746 



UNITED STATES. 



thinks advisable and urgent, in view of the rapid 

 growth of the service, which will soon have 

 100,000 offices and 250,000 or 300,000 employes, 

 is the division of the country into postal districts, 

 with a strongly centralized local organization and 

 supervision, which would accomplish in a practical 

 way the purpose of the bill to select fourth-class 

 postmasters without political intervention, relieve 

 members of Congress from departmental drudgery, 

 and bring the department into touch with the 

 employes, and the latter with the people whom 

 they serve. Such an organization would be fit to 

 handle the telegraph and telephone systems if 

 they should be attached to the post-office depart- 

 ment. Besides these services, the department 

 should provide postal savings depositories and 

 pneumatic tubes or electric devices for for- 

 warding mail matter between stations in such 

 cities as New York and Chicago. There is a 

 prospect of one-cent letter postage, and that may 

 even be the international rate. The two-cent 

 rate pays double the cost of handling the letters, 

 while heavy packages of advertising circulars and 

 of books and periodicals, which are carried for a 

 cent a pound, actually cost the department seven 

 times more than they receive. 



The number of post-offices on June 30, 1892, 

 was 67,119, of which 3,156 were Presidential 

 and 63,963 fourth-class offices. In the previous 

 year the total number was 64,329. The post 

 routes had a total length in 1892 of 447,591 miles. 

 The revenue of the Department for the year was 

 $70,930,475, and the expenditure $76,323,762. 

 The expenses for salaries were $15.249,565 ; for 

 transportation of the mails, $38,837,236. 



Patents. The total number of patents gran ted 

 up to Oct. 25, 1892, was 485,158. About 25,000 

 patents are granted annually out of 40,000 appli- 

 cations. The receipts of the Patent Office for 

 the year ending June 30, 1892, were $1,268.727, 

 and the expenses were $1,114,134. There 

 was a balance in the Treasury to the credit of the 

 Patent fund of $4,102,441. The expenses for 

 salaries are about $650,000 a year, and for print- 

 ing and lithographing, $400,000, The number 

 of applications for patents in 1892 was 39,987 ; 

 for design patents, 983 ; for reissues, 114 ; for 

 registration of trade marks, 1,919 ; for registra- 

 tion of labels, 541 ; the number of caveats filed, 

 2,401. The number of patents issued was 23,- 

 626 ; of trade marks registered, 1,56-i. There 

 were 3,622 patents withheld for non-payment of 

 dues. During the year 12,427 patents expired. 



Public Lands. The vacant public lands of 

 the United States are estimated at 567,586,783 

 acres, exclusive of Alaska, which has an area of 

 369,529,600 acres, and also of Indian reservations 

 and the Indian lands and railroad grants which 

 may hereafter be added to the public domain. 

 The largest aggregate areas of unoccupied land 

 in the individual States and Territories are 71,- 

 558,143 acres in Montana, 54,720,863 in New 

 Mexico, 54,608,531 in Arizona, 52,055,248 in 

 Wyoming, 50,132,241 in California, 42,385,734 

 in Nevada, 41,998,371 in Colorado, 38,435,873 

 in Oregon, 35,231,466 in Utah, and 34,225,449 

 in Idaho. There have been t>6, 681, 527 acres for- 

 feited by acts of Congress and restored to the 

 public domain. The public land grants for 

 railroads and other public improvements in the 

 beginning of 1892 comprised 46,317,226 acres. 



The receipts from sales of public land in 1892 

 were $3,261.876. Of the total area vacant and 

 subject to entry on June 30, 1892, the areas sur- 

 veyed comprised 289,691,953 acres, and the un- 

 sui-veyed portions 277,894,830 acres. In 1892 

 7,716,062 acres were entered under the Home- 

 stead acts, and under the Timber Culture act, 

 41,375. 



Pensions. There were on the pension rolls 

 under the general law on June 30, 1892, 889,748 

 invalid pensioners of the army, a decrease of 

 23,849 during the year ; 108,680 widows of 

 soldiers, an increase of 120 ; 5,046 invalids of 

 the navy, a decrease of 403 ; and 2,600 widows 

 of sailors, an increase of 32. The following num- 

 bers were receiving pensions under the act of June 

 27, 1890 : army invalids, 283,734, an increase of 

 186,598 : widows of soldiers, 44,696, an increase 

 of 32,487 : invalids of the navy, 9,334, an increase 

 of 5,358 ; widows of sailors, 9,917, an increase of 

 1,481. The surviving pensioners of the war 

 of 1812 numbered 165, a decrease of 119, and of 

 widows of soldiers of 1812, 6,651, a decrease of 

 939. The pensioners of the Mexican war num- 

 bered 15,215 veterans, 1,164 having died, and the 

 widows 7,283, an increase of 306. The total num- 

 ber of pensioners on the rolls was 676, KiO in 1891 

 and 876,068 in 1892, showing an increase in 

 twelve months of 199,908. The total for 1892 

 comprised 703,242 invalid survivors and 172,826 

 widows. The number of applications filed during 

 1891-92 was 198,345. The number of claims 

 allowed was 224,041, making a total of 1,230,291 

 since 1861. The aggregate amount of money paid 

 out in pensions since 1861 was $1,418,348,211. 

 The annual value of the new pensions allowed in 

 1892 is $2r),668,802 ; of increase of pensions and 

 reissued and additional pensions, $6,038,245 ; of 

 renewed and restored pensions, $354,408. The 

 total annual value of pensions paid in 1891 was 

 $116,879,867, and in 1892 it was $139,035,612. 

 For 1893 the sum appropriated is $144,956,000, 

 which is less than the estimated amount required 

 by $10,508,621. For 1894 the estimate is $165,- 

 000,000. The applicants in 1892 include 131,484 

 invalids and 81.282 widows under the act of June 

 27, 1890, and 395 survivors and 759 widows of 

 the Mexican war. The claims allowed in 1892 

 include 162,896 invalids and 34,974 widows under 

 the act of 1890 and 416 survivors of the war with 

 Mexico. 



Indians. The total number of Indians in the 

 United States, according to the census, is 249,273, 

 exclusive of those of Alaska. This includes 32,- 

 567 who are taxable and self-sustaining. The 

 number on the Indian reservations or in schools 

 under the control of the Indian Office is 133.382, 

 inclusive of 68,371 Indians and colored people of 

 the five civilized nations who are controlled by 

 the Indian Office, though self-supporting. The 

 Cherokee nation numbers 25,387 Indians and 

 4,202 colored ; the Chickasaws have 3,404 Indians 

 and 3,718 colored ; the Choctaws, 9,996 Indians 

 and 4,401 colored ; the Creeks, 9,291 Indians and 

 5,341 colored; the Seminoles, 2,539 Indians and 22 

 colored. The New Mexico Pueblos number 8,2?8_ ; 

 the Six Nations, 5,304 ; the eastern Cherokees in, 

 North Carolina, 2,885 ; Apaches held as prisoners ( 

 of war, 384 ; and Indians in penitentiaries, 184. 

 There are, exclusive of the Pueblos, 20,521 Indians 

 in New Mexico, 19,845 in South Dakota, 16,740^ 



