able re-arrangement of the location of the divisions with reference to each other, would be sufficient to pay the rental for a building adequate to the needs of an entire bureau.

LEGISLATION.

It is, I believe, generally conceded that legislation is needed amendatory of the Revised Statutes relating to patents. Some of the provisions which should be altered are section 4885, relating to the date of patents; section 4887, relating to the duration of patents for inventions previously patented in a foreign country; and section 4936, relating to re-imbursement of moneys paid by mistake into the Treasury. Other sections could be amended to the advantage of the patent system. More specific suggestions will be made upon this subject in my report to Congress. The opinion is indeed gaining ground that a revision of the patent act would be of advantage not only to the inventor but to the public generally.

DECISIONS OF FEDERAL COURTS.

An opinion has found expression that the policy of the Patent Office in adjudicating upon questions arising in the granting of patents should conform more nearly to the decisions of the Federal courts. There can be no doubt of the correctness of this view, and accordingly it would be wise for Congress to require the clerks of the Federal courts to furnish certified copies of all decisions and opinions in patent causes for publication in the Official Gazette.

COMPENSATION OF PRINCIPAL EXAMINERS.

I cannot close this report without directing attention to the fact that some of the employés of this Bureau are grossly underpaid. The most conspicuous instance of this character is the compensation of Principal Examiners. The Revised Statutes fix the salaries of these officers at $2,500 per annum. This sum was established by Congress in the year 1848 (9 Statutes at Large, 231). It has never been increased. On the contrary, the amount appropriated for a number of years has been $2,400.

These examiners are experts of the highest order. Their duties call for superior legal ability. As heads of divisions they must have executive capacity. They frequently resign their positions for the simple reason that they can do better for themselves in a private capacity. Two have resigned for that reason since the present Commissioner assumed office in April last. I believe that a public sentiment has at last developed that will sustain Congress in providing that the Principal Examiners of the Patent Office shall be fairly and fully paid. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

C. E. MITCHELL,

Commissioner.

1

.

REPORT

OF THE

SUPERINTENDENT OF CENSUS.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
CENSUS OFFICE,

Washington, June 30, 1889.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of this office:

Congress, by act of March 1, 1889, provided for taking "the eleventh and subsequent censuses," and April 17 of the same year the Presi dent appointed the present Superintendent, who qualified April 20.

For a number of years previous to the organization of this office Mr. James H. Wardle, of New York, in what was known as the Censsu Division of the Interior Department, had charge of all matters appertaining to the termination of the Tenth Census. The Superintendent, on assuming control of the office, recommended the assignment of Mr. Wardle as chief of division, since which time he has been employed in the capacity of acting chief clerk.

Other appointments have been made from time to time as need for additional help has arisen.

On April 25 Mr. Josiah C. Stoddard was appointed disbursing clerk, this office having been specially provided for in the law. May 17 Dr. John S. Billings, surgeon, U. S. Army, was appointed, without compensation from this office, to take charge of the compilation of the Vital Statistics of the Eleventh Census. June 1 Mr. Henry Gannett, of the U. S. Geological Survey, was appointed geographer, without salary; and on the same day Mr. William C. Hunt, formerly of the Massachu setts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, was appointed special agent at $6 per day. Other appointments have been made as follows:

Two chiefs of division, at $2,000; one stenographer, at $2,000; two clerks of class four; three clerks of class two; two clerks of class one; four copyists, at $900; twenty-eight computers, at $720; two watchmen at $720; one assistant messenger, at $720; two laborers, at $600; one messenger-boy, at $400; and one charwoman, at $240.

This force has been engaged on six classes of work, viz: (1) preparing for the enumeration next June; (2) sending out the preliminary schedules for said enumeration; (3) planning and arranging for the special investigations provided for by law; (4) collecting certain classes of sta tistics for the census year and for the calendar year; (5) completing arrangements to obtain, for census purposes, statistical data now available from various sources; and (6) preparing the preliminary schedules

to secure data for the census year which begins June 1, 1889, and for the several intervening years since 1880.

In making preparations for the enumeration, it was found advisable first to subdivide the several States and Territories into supervisors' districts. This required considerable correspondence and care, as the suc cess of the enumeration will largely depend upon a satisfactory division of the territory of the United States into the one hundred and seventyfive districts provided by law. The corrections incident to this preparatory work not infrequently involve elaborate correspondence with each of the three thousand or more county clerks throughout the United States. The districting of the several large cities into convenient divisions alike for the enumeration and for the purposes of the report on Vital Statistics, likewise requires a large amount of correspondence.

By "special investigations" is meant all those inquiries which do not strictly belong to the enumerators' schedules, and which, under the act of 1889, may be withdrawn from those schedules, and committed to the charge of experts and special agents. Beside the inquiries authorized by the law of 1879, an additional special inquiry is demanded by the act under which the Eleventh Census will be taken, relating to the statistics of the recorded indebtedness of private corporations and individuals. In the preparation of the branch of the work relating to special subjects, it has been found necessary to consult with experts, in different parts of the country, who have made life-time studies of these topics. The aim of the office will be to keep strictly within the requirements of the law, and at the same time to determine as early as possible the best methods for prosecuting the special work. This has also added to the correspondence of the office, and many conferences have been had with specialists.

In some cases it was necessary to send out preliminary schedules, as, for example, to postmasters, with the request that the names be furnished of the physicians and insurance companies receiving mail at postoffices. This has been done with a view to enable the office to prepare lists of physicians and of insurance companies to receive the census schedules. The returns heretofore made by the enumerators in regard to births and deaths have been very inadequate, and the only check as to their correctness will be lists of the deaths which have come under the physicians' immediate knowledge during the census year secured directly from them.

It has also been decided to collect the statistics relating to the public indebtedness of the United States for each of the years intervening between 1880 and 1890, and the schedules for this purpose are nearly ready.

*

The law provides that, in cases where it is difficult to obtain the reports for the census year, such reports "shall be or and for the fiscal year having its termination nearest the 1st of June, 1890;" and that the Superintendent "shall also at the time of the general enumeration herein provided for, or prior thereto, as the Secretary of the Interior may determine, collect the statistics of aud relating to the recorded indebtedness of private corporations and individuals." In accordance with this provision, it has been thought wise to collect the statistics of recorded indebtedness, as of June 1, 1889; of fish and fisheries, of mines and mining, and of express and insurance companies for the calendar year ending December 31, 1889. With a view to pushing these investigations as rapidly as possible, considerable preparatory work has been done, as already decided upon in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior.

For comparative purposes the reports of other countries on vital statistics, municipal finance, and other subjects are of value, and through the co-operation of the State Department efforts are now being made to secure information of this character.

As the Eleventh Census will require nearly forty thousand enumer ators, besides the supervisors and a large clerical force, the general correspondence of the office has been enormous, and has required the employment of a considerable number of persons from the beginning to arrange the thousands of applications which have been received from all parts of the country, and answer the letters which have literally poured in during the last two months.

The following is a financial statement to June 30, 1889: