702 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



The Commissioner also treats the subject of the 

 separation of the Patent-Office from the Department 

 of the Interior. This subject is also embraced in 

 the bill heretofore referred to. The Commissioner 

 complains of the want of room for the model-gallery, 

 and for the working force and necessary files of the 

 office. It is impossible to transact the business of 

 the office properly without more room in which to 

 arrange files and drawings, that must be consulted 

 hourly in the transaction of business. The whole 

 of the Patent-Office building will soon be needed, 

 if it is not already, for the accommodation of the 

 business of the Patent-Office. 



The amount paid for pensions, in the last fiscal 

 year, was $30,169,340, an amount larger by $3,708,- 

 43-i than was paid during the preceding year. Of 

 this amount, $2,313,409 were paid, under the act of 

 Congress of February 17, 1871, to survivors of the 

 War of 1812. The annual increase of pensions by the 

 legislation of Congress has more than kept pace with 

 the natural yearly losses from the rolls. The act of 

 Congress of June 8, 1872, has added an estimated 

 amount of $750,000 per annum to the rolls, without 

 increasing the number of pensioners. We cannot, 

 therefore, look for any substantial decrease in the 

 expenditures of this Department for some time to 

 come, or so long as Congress continues to so change 

 the rates of pension. 



The whole number of soldiers enlisted in the war 

 of the rebellion was 2,688,523. The total number of 

 claims for invalid-pensions is 176,000, being but six 

 per cent, of the whole number of enlisted men. The 

 total number of claims on hand, at the beginning of 



the 



year, was 91,689; the number received during 

 year was 26,574 ; the number disposed of was 

 39,178, making a net gain of 12,604. The number of 

 claims now on file is 79,085. 



On the 30th of June, 1872 ; there were on the rolls 

 the names of 95,405 invalid military pensioners, 

 113,518 widows, orphans, and dependent relatives, 

 making an aggregate of 298,923 Army pensioners. 

 At the same time, there were on the rolls the names 

 of 1,449 Navy pensioners, and 1,730 widows, or- 

 phans, and dependent relatives, making the whole 

 number of naval pensioners 3,179. There have been 

 received, since the passage of the act to provide pen- 

 sions for the survivors of the War of 1812, 36,551 ap- 

 plications, prior to June 30, 1872. Of these, there 

 were allowed, during the last fiscal year, 20,126 

 claims ; 4,845 were rejected during the year, leaving 

 11,580 claims pending at that date. The number of 

 pensions, of all classes, granted, during the last fiscal 

 year, was 38,838. During that period, there were 

 dropped from the rolls, for various causes, 9,104 

 names, leaving a grand total of 232,229 pensioners 

 on the rolls on the 30th of June, 1872. 



It is thought that the claims for pensions on ac- 

 count of the'War of 1812 will all be disposed of by 

 the 1st of May, 1873. It is estimated that $30,480,000 

 will be required for the pension service during the 

 next fiscal year. 



THE CENSUS. 



The ninth census is about completed. Its early 

 completion is a subject of congratulation, inasmuch 

 as the use to be made of the statistics therein con- 

 tained depends very greatly on the promptitude of 

 publication. 



The Secretary of the Interior recommends that a 

 census be taken in 1875, which recommendation 

 should receive the early attention of Congress. The 

 interval at present established between the Federal 

 census is so long, that the information obtained at 

 the decennial periods, as to the material condition, 

 wants, and resources of the nacion, is of little prac- 

 tical value after the expiration of the first half of that 

 period. It would probably obviate the constitutional 

 provision regarding the decennial census, if a census 

 taken in 1875 should be divested of all political char- 



acter, and no reapportionment of congressional repre- 

 sentation be made under it. Sueh,a census, coming 

 as it would in the last year of the first century of our 

 national existence, would furnish a noble monument 

 of the progress of the United States during that cen- 

 tury. 



EDUCATION. 



The rapidly-increasing interest in education is a 

 most encouraging feature in the current history of 

 the country, and it is, no doubt, true that this is due, 

 in a great measure, to the efforts of the Bureau of 

 Education. That office is continually receiving evi- 

 dences, which abundantly prove its efficiency, from 

 the various institutions of learning, and educators of 

 all kinds throughout the country. 



The report of the Commissioner contains a vast 

 amount of educational details of great interest. The 

 bill now pending before Congress, providing for the 

 appropriation of the net proceeds of the sales of pub- 

 lic lands for educational purposes, to aid the States 

 in the general education of their rising generation, is 

 a measure of such great importance to our real prog- 

 ress, and is so unanimously approved by the leading 

 friends of education, that I commend it to the favor- 

 able attention of Congress. 



TERRITORIES. 



Affairs in the Territories are generally satisfactory. 

 The energy and business capacity of 'the pioneers 

 who are settling up the vast domains no_t yet incor- 

 porated into States are keeping pace, in internal im- 

 provements and civil government, with the elder 

 communities. In but one of them, Utah, is the con- 

 dition of affairs unsatisfactory, except so far as the 

 quiet^ of the citizen may be disturbed by real or 

 imaginary danger of Indian hostilities. It has 

 seemed to be the policy of the Legislature of Utah 

 to evade all responsibility to the Government of the 

 United States, and even to hold a position in hostil- 

 ity to it. 



I recommend a careful revision of the present laws 

 of the Territory by Congress, and the enactment of 

 such a law (the one proposed in Congress at its last 

 session, for instance, or something similar to it) as 

 will secure peace, the equality of all citizens before 

 the law, and the ultimate extinguishment of polyg- 

 amy. 



Since the establishment of a territorial government 

 for the District of Columbia, the improvement of the 

 condition of the city of Washington and surround- 

 ings, and the increased prosperity of the citizens, are 

 observable to the most casual visitor. The nation, 

 being a large owner of property in the city, should 

 bear, with the citizens of the District, its just share 

 of the expense of these improvements. 



I recommend, therefore, an appropriation to reim- 

 burse the citizens for the work clone by them along 

 and in front of public grounds during the past year ; 

 and liberal appropriations in order that the improve- 

 ment and embellishment of the public buildings and 

 grounds may keep pace with the improvements made 

 by the territorial authorities. 



AGRICULTURE. 



The report of the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 gives a very full and interesting account of the sev- 

 eral divisions of that department the horticultural, 

 agricultural, statistical, entomological, and chemical 

 and the benefits conferred by each upon the agri- 

 cultural interests of the country. The whole report 

 is a complete history, in detail, of the workings of 

 that department, in all its branches, showing the 

 manner in which the farmer, merchant, and miner 

 are informed, and the extent to which they are aided 

 in their pursuits. 



The Commissioner makes one recommendation 

 that measures be taken by Congress to protect and 

 induce the planting of forests, and suggests that no 

 part of the public lands should be disposed of, with- 

 out the condition that one-tenth of it should be re- 



