MANUAL FOR THE QUARTERMASTER CORPS, UNITED STATES ARMY, 1916.
1. Under the provisions of an act of Congress approved August 24, 1912 (37 Stat., 591), the office establish-
ments of the Quartermaster General, the Commissary General, and the Paymaster General were consoli-
dated into a single bureau of the War Department to be known as the Quartermaster Corps, and the Quar-
termaster's, Subsistence, and Pay Departments consolidated into a single corps to be known as the Quar-
termaster Corps. The officers of said departments are to be known as officers of said corps, and by the
titles of the rank held by them therein.
2. The organization of units of the Quartermaster Corps is prescribed in Tables of Organization, United
States Army.
These units are autotruck companies, bakery companies, pack companies, and wagon companies.
3. Under the provisions of the Revised Statutes, Statutes at Large, current appropriation acts, and
Army Regulations, the following is a brief summary of the duties of the Quartermaster Corps:
(a) Pay of officers and enlisted men of the Army, including Staff Corps and staff departments, Porto
Rico Regiment of Infantry, and Philippine Scouts; additional pay for length of service and foreign service;
pay of retired officers and retired enlisted men; mileage; commutation of quarters for commissioned officers,
dental surgeons, and veterinarians; pay of nurses, hospital matrons, veterinarians of Cavalry and Field
Artillery; pay of dental surgeons, acting dental surgeons, contract surgeons, retired pay clerks; expenses of
courts-martial, courts of inquiry, military commissions, and compensation of reporters and witnesses
attending same; travel allowance to enlisted men on discharge; interest on soldiers' deposits; and other
items relating to pay of the Army.
(b) Purchase of subsistence supplies for issue as rations to troops, civil employees, hospital matrons, and
others entitled thereto; subsistence of masters, officers, and crews of vessels of Army Transport Service;
hot coffee for troops traveling when supplied with cooked or travel rations; meals for recruiting parties and
applicants for enlistment while held under observation; authorized issues of soap, candles, toilet paper,
matches, vinegar and rock salt for public animals, flour for paste in target practice, huck towels for office
use, ice, and housewives; supply of articles for authorized sales; supply of coffee roasters and cooking appara-
tus in the field; bake ovens and apparatus pertaining thereto; and other items relating to subsistence of
the Army.
(c) Other supplies and services; providing means of transportation of every character, either under con-
tract or in kind, which may be needed in the movement of troops and materials of war; transportation of
supplies for troops; furnishes all public animals employed in the service of the Army; the forage consumed
by same; wagons and all articles for their use; horse equipments for the Quartermaster Corps; clothing;
camp and garrison equipage; barracks, storehouses, and other buildings; constructs and repairs roads,
walks, wharves, railways, bridges; builds and operates and charters ships, boats, docks, and wharves
needed for military purposes; care and protection of regular supplies; furnishes stoves and heating appli-
ances required for heating offices, barracks, etc.; ranges and stoves and appliances for cooking and serving
food at posts; repair and maintenance of such heating and cooking appliances; furnishes heat and light
for the authorized allowance of quarters for officers and enlisted men, contract surgeons, and contract dental
surgeons, recruiting depots, barracks, hospitals, storehouses, offices; fuel and engine supplies in the
operation of modern batteries; constructs and repairs post bakeries; installation, maintenance, and
operation of ice machines; cold storage; construction, operation, and maintenance of laundries at mili-
tary posts; furniture, textbooks, paper, and equipment for post schools and libraries; tableware and
mess furniture for kitchens and mess halls; stationery, typewriters, and blank books; blank forms and
printing; postage, and cost of telegrams on official business; authorized office furniture; hire of clerks,
laborers, interpreters, spies, and guides; incidental expenses of recruiting, apprehension and delivery of
deserters; blacksmiths' tools and materials; shoeing of horses and mules; constructs, maintains, and oper-
ates water and sewer systems; attends to all matters connected with the military service which are not
expressly assigned to some other bureau of the War Department.