Some Of The Military Bureaus

The chiefs of the military bureaus of the War Department are officers of the Regular Army of the United States and part of the military establishment, viz.:

The Adjutant-General's Department is the bureau of orders and records of the Army. Orders and instructions emanating from the War Department and all regulations are issued by the Secretary of War through the Chief of Staff, and are communicated to troops and individuals in the military service through the Adjutant-General. His office is the repository for the records of the War Department which relate to the personnel of the permanent military establishment and militia in the service of the United States, to the military history of every commissioned officer and soldier thereof, and to the movements and operation of troops. The records of all appointments, promotions, resignations, deaths, and other casualties in the Army, the preparation and distribution of commissions, and the compilation and issue of the Army Register and of information concerning examinations for appointment and promotions pertain to the Adjutant-General's Office. The Adjutant-General is charged, under the direction of the Secretary of War, with the management of the recruiting service, the communication of instructions to officers detailed to visit encampments of militia, and the digesting, arranging, and preserving of their reports; also the preparation of the annual returns of the militia required by law to be submitted to Congress.

The Quartermaster-General, aided by his assistants, provides transportation for the Army; also clothing and equipage, horses, mules, and wagons, vessels, forage, stationery, and other miscellaneous quartermaster stores and property for the Army, and of clothing and equipage for the militia; constructs necessary buildings, wharves, roads, and bridges at military posts, and repairs the same; furnishes water, heating and lighting apparatus; pays guides, spies, and interpreters, and is in charge of national cemeteries.

The Chief of Engineers commands the Corps of Engineers, which is charged with all duties relating to construction and repair of fortifications, whether permanent or temporary; with all works of defense; with all military roads and bridges, and with such surveys as may be required for these objects, or the movement of armies in the field. It is also charged with the river and harbor improvements, with military and geographical explorations and surveys, with the survey of the lakes, and with any other engineering work specially assigned to the corps by acts of Congress or orders of the Secretary of War.

The Chief of Ordnance commands the Ordnance Department, the duties of which consist in providing, preserving, distributing, and accounting for every description of artillery, small arms, and all the munitions of war which may be required for the fortresses of the country, the armies in the field, and for the whole body of the militia of the Union. In these duties are comprised those of determining the general principles of construction and of prescribing in detail the models and forms of all military weapons employed in war. They comprise also the duty of prescribing the regulations for the proof and inspection of all these weapons, for maintaining uniformity and economy in their fabrication, for insuring their good quality, and for their preservation and distribution.

The Chief Signal Officer is charged with the supervision of all military signal duties, and of books, papers, and devices connected therewith, including telegraph and telephone apparatus and the necessary meteorological instruments for use on target ranges and other military uses; the construction, repair, and operation of military telegraph lines, and the duty of collecting and transmitting information for the Army by telegraph or otherwise, and all other duties usually pertaining to military signaling.

The Department Of Agriculture

The Secretary of Agriculture is charged with the supervision of all public business relating to the agricultural industry. He appoints all the officers and employees of the Department, with the exception of the Assistant Secretary and the Chief of the Weather Bureau, who are appointed by the President, and directs the management of all the bureaus, divisions, and offices embraced in the Department. He exercises advisory supervision over agricultural experiment stations deriving support from the National Treasury. He controls the import and export of cattle, including cattle-carrying vessels, and directs interstate quarantine when rendered necessary by contagious cattle diseases. His duties and powers include the preservation, distribution, and introduction of birds and animals, game birds and other wild birds and animals in the United States, and the protection of wild game animals and wild birds in the district of Alaska.

He is charged generally with carrying out the chief purpose of the Department, which is "to acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture, in the most comprehensive sense of that word, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and plants."

The Weather Bureau

The Chief of the Weather Bureau, under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, has charge of the forecasting of weather; the issue of storm warnings; the display of weather and flood signals for the benefit of agriculture, commerce, and navigation; the gauging and reporting of rivers; the maintenance and operation of seacoast telegraph lines, and the collection and transmission of marine intelligence for the benefit of commerce and navigation; the reporting of temperature and rain-fall conditions for the cotton interests; the display of frost and cold-wave signals; the distribution of meteorological information in the interests of agriculture and commerce, and the taking of such meteorological observations as may be necessary to establish and record the climatic conditions of the United States or as are essential for the proper execution of the foregoing duties.