Mr. DAWES. I offer the following amendment to that section: On line 11, page 15, after the word "arsenals, " insert the followmgr “The ordnance storckccperand payinasterattho national armory shall havethe rank, pay and emolumentsofother paymastersof the Army and other;” so that it will read: SEC.26. Abife: That theordnance Dept of the Army shall consist of the same number of officers and enlisted inen asis new authorized by law and the officers shall be of the following gradrs momely: onebrigadwrgenerphthreocolonols, 6 lieutenant cOlOncls, 12 mine rs. 20 captains, 12 1st lieutenants, ten 2nd lieutenants, all of whomshall have the same pay and emoluments asnow provided by law; and 13 ordnance store kccpers, of whom a number not exceeding so: may also be appointed and authorizrd toactaspaymusters at armorieeand arsenals. The ordnancestorckccper and no master at the national armory shall have the run, pay, and emoluments of other paymasters of the Army and other ordnance storckccpers sbn.ll have the rank.ity, and emolumentsof captains of infantr, and or nance storckcopers and paymasters the run, pay, and emolumentsofca itemsof cavalry, But after the 1st appointments in O under the provisions of this section. asvacanciesmay occur. reducing the number of officers in the several gradesof this Deptbelow the rank of briundier cucral, no appointmentsto till the same shall be inn c until the number of colonels shall bereduced to one, the number of lieutenant coloncls to 3, the numberof maors tosix, and thenumberofcaptains to 12 and t croutter the number of officers in eachof sin severnl grades shall continue to conform to such producednumbers. I desire the attention of the House for a moment while I state the object of this amendment, which I think Will meet the concurrence of the chairman of the committee when I explain what it is. The purpose of it is this: in the bill as preared y the committee there is a provision or 13 ordnance storekeepers, and 6 of them are to be also paymasters at the posts where they are stationed. One of these must be at the armory at S ringfield. I wish to call the attention of the House for a moment to the duties of that storekeeperand aymaster at Springfield, and then to ask the House whether it is not reasonable that he shall have the pay of a aymaster of the Arm. The House will see that his duties are mucfi larger than those of any paymaster in the Army; and I ask, in connection with that, attention to the peculiar facts rearding his present pay, how it comes to be wgat it is, what it is, and what it has been for several years. He is storekeeperfor the armory. He has in his custody, and has had for a great many years, about 15 million dollars worth of property, 4 or 5 times more than is possible for another storekeeper to have. He has been obfiged to pay out during the last 4 years between 4 and 5 million dollars each year. That is a larger amount than he had to pay before the war, and larger than he will have to pay hereafter. He would be obliged to pay. under the present capacity of the ar mory, if it should be run to its tull capacity, that sum; but it is not probable that it will be run to that capacity. He will be obliged to pay every year about 2 million dollars. He will certainly be obliged to keep now, after the war is closed, a much larger amount of property than during the war, as arms are cominglliac to the armory every day, and his liability as a storekeeper is therefore very largely increased. In addition to these duties as storekeeperand of paymaster at this armory, he is also commissary at the armory, and is obliged every year to pay out about 30,000 dollars in that capacity. Now, he has been obliged to perform all these dutiesfor a salary of $1, 250a year, without any emoluments, Without any rations. The salary was fixed by law some times 0; I think it was when the superintendency of the armo ries was transferred from the military to the civil Dept. He has been 25 years atthat armory, and is an old and experienced man, whose skill and ability in his profession would have secured him almost any position in civil or military life. He has retained his position during the war from a sense of duty, not because he could earn as much money there as he could anywhere else, and from a feeling that after the war was over Congress would do justice to him and raise his compensation. Ife has arrived at that period of life when he can hope for no promotion; and situated as he is, as a salaried officer, he is not entitled to. any promotion in the Army. He now asks on y that he may have the rank and pay of an ordinary paymaster. I will send to the Clerks desk to be read a letter from the present chief of the Ordnance Bureau, who was, during the war, superintendent of the national armory; also a letter from the present superintendent of the armory; and I think they will satisfy the House that this officer ought to be put simplywhere any other paymaster is put, though his duties and respon sibilities are greater than those of any of them.