| Quartermaster General's Department |
| Richmond July 22d 1863 |
| |
| Major L. Mims |
| QM |
| Enterprise, Miss. |
| |
| Major, |
| I enclose herewith a copy of
a letter which I have recently received from the Second Auditor, W. H.
L. Taylor Esqr. It will perhaps be better understood by you than it is
by myself. It would seem to imply that the transportation accounts of
the Mississippi Central Road have been audited in the Second Auditor's
Office, without passing through the hands of an Auditing Quarter
Master. The particular account referred to in the letter appears to be
rendered at Chattanooga rates. If so then I presume that the freight
transported was embraced in the second class of that Tariff which is
as follows -- |
| "Al the freights shipped
for the Government except live stock, hay, bran, and the articles
enumerated in first class, at 20 cts per 100 pounds, per 100
miles." |
| The uniform construction put
upon this clause, at this office, has been to allow 20 cts per 100
lbs, per 100 miles or less, but only at the rate of 20 cts per
100 lbs for distances over 100 miles, and less than 200 miles, and so
on as to distances over 200 miles but less than 300 miles. The charge
should in these cases be at the rate, simply, of 20 cts per 100
lbs per 100 miles. The Auditor appears to construe this clause
differently and to give, 20 cents per 100 lbs for 100 miles, 40 cents
for, say, 105 miles and 60 cents for, say, 205 miles. However, I have
no control over the Auditor's decisions, I can only prescribe the rule
for the Auditing Officers of my Department, and that rule is as I have
stated. |
| A. C. Myers, Q. M. Genl. |
|