penses of which are borne by all the depositor duplicate receipts therefor. administrations of the Union. The Postmaster-General may establish a blank-agency for the PostOffice Department, to be located at Washington, District of Columbia. The action of the Post-Office Department respecting foreign dead-letters is subject to conventional stipulations with the respective foreign administrations. Every order, entry, or memorandum whatever on which any action is to be based, allowance made, or money paid, and every contract paper or obligation made by or with the Post-Office Department, has its true date affixed to it, and every paper relating to contracts or allowances filed in the department has the date when it was filed indorsed upon it. All bonds taken and contracts entered into by the Post-Office Department are made to and with the United States of America. The Postmaster-General delivers to the auditor for the Post-Office Department, within sixty days after the making, any contract for carrying the mail, a duplicate copy thereof. All orders and regulations of the PostmasterGeneral which may originate a claim or in any manner affect the accounts of the postal service are certified to the auditor for the Post-Office Department. Upon the certified quarterly statement to the auditor for the PostOffice Department of the payments by postmasters on account of the postal service, the Postmaster-General issues his warrant to the Treasurer to carry the amount to the credit of the postal revenues and to the debit of the proper appropriations upon the books of the auditor. The postal revenues and all debts due the Post-Office Department are, when collected, paid into the Treasury of the United States under the direction of the PostmasterGeneral; and the Treasurer, assistant treasurer, or designated depositary receiving such payment, gives the All deposits on account of the postal service are brought into the Treasury by warrants of the Postmaster-General, countersigned by the auditor; and no credit is allowed for any deposit until such warrant has been issued. In all cases of fine, penalty, forfeiture, or disability or alleged liability for any sum of money, by way of damages or otherwise, under any provision of law in relation to the officers, employees, operations, or business of the postal service, the Postmaster - General may prescribe such general rules and modes of proceeding as appear to be expedient for the government of the auditor for the Post-Office Department in ascertaining the fact in each case in which the auditor certifies to him that the interests of the department probably require the exercise of his powers over fines, penalties, forfeitures, and liabilities; and upon the fact being ascertained, the auditor, with the written consent of the Postmaster-General, mitigates or remits such fine, penalty, or forfeiture, removes such disability, or compromises, releases, or discharges such claim for such sum of money and damages, and on such terms as the auditor deems just and expedient. The Postmaster - General may discharge from imprisonment any person confined in jail on any judgment in a civil case obtained in behalf of the department, if it be made to appear that the defendant has not property of any description. This release does not bar a subsequent execution against the property of the defendant on the same judgment. No person employed in the Post-Office Department shall become interested in any contract for carrying the mail or act as agent, with or without compensation, for any contractor or person offering to become a contractor in any business before the department; and any per son so offending is immediately dismissed from office, and is liable to pay so much money as would have been realised from said contract, to be recovered in an action of debt, for the use of the Post-Office Department. The Postmaster-General makes the following annual reports to Congress: 1. A report of all contracts for carrying the mail made within the preceding year, giving in each case the name of the contractor, the date and duration of the contract, the routes embraced therein, with the length of each, the time of arrival and departure at the ends of each route, the mode of transportation, and the price to be paid, together with a copy of the recorded abstracts of all proposals for carrying the mail, as provided by section 3948, title "The Postal Service," of the United States revised Statutes. 2. A report of all land and water mails established or ordered within the preceding year, other than those let to contract at the annual letting, giving in each case the route or watercourse on which the mail is established, the name of the person employed to transport it, the mode of transportation, the price to be paid, and the duration of the order or contract. 3. A report of all allowances made to contractors within the preceding year above the sums originally stipulated in their respective contracts, and the reasons for the same, and of all orders made whereby additional expense is incurred on any route beyond the original contract price, giving in each case the route, the name of the contractor, the original service provided for by the contract, the original price, the additional service required, and the additional allowance therefor. 4. A report of all curtailments of expenses effected within the preceding year, giving in each case the same particulars as in the preceding report. 