SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1886. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 

 This is the season of governmental reports, 

 and we are forcibly reminded by them of the in- 

 tricate and complex administrative system that 

 has been developed in the United States. Most of 

 these reports are of real interest to the community, 

 but all save the most important of them are never 

 read. Yet some of the reports by minor officers 

 contain a great deal of valuable information, and 

 merit notice. One such is the report of the 

 adjutant-general of the army, who touches on the 

 condition of the militia of the various states. In- 

 asmuch as our regular army is too small to merit 

 the name, and since we must depend on our vol- 

 unteer forces in case of war, the topic is of some 

 importance. The adjutant-general approves of 

 state encampments as a means of drilling and 

 training the militia, but, soldier-like, criticises the 

 prevailing tendency to make an encampment a 

 sort of picnic for the state officials. To be of any 

 real benefit. General Drum says that state encamp- 

 ments should be of ten days' duration, and estab- 

 lished at a sufficient distance from the homes of 

 the members of the command to overcome the 

 social and business influences which otherwise 

 interfere with military duties. The camp must be 

 divested of any holiday appearance, and the time 

 devoted to instruction and practice in skirmish 

 and battalion drills, and guard duty, target-prac- 

 tice, etc.; for, says General Drum, •' as most of 

 tbe fighting of the future must be done in open 

 order, a thorough acquaintance with the skirmish 

 drill is of the highest importance." He also dis- 

 approves of mere exhibition drills, and favors 

 arming the state troops with the best and newest 

 arms and ammunition. 



The superintendent of the naval academy. Com- 

 modore Sampson, devotes the major poi'tion of his 

 report to an argument in favor of shortening the 

 present six years' course of study at that institu- 

 tion. He desires to have the fifth and sixth years 

 of tbe course, now devoted to service on cruising 

 vessels, done away with, and the cadets commis- 

 sioned at the end of the fourth year, instead of, as 



No. 200. — 1886. 



now, at the end of the sixth, on the ground that 

 the country gains no additional advantage from 

 the last two years. Commodore Sampson also 

 shows that under the existing system, which re- 

 stricts each congressional district to a candidate 

 every six years, one-third of the boys are never 

 eligible for admission to the academy, because of 

 the various restrictions as to age ; whereas, if the 

 course were reduced from six years to four, each 

 congressional district would have an appointment 

 once in four years, and all the boys of the country 

 would be eligible at some time. At the last annual 

 examination, 163 candidates reported ; but only 

 86 fulfilled the requirements, and were entered as 

 cadets. 



But of the reports thus far made public, with 

 the possible exception of the treasury statements, 

 that of the postmaster-general will attract most 

 attention. Using statistics gathered in 1884 — 

 since which time our postal service has grown im- 

 mensely — by the international bureau of tbe 

 Universal postal union, Mr. Vilas shows that our 

 postal machinery far exceeds that of any other 

 nation on the globe. It is estimated that last year 

 one hundred million more letters were mailed 

 here than in Great Britain, — long the leading let- 

 ter-writing nation, — and nearly that number 

 more than were mailed in Germany, France, and 

 Austria combined. Of pieces of matter mailed, 

 the annual proportion per inhabitant is 19 in 

 Germany, 57 in Great Britain, and 66 in the United 

 States. A.t the close of the last fiscal year there 

 were in this country 53,614 post-offices, and 497 

 stations or branch-offices : of this number, only 

 2,265 are so-called presidential offices. It is a 

 curious and suggestive fact, that, of the new 

 offices established during the year, over sixty per 

 cent were located in fourteen southern states and 

 Indian Territory. During the year the carriers 

 handled 1,949,520,599 pieces of mail matter, an in- 

 crease over the previous year of 11.75 per cent. 

 About four millions of dollars were transferred on 

 postal orders, and 1,118,820 special delivery 

 stamps were used. The gross revenue for the 

 year amounts to $43,936,000, leaving a deficiency 

 of nearly $7,000,000 to be provided for by appro- 

 priation. 



