Mr. SCHENCK. I will give the gentleman an opportunity to make the correction when I gett rough. Now, sir, I think myself that the House, in voting upon the proposition made by the Gentfrom Pennsyvania, did not understand that he had accepted a modification by the Gentfrom Maine, [Mr. proposed which introduced an entirely new featmureu.m} am sorry that the Gentfrom Maine, my colleague on the committee, is not present at this time, because I wish that the history of this matter shall be fully understood. It was proposed by the ntleman to go further than the Dept itself had asked, because if we did not do so, certain friends of his would n ot get romotion. He urged that we must provide or 2 additional coloncls and one ieuteuant colonel; otherwise there would not be the promotion which he desired; and he accompanied this sugglestion with the very persuasive remark to me that his proposition would also promote a friend of mine from my own State, in the Adjutant Generals Office, Mr. Vincent, an officer well deserving promotion. But I preferred to adhere to what I thought right for the bill and for the country not ielding to my personal predilections. The House, however, wafmore liberal, and concluded to make a conle of colonels and a lieutenant colonel that adnever been asked for by anybody prior to the proposition of the Gentfrom Iaine and so the matter now stands. I desire that no more such mistakes shall be made; and none shall be, if I can prevent it. Now, sir, the committee, in examining with reference to the quartermasters Dept, and other bureaus, have become satisfied that there is a tendency to concentrate too great a force of officers in all the different staff Depts, and that this abuse ought to be stopped. They havetherefore proposed that as vacancies occur the number of quartermasters in 2 of the lower grades shall be reduced by not filling the vacancies until the number of those Officers comes down to a point which the committee are satisfied will furnish a sufficient number of Officers of this Dept to take charge of all the different posts, to en ply all the troops, and to take care of matters here at the center. Mr. Speaker, there is something to be learned upon this subject by comparing different Depts of the Government; and I mean to do it here this mornin with a view to showing the extent to which this evil has grown in the War Dept. I have long been aware that in the Navy Dept, where there is not the tunptation lor officers to seek to be brought here because of commutation of quarters, commutation of fuel, and other little advantages which pertain to the position of an Army Officer here, everything has been conducted upon a very much more economical scale, by calling a very much smaller number of officers into the different bureaus here. But Iwas not prepared to find so great an inequality as is shown by an investigation which I made on Saturday last. Leaving out the steam engineering Dept, where 15 men are necessarily employed professionallyin drafting plans relating to the construction of steam engines, and coming to the bureaus properin that Dept, find that the arena of Medicine is managed by 4 otheers only; the Bureau of Provisions by 4; the Ordnance Bureau by one, its chief; the Bureau of Navigation and Detail by six; the Bureau of equiment, the Bureau of Yards and Docks, an t to Bureau of Construction by one each, their respective chiefs. Thus 18 officers only take charge of 7 bureaus in the Navy Dept. Now, there is not a single bureau in the War Dept that has not twice as many officers to look after it., Why do they come here? I admit the chief of each bureau ought to be a professional military man; I admit the heads of divisions might properly be; but I contend it is not necessary to have a lieutenant colonel, so far. as absolute rank is concerned, a brevet major general, employed to keep the records in anyone of these offices simply as a clerk, and yet I say that is done. 1 say all through these Depts in the Adjutant Generals Dept to a certain extent, still more in the quartermasters Dept, and still more, perhaps, in the other Depts men are employed, receiving commutation of quarters, commutation of fuel, professional men, men who have been educated for the most part at 4 years expense at WestPoint in engineering, gunnery, and military tactics, acting as tlerks. I want to know whether the committee will be sustained in bringing down these contract bureaus to such a point as will be sufficient to supply each staff Dept all the Officers needed so as to send some of them out into the field with troops and to posts, diminishing the number there and supplying, if need be, intelligent clerks at less expense and without military education for that purpose. The committee came to this conclusion, and they made it a feature of their bill. I move the same feature to the substitute offQ ed by the Gentfrom Pennsylvania, [Mr. THAYEH] in or der, if his substitute prevail, as I hope it will not, it shall not prevail without having this appended to it providing for a diminution of unnecessary number of officers employed in the staff Depts. The Gentfrom Pennsylvania desires to make some reply in explanation of what was said by the Gentfrom NewYork, and I yield for that purpose.