2nd has the Government a bounty offered to the inventor
3d when the Machine is in perfect running order and shure that it will go without stoping will you and a man from the Patent Office come on and grant me a patent and fetch me the bounty if there is one.
4th is there eney way that I can have time to get the machine completed before others can apply for a Patent
Please write soon and address ——
May 1872
Hon Friend—Solicitor of Patents I have invented a secret form of writing expressly for the use of our gov in time of warfare the publick demands it, It is different from any other invention known to the publick in this or any gov. It consists simply of the English alphabet and can be changed to any form that the safety of our gov. demands it no higherglyphicks are employed but it is practicable and safe I propose to sell it to our gov for the sum of one million dollars I will meet any committee appointed to investigate the matter. If you will give me your influence in Congress and aid in bringing a sale of the invention about to our gov or any other I will reward you with the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) It is no illusion or a whim of the brain but is what I represent it to be scientific practicable and safe, Wishing to hear from you on the subject I remain
Yours most truly ——
CHAPTER XLII.
THE WAR DEPARTMENT.
The Secretary-of-War—His Duties—The Department of the Navy—Efficiency of the Army—The Custody of the Flags—Patriotic Trophies—The War of the Rebellion—Captured Flags—An Ugly Flag and a Strange Motto—“Crown for the Brave”—Sic Semper Tyrannis—The Stars and Stripes—The Black Flag—No Quarter—The Military Establishment—The Adjutant-General’s Office—The Quartermaster-General’s Office—The Commissary-General’s Office—The Paymaster-General—The Surveyor-General—The Engineer’s Office—The Washington Aqueduct—Topographical Engineers—The Ordnance Bureau—The War Department Building—During the War—Lincoln’s Solitary Walk—Secretary Stanton—The Exigencies of War—The Medical History of the War—Dr. Hammond—Dr. J. H. Baxter—Collecting Physiological Data—The Inspection of Over Half a Million Persons—Who is Unfit for Military Service—Various Nationalities Compared—Curious Calculations Respecting Height, Health, and Color—Healthy Emigrants—Remarkable Statistical Results—The Physical Status of the Nation.
The first recorded legislation of importance upon the military affairs of the nation, is the Act of Congress, of the twenty-seventh day of January, 1785, entitled “An Ordinance for ascertaining the Powers and Duties of the Secretary of War.”