understandingly. In my judgment the examining force of the Patent Office should be sufficient to enable careful attention to be given to all applications, and at the same time to closely keep up the current work.

The Commissioner in his report has asked for a specific increase in force. I have given the matter careful attention, and I think his request reasonable and proper.

The question of additional room for the force of the Patent Office, as well as a power-hall and laboratory, must very soon engage the attention of Congress, and I submit that everything reasonably adequate should be furnished this office of the Government, inasmuch as it is not only self-sustaining, but annually turns over to the United States Treasury a sum considerably in excess of its appropriations.

In the report of the Commissioner not only an increase of force is suggested, but also an increase in salary of some of the employés. Reference is made also to the inadequacy of the room. Other subjects are suggested which seem to me to demand attention and very likely some careful legislation. Inasmuch, however, as the law requires this officer to make a report direct to Congress, in which all these matters can be reported at length and in detail, I shall not present at this time anything further on this subject.

THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

It is now six years since the establishment of the Survey. The appropriations for its maintenance have been increased from year to year, its force and work have been correspondingly enlarged, and its organization has been gradually matured. The report of the Director exhibits its present organization.

The portion of the corps engaged in the preparation of topographical maps is called the "Geographical Division." One of its subdivisions is engaged in the determination of latitudes and longitudes by astronomical methods; a second is engaged in triangulation; and a third surveys the topography of the country in detail. The topographical subdivis ion includes twenty-seven parties, scattered over various portions of the United States. Maps are being prepared on three different scales, suited to the requirements of the various portions of the country. The smallest scale is 1:250,000, or approximately four miles to the inch. The areas topographically surveyed during the year are shown in the following table:

The geographical work is being pushed with great vigor, because the geologists are in urgent need of accurate maps on which to delineate the formations, and the topographical sheets will be published as rapidly as prepared, so that they may be used by municipalities, corporations, and the general public for all purposes requiring a knowledge of the configuration of the surface of the land.

The geological division comprises six subdivisions in general geology, three in economic geology, one in statistics, and five in paleontology. There is a chemical laboratory for the analysis of ores, rocks, and mineral waters; a physical laboratory for investigating the effect of temperature, pressure, &c., on rocks; a lithological laboratory for studying the minute structure of rocks, and a technical library of geology and allied sciences. Each subdivision comprises a corps of scientific experts engaged in investigations intimately connected with the development of the mineral resources of the country; and the results of their labors are so rapidly offered for publication that the work of editing and illustrating their reports has led to the establishment of an editing division and a division of illustrations.

The survey actively co-operates with the geological and topographical organizations of individual States, and is also instrumental in stimulating a large amount of private scientific work. The most important cooperation is in the State of Massachusetts, where topographical work is being rapidly pushed and the expense is shared by the national and State organizations.

During the past ten years the mining industries of the United States have grown to vast proportions. For the year ending 1884 the product was as follows:

Value of all the other mineral products of the United States for the same year.

Value of the entire mineral product of the country

143,768, 578 20, 476, 294

77,708, 437

413, 104, 620

The history of the growth of mining industries in the country exhibits the fact that mining operations were formerly confined to a few States and to comparatively limited localities in those States; but within the last decade industries of this character have been established in widely scattered districts, so that all portions of the country are discovering and developing new sources of prosperity and wealth. At the same time new fields of labor are opened and employment furnished for thousands of people at remunerative wages. This diversification of labor and of industrial institutions by the wide distribution

of mining operations must greatly promote the welfare of the people and the prosperity of the country.

Discoveries of deposits of coal, iron, gold, silver, and other minerals are made from day to day, and it is important that the resources of the country in these respects should be fully known, and that the conditions under which these underground values can be utilized should be fully set forth. Experience has shown that much labor is fruitlessly expended and much capital wasted in the exploitation and development of mining industries. Such disasters in mining operations lead to their discouragement, and it is the part of wisdom that this waste and discouragement should be avoided as far as possible, and the mineral wealth hidden in the depths of the earth should be revealed to the knowledge of all.

To obtain the information necessary to the economic establishment of mining operations a Geological Survey of the United States has been organized under authority of law. Already it is shown that the Survey has effected important results, by developing a knowledge of the resources of the country, on the basis of which mining enterprises are established. The work thus begun should be prosecuted with vigor, and the Survey should be speedily extended over the entire country.

BUREAU OF LABOR.

The Commissioner reports that on the 11th of February rooms were obtained for the use of the Bureau of Labor in the Kellogg building, 1416 F street, and the balance of the month was spent in fitting them up and in preparing for the work of the year. On the 11th of March he submitted to the Secretary of the Interior for approval an outline of the work of the Bureau for the present year. This outline related to the investigation of the question of industrial depressions, involving a study of their character, their causes, whether contemporaneous in the great producing countries of the world, and whether, as to duration, severity, and periodicity, they are alike in such countries.

