responsible will perform the duties, and the responsible officer will perform them only if there be no other recourse The proceedings of the board will be signed by each member, and a copy forwarded by the approving officer to the headquarters of the department or army in the field, as the case may be, duplicates being furnished to the officer accountable for the property.

33. All surveys and reports having in view the condemnation of public property, for whatever cause, will be made by the commanding officers of posts or other separate commands, or by Inspectors General, or inspectors specially designated by the commander of a department or an army in the field, or by higher authority. Such surveys and reports having a different object from those of Boards of Survey, will be required independently of any preliminary action of a board on the same matter.

34. When public property is received by any officer, he will make a careful examination to ascertain its quality and condition, but without breaking packages until issues are to be made, unless there should be cause to suppose the contents defective; and in any of the cases supposed in the preceding paragraph, he will apply for a Board of Survey for the purposes therein set forth. If he deem the property unfit for use and that the public interest requires it to be condemned, he will, in addition, report that fact to the commanding officer, who will make, or cause to be made, a critical inspection of it-according as he may be commander of a post only, or have a higher command. If the inspector deem the property fit, it shall be received and used. If not, he will forward a formal inspection report to the commander empowered to give orders in the case. The same rule will be observed, according to the nature of the case, with reference to property already on hand. The person accountable for the property, or having it in charge, will submit an inventory, which will accompany or be embodied in the inspection report, stating how long the property has been in his possession, how long in use, and from whom it was received. The inspector's report will state the exact condition of each article, and what disposition it is expedient to make of it: as, to be destroyed, to be dropped as being of no value, to be broken up, to be repacked or repaired, or to be sold. The inspector will certify on his report that he has examined each article, and that its condition is as stated. If the commanding officer, who ordinarily would be the in

spector, is himself accountable for the property, the next officer in rank present for duty will act as the inspector. The authority to inspect and condemn will not, without special instructions, be exercised by commanding officers of arsenals with reference to ordnance and ordnance stores, but only in regard to other unserviceable supplies.

35. An officer commanding a department, or an army in the field, may give orders, on the report of the authorized inspectors, to sell, destroy, or make such other disposition of any condemned property as the case may require-ordnance and ordnance stores alone excepted, for which the orders of the War Department must always be taken. But if the property be of very considerable value, and there should be reason to suppose that it could be advantageously applied or disposed of elsewhere than within his command, he will refer the matter to the Chief of the Staff Department to which it belongs, for the orders of the War Department. No other persons than those above designated, or the General-in-chief, will order the final disposition of condemned property; saving only in the case of horses which should be killed at once to prevent contagion, and of provisions or other stores which are rapidly deteriorating, when the immediate commander may have to act perforce. Inventories of condemned property will be made in triplicate, one to be retained by the person accountable, one to accompany his accounts, and one to be forwarded through the department or other superior headquarters to the Chief of the Staff Department to which the property belongs. Separate inventories must be made of the articles to be repaired, of those to be broken up, those to be sold, to be dropped, &c.

36. Every inspector, member of a Board of Survey, and commander acting on their proceedings, shall be answerable that his action has been proper and judicious, according to the Regulations and the circumstances of the case.

37. As far as practicable, every officer in charge of public property, whether it be in use or in store, will endeavor by timely repairs to keep it in serviceable condition, for which purpose the necessary means will be allowed on satisfactory requisitions; and property in store so repaired will be issued for further use. Unserviceable arms will be sent to an arsenal for repair. Provisions and other perishable stores will be repacked whenever it may be necessary for their preservation and their value will

justify the expense, which will be a legitimate charge against the department to which they belong. Public animals will not be condemned for temporary disease or want of condition, but may, by order of the commanding officer, after inspection, be turned in for rest or treatment, if unfit for the service for which they are immediately required.

38. Public property shall not be transferred gratuitously from one staff department to another; nor shall the funds of one be used to liquidate the debts of another.

39. If any article of public property be lost or damaged by neglect or fault of any officer or soldier, he shall pay the value of such article, or amount of damage, or cost of repairs, at such rates as a Board of Survey, with the approval of the commanding officer, may assess, according to the place and circumstances of the loss or damage. And he shall, moreover, be proceeded against as the Articles of War provide, if he demand a trial by court-martial, or the circumstances should require it.

