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Appropriations.

First quarter.

Second quarter.

Third Fourth quarter. quarter.

Total.

Improvement and care of grounds, Bureau
of Standards, 1904 and 1905.
General expenses, National Bureau of Stand-
ards, 1904

Salaries and traveling expenses of agents at
seal fisheries of Alaska, 1904.
Protection of salmon fisheries of Alaska, 1904.
Salaries, Bureau of Immigration, 1903 and
1904...

Salaries, Office of Supervising Inspector-Gen-
eral, Steamboat-Inspection Service, 1904.
Salaries, Steamboat-Inspection Service
Contingent expenses, Steamboat-Inspection
Service.

Enforcement of the Chinese-exclusion act,
1904.

Expenses of regulating immigration..
Enforcement of the Chinese-exclusion act,
1903.
Miscellaneous

Labor, 1903

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expenses, Department of

1,093.90

Contingent expenses, Department of Labor, 1903.

66,047.33

342, 118. 75 1,266, 897. 26

11,968. 59

1,093.90

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The disbursements during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1904, from the annual appropriations for that year, from the appropriations for public works, and from the permanent indefinite appropriations during the same fiscal year were as follows:

By the disbursing clerk, Department of Commerce and Labor, on account of salaries and expenses of the Office of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, the Bureaus of Corporations, Labor, Statistics, Navigation, Immigration, and Standards, the Light-House Board, the office of the Supervising Inspector-General of the Steamboat-Inspection Service, expenses of regulating immigration, expenses of enforcing the Chinese exclusion act, salaries and expenses,

1,475.25

601.30

20, 345.91

26.85 128.12 13,574. 74

55, 184.03 38,234.10

10, 551. 16

185.79 1,475. 25

601.30 93, 444.98

1,950.85

5,471.20

128, 12 35,871.50

5,471. 20

105.50

143.00

Steamboat-Inspection Service at large, salaries and expenses of agents at seal fisheries in Alaska, protection of salmon fisheries of Alaska, publication of diplomatic, consular, and commercial reports, and supplies for native inhabitants of Alaska (shown in detail in the above table of expenditures) ..........

By the disbursing clerk, Bureau of the Census, on account of salaries and expenses of the Bureau of the Census.....

By the special disbursing agent, Coast and Geodetic Survey, on account of salaries, expenses, and public works of the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

By the special disbursing agent, Bureau of Fisheries, on account of salaries, expenses, and public works of the Bureau of Fisheries... By the special disbursing agents of the Immigration Service at large. By the engineer and naval secretaries of the Light-House Board, inspectors and engineers detailed from the Army and Navy to duty in the Light-House Establishment...

By customs officers, on account of witness' fees in steamboat investigations

By the Auditor for the State and other Departments on account of all the bureaus, offices, and services, from annual appropriations for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1904, appropriations for public works, and permanent indefinite appropriations.......

Total disbursements during the fiscal year

$2,953, 603. 49

1, 189, 411. 90

764, 464. 57

590, 877.05

41, 504. 46

4,680, 135. 52

346.46

141, 532. 11

10, 361, 875. 56

Recommendation is made that, as far as practicable, the disbursing offices authorized by law and now existing in some of the subordinate bureaus be consolidated with the disbursing office of the Department of Commerce and Labor. Such a consolidation will result in a saving of both time and expense in the examination of accounts and the payment of vouchers. The bookkeeping of the Department will be simplified and the exact status of accounts and balances of appropriations, including the balances of advances on requisitions, can be ascertained without difficulty, as the ledgers of the Department will show the disbursements from day to day.

Should consolidation be effected, the work of disbursing the appropriations of the Department and the several bureaus and offices thereof will come under the personal supervision of the Secretary.

ESTIMATES.

The estimates for the Department, submitted for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1906, have been prepared after a most careful consideration of the actual needs of the Department and its various bureaus, offices, and services. In the aggregate, there was a material reduction from the amounts first submitted by the bureaus, it being my desire to eliminate for the coming year all increases that might, without injury to the proper growth of any service, be postponed to a future time.

One of the items of increase in the estimates is the amount requested

for the proper organization of the Office of the Secretary. The original appropriations were insufficient to furnish the Secretary adequate assistance for the mere routine administration work necessarily connected with the conduct of the Department. The estimates for the Secretary's Office call for only four clerks in addition to those now employed, but of those now employed nine are on detail from various bureaus of the Department and should be returned to the offices. to which they belong, where their services are required.

PLAN OF ORGANIZATION.

The organization of the Department has been conducted along lines in harmony with the appropriations authorized by Congress for the current fiscal year. In some instances the work has been hampered by reason of an insufficient force of employees, and it is hoped that Congress will remedy this difficulty.

SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS.

In the estimates I have included a provision for an appropriation to be expended under the immediate direction of the Secretary for the investigation of trade conditions at home and abroad, with the object of promoting the domestic and foreign commerce of the United States, and for other purposes. A similar request, made in the first annual report, was denied by Congress, but the result of the year's work conclusively demonstrates that the main investigation contemplated will be of great value to the commercial interests of the country. The growth of our foreign trade can be materially and immediately helped by sending skilled and trained men to study and report upon special conditions in the great world markets.

In addition to the main purpose the appropriation is needed also "for other purposes." It is of the utmost importance that a fund be available for expenditure under the immediate direction of the Secretary for the employment of special agents for the inspection and examination of the services of the Department. On account of the limitations which the law very properly imposes with reference to the expenditure of funds, it is impossible, without such a fund, to promptly meet such emergencies as frequently arise.

Money appropriated for contingent expenses, or for a special or general purpose, can not be used for official or clerical compensation, and executive officers are prohibited from employing help beyond provision made by law. Usually the annual appropriations are barely sufficient to enable the bureaus and offices to dispose of routine work, and provision is seldom, if ever, made for emergency work. The situation which arose in connection with the General Slocum disaster is in point. In that instance the Department had no funds which could

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lawfully be used to provide either for a reinspection of the passenger steamers in the port of New York or for a general investigation of the service. Yet both the inspection and the investigation were necessary.

I am informed that for years a "division of special agents" has been maintained in the Treasury Department. These special agents are available for detail on any subject of investigation or inspection connected with the Department, and in the main are detailed to report on the work of the branches of the public service outside of the District of Columbia. Of the 7,610 employees of the Department of Commerce and Labor outside of the District of Columbia, 6,754 are connected with bureaus and offices formerly under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department. In order to continue the efficiency of these services, it is imperative that provision be made for special investigations and inspections either as herein recommended or as maintained while the branches of the service referred to were part of the Treasury Department.

PERSONNEL OF THE DEPARTMENT.

On November 10, 1904, there were in the Department 9,210 regular positions. Of these, 1,812 were specifically authorized by law, and 7,398 were provided for under general appropriations that do not create specific positions.

Persons employed temporarily under general appropriations, except 14 persons engaged on the Philippine census, 50 persons paid from the unexpended balance of the twelfth census appropriation, and 650 special agents engaged in the collection of the statistics of cotton production, are not included in these figures. This class of temporary employments is very large in some of the bureaus; for instance, under the law (act of March 3, 1899, sec. 8, amended, 30 Stat. L., 1015) requiring a decennial census of statistics relating to special classes, more than 6,000 special agents have been employed for various periods during the present calendar year in the Bureau of the Census. There are also employed in that Bureau 8 special agents for the collection of the statistics of the quinquennial census authorized in section 9 of the act of March 6, 1902, that are not included in the above total of 9,210.

Temporary laborers and mechanics employed under the engineers of the various light-house districts are also omitted. During the present calendar year 1,174 employments of this character have been authorized. In the Bureau of Fisheries, from January 1 to August 31 of this year, there have been employed for various periods more than 1,500 spawn takers, hatchery attendants, laborers, etc. These have also been omitted. Smaller classes of temporary employees, omitted by reason of payment from a general appropriation, are as follows:

Ten special agents in the Bureau of Corporations, 25 employees in the Immigration Service at large, 6 in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and 2 in the Bureau of Fisheries.

The accompanying table shows the positions under the Department by bureaus, offices, and services, whether statutory or otherwise, and their distribution within and outside of the District of Columbia. In this table the entire personnel of the Office of the Secretary and of the Bureaus of Corporations, Manufactures, Labor, Statistics, and Standards is treated as within the District of Columbia. In the cases of the Light-House Establishment, the Bureaus of Immigration and Navigation, and the Steamboat-Inspection Service the figures show the persons actually serving within and outside of the District. In the Bureau of Fisheries all station employees, except those at the central station at Washington, employees at large, distribution employees, two local agents in the division of statistics and methods of the fisheries, and employees in the vessel service are treated as outside. In the Coast and Geodetic Survey the crews of vessels, and in the Bureau of the Census the cotton-gin agents, are treated as outside. It will be observed that of the 9,210 positions under the Department 1,600 are in the District of Columbia and 7,610 outside.

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Stationery and supplies for the entire Department in Washington, with the exception of supplies that are purely technical-such as scientific instruments and apparatus-and stationery for the entire service outside of Washington, have been purchased by the Secretary's Office during the past year at the best contract prices of the other. Executive Departments, and for the coming year will be purchased under contracts which have already been made. Uniformity in the stationery and supplies used throughout the Department has been

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