Such investigation included the question of the influence of depres sions on the cost of living, the extent to which industries are involved, and the cost of production as influenced by the use of machinery; the difference in the rates of wages in like industries in different localities of the United States; the influence of climate and taxes on the rates of wages and the cost of living; the relation of distribution and transportation to depressions; the effects of foreign immigration and employment of foreign contract labor; what industrial, commercial, and financial conditions have preceded depressions, and in fact the classification of the alleged causes of depressions and the influence of such causes. This plan necessitated the most arduous services, and contemplated the employment of a force of special agents to conduct the investigation.

The Department approved the proposed plan on March 17, and a

schedule of inquiries and instructions for the use of special agents was at once arranged.

Between March 17 and June 27 twenty special agents were selected and appointed to carry on the investigation outlined, and at the close of the fiscal year fifteen of these agents were actively employed in the United States and five in the great producing countries of Europe in collecting information called for in the instructions. The results of the investigation as outlined will be embodied in the first annual report of the Bureau of Labor.

The appropriation for the year ending June 30, 1885, was ample for the fitting up of the Bureau and the purchase of technical and other books sufficient for the foundation of a valuable special library, for the employment of the special agents, and all other necessary expenses, while nearly $9,000 were covered into the Treasury.

The appropriation for the year ending June 30, 1886, was voluntarily increased over that of the year before by Congress, and will be sufficient for the first full year's work of the Bureau.

THE TENTH CENSUS.

From the report of the Chief of the Census Division, it appears that at the date of the last annual report of the Superintendent of the Census there had been published eight volumes, Nos. I to VIII, inclusive, of the final series of census publications. Since that time the following reports have been issued:

Vol. IX. Forest Trees of North America, supplemented with a large portfolio containing sixteen maps showing the distribution of forests, etc., Sargent, 612 pages. Vol. X. Miscellaneous volume, containing three reports, viz, Petroleum, Peckham ; Coke, Weeks, 872 pages; Building Stones, Hawes and others.

Vol. XI. Part I of the report on Mortality and Vital Statistics, Billings, 767 pages. Vol. XII. The publication of Part 2 of the report devoted to Mortality and Vital Statistics is delayed by the failure of the firm having the contract for furnishing the illustrations; a new contract, however, has since been awarded by the Public Printer.

Vol. XIII. Precious Metals, King, 541 pages.

The reports now in hand and going through the press are as follows:

Water Power used in Manufactures, 2 vols., Trowbridge.

Social Statistics of Cities, 2 vols., Waring.

Wages, 1 vol., Weeks.

Mechanical Appliances, 1 vol., Trowbridge.

Mining East of the 100th Meridian, 1 vol., Pumpelly.

Mining Laws, 1 vol., King.

Fisheries, 1 vol., Goode.

The reports remaining to be published include the following subjects:

Fruits and Orchards, Dodge.

Sheep Husbandry and Wool Growing, Dodge.

Hop Culture, Dodge.

Southern Fruits, Knight.

Ice Statistics, Hall.

Indian Tribes, Powell.

Churches, Schools, and Libraries, Waite.

Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes, Wines.

Fire and Marine Insurance, Jenney.

Life Insurance, Kyle.

Gas, Dresser.

The act of July 7, 1884, making appropriations for sundry civil expenses, &c., provided for the publication of an extra edition of 25,000 copies of the Compendium, besides small editions of thirty-one special reports or monographs. These monographs, with the exception of those devoted to. Wages and Shop-Tools, have been issued. The corrected edition of the Compendium remains to be published.

The report on Wages is also to be published in conformity with a resolution of the House of Representatives, passed February 9, 1884.

Under the provisions of the 22d section of the Census act, approved March 3, 1879, the States and Territories named below filed a copy of the schedules of an interdecennial census with the Secretary of the Interior, viz, Colorado, Dakota, Florida, Nebraska, and New Mexico. The necessary pay certificates have been issued, except in the case of the State of Florida.

In a separate communication he calls attention to the fact that the appropriation for the payment of salaries for the employés of the Census will be exhausted before the end of the fiscal year.

The deficiency appropriation bill of the Forty-eighth Congress, passed March 3, 1879, appropriated the sum of $6,900 for the payment of salaries of five clerks, for the term of one year each, in completing the unfinished work of the Tenth Census:

The appointments of these five clerks will expire by limitation as follows:

If it is desirable to continue the work of the census division after the 4th of March, it would be necessary to continue the payment of the annual salaries of the persons named, or their successors, until the work is completed.

ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL.

The Architect reports that the Capitol has been kept in good repair and several improvements made, both to the building and the Senate heating and ventilating apparatus.

The engineers of the heating and ventilating department of each wing and the electrician of the House wing make statements of the