40. Charges against a soldier shall be set against his pay on the muşter-roll—but only on clear proof, and never without an inquiry, if he demand it. Charges against an officer to be set against his pay shall be promptly reported to the Secretary of War.*

41. If any article of public property be embezzled, or by neglect lost or damaged, by any person hired in the public service, the value or damage, as ascertained, if necessary, by a Board of Survey, shall be charged to him, and set against any pay or money due him.

42. Public property lost or destroyed in the military service must be accounted for by affidavit, or the certificate of a commissioned officer, or other satisfactory evidence.

43. Affidavits or depositions may be taken before any officer in the list, as follows, when recourse cannot be had to any before named on said list, which fact shall be certified by the officer offering the evidence: 1st, a civil magistrate competent to administer oaths; 2d, a judge advocate; 3d, the recorder of a garrison or regimental court-martial; 4th, the adjutant of a regiment; 5th, a commissioned officer.

44. Military stores and other army supplies regularly condemned,

* If the pay of any officer or soldier is wrongfully withheld for arrears or liabilities to the United States, a civil remedy is provided by the act of January 25, 1828.

and ordered for sale, shall be sold for cash at auction, on due public notice, and in such market as the public interest may require. The officer making the sale will bid in and suspend the sale when, in his opinion, better prices may be got. Expenses of the sale will be paid from its proceeds. The auctioneer's certified account of the sales in detail, and the vouchers for the expenses of the sale, will be reported to the chief of the department to which the property belonged. The net proceeds will be applied as the Secretary of War may direct.

45. No officer making returns of property shall drop from his return any public property as worn out or unserviceable until it has been condemned, after proper inspection, and ordered to be so dropped.

46. An officer issuing stores shall deliver or transmit to the receiving officer an exact list of them in duplicate invoices, and the receiving officer shall return him duplicate receipts.

47. When an officer to whom stores are forwarded has reason to suppose them miscarried, he shall promptly inform the issuing and forwarding officer, and the bureau of the department to which the property appertains.

48. When stores received do not correspond in amount or quality with the invoice, they will be examined by a Board of Survey, and a copy of the report of the board be communicated to the proper bureau, to the issuing and forwarding officer, and to the officer authorized to pay the transportation account. Damages recovered from the carrier or other party liable will be refunded to the proper department.

49. On the death of any officer in charge of public property or money, the commanding officer shall appoint a Board of Survey to take an inventory of the same, which he shall forward to the proper bureau of the War Department, and he shall designate an officer to take charge of the said property or money till orders in the case are received from the proper authority.

50. When an officer in charge of public property is removed from the care of it, the commanding officer shall designate an officer to receive it, or take charge of it himself, till a successor be regularly appointed. Where no officer can remain to receive it, the commanding officer will take suitable means to secure it, and report the facts to the proper authority.

51. Every officer having public money to account for, and failing to render his account thereof quarter-yearly, with the vouchers necessary to its correct and prompt settlement, within three months after the expiration of the quarter if resident in the United States, and within six months if resident in a foreign country, will be promptly dismissed by the President, unless he shall explain the default to the satisfaction of the President. (Act January 31, 1823.)

52. Every officer intrusted with public money or property shall render all prescribed returns and accounts to the bureau of the department in which he is serving, where all such returns and accounts shall pass through a rigid administrative scrutiny before the money accounts are transmitted to the proper offices of the Treasury Department for settlement.

53. The head of the bureau shall cause his decision on each account to be indorsed on it. He shall bring to the notice of the Secretary of War all accounts and matters of account that require or merit it. When an account is suspended or disallowed, the bureau shall notify it to the officer, that he may have early opportunity to submit explanations or take an appeal to the Secretary of War.

54. When an account is suspended or disallowed in the proper office of the Treasury Department, or explanation or evidence required from the officer, it shall be promptly notified to him by the head of the military bureau. And all vouchers, evidence, or explanation returned by him to the Treasury Department shall pass through the bureau.

55. Chiefs of the disbursing departments shall, under the direction of the Secretary of War, designate, as far as practicable, the places where the principal contracts and purchases shall be made and supplies procured for distribution.

56. All purchases and contracts for supplies or services for the army, except personal services, when the public exigencies do not require the immediate delivery of the article or performance of the service, shall be made by advertising a sufficient time previously for proposals respecting

the same.

57. The officer advertising for proposals shall, when the intended contract or purchase is considerable, transmit forthwith a copy of the advertisement and report of the case to the proper bureau of the War Department.