date and subsequent to military occupation some $2,000,000 were received as public revenues. I felt obliged to devolve upon the inspector-general of the department the work of an examination of these accounts. So extensive and confining were these duties that he was obliged to defer necessary work of inspection of troops and money accounts. Colonel Heyl's reports of his examinations were forwarded at their dates and have already been published by the Government. This special service largely occupied the time of the inspector, but he made several inspections of troops, property, and disbursing accounts. Major Sharpe attended to several matters of army inspection, but he also was charged with very important civil duties and could give but a small part of his time to routine matters. He made two inspections of the civil treasurer's and auditor's accounts, and several military examinations. In June and July Major Thomas inspected the posts of Manati, Aguadilla, Mayaguez, and the subpost of San German, eight organizations in all. He also inspected a large amount of unserviceable property and all reports have been forwarded. Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison has inspected the posts of San Juan, Ponce, Adjuntas, Cayey, and Aibonito. He has also inspected a large amount of property at same and other stations, and several transports. MILITARY JUSTICE. The judge-advocate's reports give usual data respecting the enforcement of discipline by resorts to the law military. The lapses of the soldiers in this island from the required standard of duty and deportment have been in number and gravity about the same as formerly and elsewhere. There have been seven more desertions during the past year than occurred in the previous one. appears also that the number of apprehensions of deserters was nine for the year, or less than one-quarter as many as deserted. It The reward for the apprehension and delivery of deserters was fixed at $30 until the year 1890, when it was raised to $60. In 1894 it was reduced to $10, and so remained until July 1, 1899, when the amount of authorized reward was raised to $50. I have long been of the opinion that the proportion of the deserters caught and punished bears to the whole so small a ratio that no influence whatever is produced upon military discipline in general by the apprehension and punishment of the few men who are secured. In fact not an inconsiderable number of those who are caught are really participants in the reward itself through an amicable arrangement made by the deserter to disclose himself on condition that the sheriff or policeman receiving the reward shall divide the proceeds with the self-confessed deserter. These same civil officers have been known to interest themselves in preventing return to duty of a soldier absent without leave until he should have been more than ten days absent, and therefore reported by his captain as a deserter. The civil officer then arrests his victim, turns him over to the military, and receives his reward. Every soldier in the Regular Army is actually a volunteer. Upon enlistment he subscribes to an oath, which, in fact, is nothing more or less than a promise or contract of future service and conduct. Public sentiment in America is inclined to regard the desertion of a soldier as nothing more than a breach of contract. There is no strong public sentiment, ever active, to discountenance and punish desertion as there is in countries whose armies are filled by conscription. In France, Germany, Austria, and Russia there are practically no deserters, while in England and the United States, whose armies are filled by means of voluntary enlistments, desertions are very common, and ever will be. If a man is disgusted with his contract with the Government, and he reaches a state of mind constraining him to desert, the sooner the command is rid of that man the better, and his arrest and apprehension is an act without profit or benefit to his regiment or to the military service. Money paid for him is money wasted. The policy ever pursued by the United States and England is to rely upon the people to furnish armies for national defense and other purposes. Conscription was resorted to by the United States in 1864, and a sorry lot of soldiers was the result. The Boers have only volunteers in their army, and they seem to find no difficulty in maintaining an effective force in the field, and England is contending for mastery of the Transvaal, using in the campaign her volunteers. I am of the opinion that it is a waste of money to pay rewards for the apprehension and delivery of deserters. I would not arrest a deserter at all and I would not reenlist him. If deserters succeeded in passing the recruiting officers and were afterwards recognized they should be stripped of their uniforms, given a cheap suit of clothes, and drummed out of camp, placarded "deserter." It will be observed that the total amount of forfeitures by sentence of courts-martial reaches the large sum of upwards of $17,000 for the year. I concur in the recommendation of Major Sharpe that the general court-martial be not restricted to a confinement of three months in cases of dishonorable discharge of soldiers for general worthlessness when evidenced by many previous convictions, and that the confinement to be imposed by the summary court be extended to three months. QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT. The year has been one of special activity for this department. The troops were occupying many stations to which access was difficult and to some only possible by pack mules. The Spanish barrack accommodations were all overhauled and modernized. The accumulation of some supplies to meet the wants of the volunteers was largely in excess of the needs of the remaining force, and much of this surplus has been disposed of. During the year over 30,000,000 pounds of relief supplies have been received and distributed through the instrumentality of the Quartermaster's Department, and large quantities of property for various branches of the insular government were received and cared for by this department. A well-appointed depot for the quartermaster property has been fitted up and put in use. An extensive corral and sheds for public animals have been installed and equipped. The barracks of Morro Castle have been extensively overhauled and rearranged, and officers' quarters outside have been erected, while at Cayey (Henry Barracks) extensive temporary shelters have been put up for accommodation of the mounted battalion of the Porto Rico regiment. During the year 50 horses and 791 mules that were not required were shipped back to the United States as not needed in Porto Rico, and 12 companies of troops have been returned to the States. The tug Slocum rendered most valuable service for about ten months of the year, while the transport Wright, succeeded by the Ingalls, has been here in service the remainder of the time. The work of the department has been well done, and many reductions of expense have been made and others are contemplated at an early date. SUBSISTENCE. No troops have ever been better supplied with the authorized food than those stationed in Porto Rico. While the island should easily supply fresh meat, sugar, and coffee for the army on better terms than could be had elsewhere by the purchasing agents, yet it has not been found to be practicable to obtain these commodities of satisfactory quality or at reasonable prices. The island abounds with fine cattle, but there is no butcher in Porto Rico who provides arrangements for chilling the meat or keeping it in cold storage. The practice here is to cut all flesh from the bone and to sell all muscular tissue at the same price. The flesh of the slaughtered animal never reaches a lower temperature than about 80°, and the animal heat never really leaves it. The flesh must be cooked and eaten within a few hours from the shambles or it will spoil. Besides, the price is nearly double what good beef commands in the United States. The refrigerated beef brought here from the United States is infinitely preferred by the troops to the native production. The refrigerated variety supplied by Swift & Co. for the past two years has been universally acceptable, and the quartermaster and commissary has been able to deliver it in excellent condition at the most remote mountain posts. When authority was given about a year ago to buy coffee in Porto Rico some purchases were made at about 10 cents per pound, but about the same time the Cuban prohibitive tax was very greatly reduced. The crop maturing in 1899 was practically destroyed about this time, and the combined effect of these influences was to raise the price of coffee to about double what a good grade of Rio could be bought for in the United States. Of course further purchases could not be made under these conditions. While the price of Muscovado and low-test centrifugal sugar was but about 2 to 3 cents per pound, yet a centrifugal of high test, such as the troops habitually receive at home, commanded a much higher price. Some months ago the sugar dealers were confident that Porto Rico was to receive substantial advantage from the lowering of the rate of customs taxation on raw sugar exported to the United States, and they promptly raised the local price of the kind of sugars the troops received. While the centrifugals testing 96° were sold locally at 4 cents per pound, for those testing 98°-required by the troops-6 cents or even 8 cents per pound at retail was demanded; a price 50 price 50 per cent higher than that at which sugar could be bought in the United States. Consequently the effort failed to help the island to market locally some of its surplus. Of course all this will be changed in time, but at present the ruling thought among local merchants and producers |