[26] was so modified. On the twenty-ninth, the Senate resumed the consideration of the bill. Mr. Wilson stated that his original purpose was to rid the service of sutlers and adopt a system such as existed in the navy; and he had prepared with some care such a bill, and he was ready to present it. But
on reflection, on all the examination I can give the subject, on inquiry at the War Office, at the commissary department, at the quartermaster's department, on consultation with officers in the field, I am satisfied that the original bill as it was reported by the Committee on Military Affairs, which is a bill of regulation, will correct nearly all the abuses that now exist. I therefore prefer to make an amendment to the first section of the original bill, an amendment which I have prepared, on consultation with several officers in the field, and with persons who understand the subject. I propose to add to the first sentence of the first section of the bill the list of articles that we propose to allow sutlers to sell. This list may be modified and changed by the inspector-generals of the army, from time to time, as they see fit. I propose to amend the first section of the bill so it will read: That the Inspector-General of the army shall constitute a board of officers, whose duty it shall be to prepare, immediately after the passage of this act, a list or schedule of the following articles, which may be sold by sutlers to the officers and soldiers of the volunteer service, to wit: Apples, dried apples, oranges, figs, lemons, butter, cheese, milk, sirup-molasses, raisins, candles, crackers, wallets, brooms, comforters, boots, pocket looking-glasses, tin glasses, tin wash-basins, shirt-buttons, horn and brass buttons, newspapers, books, tobacco, segars, pipes, matches, blacking, blacking-brushes, clothes-brushes, tooth-brushes, hair-brushes, coarse and fine combs, emery, crocus, pocket-handkerchiefs, stationery, armor-oil, sweet-oil, rotten stone, razor-strops, razors, shaving-soap, soap, suspenders, scissors, shoe-strings, needles, thread, knives, pencils, and Bristol-brick.The amendment was agreed to. Mr. Lane's motion to amend, by striking out all after the enacting clause, and inserting a provision abolishing sutlerships altogether, was lost. The bill was then passed without a division. In the House, on the fifth of March, Mr. Blair, from the Military Committee, reported back the Senate bill to provide for the appointment of sutlers. On the tenth, the House resumed its consideration. The Military Committee reported an amendment, striking out the enumerated list of articles in the first section, and the amendment was agreed to. The next amendment proposed to strike out the third section, providing for the appointment of sutlers by the officers of regiments, and have them appointed as provided by law. The amendment was lost. The Committee reported an amendment to the fourth section, giving the sutler a lien on one sixth of the officers' and soldiers' pay. Mr, Thomas, of Massachusetts, proposed to amend the section so as to declare that the sutler should have no legal claim upon any officer, non-commissioned officer, or private, to an amount exceeding one fourth of his pay, for articles sold during any month. The amendment was agreed to. On motion of Mr. White, of Indiana, the vote striking out the list of articles in the first section was reconsidered, and the amendment rejected. Mr. Wright, of Pennsylvania, proposed to modify the Committee's amendment to the fourth section, so that sutlers might have a lien on the soldiers' pay, provided that they shall be allowed to sell only the articles designated in the list or schedule provided in the act, and none others, and at prices not exceeding those affixed to said articles, as herein provided, and the section was so amended. The seventh section was so amended as to provide that any sutler who should violate any of the provisions of this act should, by the colonel, with consent of the council of administration, be dismissed from the service. Mr. Aldrich, of Minnesota, proposed a new section, providing that any regiment should have the power to dispense with a sutler, whenever a majority of the regiment should so determine ; but the amendment was lost. Mr. Blake, of Ohio, moved to substitute for the bill an amendment, providing that the office of sutler in the volunteer service of the army of the United States should be abolished: Provided, That the act take effect, and be in force from and after the first day of the coming May. The amendment was rejected, and the bill as amended passed without a division. In the Senate, on the eleventh, on motion of Mr. Wilson, the Senate disagreed to the House amendments to the sutler's bill, asked a committee of conference, and the chair appointed Mr. Wilson, Mr. Howard, and Mr. Wright conferees. The House, on motion of Mr. Blair, agreed to a conference, and the Speaker appointed Mr. Blair, of Missouri, Mr. McPherson, of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Richardson, of Illinois, conferees on the part of the House. On the fourteenth of March, Mr. Wilson, from the committee of conference, reported that the Senate recede from its disagreement to the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh amendments of the House.; that the Senate recede from its disagreement to the second amendment of the House, which gave a lien of one sixth on the monthly pay of officers and privates, with a proviso, that if any paymaster in the service of the United States should allow, or pay any greater sum to any sutler than that thereby authorized to be retained from the pay of the officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, or privates, for articles sold by any sutler during any one month, then the amount so allowed or paid by the paymaster should be charged against the said paymaster, and deducted from his pay, and returned to the officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, against whom the amount was originally charged. And any captain or lieutenant commanding a company, who might certify any pay-roll, bearing a charge in favor of the sutler against any officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, larger or greater than one
