REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CORPORATIONS. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, BUREAU OF CORPORATIONS, Washington, December 1, 1905. SIR: I have the honor to submit the report of the Commissioner of Corporations for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1905. There has been no change in the organic law under which the Bureau was organized. Further study of the law, and practical work under it, confirm the opinions expressed in the first general report of this Bureau as to its purpose and scope. The total appropriations for the Bureau were $156,220. Of this amount $118,855.64 has been expended. An unexpended balance amounting to $31,959.40 was reappropriated for the fiscal year 1905-6, which, together with the regular appropriations, makes available for this year a total sum of $217,879.40. The number of persons employed by the Bureau on June 30, 1905, was 74, an increase of 22 since the preceding year. The methods of accounting, distribution of expense to the various special investigations, and responsibility for public property have been so elaborated as to show the exact cost of Bureau work, and have made it possible to prevent unnecessary expense. With the beginning of the new fiscal year the appropriations for the Department made possible the discontinuance of all regular details of employees from this Bureau for departmental work. The estimates for the year ending June 30, 1907, are $248,700, being an increase of $30,820.60, to keep pace with the growth of the Bureau. The work of the past year has again emphasized the advantage of a lump-sum appropriation. It has been possible to employ men when and where they were needed, and at such salaries as to command efficient men possessed of special or technical knowledge. The general legal work of the Bureau was the completion of the examination of the subjects having to do with the powers and duties of the Commissioner and the interpretation of the organic act, par |