5. A report of the finances of the department for the preceding year, showing the amount of balance due the department at the beginning of the year, the amount of postage which accrued within the year, the amount of engagements and liabilities, and the amount actually paid during the year for carrying the mail, showing how much of the amount was for carrying the mail in preceding years. 6. A report of the fines imposed on and the deductions from the pay of contractors, made during the preceding year, stating the name of the contractor, the nature of the delinquency, the route on which it occurred when the fine was imposed, and whether the fine or deduction has been remitted, and for what reason. 7. A copy of each contract for carrying the mail between the United States and foreign countries, with a statement of the amount of postage derived under the same, so far as the returns of the department will enable it to be done. 8. A report showing all contracts which have been made by the department other than for carrying the mails, giving the name of the contractor, the article or thing contracted for; the place where the article was to be delivered, or the thing performed; the amount paid therefor; and the date and duration of the contract. 9. A report on the postal business and agencies in foreign countries. 10. A report of the amount expended in the department for the preceding fiscal year, including detailed statements of expenditures made from the contingent fund. And the Postmaster-General causes all of such reports to be printed at the public printing-office, either together or separately, and in such numbers as may be required by the exigencies of the service or by law. He furnishes a copy of his annual ber in each year, which is reported estimates to the Secretary of the to Congress by the latter in his Treasury prior to the first of Novem-regular printed estimates. DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, The Department of the Navy is an executive department at the seat of government, and its head is the Secretary of the Navy, who executes such orders as he receives from the President relative to the procurement of naval stores and materials, and the construction, armament, equipment, and employment of vessels of war, as well as all other matters connected with the naval establishment. He has the custody and charge of all the books, records, and other property remaining in and appertaining to the Department of the Navy. The business of the department is distributed in such manner as the Secretary of the Navy judges to be expedient and proper among the following bureaux : 1. A Bureau of Yards and Docks. 3. A Bureau of Navigation. 5. A Bureau of Construction and 6. A Bureau of Steam Engineering. 7. A Bureau of Provisions and Clothing. 8. A Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. The several bureaux retain the charge and custody of the books of records and accounts pertaining to their respective duties; and all of the duties of the bureaux are performed under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy, and their orders are considered as emanating from him, and have full force and effect as such. The chiefs of the bureaux are appointed by the Presi dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from the classes of officers mentioned below, or from officers having the relative rank of captain in the staff corps of the Navy, on the active list, and hold their offices for the term of four years: (1) The chiefs of the Bureaux of Yards and Docks, of Equipment and Recruiting, of Navigation, and of Ordnance, are appointed from the list of officers of the Navy not below the grade of commander; (2) the chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair is appointed from those not below the grade of commander, skilful naval constructors; (3) the chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, from the chief engineers of the Navy, skilful engineers; (4) the chief of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing, from the list of paymasters of the Navy of not less than ten years' standing; (5) the chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, from the list of surgeons of the Navy. The Secretary of the Navy causes to be collected and transmitted to him at the seat of government all flags, standards, and colours taken by the Navy from the enemies of the United States. The Secretary of the Navy makes annual reports to Congress upon the following subjects : 1. A statement of the appropriations of the preceding fiscal year for the Department of the Navy, showing the amount appropriated under each specified head of appropriation, the amount expended under each head, and the balance which, on the 30th day of June preceding such report, remained unexpended. This report is accompanied by estimates | Navy, accurate and cheap nautical of the probable demands which may remain on each appropriation. 2. A statement of all offers for contracts for supplies and services made during the preceding year, by classes, indicating such as have been accepted. 