Amos T. Akerman to Henry L. Dawes, 19 January 1871

January 19, 1871 Hon. Henry L. Dawes, Chairman of Committee on Appropriations U. S. House of Representatives. Sir: By the thirteenth section of the Act to establish the Department of Justice, approved June 22d 1870, (18 Statutes, p 1621,) it is made the duty of the Superintendent of the Treasury Building to provide such suitable rooms in that Building as may be necessary to accommodate the officers and clerks of said Department—or to the extent that may be found impracticable, to provide such rooms in some other Building in the vicinity of the Treasury. Under this provision of the Act, accommodations for the Solicitor General, and one Assistant Attorney General, together with the clerks required by them, have been provided in a building on F street known as the "Hooe Building," and the requisite number of watchmen to protect them have been furnished from the regular force of the Treasury Department Watch. I have been informed by the Superintendent of the Treasury Building that owing to the limited force at his disposal it will be impossible to furnish this Department with watchmen, after the present fiscal year. In view of this circumstance, and that all the employees of this Department should be directly responsible, and under the control of its chief, I have the honor to request that provision be made in the Appropriation Bill for the next fiscal year, for three watchmen for the Department of Justice, at the usual compensation, viz: $720 per annum each. Very respectfully, A. T. Akerman, Attorney General.