UNITED STATES. 



churches and private associations without ex- 

 pense to the Government. Three new indus- 

 trial schools were put in operation during the 

 year, one at Chilocco, Indian Territory, for 

 150 children ; one at Lawrence, Kan., pro- 

 viding for 300 ; and one at Genoa, Neb., for 

 150. A new school-building was erected at 

 Albuquerque, N. M., which will accommodate 

 150 pupils. At the industrial schools in sev- 

 eral States, chiefly those at Hampton, Va., and 

 Carlisle, Pa., 565 Indian pupils were main- 

 tained by the Government at a yearly cost of 

 $167 each. 



Life-Saving Service. The Life-Saving Service 

 had at the close of the last fiscal year 201 sta- 

 tions, of which 156 were on the Atlantic coast, 

 37 on the lakes, 7 on the Pacific, and 1 at the 

 Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Ky. The number 

 of disasters within the field of their operations 

 during the year was 337 to documented vessels, 

 and 102 to smaller craft. The former carried 

 4,253 persons, of whom only 16 were lost, and 

 their value was $7,075,975, that of their cargoes 

 being $3,454,050. Of this total of $10,530,025 

 in property, all but $1,439,891 was saved. In 

 the case of small craft 169 persons out of 175 

 were rescued, and $71,220 of the $77,915 of 

 property imperiled was saved. The total num- 

 ber of shipwrecked persons that were succored 

 at the various stations of the service was 532, 

 .to whom 1,319 days' relief in the aggregate 

 was afforded. 



Postal Service. The number of post-offices on 

 the 30th of June was 50,017, of which 3,414 

 were established during the year preceding, 

 1,260 being discontinued. The number filled 

 by presidential appointment was 2,323; by 

 selection of the Postmaster-General, 47,694. 

 The number of appointments made during the 

 fiscal year was 11,953. The number of money- 

 order offices was 6,243, an increase of 386 dur- 

 ing the year. The number of offices at which 

 the free-delivery system was established was 

 159, the number of carriers employed being 

 3,890. The inland mail service covered an 

 aggregate of 11,729 Star routes, with a total 

 length of 226,779 miles, and an annual trans- 

 portation of 81,109,052 miles, at a cost of $5,- 

 089,941 ; 117 steamboat routes, 15,591 miles, 



UNITED STATES, FINANCES. 777 



annual transportation 3,882,288 miles, at a 

 cost of $596,573 ; 1,573 railroad routes of 117,- 

 160 miles, and an annual transportation of 

 142,541,392 miles, at a cost of $15,012,603, ex- 

 elusive of $3,979,362 for railway postal clerks. 

 The total amount of the receipts for postal 

 service was $43,838,127; while the expendi- 

 tures were $46,404,960. 



Prime-Meridian Conference. An International 

 Conference was held at Washington, beginning 

 on the 1st of October, for the purpose of 

 agreeing upon a common prime meridian. 

 Twenty -five nations were represented by 

 delegates. On the 13th of October it was 

 agreed to recommend the adoption of the 

 meridian of Greenwich, which had been op- 

 posed by the delegates of France and Brazil. 

 It was decided that longitude should be reck- 

 oned east and west from Greenwich to 180, 

 and that the universal day should begin for all 

 the world at the moment of mean midnight of 

 the initial meridian, and be counted from zero 

 up to twenty-four hours. A full discussion of 

 the subject may be found in the astronomical 

 article of this volume, page 54. 



Washington Monument. The marble cap-stone, 

 with the pyramidal apex of aluminum, which 

 completed the monument to Washington at the 

 national capital, was set on the 6th of Decem- 

 ber. The final dedication of the monument 

 was deferred until Washington's birthday, Feb. 

 22, 1885. For full particulars as to the dimen- 

 sions of the monument, and the progress of the 

 work, see the article WASHINGTON MONUMENT, 

 in the present volume. 



UNITED STATES, FINANCES OF THE. The his- 

 tory of the national finances for 1884 was 

 marked chiefly by the continued reduction of 

 the public debt, contraction of the national- 

 bank circulation, and coinage and accumula- 

 tion in the treasury of the standard silver dol- 

 lars, and by the failure to enact any legislation 

 for the further reduction of the revenue, the 

 relief of the national banks, or the stoppage of 

 the silver coinage. 



Receipts and Expenditures. The receipts and 

 expenditures of the National Government for 

 the calendar years 1883 and 1884 were as 

 shown in the following tables: 



