegram that the copy cannot be obtained; also the number of words it contained, the place from which and the address to which it was sent. 693. In cases where telegrams on public business are of a confidential nature, payment may be made without copies being furnished with the vouchers. In such cases the certificate to the voucher presented for payment will be changed so as to read "consistently with the public interest, copies are not furnished, the subject being of a confidential character," instead of "that it is impracticable to furnish copies thereof." 694. The disbursing officer who pays the cost of telegrams will refuse payment on any that appear to be on private business, or that manifestly did not require telegraphic communication. In case of such refusal appeal may be made to the Department Commander, who, if he approve the telegram, may order payment for it to be made, and, in such event, will forward copies of the papers and of his decision to the Adjutant General of the Army. 695. The Paymaster General, in his administrative action on the accounts of Paymasters, will scan all telegrams for which payment has been made, and will submit for the action of the Secretary of War such as he may deem to be in violation of this regulation. 696. Lists of telegraph companies who have filed their acceptance of the provisions of Title LXV, Revised Statutes, are published from time to time-[G. O. 74 and 94, 1879]. ARTICLE LI. POSTAGE STAMPS AND OFFICIAL ENVELOPES. 697. It shall be lawful to transmit through the mail, free of postage, any letters, packages, or other matters relating exclusively to the business of the Government of the United States: Provided, That every such letter or package to entitle it to pass free shall bear over the words "Official business" an indorsement showing also the name of the Department, and, if from a bureau or office, the names of the Department and bureau or office, as the case may be, whence transmitted. And if any person shall make use of any such official envelope to avoid the payment of postage on his private letter, package, or other matter in the mail, the person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to a fine of three hundred dollars, to be prosecuted in any court of competent jurisdiction. For the purpose of carrying this act into effect, it shall be the duty of each of the Executive Departments of the United States to provide for itself and its subordinate offices the necessary envelopes; and in addition to the indorsement designating the Department in which they are to be used, the penalty for the unlawful use of these envelopes shall be stated thereon.-[Act approved Mar. 3, 1877, secs. 5, 6, in G. O. 34, 1877.] 698. The use of official envelopes, with the penalty clause printed thereon, will be confined to the War Department and its bureaus and offices in Washington City.-[G. O. 62, 1879.] 699. For small packages of public property, weighing not more than four pounds, the mails should be used, as authorized by law, provided the cost of freight is not less than the postage at legal rates. Such packages may be prepaid with official postage stamps at the rates required by law for the matter inclosed; and by authority of the Post Office Department packages containing public property may be sealed, provided a written certificate is affixed, signed by the officer mailing the same, that they contain no matter subject to a higher rate of postage than has been prepaid thereon. -[G. O. 91, 1878.] 700. Officers are cautioned not to use freight or express lines for transmitting correspondence or any written matter, however bulky, such use being forbidden by law (Section 3984, Revised Statutes).— [G. O. 91, 1878.] * * * * 703. Official postage stamps, to be used only for official purposes, will be furnished by the Adjutant General of the Army for the Headquarters of Military Geographical Divisions and Departments, Regiments, Posts, and Detachments. Requisitions for this purpose will be made quarterly in advance, and in time to enable the Assistant Adjutant General, who makes the distribution, to send a consolidated estimate, which must reach the Adjutant General not later than the twentieth of the month preceding the quarter drawn for.-[G. O. 61, 1878.] 704. The Chiefs of the several Bureaus of the War Department will furnish official postage stamps for official correspondence only to the officers on duties connected with their respective bureaus, upon requisitions therefor, to be made quarterly in advance.-[G. O. 61, 1878.] 705. Blank receipts for stamps issued from the Adjutant General's Office or from Department Headquarters will in all cases be sent with each invoice of stamps, and will be dated, signed, and returned to the issuing officer on the day on which the stamps are received. [G. O. 61, 1878.] 706. On the first day of each quarter, every officer who has drawn upon the Assistant Adjutant General at Department Headquarters for official stamps will render to that officer a duplicate statement of the amount, expressed in dollars and cents, expended during the preceding quarter, and on hand at the date of the report. These statements, after verification, will form the basis of the consolidated quarterly report, which, with one set of post statements, the Assistant Adjutant General will forward to the Adjutant General at the earliest practicable moment.—[G. 0. 61, 1878.] 707. Whenever an officer accountable for official postage stamps is relieved from duty, he will transfer all such stamps in his possession to his successor, taking duplicate receipts therefor, and immediately make a return of expenditures up to the day of his relief, which return, together with one of the receipts, he will forward at once to the Assistant Adjutant General at Department Headquarters.—[G. O. 61, 1878.] 708. Courts-Martial, Courts of Inquiry, Boards of Officers, Officers on the Retired List, or detached for duty at colleges, and all officers requiring official postage stamps for official purposes not otherwise provided for in these Regulations, will be supplied upon requisition addressed to the Assistant Adjutant General of the Department within the geographical limits of which the sessions are held or the officers may be serving, and make the required reports to that officer.-[G. O. 61, 1878.] 709. To obviate the expenditure of private funds for public postage, every officer of the Army, having official correspondence, will make timely requisition, in accordance with the requirements of this regulation, upon the proper officer, for the official postage stamps necessary for his official use.-[G. O. 61, 1878.] 710. Whenever officers of the Army, irrespective of the corps or arm of the service to which they belong, are obliged, prior to their being furnished with official postage stamps, to expend their private funds to pay official postage, they may make out certified accounts, in duplicate, for reimbursement of the amount expended by them, and transmit them to the Quartermaster General of the Army for settlement, through the accounting officers of the Treasury, from the appropriation for incidental expenses of the Quartermaster's Department.-[G. O. 61, 1878; Sec. War, Feb. 15, 1878.] 711. Letters and packages bearing the official postage stamps of the several Executive Departments, arriving at a post office for delivery, not having been fully prepaid by such stamps, should be treated the same as packages insufficiently prepaid with ordinary |