3. A statement showing the amounts expended during the preceding fiscal year for wages of mechanics and labourers employed in building, repairing, or equipping vessels of the Navy, or in receiving and securing stores and materials for those purposes, and for the purchase of material and stores for the same purpose; and showing the cost or estimated value of the stores on hand under this appropriation in the Navy yards at the commencement of the next preceding fiscal year, and the cost or estimated value of articles received and expended during the year; and the cost and estimated value of the articles belonging to this appropriation on hand in the Navy yards at the close of the next preceding year. 4. A statement of all acts done by him in making sale of any vessel or material of the Navy, specifying all vessels and materials sold, the parties buying the same, and the amount realised therefrom, together with such other facts as may be necessary to a full understanding of his acts. All estimates for specific, general, and contingent expenses of the department and of the several bureaux are furnished to the Secretary of the Navy by the chiefs of the respective bureaux. There is a hydrographic office attached to the Bureau of Navigation, for the improvement of the means for navigating safely the vessels of the Navy and of the mercantile marine, by providing, under the authority of the Secretary of the I charts, sailing directions, navigators, and manuals of instructions for the use of all vessels of the United States, and for the benefit and use of navigators generally. The Secretary of the Navy is authorised to cause to be prepared at this hydrographic office, maps, charts, and nautical books relating to and required in navigation; and to publish and furnish them to navigators at the cost of printing and paper; and to purchase the plates and copyrights of such existing maps, charts, navigators, sailing directions, and instructions as he may consider necessary and deem it expedient to do so, and under such regulations and instructions as he may prescribe. moneys received from the sale of such maps, charts, and nautical books are returned by the Secretary of the Navy into the United States Treasury, to be used in the further preparation and publication of maps, &c., for the use of seamen, to be sold at the rates above stated. All The officer of the Navy employed as superintendent of the Naval Observatory at Washington is entitled to receive the shore-duty pay of his grade, and no other. The meridian of the Observatory at Washington is adopted and used as the American meridian for all astronomical purposes, and the meridian of Greenwich is adopted for all nautical purposes. The Secretary of the Navy may place the supervision of the nautical almanac in charge of any officer or professor of mathematics in the Navy who is competent for that service, and who, when so employed, is entitled to receive the shore-duty pay of his grade, and no other. The 1886-87 appropriation for pay of computers on piece-work in preparing for publication the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac,' and improving the tables of the planets, was $8400; and there was also an appropriation of $2640 for the com pilation of the naval records of the war of the Rebellion. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. At the seat of government is an executive department known as the Department of the Interior, at the head of which is the Secretary of the Interior, who has two assistant secretaries appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who perform such duties in the department as are prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior or required by law. The Secretary is charged with the supervision of public business relating to the following subjects: 1. The census, when directed by law. partment, subject, however, to adjustment and control by the proper accounting officers of the Department of the Treasury. He makes annual reports to Congress, as follows: 1. A report showing the nature, character, and amount of all claims presented to him during the preceding year under laws or treaty stipulations for compensation for depredations committed by Indians, whether allowed by him or not, and the evidence upon which his action was based. 2. A report showing the quantity and kind of the copies of public jour 2. The public lands, including nals, books, and documents which mines. 3. The Indians. 4. Pensions and bounty lands. 5. Patents for inventions. 6. The custody and distribution of publications. 7. Education. 8. Railroads. 9. Labour. 10. Government hospital for the insane. 11. Columbia asylum for the deaf and dumb. The Secretary of the Interior exercises all the powers and performs all the duties in relation to the territories of the United States that were, prior to March 1, 1873, by law or by custom exercised and performed by the Secretary of State. He exercises supervisory and appellate powers in relation to all acts of marshals and others in taking and returning the census. He signs all requisitions for the advance or payment of money out of the Treasury, upon estimates or accounts for expenditures upon business assigned by law to his de have been received by him for distribution on behalf of the Government, and showing also the time when, the place where, and the person to whom any of the same have been distributed and delivered during the preceding year. THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE. The Commissioner of the General Land Office is appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who performs, under the Secretary of the Interior, all executive duties appertaining to the surveying and sale of the public lands of the United States, or in anywise respecting such public lands, and also such as relate to private claims of lands, and the issuing of patents for all grants of land under the authority of the Government. He retains the charge of the seal of the office and of the records, books, papers, and other property appertaining to the office. When required by the President or either House of Con |