Annual Report of the Chief of Ordnance for the year ending June 30, 1871, (page 8.)

The act of April 23, 1808, in pursuance of which these issues were made, appropriates the sum of $200,000 annually for the purpose of arming and equipping the militia of the United States, and this sum, by direction of Congress, is annually divided among the States and Territories according to their representation in Congress. It is the practice of this Department to credit the States and Territories annually with their proportion of this appropriation, and to charge them with the money value of all issues made to them. The States which were not represented in Congress during the war of the rebellion, and subsequently, have not been credited with any part of the appropria tion for the period they were unrepresented, but this part of the appro priation has not been applied to the quotas of the other States. It is for you, or perhaps more properly for Congress, to direct how this sum, which has accrued, and which stands on the books of this office to the credit of the permanent appropriation, shall be applied-whether the States which are not represented in Congress shall be credited with their quotas, or whether their quotas shall be apportioned among the other States and Territories. Congress evidently intended in 1808, when it made the permanent annual appropriation of $200,000 for arming and equipping the militia of the United States, that they should be armed and equipped by the Government, and it is important and proper that they should be, and that States should be encouraged to depend upon the General Government for these supplies. If in 1808, when the population of the United States did not exceed eight millions, the sum of $200,000 per annum for arming and equipping the militia of the United States seemed necessary, it can hardly be thought that this sum is suf ficient now, when the population has increased nearly fivefold; and the States are more desirous of obtaining arms for their militia for drill and instructions than they were in 1808.

Large sums of money were charged against some of the States for arms, &c., furnished by this Department during the war, and other States, equally populous, had no charges made against them during the same period; and it seems to me highly probable that errors occurred in keeping the account with the States which do great injustice to some of them, but which this Bureau has no authority to correct. The principal, if not all, of the issues which were made to the States during the war were made to them for the maintenance of the Government and the preservation of the Union, and should have been charged, as arms and other stores issued to volunteers, to the United States, and not to the States. If the errors can be corrected they should be. In my opinion it would be fairer and juster to the States to credit them with all issues made to them during the war, and charged on their quotas for arming and equipping the militia, than to let the accounts stand as they now are on the books of this office. Some of the States are now charged with a greater sum than their annual quotas will amount to in half a century, and under a proper decision of the War Department no issues can be made to States which are charged with arms and other stores in excess of their quotas. I respectfully suggest that it may be proper to invite legislation on this subject.

House Mis. Doc. No. 191, Forty-second Congress, Second Session.

STATEMENT FROM THE ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT RELATING TO THE MANUFACTURE AND ISSUE OF ARMS FOR THE MILITIA.

Explanation of amount overdrawn by the States:

The issue to Dakota was made under special act of Congress, approved April 7, 1866.

The issues to the other States were made in 1863, 1864, and the early part of 1865, by special order of the Secretary of War, except in the case of California, when General Halleck, on July 9, 1863, as General-inChief, directed the issue to be made.

Arming and equipping the militia, under the acts of April 23, 1808, and March 3, 1855.

No. 3.

Statement of muskets, rifles, and carbines issued to the States and Territories, under the law of April 23, 1808, for arming and equipping the militia, from 1803 to April 15, 1872.

Statement of expenditures for permanent improvements at Springfield Armory, from its estab

lishment to the 29th of February, 1872.

Permanent improvements, Viz:

Purchase of land, including improvements thereon at the time of purchase..

Erection of buildings....

New machinery.

Shop-fixtures..........

Grading grounds, making roads and walks, planting trees, &c.

Mill-Jams, canals, sewers, &c..

Iron fence

Federal Square fence.

Total for permanent improvements...

$81,006 09

$1,096, 390 98

1,202, 783 24
162,077 05
176, 113 04
325, 197 70
50,327 78
9,589 92

3,022, 479 71

3, 103, 485 80

The following are the years embraced in this

statement:

Statement of the cost of Springfield rifle-muskets, from 1861 to 1865, inclusive, made at the

Springfield Armory.

From the above statements it appears that during the rebellion, or from 1861 to 1865, inclusive, there were made, at the Springfield Armory, 805,537 rifle-muskets, at a cost of $11.70 each.

This sum included the cost of all the labor, materials, direct supervision, inspection, condemnation of defective parts, 6 per cent. on plant, and also included the depreciation in value from use of tools, fixtures, machinery, buildings, &c.

This depreciation was about $1,764,569.41, or more than $2 per musket.

As the Government does not insure against fire or accidents, it does what is equiva lent, protects the property of the armory by the employment of a large force of watchmen and a steam fire-engine, the cost of maintaining which is included in the $11.70. The total expenditures at the Springfield Armory, from its establishment to the 1st of March, 1872, amounted to $3,103,485.80 for lands, buildings, iron and wooden fences, mill-dams, canals, sewers, shop-fixtures, and new machinery. The amount charged to the depreciation of these items, as stated above, from 1861 to 1865, was $1,764,569.41, or more than half of the original value.

The cost of contract-arms, as given in the accompanying list, shows that they cost an average of $20 each, to which is to be added $1 each for inspection and proof, making the cost of contract-arms to the United States at $21 each, or about $9 each more than the cost of those made at the armory.

As the United States manufactured 805,537 muskets during the rebellion, the saving of $9 on each makes a saving to the United States of $7,249,833 during the years 1861-65, or a sum more than twice the entire cost of the Springfield Armory since its stablishment.