and second lieutenants who may be on special or detached duties. The following calculations show the organization which, in my opinion, is required in case the Marine Corps is to be brought to a higher state of efficiency and the best results obtained.

The principal duty of a Marine Corps is to furnish for naval purposes expeditionary forces; and if such expeditionary forces are underofficered, the maximum efficiency can not be obtained in naval campaigns. The Marine Corps is a military organization, part of the Naval Establishment, and its services come generally under two heads: Service afloat, where its organization is largely naval, and service on shore, where its organization must of necessity be military, and quite similar to the organization found necessary for the Infantry of the Army. Under present conditions approximately 2,150 enlisted men are required for service afloat, and this service, past experience has shown, requires 1 officer to 30 men, or in other words, 72 officers performing duties afloat can not be considered as available for expeditionary work; and of these 72, approximately 2 out of 5 would be of the rank of captain.

One regiment of Infantry of 1,250 men requires 50 officers, or 1 officer to 25 men. The present enlisted strength of the Marine Corps is 9.921 enlisted men; deducting from this 2,150, the number required for service afloat, leaves 7.771 enlisted men available for expeditionary work, requiring 1 officer for 25 men, or in all 311 officers. To these 311 officers there must be added the 72 for the service afloat, making 383 officers of the line necessary for 9,921 enlisted men. This number reduced to a ratio per 1,000 enlisted men, gives 38.6 officers of the line. Under present conditions, experience has shown that there must be provided 4.5 officers per 1.000 men to cover general officers, brigade staff, duty at headquarters of the Marine Corps, duty in the Office of the Judge Advocate General, attachés, duty in the Office of Naval Intelligence, recruiting duty, duty at service schools (school of the line, Navy War College, Army War College), instructors at Marine Corps schools, officers on sick leave and in hospital. Adding, therefore, to the proportion 38.6 officers to 1,000 men 4.5 officers per 1,000 men for extra and special duty, we arrive at a figure of 43.1 officers of the line per 1.000 enlisted men. The number of second lieutenants who are under instruction and not yet available for service with troops should now be considered. Assuming that the average service of an officer is 20 years, 43.1 divided by 20 gives a quotient of 2.15 acting second lieutenants under instruction per 1,000 men per year, and as the period of instruction is approximately 18 months, there will be an average under instruction of 14 times 2.15, or a total of 3.2 acting second lieutenants per 1.000 men to be added to the 43.1 heretofore described, making 46.3 officers of the line per 1.000 enlisted men, and with staff officers added (74 per cent of the whole), there are required a total of 51.3 officers per 1,000 men for the proper organization of the Marine Corps, excluding any provisions for expansion in time of war.

Taking 51.3 officers per 1.000 men as the proper proportion, the total number required would be 51.3×9.921-509, total. From this should be deducted the commandant of the corps, of which there can be but 1, and who occupies a position similar to that of chief of bureau, leaving 508; deducting 7 per cent for staff officers, or 38, leaves 470 line officers required for a proper organization of the Marine Corps at its present strength. The proportion in which officers should be distributed in the various grades to give a proper military organization and to provide for the various needs of the service is as follows:

That is, for each 175 officers there should be 1 brigadier general, 4 colonels. 5 lieutenant colonels, 13 majors, 52 captains, 50 first lieutenants, and 50 second lieutenants.

It is considered that the officers allotted to the staff departments, 38, should be in the following proportions: Adjutant and inspector's, 20 per cent; paymaster's, 25 per cent; quartermaster's, 55 per cent. and that the officers so assigned should be allotted to the various grades in the respective departments in the following proportions: Colonels, 5; lieutenant colonels, 5; majors, 13, with the addition in the paymaster's department of two captains and in the quartermaster's department of three captains to every major.

This gives the following number of officers for the various staff departments:

Mr. BUTLER. How many men were landed in Nicaragua during the last expedition, do you recall, marines and seamen?

Gen. BIDDLE. There was a battalion which went up from the Isthmus of about 350, and from the United States there was a regiment of about 780 men; in addition to these, marines and seamen were landed from the fleet bringing the total strength up to about 2,300 seamen and marines.

Mr. HOBSON. How did it come about that you had seven companies in a single regiment?

Gen. BIDDLE. We had to make the companies big enough in order to get the officers to go around. We do not have officers enough. Mr. HOBSON. You did not have available officers for the regimental organization?

