No. 21. ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, February 1, 1899. I.. By direction of the Secretary of War, the 2d Army Corps will be reorganized and consolidated into two camps, one at Augusta, Georgia, and one at Greenville, South Carolina. As reorganized the corps will consist of three separate brigades, with a proper proportion of corps and brigade staff officers. The squadron of the 3d Cavalry now on duty with the 2d Corps will remain with it until ordered to permanent station at Fort Myer, Virginia. The travel required in the execution of this order is necessary for the public service. II. By direction of the Secretary of War, paragraph 223 of the Regulations is amended to read as follows: 223. Whenever, in the opinion of a commanding officer, the condition of any silken color, standard, or guidon in the possession of his command has become unserviceable, a board of survey will be appointed to report for the information of the Secretary of War its condition and as to the necessity of supplying a new one. If requiring repair, application to have it placed in a serviceable condition should be made to the Quartermaster General. Service colors and guidons will be submitted to the action of an inspector when unfit for further use. Upon receipt of new silken colors, standards, or guidons, commanding officers will cause those replaced to be suitably labeled and sent to the Adjutant General of the Army for preservation, but organizations which participated in the war with Spain will be allowed to retain the colors, standards, or guidons carried by them during the continuance of hostilities. BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL MILES: H. C. CORBIN, No. 22. ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, February 3. 1899. By direction of the Assistant Secretary of War, the following instructions relating to the functions of the "Fiscal Agents of the Government of the United States" in the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico are published to the Army for the information and guidance of all concerned: 1. The North American Trust Company, of New York, and the firm of De Ford and Company, of Boston, Massachusetts, have been designated by the President of the United States as "Fiscal Agents of the Government of the United States," the former as agents at Santiago, Havana, and other places in the Island of Cuba, and the latter as agents in the Island of Porto Rico. As expressed in their bonds, these agents have been designated For such service as the Government may require, upon the following agreement, terms and conditions, which have been duly accepted and entered into by the said [agents]; that is to say, that the said fagents] will, while they continue such agents of the said Government, accept, protect, and pay all bills and drafts drawn upon them by the Government, or on its account by its officers or other persons duly authorized for that purpose, and properly presented or coming to them for acceptance, protection, or payment, charging therefor commissions of one-half of one per centum, and will promptly account for and pay over to the said Government, when required so to do, all moneys and balances of said Government at any time remaining in their hands. The said Government agreeing on its part to furnish the money to the said agents] for the payment of said bills and drafts from time to time as the same may be required. Money is furnished to said fiscal agents by warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury on assistant treasurers and designated depositaries in the United States, and with the proceeds these agents establish credits at their respective business houses in Cubaand in Porto Rico in favor of disbursing officers of the War Department for such amounts (subject to current charges for exchange) as may be requested by the War Department. Each disbursing officer authorized to draw checks against a credit so established is given official notice of the agents, and the place. On receiving notice from the fiscal agents of the establishment of such a credit, the disbursing officer debits himself with the full amount of the credit and pays the agents the charges for exchange at rates current at the time, taking a receipt for such payment showing the specific credit on which the exchange was paid. The charges of onehalf of one per centum for disbursement of funds advanced to the fiscal agents on Government account are settled through the accounting officers of the Treasury, and are not paid by the disbursing officers. The obligations of the agents do not require them to accept from holders, at par, at their business houses in Cuba and in Porto Rico, checks of disbursing officers drawn, not on them, but on the Treasurer, or an Assistant Treasurer, or designated depositary located in the United States. Such checks in the hands of holders in those countries are subject to the local discounts or charges for collection. 2. A disbursing officer stationed in Cuba or Porto Rico having a credit with said fiscal agents is authorized to transfer any unused portion of his credit (unexpended balance) by drawing his check directing the fiscal agents to place a stated amount to the official credit of the officer named therein and sending it to the agents, and sending invoices of the funds to the receiving officer. 3. Disbursing officers of the War Department stationed in Cuba and Porto Rico, being far remote from the designated depositories, are specially authorized by the Secretary of War to keep, at their own risk, money received in coin or currency which they may be authorized to disburse and such moneys as may be officially intrusted to them for disbursement. The obligations of the fiscal agents in Cuba and in Porto Rico are set forth in their bonds hereinabove quoted, but they are not designated depositaries of the United States, and public moneys will not be deposited with them, under A. R., 608 and 609, to be carried to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States; nor will the amount of credit of any disbursing officer with them be increased by any deposit by him of funds to be held for disbursement. 4. Disbursing officers in Cuba and Porto Rico having coin or currency or both in their possession in excess of needs, or which for any reason should be deposited to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, may exchange the same for official checks of U. S. disbursing officers drawn against the Treasurer or any Assistant Treasurer of the United States in favor of the depositing officers themselves or of public creditors, and may use such checks for making deposits under A. R., 608 and 609, by endorsing them "Pay to the Treasurer of the United States," adding their official signatures, and forwarding them by mail to the Treasurer of the United States, Washington, District of Columbia, with a letter requesting that the amount thereof be deposited in the Treasury and carried to the credit of the appropriation to which the funds should go, naming it, or to that of "miscellaneous receipts" as the case may require. Depositing officers using such checks for the purpose herein described will be held strictly responsible for the genuineness and sufficiency of all endorsements on the same preceding their own. Should it be impracticable to obtain U. S. disbursing officers' checks for the purpose, the money (U. S. coin or currency) will be forwarded through the Quartermaster's Department, under A. R., 1128, to the Treasurer of the United States with letter of advice, as in the case of checks. The Quartermaster's Department will furnish transportation upon application of the depositing officer to the Chief Quartermaster of the Department in which he is serving. BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL MILES: H. C. CORBIN, |