ing the Capitol grounds in a style befitting the magnificent edifice which crowns. their summit.

About three-fourths of the material necessary to complete the northern portico of this department is on the ground, and it is expected that the work will be completed next season. An appropriation of twenty-five thousand dollars for this object will be required.

The appropriations for repairing and furnishing the Executive Mansion have bean expended in a judicious and satisfactory manner, and the grounds between it and the Treasury Department have been improved and embellished.

The expenditure of the small appropriation for Pennsylvania avenue has scarcely improved its general aspect. The propriety of providing the means for paving it in the most durable manner is worthy of favorable consideration. The appropriation of ten thousand dollars for the repair of Long bridge has been expended, but the sum was wholly inadequate for the purpose. It is estimated that twenty thousand dollars more will be required to put it in proper order. A like sum is needed to properly repair the bridge at Little Falls, known as the Chain bridge. The Navy Yard bridge is in good condition, and the new draw in it will be soon completed. The improvement of Franklin square has commenced, and in time grass, shrubbery, trees, and walks will render it an ornament to the part of the city in which it is situated. Appropriations will be necessary for the improvement of Lincoln square, the completing of the culvert through the botanic garden, and the construction of an iron fence around it. The opening, grading, and paving certain streets and avenues mentioned in the Commissioner's report and leading to the Capitol, while eminently desirable on many accounts, will be wholly beyond the power of the corporation of the city. The propriety of undertaking these improvements on the part of the national government is submitted for consideration.

By the act of May 5, 1864, the Commissioner of Public Buildings is directed to pay to the proper authorities a just proportion of the expense of improving avenues, streets, and alleys passing through or by property belonging to the United States. A large amount is due from the government for such improvements. The means to meet it should be at once provided. The Commissioner recommends a further appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars to enable him to meet similar liabilities in future.

The number of patients which Congress, at its last session, ordered to be constantly kept at Providence Hospital at the expense of the United States was fifty per cent. greater than that of the preceding year, while the sum appropriated for their maintenance remains the same.

The relations of the general government to this District, and the duties resulting therefrom, have been fully and elaborately discussed in the recent annual reports of this department. I cordially commend to favorable consideration the carefully considered views there advanced.

Congress made provision at its last session for the completion of the cut-stone dam from the Maryland shore to Conn island, and for other portions of the Washington aqueduct. The work on the dam was resumed in August last, and

has been vigorously prosecuted. The foundation masonry will be completed at an early day. The temporary dam at that point was washed away by the spring freshet. It has been rebuilt, and will probably require no further expenditure. The connecting conduit is rapidly approaching completion. The work on the gate-house at Great Falls has been unavoidably deferred. The appropriation was made at so late a period of the session that it could not be advantageously used during the present season. An urgent necessity exists for deepening the distributing reservoir and protecting, by a rubble wall, its interior or water slopes. I respectfully recommend that an appropriation be made for this and such other additions to the work as will permanently, and to the greatest available extent, secure to the national capital all the benefits which the liberality of Congress proposed to confer by this improvement.

The following statement shows the sums advanced to United States marshals during the year ending June 30, 1866, for defraying expenses of the United States courts, including fees of marshals, jurors, and witnesses, maintenance of prisoners, and contingencies of holding the courts:

The amount paid for miscellaneous expenses, and for rent of buildings for the use of the courts, is one hundred and forty-three thousand three hundred and forty-four dollars and twenty-two cents ($143,344 22.)

The foregoing does not embrace the salaries of the judges or other officers of the courts; they are paid out of a special appropriation which is not under the control of this department.

I cannot too strongly urge upon Congress the necessity which exists for the erection of suitable buildings for the federal courts. The department is now compelled, in many instances, to lease property which is ill-adapted to the purpose, and where adequate security is not provided for the records and files. Few houses belonging to private parties have been constructed with reference to judicial uses. An exorbitant rent is often demanded, and the government, in more than one instance, has been constrained to submit to unreasonable exactions. Every consideration of economy and propriety requires that the United States should be the proprietor of the buildings where its courts are holden, and that the most ample accommodations should be furnished the judges and officers for the performance of their highly responsible duties.

