I have the honor to submit my third annual report.

The total appropriations for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, were $15,775,940.58, which, compared with the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910, shows a decrease of $6,641,551.56. This decrease is more apparent than real, because the chief expense of the Thirteenth Decennial Census was borne by the appropriations for 1910.

Eliminating the census, with respect to which it is difficult to make comparisons, there is an increase over the preceding year of $498,448.44 in the appropriations for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911. This increase was made necessary chiefly by the demands of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization for improved accommodations and service, but in some measure by the growth of other bureaus. In fact, the activities of the Department have been extended in many ways-sometimes by the provision of new legislation, at other times by natural development.

As will appear in my reference to the office of the Disbursing Clerk, this Department collected in the course of its work during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, the total sum of $5,691,256.06, a sum which might be substantially increased if the right to collect fees for services and to sell publications were extended by law. The net appropriations out of the usual revenues amounted, therefore, to a balance of only $10,084,684.52. Furthermore, the books of the Department show that on December 1, 1911, there were unexpended balances of appropriations for the fiscal year 1911 aggregating $518,697.62. Against this amount payments are still being made, but it is estimated that the net balances of 1911 appropriations to be turned into the surplus fund of the Treasury Department will be somewhat in excess of $400,000.

The entire force of the Department on July 1, 1911 (not counting 2,014 employees appointed for all or part of the Thirteenth Decennial Census and some temporary appointments in other branches of the

service), amounted to 10,413, a net increase over the preceding year of 155 employees. Of these, 8,464 are employed outside of the District of Columbia, chiefly in the Bureau of Lighthouses, Steamboat-Inspection Service, Bureau of Fisheries, and Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization.

Some of the bureaus may be expected to continue their work at about the stage which they have now reached, incurring little increased expense, and answering all legitimate demands upon them. Of others this is hardly true. It will appear from the discussion of the activities of the several bureaus that there is a constant normal expansion in all of them, while in case of a few it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the possibilities of their development have not been more than suggested.

Generally speaking, the Department was designed to answer the needs of the general public. Its organization was a response to the modern demand for greater governmental assistance in the solution of problems and regulation of interests which concern all the people, and with which the individual is unable to cope. Especially such modern bureaus as Corporations, Labor, Standards, Manufactures, Fisheries, and even Immigration and Naturalization, represent this idea. The older bureaus, too, such as the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Lighthouses, Steamboat-Inspection, Navigation, Statistics, and the Census (more especially in its later development), belong to the constructive branch of the Government, which encourages active cooperation between public and private energy and between Federal and State authority in the promotion of a common policy.

The general condition of the work of the Department is good. This must be attributed to close organization and the observance of economy, for which credit should be given to the Assistant Secretary, the personnel of the Secretary's Office, and the chiefs of the bureaus and divisions; as also to the devotion and vigilance of the general force, to which I am glad to testify.

While all branches of the Department are discussed in my report, there are some things to which especial attention may be called.

The Chief Clerk has, in addition to his regular duties and the extraordinary work which a hearing before an investigating committee entailed, rendered valuable service to the President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency. In this he has had the cooperation of other members of the force, who have from time to time been assigned for that purpose.

The Chief of the Appointment Division renews his recommendation for the enactment of a law providing for the retirement with partial pay of superannuated employees, in which I earnestly join, as I did in my last report. This subject was fully discussed in a

report submitted by this Department on the 23d day of February, 1910, to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment.

Mr. W. L. Soleau, in September, 1911, resigned the position of Disbursing Clerk. As his successor I appointed Mr. George Johannes, who has risen from the position of messenger, which he held as late as 1902.

The economies which were introduced by the Chief of the Division of Publications, and to which reference was made in my last report, find further illustration in this year's showing of that Division.

The Solicitor's Office is not strictly a branch of my Department, but dependence upon that office is so constant that I must express my indebtedness to the Solicitor and his associates for their regular assistance, and more especially for the unremitting interest which they have shown in the success of the Department's general work.

About the Bureau of the Census an adequate impression can be gained only by reading the more complete report. The work of the Thirteenth Decennial Census has, however, advanced sufficiently to justify the statement that the regular administration in the District of Columbia will cost less than it did in the last census; also that a larger total appropriation than was made for the Twelfth Census will be needed. This is explained by the larger territory to be covered, by the increase in population, by the enormous growth of industries, by the requirement for taking a census of a large class of objects not heretofore included, by the statutory provision for higher compensation to supervisors, and in certain instances to enumerators, and by the absolute necessity for paying higher compensation to enumerators generally. The reports of this Bureau, it is believed, will be issued in a form both useful and convenient, and if necessary appropriations are made will appear within the time contemplated by law.

In connection with the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, I renew my recommendations of last year; more particularly that inspectors and physicians be placed on ships carrying large numbers of immigrants, and that heavier fines be imposed upon steamship companies for bringing aliens afflicted with contagious diseases. I also recommend that provision be made for the continued protection of immigrants after their landing, even to the extent of having receiving stations at important inland points; that a larger discretion be lodged in some official to admit unfortunate members of an incoming family, where the showing made protects society against burden and danger; that more discretion be given commissioners to sustain appeals from the decisions of boards, so as to relieve the immigrants from unnecessary discomfort and delay and the Secretary's Office from the constantly increasing burden of detail work; that the period

for deporting confessed criminals be extended; and that amendments to the immigration laws, whatever their form, may look as far as possible to examinations to be had before embarkation or at the time of entry, and may not place too much reliance upon the drastic writ of deportation.

I call particular attention to the much-needed improvements at Ellis Island, a situation which was clearly shown during the hearings before the House Committee on Rules. As much is true at Galveston, where the detention station is finished and has been accepted, but a small appropriation is needed to furnish the station. In Philadelphia an appropriation is needed to complete the authorized expenditure for the completion of the station. In connection with all of them it may be well to remember that the cost of the Immigration Service does not exhaust the head tax collected from immigrants and turned into the Treasury.

The Division of Information has had increased success in the distribution of immigrants to points where labor is needed. This, of course, means chiefly farm employment, for the supply of which there is a steadily growing demand. The plans of the Chief of the Division contemplate a system of cooperation between his Division and the State immigration commissioners.

The Division of Naturalization is working with an inadequate force, but returns a balance of $65,982.60 to the general revenue.

The Bureau of Corporations had an unexpected opportunity to demonstrate the value of its work in connection with the reorganization of the Tobacco Trust. This business had been investigated and reported upon. When the Attorney General came to consider plans for the reorganization, the Bureau was in a position to meet his request for assistance by assigning for that purpose an expert who was thoroughly acquainted with the character and operations of the con

Other investigations and reports pertain to the lumber industry, transportation by water, the International Harvester Co., steel industries, and State taxation of corporations.

The Bureau of Labor is engaged in a number of investigations, among which, perhaps, the most immediately interesting is the inquiry into the cost of living. This report promises to be thorough and to provide a basis for intelligent discussion of this much-mooted question. In addition, reports are being prepared on conditions of employment in the iron and steel industry, on the employment of women and girls in the larger cities, on industrial diseases in various industries, and on the labor laws of the principal industrial countries of the world.

The Bureau of Manufactures reports unprecedented growth. Its correspondence with representatives of commerce and industries has almost doubled in the last year; the demand for Daily Consular and