ABSTRACTS AND ACCOUNTS.

33 and amounts in all accounts and rolls will be stated in dollars and cents. Sixth. All accounts accruing during any quarter should, if practicable, be adjusted and paid during the current quarter, or within so short a period after its termination as to be embraced in the accounts for the appropriate quarter. Seventh. The receipt annexed to an account will express the sum paid by words written out in full, not by figures, and it will state the name of the person from whom, the place where, and the date when, the money is received; the receipt will be signed, if practicable, by the person in whose name the account is stated, or if signed by another as agent, proper evidence that the agent was duly authorized by the principal to sign receipts must accompany the account. When the signature to a receipt does not legibly express the name of the writer, it should be witnessed. Eighth. If expenditures under different appropriations be contained in one voucher, the amount expended under each shall be separately stated; if this occur in an individual account, the items shall be appropriately designated in the body of it, or in the column of remarks; if it happen in a pay roll, the amount chargeable to each appropriation shall be stated at the bottom of the roll, and the several sums shall be separately stated in the appropriate columns of the abstract. Ninth. If the number of persons to be entered on the receipt roll be so considerable as to require it, the roll will be made up in book form, similar to No. 17. Tenth. In all cases where the expenditures are made in pursuance of special orders, or instructions from the chief of the Ordnance Department, a reference to such orders, specifying the date, will be made in the column of remarks on the voucher in which the expenditure is charged. If orders emanate from any other source than the chief of the Ordnance Department, then a certified copy will be appended to the voucher.

133....Abstracts. First. All the expenditures, for one quarter, will be embodied in one abstract. Expenditures under different appropriations will be entered in separate columns. (See form No. 19.) Second. The vouchers for all the expenditures in any quarter shall be numbered in one continued series, according to their dates. Third. If the abstract is so large as to require more than one sheet, it will be made on several sheets of the same kind, stitched together in book form.

134....Accounts current will be prepared according to form No. 20. They should always commence by entering-First, the balance from

the last account; if that balance shall have been officially ascertained, and stated to the disbursing officer, he will enter the official balance; if otherwise, he will enter the balance as stated by himself in his last account. Second. All money received since the last account was rendered will then be entered, specifying separately the several sums, the dates when, and from what source received. The expenditures will then be charged, entering the amount under each appropriation separately. Third. The account should then be balanced, certified, and dated, agreeably to the prescribed form.

SECTION XII. RETURNS AND REPORTS.

ARTICLE 135..The chief of the Ordnance Department shall transmit, monthly, to the Adjutant General's office, a return, exhibiting the names, rank, and stations of all officers and enlisted men in the service of the Ordnance Department.

136....The officer having charge of each arsenal or ordnance depot, shall transmit to the chief of the Ordnance Department, within five days after the termination of each month, and according to the forms hereinafter prescribed, the following monthly returns, viz: first, of the ordnance officers and enlisted men at the post, (form No. 27 ;) second, of the hired men employed, (form No. 28;) third, of the work done at the post, (form No. 29.) The commanding officer of each national armory shall transmit to the chief of the Ordnance Department, within the period above named, a monthly return of armory officers and men employed, and of small arms and their appendages, manufactured at the armory, (form No. 30.) The commanding officer of each armory, arsenal, or depot, shall transmit, at the end of every month, a summary statement of money received and expended, (form No. 22,) which shall be made out by the disbursing officer.

137....The commanding officer of each national armory, arsenal, or ordnance depot, shall transmit to the chief of the Ordnance Department, at the beginning of each quarter, an estimate of the funds required during the quarter, (form No. 23.)

138....Every person having the charge and custody of ordnance or ordnance stores, shall be held responsible for the same; and shall make and transmit to the chief of the Ordnance Department, within twenty days after the termination of the quarter, a quarterly return of the same, according to the forms referred to in article 143, of these

PROPERTY RETURNS-INVENTORIES.

35

regulations; which return, after having been duly examined, will be transmitted to the proper accounting officer of the Treasury.

139....When an officer commands, at the same time, a military post and also a regiment or company, he shall make a return of ordnance and ordnance stores belonging to the post, separate and distinct from those belonging to the regiment or company.

140....The commanding officer of an armory, arsenal, or ordnance depot having a storekeeper, shall transmit to the chief of the Ordnance Department, in the month of July of each year, a return according to form No. 1, of all ordnance, tools, machines, and other stores, including public horses and oxen, which may be in current service; and such commanding officer shall not be required to make the quarterly returns called for in the 138th article; but he shall, at the end of each month, turn over to the storekeeper all finished articles fabricated during the month, and other stores which may not be required in the current service.

