present time of four and a third millions. Including the cost of printing and engraving, for which an appropriation has been made of $250,000, the proportional cost would still be less than that of the census of 1870. As the act of April 20, 1880, appropriating $210,000, imposed duties upon the enumerators altogether additional to those required in the previous census or provided for in the act of 1879, this amount should not be included in instituting a comparison between the expenditures of the Tenth and Ninth Censuses.

It can be safely asserted that better and far more reliable work, comprehending departments of public and private industry never before included in a census, distinguishes the Tenth Census from any that has preceded it. For the first time it has collected the statistics of railroads, the telegraph, fire, life, and marine insurance, while the bulk of material returned in the departments of agriculture and manufactures has been at least double that of any former census. In relation to taxation and public debts the investigations have been extended to embrace details which exist in regard to the indebtedness of no other country of the world. Special attention has been paid to mining and fishing industries, and the results obtained cannot be other than advantageous to the nation.

In commenting upon the work accomplished the Superintendent says: "There is not one direction in which the published results of the present census will not cover more ground, divided into greater detail, than any preceding, while the character of the results will testify to a more rigid examination and a more careful revision of the results of the enumeration."

A tabular statement accompanies the report, showing in detail the expenditures on account of the Tenth Census to October 31, 1881. The following reports have been prepared, and are now in the hands of the Public Printer: Population; Fisheries; Power and Machinery used in Manufactures; Interchangeable Mechanism; Water Supply of Cities; Milling and Flouring Industry; Water-power of the Southern AtlanticCoast; Water-power of the Northwest; Water-power of the Missouri River Basin; Pumps and Pumping Engines; Shop Tools and Production of Cereals in the United States; The Newspaper Press; Manufacture of Iron and Steel; Manufacture of Silk Goods; Debt and Taxation; Public Debts of the United States; Cattle and Sheep Industry; Social Statistics of Cities; Tobacco Culture; Production of the Precious Metals. It is expected that most, if not all, of the reports named will be ready some time in December of this year.

It was with regret that the resignation of Superintendent Walker was accepted, although tendered at a time when the work of the census was practically ended. Faithful and capable in the discharge of his duties, he labored early and late to make the Tenth Census a model for accuracy and comprehensive statistical information. It is confidently be lieved that the result of his labors will be in every way worthy of his

ripened experience, and add to his well-earned reputation as an accomplished scientist. His successor, Charles W. Seaton, who was the efficient chief clerk of the Bureau, brings to the work of completion all the earnestness of his old chief. His long training and thorough knowledge of statistical matters eminently fit him for the duties of his important office.

PENSIONS.

On the 30th of June, 1881, there were 268,830 pensioners on the rolls, classified as follows: Army invalids, 153,025; Army widows, children, and dependent relatives, 76,683; Navy invalids, 2,187; Navy widows, children, and dependent relatives, 2,008; soldiers and sailors of the war of 1812, 8,898; widows of solders and sailors of that war, 26,029.

During the year, 28,740 names were placed on the pension-roll, and 10,712 were dropped, making the increase for the year in the number of pensioners, 18,028.

The whole amount paid on account of pensions, was $49,723,147.52, of which, $23,628,176.61 was paid to pensioners whose names were placed on the roll during the year ending June 30, 1881, whose pensions, generally, extended back over a period of many years.

The average annual pension of the pensioners on the roll on the 30th of June, 1881, was $107.01. It would require $28,769,967.66 to pay, for one year, the pensioners on the roll at the end of the last fiscal year, at the rate they were then receiving.

Since the year 1861, 431,439 claims of invalid officers and soldiers for pension have been filed in the Pension Office, of which 190,250 have been allowed, and 289,240 claims of widows, children, and dependent relatives have been filed, of which 197,414 have been allowed.

In addition to the above, since the 14th of February, 1871, 34,548 claims of officers and soldiers of the war of 1812 have been filed, of which 25,585 have been allowed; and 41,305 claims of widows of officers and soldiers of that war have been filed, of which 31,863 have been allowed.

Since 1861 the sum of $506,345,044.21 has been paid to pensioners.

There are on file 319,748 unadjudicated claims for pension (exclusive of those made on account of service in the war of 1812), of which 50 per cent. were filed between July 1, 1879, and June 30, 1881.

The proportion of the whole number of cases which will be further prosecuted cannot at present be determined.

The Commissioner states that with the present force of the office the expenses will exceed the appropriation for the present year by $30,000. The condition of the business is such that the force should be retained. The recommendation of the Commissioner that an appropriation be made for the deficiency, and to enable the office to promote those who deserve higher compensation, is therefore concurred in.

The Commissioner recommends legislation to provide for the identifi

cation of Indian pensioners and to authorize payment to them by a pension agent in person, at some convenient point in the Indian Territory, and that the payments be made in money in place of drafts.

He also recommends legislation more definitely défining the circumstances under which the pensions of persons who are held as inmates of the Soldiers' Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers shall be paid to the Home, in order to obviate the contests which arise between the Home and the pensioners for the possession of the pension money, and also renews the recommendation of his predecessor that authority of law be given for the payment of the pensions of insane and imprisoned pensioners to their families.

Section 4707 Revised Statutes provides that the pension of the children of a soldier shall commence at the date of the remarriage of the widow. It often occurs that, through ignorance or design, the widow continues to draw the pension after her remarriage. Under these circumstances it was decided by my predecessor that the pension of the children should commence at the date to which the widow was paid. In order to have this clearly expressed in the law itself, it is recommended that section 4702 of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to provide for the commencement of the pension in such cases at the date to which the widow was paid.

It is also recommended that the cohabitation of the widow of a soldier with a man as man and wife, when no valid marriage contract exists, should be made a bar to the receipt of pension by her As this has been the practice of the office, based on departmental decision, it should be made part of the law.

The Commissioner renews the recommendation of his predecessor, that the law fixing the date of the commencement of increase of pension at the date of the surgical examination establishing the right to increase be repealed, and that authority be given for the readjustment in certain cases of rates of pension which were allowed.

The Commissioner gives the opinion that the change in the law relative to fees of attorneys in pension claims, made by the act of June 20, 1878, was disadvantageous alike to the interests of claimants and the government, and that the laws upon the subject in force prior to June 20, 1878, should be re-enacted. Under existing law it is found that fees are taken in advance by persons who render no service to applicants.

It is believed that it is better for the interests of the government and claimants to have the fee dependent upon the successful prosecution of the claim, and that the payment be secured to the attorney from the pension allowed. The successful prosecution of claims for pension, so long after the close of the war, requires more labor than is compensated by a fee of $10. I concur in the view of the Commissioner that a law allowing more liberal compensation to attorneys, to be paid from the pension when allowed, be enacted.

The secret investigation of pension claims by special agents operating at the residence of claimants has been abolished by the Commissioner and open investigation substituted, without, in his opinion, detriment to the interests of the government.

Under the authority of a law passed at the last session of Congress he has extended this method of investigation to a larger proportion of cases than heretofore.

He recommends that provision be made by Congress for the employment of a larger number of examiners upon this work, at a compensation of $1,400 per annum, and $4 per diem, and necessary traveling expenses, and that provision be made for the payment of the expenses of the applicant when required to accompany the special examiner, and also for the compelling of the attendance of witnesses and for the payment of their expenses.

It is recommended in the report that the fee of examining surgeons be increased to $2 for each examination, and that provision be made for their expenses and a per diem allowance when they are required to examine, at their homes, pensioners who are unable to travel.

The Commissioner states that under existing laws the compensation of pension agents averages about $2,500, and that this amount is alto. gether disproportionate to their labors and responsibilities. He recommends that provision be made for an increase of their compensation, and that they be required to aid in the detection of fraudulent pension claims.

The Commissioner calls attention to the necessity for more definite legislation for the following purposes: to define by what officer commutation for artificial limbs shall be paid; to define the jurisdiction of the accounting officer of the Treasury in the matter of allowance made by the Commissioner of Pensions; to give authority to grant pensions in certain cases to soldiers who left the service without a discharge; and to give authority to fix dates for the commencement of pensions, upon the presumption of a soldier's death, when proof of the fact and date cannot be obtained.

In the sundry civil bill, approved March 3, 1881, provision was made for the purchase of a suitable site, in the city of Washington, for the erection of a fire-proof building for the use of the Pension Office; and $250,000 was appropriated for the purpose. The purchase of the site and the approval of the plans for the building were placed under the supervision of the Secretary of War, Secretary of the Interior, and Quartermaster-General of the Army. While it is believed to have been the intention of Congress to provide in the sum named for the erection of the building, the wording of the act precluded such construction, and it was therefore deemed proper to defer action until the defect could be cured by additional legislation on the subject.

PATENT OFFICE.

The report of the Commissioner of Patents shows an increase of business for the year ending June 30, 1881. The number of applications for patents was 22,932, an increase of 1,942 over the previous year. Applications for designs, 585; reissues, 588; caveats 2,342; trade-mark, 464; appeals, 771; disclaimers, 18; labels, 337.

The number of patents granted, including re-issues and designs, was 15,175, an increase over the former year of 1,526.

Number of trade-marks registered was 462; labels registered, 181; patents withheld for non payment of final fee, 1,439; patents expired, 4,272.

The total receipts of the office was $789,895.52, an increase over the previous year of $59,348.40.

The aggregate of appropriations for the office, including a deficiency of $8,429.06, was $607,299.06. Amount expended for printing, binding, &c., out of the appropriation for printing and binding for Department of the Interior, $142,432.47. Total expenditure on account of Patent Office, $749,731.53. Total receipts in excess of all expenditures for the year ending June 30, 1881, $40,163.99.

On account of the increase in the business of his office the Commissioner asks for an increase in the appropriation for the next fiscal year. He submits for salaries of officers and employés $518,820, an increase of $37,950; for publication of the Official Gazette, $29,000, an increase of $6,000; for photolithographing, $45,000, an increase of $10,000; for reproducing burnt and exhausted copies of drawings, including pay of temporary draughtsmen, $45,000, an increase of $10,000.

Under the law providing for the abridgment of patents, $10,000 were allowed. Work has been commenced in accordance with the plan laid down. It includes a brief statement of the invention patented, together with the claims of the inventor, and illustration of the device. For the continuation of this work the Commissioner asks for $50,000. This will provide for the abridgment of 15,000 patents, and the publication of an edition of 10,000 copies. The Commissioner urges the necessity of this abridgment, and is of opinion that the sale of copies will cover the expense of making the same.

An appropriation is also asked of $6,000 for the completion of the illustrations for the Patent Office Report of 1870. With the publication of this work the reports of the office up to the present time will be completed.

A deficiency of $722.15 for the publication of the Official Gazette during the last fiscal year and $1,000 for the current year are also submitted; likewise an estimated deficiency for the present year of $9,000 for photolithographing or otherwise producing copies of the weekly issues of drawings of patents, designs, and trade-marks.