The report of the warden shows that on the 1st of November there were confined in the District jail one hundred and thirty prisoners, of whom fortynine were white and eighty-one were colored. The average number during the year was one hundred and fifty; six entered the Insane Asylum, and three died. Eight white boys were sentenced by the courts of the District to the Baltimore house of refuge. It was impracticable to make such an arrangement for the detention of young colored convicts. They have been, therefore, dismissed by order of the court, after a short incarceration. The officers are a warden and nine guards; and although the building is not in all respects secure, no prisoner has escaped during the past fourteen months. There prevailed last spring in the prison a mild form of typhus fever, which the attending physician ascribes to local causes, since removed. Efforts have been made to promote habits of industry among the inmates, and to impart to them the benefits of religious inDuring the year ending November 1, there were two thousand and sixty-five commitments for various offences. The total expense of the jail, including the cost of transportation of convicts sentenced to the penitentiary at Albany, was thirty-two thousand six hundred and twenty-six dollars and ninety

struction.

seven cents.

Pursuant to the authority conferred by an act of Congress, approved July 27, 1866, my predecessor designated a site for a new jail in the District. I have selected a plan and employed a competent architect to prepare a design and descriptive plans of the building, with complete specifications of the work required and the materials to be used. Notice of a public letting of the contract for the erection of the building will be given in the manner prescribed by Congress.

The board of trustees appointed and commissioned conformably to the recent act to establish in this District a house of correction for boys have been duly organized; but the limited means at their disposal, and circumstances beyond their control, have rendered it impracticable to prepare the requisite permanent buildings for the reception of inmates. Boys under the age of sixteen convicted of crime punishable by imprisonment may be sentenced by the courts of this District to the institution. The directors suggest that its benefits should not be confined to one sex, and that children of confirmed vicious habits, who are beyond domestic control, although not convicted of crime, should, on the application and at the expense of their parents or guardians, be received and subjected to a kindly but rigid discipline. The act directs that the convict shall be confined during the "term of his sentence," and thus prohibits the directors from detaining him after, or discharging him before, the expiration of the specific period fixed by the court. They should, like the officers of similar institutions organized under State authority, be authorized to exercise a discretionary power in this respect, and to bind the discharged convict by indentures of apprenticeship. Their report is submitted, and I trust that their views and suggestions will

receive the most favorable consideration.

Adequate measures have not been adopted in regard to juvenile offenders against the laws of the United States, convicted by the federal courts in the

several judicial districts. Difficulties have arisen in executing the act of March 3, 1865, and in many parts of the country it remains a dead letter. I respectfully refer to that portion of the last annual report of this department which relates to the subject, and express my entire concurrence in the views there presented.

The board of police report that the district is divided into eight precincts. The levy court of the county of Washington have declined to provide station-houses within their jurisdiction. They allege a want of authority, and I recommend such legislation as will place them on the same footing in this respect, as the corporations of Washington and Georgetown.

The total number of arrests by the police force during the past year was twenty-four thousand five hundred and forty-two, of whom nineteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven were males, and four thousand seven hundred and eighty-five were females; fifteen thousand eight hundred and seventeen were charged with offences against the person, and eight thousand seven hundred and twenty-five against property. One-third arrested were colored; nine thousand one hundred and fifty-eight were married, and fifteen thousand three hundred and thirty-four were unmarried; fourteen thousand five hundred and thirty could read and write, ten thousand and twelve could not; one thousand seven hundred and two were committed to jail, six hundred and fourteen gave bail for their appearance at court, two hundred and seven were turned over to the military, seven thousand seven hundred and thirty-one were dismissed, two thousand and thirty-eight were sent to the work house, six hundred and forty-four gave bond to keep the peace. In ten thousand seven hundred and ninety-one cases fines were imposed, amounting in the aggregate to fifty thousand three hundred and fifty-five dollars and six cents. Of sick, disabled, or destitute persons, three thousand eight hundred and fortysix were furnished with temporary lodgings; one hundred and eighteen were assisted or taken to the hospital. One hundred and thirty-six lost children were restored to their parents.

The sanitary company of the police have essentially contributed to the preservation of the health of the city. By their agency many nuisances have been abated and increased cleanliness of the streets and avenues enforced; but the available means for the accomplishment of objects of such vital importance are lamentably deficient. I cordially unite with the board in recommending that a more rigid and comprehensve code of sanitary laws be enacted for this District.

The detective force have made six hundred and ten arrests during the past year, recovered stolen or lost property to the amount of thirty-eight thousand six hundred and sixty-two dollars and forty-five cents, and performed a large amount of other labor of which no record can be made.

The board represent that the system for the trial of minor offences is open to flagrant abuses, and recommend a reorganization of the petty courts in the District. They are of opinion that a properly organized police court could promptly and efficiently dispose of all criminal cases of an inferior grade. It is believed that the establishment of such a court will promote economy, tend to the suppression of crime, and secure to the accused a speedier trial than is now obtained.