DUTIES. The chief signal officer is charged, under the Secretary of War, with the direction of the Signal Bureau; with the control of the offi cers, enlisted men, and employees attached there to; with the construction, repair, and operation of military telegraph lines and cables, field tele graph lines, balloon trains, and electrical com munication for fire-control purposes: with the preparation, distribution, and revision of the War Department telegraphic code; with the su pervision of such instruction in military signaling and telegraphy as may be prescribed in orders from the War Department; with the procure ment, preservation, and distribution of the neces sary supplies for the Signal Corps and for the lake and seacoast defenses. He has charge of all military signal duties, and of books. papers, and devices connected therewith, including tele graph and telephone apparatus and the necessary meteorological instruments for target ranges and other military uses; of collecting and transmit ting information for the army by telegram or otherwise, and all other duties pertaining to military signaling.
The Signal Department furnishes all military posts and seacoast defense stations with such instruments and materials as may be necessary for the electrical installation of range-finders and the fire-control system for the purpose of intercommunication. This includes telephonic and telegraphic instruments, electrical clocks, megaphones, field glasses, telescopes, and neces sary meteorological instruments, i.e. barometers, thermometers, anemometers, etc. Also, all such cable and land lines as may be required to con nect contiguous military posts, or for connecting the posts with the commercial telegraph system.