EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 14, 1884_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a communication
from the Secretary of War of the 5th instant, submitting copies of
certain papers, consisting of a letter, dated February 16 last, from Mr.
Haughwout Howe, of New York City, presenting a proposition for the sale
to the Government for the sum of $5,500 of certain hospital and other
records pertaining to an association founded in New York City in April,
1862, for the purpose of extending relief to soldiers of the late war;
a report of an examination made of these records by a representative
of the War Department, and a report of the Adjutant-General stating
that the records would prove of great value to the Department in the
settlement of claims of deserving soldiers, as well as in detecting
fraudulent claims, as the books, etc., contain information not now
of record in the War Department.
The Secretary of War, it will be observed, recommends that an
appropriation be made by Congress of the necessary sum for the
purchase of the records referred to.