lands and property assigned to the United States in payment of debts to the Post-office Department.

The Commissioner of Customs prescribes the mode of keeping and rendering the accounts of customs, revenue, and disbursement, and for the building and repairing of custom-houses.

The Treasurer receives and keeps the moneys of the United States in his office, and disburses the same upon warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury, countersigned by the First Controller, and upon warrants drawn by the Postmaster-General, countersigned by the Sixth Auditor.

The Register keeps the accounts of public receipts and expenditures; receives the returns of commerce and navigation; and receives from the First Controller and Commissioner of Customs all accounts and vouchers adjusted by them.

The Solicitor superintends all cival writs commenced by the United States (except those arising in the Post Office Department). He receives returns from each term of the United States courts, showing the progress of such suits, has charge of all land and property assigned in the United States in payment of debts (except those assigned for debts due the Post-office Department), and has power to sell and dispose of the same for the benefit of the United States.

The Commissioner of Internal Revenue has charge of all matters connected with the tax laws and the collection of the direct taxes. The number of officers of the Treasury Department employed in Washington exceeds three thousand.

The Light-House Board is under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, who is ex-officio president thereof. The Board directs the building and repairing of light-houses, light-vessels, buoys, and beacons. The coast is divided into thirteen lighthouse districts.

The United States Coast Survey is under the administration of the Treasury Department. It was established in 1832, for the purpose of surveying the coasts and harbors, and preparing accurate maps and charts thereof. The scientific work and operations are carried on by a superintendent and a corps of assistants, consisting of civilians and officers of the army and navy.

Collectors.-The seaboard frontiers of the United States are divided into 62 collection districts, for each of which there is a collector of customs appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate. The collectors issue clearances, or permits to leave, to all vessels sailing from the United States; certify to the correctness of manifests or bills of lading; keep account of vessels built within their districts, and make returns to the Register of the Treasury of imports and exports. Vessels arriving from foreign ports hand to the collector manifests of their cargoes, on which the duties are computed, and before the goods can be

landed these duties must be paid. The collectors are aided in the performance of their various duties by a number of clerks, appraisers, weighers, gaugers, and inspectors. The importance of these officers will be understood when it is known that during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1872, there were collected $216,370,286 in import duties, which passed through the hands of the collec

tors.

For the larger ports, so-called naval officers are appointed who countersign all permits, clearances, certificates, and other documents to be granted by the collectors; they also examine the collectors accounts of receipts and expenditures, and certify to them. The surveyors are stationed at the larger ports only, and superintend the inspectors, weighers, and gaugers, and report to the collectors those who fail in the performance of their duties.

The United States is divided into a large number of internal revenue districts, in each of which there is a collector, making assessments and collecting the direct taxes.

THE MINT AND COINAGE.

The principal mint is at Philadelphia, and branches are at San Francisco and Denver City. In the city of New York there is an assay-office, where gold and silver bullion, gold dust, and foreign coins are refined and assayed. The coining of all moneys is performed under regulations prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury. Fifteen pounds of silver are declared to be equal to one pound of gold. In coining, one-tenth of alloy is added to the gold and silver bullion (silver and copper in equal proportions to the former, copper alone to the latter).

The Superintendent of the Coast Survey is ex-officio Superintendent of Weights and Measures. Avoirdupois weight is used in weighing all articles except gold, silver, and precious stones. The pound of this weight is divided into 16 ounces, and one ounce into 16 drachms. One hundred pounds constitute a hundred weight, and 20 hundred-weight, or 2,000 pounds, a ton. Troy weight is used in weighing gold, silver, and precious stones. One pound troy weight is divided into 12 ounces; one ounce into 20 pennyweights, and one pennyweight into 24 grains.

The unit of liquid measure is the gallon. One gallon consists of four quarts; one quart of 2 pints; and one pint.of 4 gills. The unit of dry measure is the bushel, which is 181⁄2 inches in diameter by 8 inches deep, and contains 2,150 2-5 cubic inches. One bushel dry measure contains 4 pecks; one peck, 8 quarts; one quart, 2 pints.

