ury through the operation of the law taxing salmon canners and salters. The sum collected from this source will not be less, probably, than $75,000 for the current year, and in the past has exceeded $100,000 in a single year.

ALASKAN FUR-SEAL SERVICE.

The agents who, under the law, are charged with the management of the seal fisheries and with certain duties in connection with the care of the native inhabitants of the Pribilof Islands have furnished the Department with interesting details of the work done during the past year.

Last spring, in view of the steady diminution of the seals on the rookeries, and with the object of keeping an ample reserve of breeding bulls, the Department adopted measures for exempting from the killing 2,000 of the young male seals of killable age. These measures were carried out in an effective manner during the past season. The quota of skins to be taken by the lessee company was also reduced from 30,000, allowed in the preceding year, to 15,000 for the current year.

Especial care was also observed by the Government agents in collecting information respecting the seal life, more especially that bearing upon the diminution of the herd.

SEAL CATCH OF 1904.

As a result of the sealing operations for the year ending with August, 1904, 13,128 skins were taken and shipped, of which number 11,132 were obtained on St. Paul Island and 1,996 on St. George Island, as against a total of 19,292 skins taken in 1903. The decrease in the number of skins taken, 6,164, was due largely to the reservation of young male seals, referred to above, and other restrictions upon the killing deemed necessary to preserve the life of the seal herd.

FOX RAISING.

An industry pursued incidentally with that of sealing on the Pribilof Islands is that of raising the blue fox for its pelt. These animals, under the system in use, are fed and cared for as if domesticated. The foxing industry is carried on under a lease with the sealing company. Last winter 471 skins were taken on St. George Island. The proceeds of the skins are applied to the support of the native inhabitants, whose services are availed of in the taking and curing of the pelts.

CARE OF NATIVES.

The reports further indicate that the physical comfort of the natives, as well as their education and general welfare, have been carefully looked after by the agents in charge. The schools for native children

have been conducted on each island; places of worship have been kept up, and the observance of good order maintained generally.

BUREAU OF NAVIGATION.

The Commissioner of Navigation reports that the documented merchant shipping of the United States at the end of the fiscal year comprised 24,558 vessels of 6,291,535 gross tons, the largest tonnage in our history. Less than one-sixth of this tonnage is registered for foreign trade. During the past four years, however, our registered steam tonnage has increased 212,314 gross tons, while our registered sail tonnage has decreased 140,740 gross tons. American shipping in foreign trade has thus become more efficient, and in the past fiscal year American ships carried 10.3 per cent of our exports and imports, compared with 9.3 per cent in the year ended June 30, 1900. The upward tonnage movement of the last four years now seems to have been checked.

For the first time since 1812 a fiscal year has passed without the completion of a single square-rigged vessel in the United States. The United States shares in the general decline of sailing vessels, and the opportunities for their employment in the foreign trade grow steadily less. The completion of the Panama Canal will greatly curtail even present opportunities.

Training on sailing vessels, so I am informed, is regarded as an almost indispensable qualification of the deck officer of a steamer. If we are to have a merchant marine the lack of officers will be felt as soon as steam tonnage in foreign trade increases. The subject is mentioned now for the consideration of Congress in the future.

Contracts made several years ago have been performed, and our principal steel shipyards on the seaboard are building very few seagoing steel steamers except warships for the Navy. Indeed, were it not for Government work under appropriations by Congress some of them would now be closed for want of work and others soon would be. The stoppage of these large plants and the scattering of their trained workmen would be more than an ordinary industrial misfortune. These plants are a necessary part of the system of national defense, and when they shut down and their men are dispersed the cost of warships is accordingly enhanced.

The Government program of naval construction, if executed through further appropriations by Congress, will help to keep the yards busy, but it will not alone suffice. The situation reinforces all the arguments which of late years have been advanced in support of a definite and durable legislative policy for the promotion of the American merchant marine. I have not deemed it necessary or wise to consider this subject at length in this report, however, for the

reason that its importance has already been recognized by executive and legislative action. The Commission appointed by Congress at its last session, on the recommendation of the President, has doubtless given the subject the fullest consideration, and will report at the coming session of Congress.

TONNAGE TAX.

Tonnage taxes during the year amounted to $826,023.01, a decrease of $59,818.32 compared with the previous year. The reasons for the decrease are shown in the report of the Commissioner of Navigation, to which the attention of Congress is invited. That report also furnishes detailed information on the matters just considered and suggests changes in the laws and in methods of their enforcement.

REMISSION OF PENALTIES.

One of the duties transferred from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor by the act of February 14, 1903, is the consideration of applications for the remission of fines, penalties, and forfeitures incurred for violating any provision of law relating to vessels or seamen. The power of remission was first bestowed upon the Secretary of the Treasury by the act of May 26, 1790, after the first acts of Congress in imposing penalties on vessels, their owners, and masters had been in operation less than a year.

From time to time the power has been extended as statutory obligations upon shipping have increased. Acts authorizing remission or mitigation and acts imposing penalties must be read together in executing the will of Congress. During the past fiscal year 706 applications for remission or mitigation of penalties, incurred for the violation of 64 sections of the Revised Statutes, or of acts passed since the revisions, have been acted upon by the head of the Department, after review by the Bureau of Navigation.

