.MTAzMQ.Njg4MTk

men as clerks the whole work can be done well & economically.

    It is not so much the salary of the clerks that I object to but the amount they steal & the annoyance & discomfort they inflict on others.  Very few citizens can be found here who are content with an honestly gained hundred dollars per month.
    I would discharge every civilian clerk here at once did I feel entirely confident it would meet your approval & not interfere with any of the rights [underline] of the Staff Dept.
   Another point a rather delicate one & which I do not like to touch.  The A. A. Surgeon tho really an army officer pro tempore chooses to consider himself a civilian when anything is to be hard ?.  He has teams (oxen) & wagons & had made considerable money by partnerships in contracts, in my opinion in violation of the spirit of the Act of Congress.