Gen. BIDDLE. No, sir.

Mr. ROBERTS. Speaking of this expedition to Nicaragua, you had enough marines to have warranted a general officer in command—a brigadier general?

Gen. BIDDLE. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROBERTS. The whole expedition was in command of a rear admiral when they went ashore?

Gen. BIDDLE. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROBERTS. Assuming that you had general officers, a brigadier general, and sent him along, who would have command ashore?

Gen. BIDDLE. The admiral would have general supervision. He would rank with a major general.

Mr. HOBSON. Would you consider that the full fleet ought to have a general officer in command of the marines of the fleet? In other words, would you have duty afloat for a general officer?

Gen. BIDDLE. I do not think a general officer should be on a battleship, but should be on one of the auxiliaries of the fleet when the force of marines with said fleet demanded it.

Mr. ROBERTS. All of the marines in the fleet would not make much more than a regiment?

Gen. BIDDLE. A good big regiment.

Mr. ROBERTS. What is the highest ranking marine officer with the fleet now?

Gen. BIDDLE. A major.

Col. RICHARDS. We had a colonel in the Spanish War. Col. Robert L. Meade was the fleet marine officer off Santiago.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "For commutation of quarters of officers on duty without troops where there are no public quarters, $44,500." That is an increase of $11,000?

Col. RICHARDS. While we have saved on the mileage right along, the item of commutation of quarters of officers on duty without troops has been in excess of the item of $33,500, which has been contained in the appropriation act for the last four years. The expenditures last year under that item were $41,560. We ask this increase for the additional officers authorized last year. At the same time the recruiting service will require more officers because we expect that during the year the number of recruiting stations will have to be materially increased. These officers are all on a commutation status. I have here a statement showing an analysis of the expenditure of this item for last year.

The statement referred to by Col. Richards follows:

Expenditures, commutation for quarters, fiscal year 1912.

New York, N. Y. (office assistant paymaster).

San Francisco, Cal. (depot quartermaster, assistant adjutant and inspector, and

assistant paymaster)..

Manila, P. 1. (brigade commander and staff).

Peking, China (legation)..

Headquarters, Washington, D. C.

16

$8, 272

413223122

5,436 1,728

1,584

1,296

1,440

720 1,440

1, 152

The CHAIRMAN. Did you have a deficiency last year? Col. RICHARDS. It is not called a deficiency, because the appropriation is a lump fund, and in taking up these things I explained each item of the whole appropriation. We try to keep within each item, especially on mileage. Commutation of quarters is regulated by a

statute. In fact, in the whole appropriation, there is no element of expenditure which rests upon executive discretion. An officer serving under certain conditions is entitled by law to the allowances of commutation of quarters; an officer assigned to duty without troops, where the Government owns no quarters, is entitled to commutation, and that must be paid to him.

The CHAIRMAN. If you paid $8,000 over this amount, you had to take the money from other items?

Col. RICHARDS. Out of the whole fund, not out of any particular item. That explains the necessity for increasing this item to $44,000.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "Pay of civil force: In the office of the major general commandant," and instead of saying “one chief clerk" you just say "chief clerk."

Col. RICHARDS. That is just reducing the words. There is an increase here. We ask that instead of the clerk in the commandant's office receiving $1.400, that he may be raised to $1,500. If you will notice, the second clerks in the other offices receive $1,500. The grade is the same and the pay should be the same.

The CHAIRMAN. How about the work; is that the same?

Col. RICHARDS. Yes, sir; similar work and the same grade; the pay should be the same.

Mr. ROBERTS. Why strike out the word "one"?

Col. RICHARDS. To reduce the number of words in the act.

Mr. ROBERTS. Why do you not do it also with the messenger?
Col. RICHARDS. That can be done.

Mr. ROBERTS. And also in the next paragraph?

Col. RICHARDS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. In the office of the adjutant and inspector you have two clerks at $1,500 each, instead of one clerk at $1,500?

Col. RICHARDS. I have here a statement which was prepared for the information of the Navy Department under date of August 31, 1912, covering the whole subject, which I will put into the hearing.

The statement referred to by Col. Richards follows:

NEED FOR TWO ADDITIONAL CLERKS IN ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR'S OFFICE.