141....Arms, ordnance, and ordnance stores shall be arranged on the returns and inventories, according to the classification exemplified in article 155.

142....Every person who is required by article 138 or 140 to make a quarterly or an annual return of ordnance and ordnance stores, shall make an exact inventory of the same in the month of June of each year, and shall certify, on the second quarter's return, that such inventory has been accurately made, and that said return has been compared with the inventory, and corrected accordingly, if necessary. This inventory shall be made according to form No. 13, and shall, if required, be exhibited to the inspector general, or to any other inspetiug officer who may visit the post.

143....All returns of property required by articles 138 and 140 of these regulations, shall be made according to the forms hereinafter prescribed, that is to say: quarterly and annual returns of property, (according to form No. 1;) invoices and vouchers in support thereof, viz., invoice of articles received, (according to form No. 2;) abstract of articles fabricated, (form No. 3;) abstract of articles purchased, (form No. 4;) abstract of articles repaired, (form No. 5;) statement of materials obtained from condemned stores, (form No. 6;) receipts for stores issued to the army, (forms Nos. 7 and 21;) receipt for stores issued to the militia, (form No. 8;) abstract of articles expended or consumed for

purposes of construction in the ordnance workshops, or for current service, (form No. 9;) list of condemned stores stricken from the return by order of the President of the United States, (form No. 10;; certified invoice (form No. 2) of stores turned over to the quartermaster's department for transportation, for which a receipt shall not have been obtained in time to accompany the return; such receipt, when obtained, shall be marked to correspond with the invoice and the return to which it belongs, and shall be forwarded with the next quarterly return; certificates of the loss of ordnance stores in transportation, (forms No. 11 and 12;) original orders for issue in certain cases, (according to articles 61 and 62.) All abstracts required above shall be furnished in duplicate to the Ordnance Office. If the vouchers for receipts or issues of property are too numerous to be stated separately on the face of the return, an abstract of them will be made, in a form corresponding with that of the return. In all the vouchers and abstracts accompanying a property return, the articles should be arranged in the same order as in the body of the return.

144....Each commanding officer, or other agent of the Ordnance Department, who is required by articles 138 and 140 to make returns, shall constantly keep, at his station, recorded copies of said returns, to be turned over to his successor in the same manner as other property; and all the books and files of papers required by this and the next following article, shall be submitted to the inspector general and other inspecting officers on their tours of inspection, who shall state in their reports the order in which they are kept.

145....Each officer or other agent of the Ordnance Department, required by articles 129, 130, 136, 137, and 148 of these regulations to make the monthly returns, accounts current, and abstracts or reports therein referred to, shall constantly keep, at his station, to be turned over to his successor, the following books and files of papers, viz : First. A monthly return book, containing copies of all monthly returns and statements, except the company return, form 27. Second. A company return book, made by binding together the duplicate returns which are retained at the post. Third. An account book, containing copies of all quarterly accounts current, of all abstracts of money disbursed, of the statements endorsed on such accounts and abstracts, and of the estimates for funds. Fourth. A letter book, containing copies of all official letters written by such officer or agent. Fifth. An

annual inventory book, made by binding together the duplicate inventories retained at the post. Sixth. Files of letters received, containing all original official letters received on ordnance service, regularly endorsed and bundled, according to the years in which they are written. Seventh. Files of orders received, containing all original orders, regulations, and circular letters received, endorsed, and bundled according to the years in which they are written. Eighth. At armories and arsenals of construction, such other books will be kept as may be necessary to show the nature and extent of operations, and the details of the application of funds.

146....It shall be the duty of the chief of the Ordnance Department to report to the second auditor of the Treasury, in the month of June of each year, all persons who shall have failed to transmit returns within the periods prescribed by the 138th and 140th articles of these regulations.

147....Should an officer or other agent of the Ordnance Department, charged with ordnance and ordnance stores, fail to render the prescribed returns thereof, within a reasonable time after the termination of a quarter, a settlement shall be made of his accounts at the Treasury, and the money value of the supplies with which he stands charged shall be reported against him for collection. The delinquency will also furnish matter of military accusation, at the discretion of the proper authority.

148....The commanding officer of each armory, arsenal, or ordnance depot, shall transmit to the chief of the Ordnance Department, in the month of August of each year, an annual inventory and report of operations for the year ending the 30th June, according to form No. 31. This inventory will be made in duplicate, one copy to be retained at the post.

149....A general statement in a condensed form will be transmitted, with the annual inventory and report, showing the principal operations at the post during the year ending June 30th. This statement will embrace experiments, (their objects and results;) the construction of buildings, machinery, or other important works; extensive repairs or alterations; and the general character of the operations at the armories and arsenals of construction, and in the foundry and inspection service.