To James Madison from Alexander J. Dallas, 23 May 1815
From Alexander J. Dallas
23 May 1815
Dr. Sir.
In marshalling the appropriations, with a view to provide for subsistence and pay, during the current year, as well as to diminish the amount of debt, I think I can advantageously borrow into wag[e]s from the Ordonance Department: 1. By taking from the unexpended appropriation about the sum of 1 Dollars; and 2d. by selling a quantity of Gun-powder, for which we have no use, actual, or prospective, considering the gross quantity on hand and contracted for. The quantity will appear from the inclosed statement;2 and we can now sell at a price considerably higher than the contract price at delivery, owing to the demand for the Spanish Colonies &c. If you concur in these propositions, I will throw them into form for an official approbation. We shall be able to enrich our appropriations by the sale of perisheable and useless articles in the Commissary’s Department; and, upon the whole, I hope to deliver the Office to Mr. Crawford with more means, than I had thought, at first, could be secured.
The Squadron has sailed. The Army arrangement seems to be approved. I believe Genl. Wilkinson is alone indiscreetly angry; but his objections are confined to the appointment of his enemies. It happens, however, that many of his friends are on the same list. I am, Dr Sir, most respectfully & faithfully, Yrs.
A. J. Dallas
RC and enclosure (DLC). For enclosure, see n. 2.
1. Left blank by Dallas. His plan to transfer appropriations from the ordnance department may have been based on an 18 Mar. 1815 statement signed by War Department accountant Tobias Lear, of which JM received and docketed a copy (DLC; 1 p.), showing an unexpended balance of $786,526.47 for ordnance. The statement also listed lesser unspent balances of five and six figures for pay of the army, forage, clothing, fortifications, contingencies, the Indian department, pay and subsistence of Rangers, militia, arming and equipping of militia, raising Sea Fencibles, and purchasing horses for artillery; as well as $1.2 million designated “For Advancing 3 Months Pay to Officers and Non Comd. Officers & Privates.” Overdrafts of at least six figures were shown for subsistence, camp equipage, the medical and hospital department, and the quartermaster’s department. For Dallas’s official recommendations on appropriations transfers to cover some of the deficits, see his second letter of 23 May 1815 to JM.
2. The enclosure, “A Return, of the quantity of Gun powder at the different Posts & Garrisons in the U. States—not including fixed Ammunition” (2 pp.), showed a total of 1,030,826 pounds of powder at forty-five depots from Maine to Louisiana and as far west as Detroit. The “Amount of Contracts for Gunpowder” was 470,000.