1. Only two civilian clerks provided for in adjutant and inspector's office in addition to the chief clerk, all other employees being enlisted men.

2. Additional civilian clerks needed for work upon and in charge of important divisions of office work, for example:

Auditing division: Post-exchange accounts, etc.

Pension division: Preparing certificates on which claims settled, pensions allowed, death benefits paid, etc.

3. One of them needed to also act for chief clerk in his absence.

4. One of them to be qualified as a finger-print expert, to relieve the present finger-print clerk when absent.

5. At present no civilian clerks available for any of above duties.

HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS,

Washington, August 31, 1912.

From: Major general commandant.

To: Secretary of the Navy (Division of Personnel). Subject: Requests two additional civilian clerks for adjutant and inspector's department.

Authority is requested to direct the officer in charge of the paymaster's department, United States Marine Corps, to include in his estimates for the

fiscal year beginning July 1, 1913, two additional clerks for duty in the adjutant and inspector's department, as follows:

In the office of the adjutant and inspector: One clerk, at $1,600; one clerk, at $1,400.

2. There are but two civilian clerks in addition to the chief clerk provided for in the adjutant and inspector's department, one at $1,500 and one at $1,200, the other employees being enlisted men detailed on extra duty, and the services of additional civilian clerks are urgently needed to handle the increased work of the office, and for the following reasons:

3. In the adjutant and inspector's office the office force is under the direct supervision of the chief clerk, without civilian assistants in charge of any of the divisions of the office work. One of the civilian clerks, a lady, is engaged in the preparation of discharge certificates and is not qualified for supervisory work, and the other civilian clerk, finger-print expert, is engaged exclusively on finger-print work and is not available for any other duty. All the other work of the office-such as auditing post-exchange accounts; compiling and keeping officers' records; the examination, correction, and posting of muster rolls and other reports and returns; compiling statistics; awarding and forwarding good-conduct medals, badges, etc.; stenographic work; recording and filing correspondence; keeping the various card systems of strength and distribution, etc.; correction of records; and the preparation of certificates on which claims on the auditor are settled, pensions allowed, promotions and retirements made, death benefits paid, etc.-is done by enlisted men. It is desirable to have civilian clerks engaged upon and in immediate charge of the important divisions of the office work.

4. The need for civilian assistants is the greater because adequate supervision of the office force by the chief clerk is made especially difficult by reason of the fact that the rooms of the adjutant and inspector's department are on different floors, five being on the sixth floor in the east end of the Mills Building and two being on the seventh floor and five on the eighth floor of the west end of the Mills Building Annex.

5. It is further most desirable and highly important to have in the adjutant and inspector's department a civil-service clerk, at $1.600, who would be qualified to act in the absence of the chief clerk. As above stated, neither of the two clerks now in the office is available for this duty, the entire time of one being taken up with finger-print work and the other being a lady. It therefore becomes necessary, when the chief clerk is absent on leave or otherwise, to have an enlisted man act in his place. The positive need of a civil-service clerk qualified to assume and discharge the important and responsible duties of the chief clerk's desk during his absence is obvious.

6. The second clerk herein recommended (at $1,400) would be required to be a finger-print expert in order that, in addition to the other work assigned him in charge of one of the divisions of the office, he would be able to assist the present finger-print expert and take charge of his work when he is absent on leave or on account or sickness, or otherwise.

7. In the absence of the present finger-print clerk the finger-print work stops. This defeats the purpose of the finger-print identification system, the efficient working of which requires that the finger prints of applicants for enlistment be examined immediately upon receipt and compared with those in the files in order that applicants who are hiding prior service may be detected before being sworn in. The results of the finger-print system of identification have fully commended it to the various branches of the service, and it is important that its efficiency should not be impaired, as it is now in the temporary absence of the finger-print clerk, or defeated entirely for a period, as it is now when he is on leave.

8. There is no enlisted man qualified as finger-print expert who is available for detail on this duty. The advisability of detailing an enlisted man to be instructed in the operation of the system of finger-print identification was considered in my letter to the department dated June 27, 1911, in which it was stated that the position of finger-print clerk should be held by a civilian for the following reasons:

To place the finger-print system of the Marine Corps on the same basis as that of the Navy and the War Departments.

That future appointments for this work may be made by transfer in the classified service or by appointment under the civil service in place of continuing the necessity of detailing enlisted men on this duty.