The report of the Commissioner of Navigation shows the ports from which these violations have been reported, the statute alleged to have been violated, and in many cases the nature of the offense. The papers in these cases would fill a volume of about 1,200 printed pages or more. As each case involves the exercise of a discretionary power on facts and conditions differing from nearly all other cases, the action taken can be fully understood only by the publication of all the papers in each case. The summaries in his report give a fair idea of the scope of the exercise of the remission power during the first year of its bestowal upon the Secretary of Commerce and Labor.

UNITED STATES SHIPPING COMMISSIONERS.

United States shipping commissioners stationed at 20 seaports during the past year superintended the shipment, reshipment, and discharge of 201,273 seamen for American vessels. The offices of

these commissioners should be inspected at least once a year. Such inspection was formerly made from time to time by special agents of the Treasury Department at the request of the Bureau of Navigation. These inspections could be made at the time customs-house inspections were made without extra cost. It is not clear how the inspection can be made and paid for at present in the absence of an appropriation which can be used for that purpose. During the year efforts to suppress crimping, especially at southern seaports, have been more successful than usual.

BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION.

The important work of this Bureau is fully and ably considered by the Commissioner-General of Immigration in his report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1904. The statements, tables, and statistics submitted by him show that for the year the total of arrivals of aliens at ports of the United States was 812,870, exclusive of 27,844 admitted for the purpose of passing through the United States to foreign territory. Of these arrivals 30,374 entered through ports of Canada, 10,742 entered ports of the insular possessions of the United States other than those of the Philippine Islands, and 771,754 were admitted at seaports of the United States. More than one-half of the entire immigration was composed of the Italian, Hebrew, Polish, Slovak, and Magyar races. There were decreases in arrivals of 37,326 from Italy, 28,885 from Austria-Hungary, and 5,704 from Japan. There was an increase of 18,643 from Great Britain, and approximately of 100 per cent from China. Of the total arrivals 549,100 were males and 263,770 were females. As to age, 109,150 were 14 years old or under, 657,155 were between 14 and 45, and 46,565 were 45 or over. The records show 3,953 as able to read but not to write, and 168,903 as illiterate, leaving a remainder of 640,014 who, it is assumed, could both read and write. The total amount of money shown by the arrivals was $20,894,383, or about four and one-half millions more than the aggregate amount brought by the larger number of alien arrivals of the preceding year. There were denied admission at seaports of the United States as members of the various classes excluded by law 7,994 aliens, and 779 previously admitted were deported upon the ground that they were in the country in violation of law.

There are confined in public and private charitable, penal and reformatory institutions in this country a total of 44,985 aliens; of these, 20,485 are in insane asylums, 9,825 are confined for the commission of crimes, and 14,675 are dependents-upward of 25,000 of these aliens will be confined for life. The burden of maintenance in this connection is distributed in accordance with the ratio of alien residents in the different sections of the United States, the State of New York alone caring for

nearly 6,000 insane aliens. During the year the Department considered 1,178 appeals from decisions of boards of special inquiry at the various ports. Of these 517 were sustained, 660 dismissed, and 1 withdrawn.

Attempts are frequently made to introduce into the United States a large number of aliens under what is known as the padrone system. During the year there arrived at the port of Boston several shiploads of Greek lads, amounting to 898, many of whom were mere children. In accordance with the provisions of law, 127 of them were returned. Officers of the service detailed to make investigations in foreign countries report widespread solicitation and encouragement of aliens to emigrate to the United States. Persistent efforts have also been made to import alien miners and skilled workmen in other lines.

Notwithstanding the fact that during the year fines aggregating $28,400 have been paid by the transportation companies, they continue to disregard the provisions of the law aimed to prevent the bringing of diseased aliens to ports of this country. In this connection it is important to note that the medical inspection conducted at Yokohama and Nagasaki, Japan, from September 22 to the end of the year, through the offices of the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, resulted in the detection of nearly 1,300 aliens afflicted with dangerous contagious diseases who were attempting to embark from those ports. As the result of the adoption of suitable regulations the violations of the immigration law by alien seamen have practically ceased. Seamen who are discharged or desert from their vessels are now examined as other aliens.

The structures maintained at the different ports of entry for the accommodation of aliens detained pending examination have been materially improved, but it will be necessary to make further improvements and build new structures. This is especially true at the port of San Francisco, where, in addition to aliens generally, the bulk of Chinese immigrants apply for admission.

THE CHINESE EXCLUSION LAWS.

Signal success has marked the administration of the Chinese exclusion laws during the year. This is especially true in relation to the enforcement of the law along the Canadian boundary. An agreement has been reached whereby the transportation lines deliver directly into the hands of the United States officers for examination Chinese brought by them through Canada to the United States. If rejected they are returned to China at the expense of the companies.

During the year the Supreme Court decided that applicants who claim the right of admission as American citizens on the ground of alleged birth in the United States are required to first submit the evidence upon which they base their claims to administrative officers in