A brass scale of 82 inches length, made by Troughton, of London, and sent to the Coast Survey office in Washington, where it is still preserved, was made the United States standard for long measure. This scale, though intended to be identical with the English Imperial standard, was found, upon careful comparison

with eleven carefully made meter-etalons, to differ slightly from the English scale. One meter was found to be equal to 39.36850535 United States inches, or 3.28070878 American feet; while it is, according to comparisons made in England, equal to 3.2808992 English Imperial feet.

This difference is so slight that it becomes perceptible only in measurements of considerable length; yet it is large enough to justify the use of the term American measure, as distinct from English measure.

The following tables gives the values adopted in the United States Coast Survey.

American Measure.

I Foot-0.30481218 meters.

I Yard-3 feet-0.91443654 meters.

1 Fathom-6 feet-1.82887308 meters.

I Pole, Perch, or Rod-6 yards=5.0294055 meters.

I Furlong-220 yards-201.1760388 meters.

201.164306

66

I Statute mile-8 furlongs-1.760 yards-1609.4083 met. 1609.3149

One square mile contains 640 acres, one section of land; and 26 sections make one township.

Since 1865 Congress has authorized the use of the French metric system.

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

was established in 1849. To the secretary of this department is assigned the general supervision and management of the following bureaus, or branches of the public service: the General Land Office; the Pension Bureau; the Indian Office; the Bureau of Education; the Patent Office; and the Department of Agriculture. The secretary has besides the supervision of the United States marshals and attorneys, and the clerks of the United States courts. He has also the duty of taking and returning the census of the United States.

The General Land Office is under the management of a Commissioner, who is charged with the surveys and sale of the public domain. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1872, public lands were disposed of as follows:

This amount is greater by 1,099,270 acres than was disposed of during the preceding year. The cash receipts under the various heads amounted to $3.218,100. There were surveyed during the same period 22,016,608 acres, which, added to the quantity sur

veyed before this year, amounted to 583,664,780 acres; leaving unsurveyed an area of 1,251,633,620 acres.

There are eighty-two land districts in the states and territories, in which there are still public lands for sale. viz.; In Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, one in each; in Missouri, three; in Alabama, three; in Mississippi, one; in Louisiana, two; in Michigan, five; in Arkansas, four; in Florida, one; in Iowa, four; in Montana, Arizona, and Utah, one in each; in Wisconsin six; in California, nine; in Nevada, four; in Minnesota, seven; in Oregon, three; in Kansas, five; in New Mexico, one; in Dakota, three; in Colarado, four; in Idaho, two; and in Wyoming, one.

The Commissioner of Pensions is charged with examination and adjudication of all claims arising under the various laws of Congress, granting bounty land or pensions for military or naval services in the revolutionary and subsequent wars. There were

on the rolls (on June 30, 1872), the names of 95,405 military invalid pensioners, and of 113.518 widows, orphans, and dependent relatives of soldiers, who receive a total of annual pensions of $23,142,633. On the same day there were on the rolls the names of 3,179 naval pensioners, and widows, orphans, and relatives, who receive annually $405,537.

The Commisioner of the Indian Office superintends and directs all the public business relating to the Indians. He represents the government in the treaties made with them, causes to be distributed the annuities and presents, and carries out the policy adopted towards them by the government. He is aided by fourteen superintendents stationed in different places in the West. number of agents are appointed by the President, who reside among the Indians and look after their interests and rights.

The Patent Office is under the direction of a commissioner, who is charged with the performance of "all acts touching the granting and issuing of letters patent for new inventions, discoveries, and improvements." He is assisted by a corps of examiners and assistant examiners, who ascertain whether an invention for which a patent is applied for, is new and useful or not and report to him their opinion in writing. The Commissioner issues the Patent Office Official Gazette, a monthly publication, which contains his decisions, the decisions of the Supreme Court, and the Circuit Courts, in patent cases, all changes in the rules of practice in the Office, notices of all applications for extension of patents, a brief of the specifications, and a full claim of all patents issued, together with illustrations. The number of applications for patents, re-issues and designs for the year ending June 30, 1872, was 19,587; the number of applications for extension of patents was 284; the number of applications for the registering of trade-marks was 589. During the same year there were granted 13,626 patents; 233 extensions; 556, certificates of registry for trade-marks;