FIFTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 1485. 1904. 269 or where it is impracticable to secure competition, the purchase of all supplies for the use of the various departments and posts of the Army and of the branches of the army service shall only be made after advertisement,and shall be purchased where the same can be purchased the cheapest, quality and cost of transportation and the interests of the Government considered; but every open market emer ency purchase made in the manner common among business men which exceeds in amount two hundred dollars shall be reported for approval to the Secretary of War under such regulations as he may prescribe. For the purchase of the necessar instruments, office furniture, sta- sc§§g}{f“‘°“* °‘ P°“° tionery. and other authorized articles required for the equipment and use of the officers’ schools at the several military posts, twenty-five thousand dollars. _ Irvcrnnuran nxrmxsnsz Postage; cost of telegrams on official busi- I“°"’°“‘“‘°’P"““°’· ness received and sent by officers of the Army; extra y to soldiers employed on extra duty, under the direction of the (§darterrnaster’s Department, in the erection of barracks, quarters, and storehouses, in the construction of roads, and other constant labor for periods of not less than ten days, and as clerks for post quartermasters at military posts, and for prison overseers at posts designated by the War Department for the confinement of general prisoners; for expenses of expresses to and from frontier posts and armies in the Held, of escorts to paymasters and other disbursing officers, and to trains where military escorts can not be furnished;- expenses of the interment of officers killed in actionor who die when on duty in the Held, or at military posts or on thefrontiers, or when travelrn under orders, and of nonoommissioned o&cers and soldiers; and in all cases where such ex nses would have been lawful claims_-against the Government, reimhhrsement may be made “of‘ expenses heretofore or hereafter incurred by individuals of burial and transportation of remains of officers, including acting assistant surgeons, not to exceed the amount now allowed in the cases of officers, and for the reimbursement in the cases of enlisted men not exceeding the amount now allowed in their cases, may be paid out of the proper funds appropriated by this Act, and the disbursing officers shall be credited with. such reimbursement heretofore made; but hereafter no reimbursement shall be made of such expenses incurred prior to the twenty-lirst day of Apsil, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight; authorized office furniture, ire of laborers in the Quartermaster s Department, including the hire of interpreters, spies, or guides for the Army; compensation of clerks and other employees to the officers of the Quartermaster’s Department, and incidental expenses of recruiting; for the apprehension, securing, and delivering of deserters, inc uding escaged military prisoners, and the expenses incident to their pursuit; an no greater sum than fift dollars for each cbserter or escaped military prisoner shall, in the discretion of the Secretary of War, be paid to any civil officer or citizen for such services and expenses; for a donation of tive dollars to each dishonorably discharged prisoner upon his release from confinement, under court-martial sentence, involving dishonorable dis- _ charge; for the following expenditures required for the several regi- HMB ¤¤r>•=¤¤i¤¤r¤e ments of cavalry, the batteries of light artillery, and such com nies of infantry and scouts as may be mounted, the authorized nummr of · officers’ horses, and for the trains, to wit: Hire of veterinary surgeons. purchase of medicines for horses and mules, picket ropes, blacksmiths’ tools and materials, horseshoes and blacksmiths’ tools for the cavalry service, and for the shoeing of horses and mules, and such additional — expenditures as are necessary and authorized by law in the movements an operations of the Army, and at military posts, and not expressly -*'”°“°*- assigned to any other department, two million dollars.
