[King Washington for October the 7^th 1800 John Wilkins Junr Ans^r — Receives three nay D. A. S.] City of Washington 7^th Oct^r 1800 Sir On examining the objections to some of my accounts as D^r M^ast Gen^l in your office on Saturday last, I found they involved two or three general principles, which if once explained & settled, would tend to obviate future difficulties, and entitle me in my adjustments with the public to a credit with the United States. — The first question is, whether the D^r M^ast Gen^l has authority at his discretion to employ agents, & other individuals in his department & to fix their compensations & — The Q. M^rs department embraces a variety of objects belonging to the army, which require assistance to carry into execution — The assistant Q. M^asts are store keepers at military posts, who have charge of every thing belonging to the Q. M^ast department, their compensations varies according to the importance of the duties they have to perform, & to the expensiveness & unhealthiness of the post they are stationed at — The employment of other individuals in the Department & fixing their compensation rests solely in the discretion of the Q. M^ast Gen^l — If transportation of troops or Stores is ordered. the Quarter master employs the boatmen or waggoners, & fixes their compensation; if barracks are ordered to be built or repaired, Vessels or Gallies built &c the Quarter Master employs the artificers, & fixes their wages — There is no law for any of these purposes Specially, but there is a general appropriation annually for the department & it is well understood those compensations are within the objects of the Department & of course provided for under the laws making the appropriations — I will mention one part of army supplies, which embracing but few objects can be well brought forward to elucidate this subject — There is an annual appropriation under the general head of Subsistance for the army — The Government may furnish the supplies either by Contract, or by means of their own agents — If a commissary Gen^l should be appointed to furnish & issue the provisions to the army, would he not have to appoint an assistant at every, at every post, to receive & issue the provisions & agents to make the purchases, & would he not be the most proper person to fix their compensations, knowing best their duties & responsibilities? who else could do it & yet there is no law providing for these officers, nor for ascertaining their compensation — It has been uniformly the practice for the Quarter Master Gen^l to appoint & fix the compensations of all assistant Q. M^astrs, Quarter Master artificers, Boatmen, waggoners, Guides, Expresses, Pilots, &c. — Such was the practice of my Predecessor, & such has been my practice Since I belonged to the army — Indeed these powers of a Q. M^ast Gen^l are coeval with all military establishments and are indispensable to the existance of such establishments, they are necessary to embrace unforeseen details, & to meet unexpected exigencies, Check them, & the operation of armies will cease — Should the Q. M^ast Gen^l be guilty of waste, extravagance or frauds, he is liable to be charged, arraigned & punished; but he cannot be restrained in the exercise of his functions without arresting every movement & hazarding every interest which may depend on the military — My accounts for two years were settled at the Treasury, where this principle was admitted, & the disbursements were passed to my credit — In the estimate for the year 1800, the principle is completely recognized, for under the head "Quarter Master Department" $60,000 dolars is appropriated, & among the items composing it, are "Pay of agents, Clerks, artificers &c employed in said Department" — A question is made, whether the Quarter Master Gen^l is entitled to make purchases generally, prior to their expenditure That is, I presume, whether I ought to purchase any Stores before the time of delivery & that the certificate of such delivery should accompany the Voucher for the last disbursement — It is impossible to accompany the cash Vouchers with the certificates of delivery — our principal posts are on the frontiers where the Supplies cannot be had as they are demanded — Requisitions are made, & the Supplies are furnished from places remote from where they are required, & perhaps the Stores of all the supplies are not made for a year after the purchase — For instance, the Garrison at Detroit, & the Vessels on the Lakes require many articles which cannot be had there upon fair reasonable terms as at other places, such as Tar, Paint, oal, Cordage &c, which are purchased at other places, put there & deposited in the Stores, from whence they are issued as they are required — General Hamilton in April last ordered me to provide Transport for one thousand men to descend the Ohio in May — In consequence of which twenty boats were purchased, which have not as yet been demanded — Gen^l Wilkinson ordered me to provide Camp equipage for one thousand men, which I did, & which still remains in Store — The mode, I think, which ought to be pursued, is to charge me in the books of the Superintendent of Stores with all articles purchased by me, & which are not accounted for by the Cash Vouchers, & to be exonerated from the same by post Vouchers as the nature of the Service will admit — My appointment is a military one — I am under the orders of the commanding General — If he should order me to purchase a large quantity of Stores, & deposite them at any point within the Union; if he should order me to build boats or Vessels, erect Barracks or Stores, I would certainly be bound be bound to execute his commands, of the merits of which I am not to judge — If this is not the case there is an end of military discipline, & the responsibility attached to a Chief in Command — am —, Sir, huspic^lpally Your Hum^ble S^t [underline: J. W. Wilkins J^r] William Simmons Esqr accountant Department of War —