tody of all the archives, books, documents, drawings, models, returns, apparatus, and other things appertaining to the light-house establishment. (R. S., § 4658.)

450. It is required to furnish, upon the requisition of the Secretary of the Treasury, all the estimates of expense which the several branches of the light-house service may require, and such other information as may be needed to be laid before Congress at the commencement of each session. (R. S., § 4659.)

451. The board is authorized, when an appropriation has been made for a new light-house the site of which does not belong to the United States, to purchase the necessary land from such appropriation; and no structure is to be erected on any site until cession of jurisdiction over the land has been made to the United States. (R. S., §§ 4660, 4661.)

452. The board is required to cause to be prepared by its engineer secretary, or by such officer of engineers of the army as may be detailed for the purpose, all plans, drawings, specifications, and estimates of costs of all illuminating and other apparatus, and also for the construction and repairs of towers, buildings, &c., connected with the light-house establishment; and no bid or contract can properly be accepted or entered into, except upon the decision of the board, at a regular or special meeting, and through its properly authorized officers. (R. S., § 4665.)

453. All materials for construction and repairs of lighthouses, &c., are required to be procured by public contracts, under regulations to be prescribed by the board. (R. S., § 4666.)

454. The board is required to arrange the Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific, and lake coasts of the United States into light-house districts, not exceeding twelve in number; and an officer of the army or navy is required to be assigned

to each district as a light-house inspector, subject to the orders of the board. (R. S., 65 4670, 4671.)

455. Upon the recommendation of the board, the Secretary of the Treasury may discontinue from time to time such lights as may from any cause become useless or unnecessary, and, on like recommendation, he may reëstablish any lights which have been thus discontinued whenever he believes such reëstablishment to be required by public convenience or the necessities of trade or commerce. (R. S., $4674.)

456. It is made the duty of the Light-house Board to mark all pier-heads belonging to the United States, situated on the northern and northwestern lakes, whenever the board is duly notified by the department charged with the con struction or repair of pier-heads that the construction or repair of any such pier-heads has been completed. (R. S., §4677.) It is also authorized, when deemed necessary, to place a light-vessel or other suitable warning of danger on or over any wreck or temporary obstruction to the entrance of any harbor, or in the channel or fair-way of any bay or sound. (R. S., & 4676.)

457. The clerical business required to be transacted by the Light-house Board is under the supervision of a Chief Clerk. The law provides for a limited number of clerks of the several classes, and a larger number of clerks, copyists, and draughtsmen are detailed from the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, according to the character and amount of the work required to be performed.

XV. BUREAU OF THE MINT.

458. It is provided by law that there shall be in the Treasury Department a Bureau of the Mint, embracing in its organization and under its control all United States mints for the manufacture of coin, and all assay offices for

the assay, parting, and refining of metal and bullion, and the stamping of the bars thereof previous to the coinage of the same.

459. The different mints so under the direction of this bureau are those at Philadelphia, San Francisco, Denver, New Orleans, and Carson City.

460. The different assay offices are those at New York, Boise City, and at Charlotte, North Carolina.

461. The officers of each mint are a superintendent, an assayer, a melter, a refiner, a coiner, and for the mint at Philadelphia an engraver, in addition.

462. The officers of the assay offices are an assayer and a melter, and at the assay office at New York, in addition, a superintendent and a refiner.

463. The chief officer of this Bureau of the Mint is the Director of the Mint, who is under the general direction of the Secretary of Treasury. He receives his appointment from the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. (R. S., § 343.)

464. He is charged with the general supervision of all mints and assay offices, and is required to make an annual report to the Secretary of the Treasury at the close of each fiscal year, and from time to time such additional reports, setting forth the operations and conditions of these institutions, as the Secretary may need; also to lay before that officer annual estimates for their support. (R. S., § 345.)

465. He is empowered, with the approbation of the Secretary of the Treasury, to determine the annual salaries of the assistants and clerks of the several mints, and his approval is required of the wages allowed and paid by the superintendents. (R. S., § 3499.)

466. He is empowered, with the approval of the Secretary, to engage temporarily, for the purpose of preparing the devices, models, moulds, and matrices or original dies

for the same, the services of one or more artists distinguished in their respective departments of art. (R. S., § 3510.)

467. He may from time to time establish the valuation at which silver bullion contained in gold deposits and separated therefrom may be paid for in silver coin. (R. S., § 3520.)

468. The Director of the Mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, is required to fix from time to time the charges for converting standard silver into trade dollars; for melting and refining, when bullion is below standard; for toughening, when metals are contained in it which render it unfit for coinage; for copper used for alloy, when the bullion is above standard; for separating the gold and silver, when these metals exist together in the bullion; and for the preparation of bars, so as to equal, but not exceed, in the judgment of those officers, the actual average cost to each mint and assay office of the material, labor, wastage, and use of machinery employed in each of these cases. (R. S., § 3524.)

469. Under general regulations of the Director of the Mint, approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, silver coins other than trade dollars may be transmitted in parcels from time to time to the Assistant Treasurers, depositaries, and other officers of the United States. (R. S., § 3527.)

470. The minor coins may, at the discretion of the Director of the Mint, be delivered in any of the principal cities and towns of the United States at the cost of the mint. (R. S., § 3529.)

XVI. THE CONSTRUCTION BRANCH OF THE TREASURY.

The Supervising Architect.

471. This is practically a branch of the office of the Secretary of the Treasury. It is so recognized in the act of 1875 reorganizing the Treasury Department, and is there

given a distinctive organization, with the Supervising Architect at its head.

472. In this office are prepared the plans, specifications, and estimates for the construction or repair of such public buildings as are by law placed under the control of the Treasury Department.. In this labor the Supervising Architect has the assistance of a corps of skilled draughtsmen and computers. Plans for the construction of new buildings, together with specifications and detailed estimates, are required to be made by that officer, and to receive the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Postmaster-General, before any money can be legally expended thereon.

473. The Supervising Architect, under direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, advertises for proposals for materials and workmanship for buildings under construction and repair, and prepares contracts and supervises the work in progress, whether under contract or otherwise. In his office all accounts connected with such work are examined preliminary to adjustment by the proper accounting officer of the Treasury. That officer also attends to the renting or leasing of buildings or parts of buildings required for the use of customs officers in the several collection districts; also to the repairs or alterations in such buildings necessary to fit them for official use; and in general supervises the transaction of all business pertaining to the location, construction, and repair of buildings under the control of the Treasury Department.

XVII. BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING.

474. This bureau grew out of the necessity for the issue of paper currency to meet the demands on the Government in the early part of the war of the rebellion. At first contracts were made with the bank-note companies of