The Establishment & organization of the Quarter Master Generals Department for the Southern Army being made by General Greene after he took the command there, the necessities of the service would not admit of an Arrangement of the pay & emoluments of the different Characters to be employed, previous to their entering on duty, as we were too remote from Congress or yourself; for the necessary steps to be taken to that end. Confident that adequate pays & emoluments would be allowed, on the same principles & in the same proportions, with respect to similar duties, in the Main Army, as are fixed in the other departments, the business was taken up, & has been carried on hitherto. I wish to make use of this opportunity of our meeting to have the pay & emoluments of the department fixed; that the person concerned may no longer be on an uncertainty, as to their footing. The purchasing Commissary Generals department for that army was arranged by Congress, in the first instance, & the pay established. I apprehend the Deputy for that Army in your department, will have his pay bearing the same proportion to yours, as that of the Deputy Commissary General of Purchases bears to the Commissary Generals, as the respective comparative duties rest on the same principles. And as the heads of the different branches of the department there, are unconnected in actual duty with those in similar employments with the main army, I apprehend that their pay should be fixed with a view to the real services rendered, rather than by a comparison of ranks.

As the nature of the service there leads the Executive Staff Officers into more extensive & diffusive Operations than those with the Main Army are subjected to, they, of consequence, are exposed to greater & more frequent expences. these are circumstances which I beg leave to recommend to your consideration in the adjustment of their Allowance. I have the Honor to be with much respect Yr Most Obt Servt