Mr. SCHENCK. Then I misunderstood the gentleman. I wish new to call the attention of the House to the letter of GenlGrant, which, in connection with other communications of opinion made to the committee, induced the committee to adopt this as a feature of their bill. certainly the committee were justified in supposing that the communication of GenlGrant was intended to recommend just what they did. GenlGrant, in his subsequent letter, communicated now informallyan indrectly to this House. has explained that perhaps he was misunderstood. fiut that does not alter the fact that here was the letter, and this was the character of the recommendation contained in that letter. The question was the subject of recruiting and desertion; how the one should be promoted and the other prevented. Now, sir, it is a notorious fact that heretofore recruitin for filling up the ranks of the regular Army of the U.S. has been to a considerable degree a failure. Whose fault it is, I do not undertake now to say; but the fact is incon testable that heretofore recruiting has been conducted by the detail ofan officer who wanted an agreeable visit to a quiet country town or a lcasant residence for a time in some city. T llS commissioned Officer, while boarding at a hotel, and occasionally visiting therendezvous, left the business of recruiting to be performed by some sergeant, aided, it may be, by a private or 2, also detailed as a portion of the party. Thus the work of recruiting was slow an quite inefficient in its general results. I remember very well having been comelled to turn my attention to the mode in which this business was conducted in a neighboring city when myself in the military service; and i remember that week after week and month after month the reports of the recruiting officers, both for the regular Army and for vol unteers, read about in this way: " For the month of April total number of recruits 4; total number of deserters 4. For the month of May, total number of recruits 3; total number of dese rters 3. " Once in awhile there was at the end of the month a small margin of one or 2 recruits, who might or might not find their way from the recruiting station to a place in the ranks. Now, sir, this is as well understood by GenlGrant as anybody else, and in the very commencement of this letter he says: “I do not think the present methodof recruiting. as carried out, sufficientto fill up the regular Army to ghcuforcerequiredl or to keep it full when once Here is the evil of which the Lieutenant General complains. The committee came to the same conclusion, not merel.from his testimony, but from other facts another reports laid before them; and although now, at the close of the war, recruiting is going on very Well indeed, the Gentfrom Pennsylvania is very much mistaken in supposing that there are not desertions, and a great many desertions. There is for some reason an unusual proportion of deserters. But in this state of fact, what did Lieutenant GenlGrant sa, when apealed to by the SecyWar? I esaid, "1 eduty is an important one, and demands, I think, the exclusive attention of an officer of the War Dept.” Not his casual attention in connection with some other Dept on the part of the same Officer to whom it shall be given. No, sir, his exclusive attention to this matter is required. He says it “demands, I think, the exclusive attention of an officer of the War Dept, aided by a well organized system.” That is not different from what the provost marshal is now. There must be an o cer who shall de vote himself exclusively to this business, aided by a well organized system extending over the country. He says: "I think the officer best fitted for that position by his experience during the present war is GenlFry and would recommend that the whole subject of recruiting be put in his hands, and all officerson recruiting duty be dircctctl to reportm him." He then goes a step further, and proposes to confer upon this Officer everything reating to the apprehension of deserters. I think, under these circumstances, his recommendin the creation of a distinct system at the hen of which was to b. but this officer, whose exclusive duty it should be to take care of recruiting and desertions, justified the committee in supposing that it was equivalent to a recommendation for a d{stinct feature in the administration of the ar Dept by which these objects should be accomplished and these measures carried out. I say this as I felt it was due to the committee, or a majority of the committee, in justification of their actionin making this Provost marshalls Bureau a part of the military system. The House may differ from us; I think they do. But I am not atall solicitous about this. I am not disposed to regard it in the light of a pet measure, however anyone may be sharpened in opposition to it. But, Mr. Speaker, Iwill add that the proposition of the Gentfrom Pennsylvania [Mr. Srnvsxs] s iould be adopted, or someting should be inserted in the bill to continue this bureau in order to finish up the business of the war. If you strike out this section you ought to put in some provision for 6 months or some other time, such as will prevent the bureau closing at a loss to the Government and a derangement of the military system so far as the trust reosed heretofore in that office is concerned. new demand the previous question.