E.-Statement of the number and yearly amount of original applications and for increase of navy pensions admitted in each State and Territory for the year ending June 30, 1866. F.-Statement of the amount paid for navy pensions at the agencies in the several States and Territories for the year ending June 30, 1866. G.-Statement of the amount of funds in the hands of agents for paying navy pensions on the 30th day of June, 1866. H.-Statement of the number and yearly amount of navy pensions on the rolls of each State and Territory on the 30th day of June, 1866. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS. Office of the CommissioneR OF PUBLIC Buildings, CAPITOL OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: In conformity with the requirement of the 15th section of the act of Congress of August 4, 1854, "making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the government for the year ending June 30, 1855, and for other purposes,' "I have the honor to submit the following report: The act above referred to requires "the Commissioner of Public Buildings and Grounds to make to the Secretary of the Interior, annually, in time to accompany the annual message of the President to Congress, report of his operations for the year preceding, and of the manner in which all appropriations have been applied." My operations since my last report are as follows: THE CAPITOL. The work within this building has been steadily progressing for the year past. One wing of the library extension (the north) has been completed, and is now occupied by the librarian. It is in all respects satisfactory, and the work is most creditable to all who have been concerned in it. The south wing is in a state of great forwardness, and will, it is understood, be completed and ready for occupancy by the first of January next, and will be, in all respects, similar to the north wing. Although the general supervision of the erection of " the library extension" has been under the Commissioner, the work has been especially under the control of the architect of the Capitol extension, Edward Clark, esq., and all the payments on account of it have been made through a disbursing agent, appointed by the Secretary of the Interior-so that the Commissioner can give no details as to the expenditures upon it. These will doubtless be given in the report of the architect. A special contract has been made for the heating of the entire library by steam, which is to be furnished by the boilers in the basement of the north and south wings of the Capitol, under the chambers of the Senate and House of Representatives. The first cost of the apparatus selected (Gould's improved steam heating apparatus) will be considerable, but when once finished and put in operation, all perceptible expense will cease, as the rooms will be warmed by the surplus steam generated by the boilers above mentioned. It will be a vast improvement over the old manner of heating the library by hot air furnaces. The dome has been virtually completed. There are a few details about the interior of it, such as painting, paving, &c., that it will require a small appropriation to finish, which, I understand, has been asked for in the estimates of The architect. The approach to the dome has been greatly improved from the original plan, and a number of feet added to the north wing of the library extension, by the ingenuity of Mr. Clark, the architect, who, instead of cutting off a passageway to the dome from the east end of that wing, as was first intended, caused a door to be cut through the wall, at the proper place on the circular stairway formerly leading to the Senate committee rooms, into the area, and an iron, covered gallery to be built across the area, to connect with the passage-way to the dome. The ascent from the base of the Capitol to the highest point that can be reached on the dome, is now so easy that any person who desires can visit the gallery outside of the base of the upper lantern, or tholus. The dome is lighted by electricity, the gas being turned on and lighted in about three minutes, by the manipulation of keys, arranged upon a dial-plate, and placed in one of the passages leading from the rotundo. The manufacture of all the apparatus, and arrangement of the burners, wires, &c., &c., were by Mr Samuel Gardiner, of the city of New York, under an invention patented by him; and the whole is one of the grandest triumphs of American art that can well be exhibited. After the work was completed, and the care of it turned over to me, having a desire that something should be placed on file in this office as evidence of the opinion of scientific gentlemen as to the permanency, durability and availability of the work, I addressed letters, on the 23d of July last, to four eminent electricians, requesting them to examine the work thoroughly and carefully, and test it practically, and make a report to me, to be filed in this office. The gentlemen thus written to, were Professor Samuel F. B. Morse, Colonel Taliaferro P. Shaffner, Professor Nicolas Pike, and Edward H. Knight, esq. They performed the duty as requested, and made a report on the 31st of July, signed by all the committee except Professor Morse, in regard to whom, Mr. Knight wrote me on the 16th of this month, as follows: "Professor Morse, the chairman of the committee, has signified his acquiescence with the spirit of the report." It is well known that Professor Morse has been for some time absent in Europe. I append to this report a copy of the report of that committee, marked A. While the work on the dome has been in progress, the flow of gas which supplied the burners that lighted the rotunda was cut off, and that place cannot now be lighted except by the light from the dome, or by candles or lamps. There probably never were any more awkward or uncouth fixtures made than those formerly used for lighting the rotundo. They so much resemble ordinary rake heads as to have been been known by the inmates of the Capitol by that They yet remain in their places above the pictures, but should be removed, and the rotunda be lighted, as it can be, with great facility, by a branch from Mr Gardiner's electric battery. It seems to me to be a matter of necessity that it should be thus lighted, and the expense of doing it would not exceed three thousand dollars. name. Some time during the last session of Congress, I was requested by the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, of the House of Representatives, to consult with Mr. Clark, the architect, as to some mode of giving a better ventilation to the representatives' hall. We made a thorough examination of the manner in which the hall was ventilated, and after applying all the tests that occurred to us, came to the conclusion that, at times, there was no ventilation whatever. So it seemed, practically to us. Mr. Clark proposed a manner of ventilation which he thought would remedy the defect, and having tested it, at the request of the committee and the Secretary of the Interior, it was found to work so well that he was directed to apply it to the Senate chamber, which he has done, and it is believed that, when thoroughly tested, it will be found to work most admirably. He will, probably, give all the details of his improvement in his report as architect. Mr. Clark has exhibited to me a plan which I highly approve, of introducing into the two chambers of Congress pure and cool air, in lieu of the heated air and dust now introduced, especially into the Senate chamber, the air for which is taken from a corner of the area formed between the terrace and the building, where the sun, after twelve o'clock meridian, blazes down with most powerful effect, and where, if any dust is in circulation around the building, it is sure to accumulate. The air thus heated by the afternoon sun, and often filled with dust, is drawn in by the fans and thrown up into the chamber for the senators to breathe. The House is not quite so bad, but the air is by no means as pure as it should be. Mr. Clark proposes to remedy this by establishing a fountain in the eastern park, with which, by covered ways beneath the surface of the ground, connections shall be made with the present openings through which the cold air passes, the fountain to be so constructed that the air shall be drawn down through the spray of water, and pass to the fans cool and pure. This certainly would be a very great improvement, and seems to me to be worthy of particular consideration. Every person who has been accustomed to pass through the Capitol in damp weather cannot but have noticed the dripping columns and walls throughout the passages of the centre building, and cannot but have been led to the conclusion that persons exposed to an atmosphere sufficiently humid to produce such an effect must have their health endangered. There can hardly be a doubt that the constant prevalence of colds among those whose duties require them to spend much of their time in the Capitol is caused by exposure to this damp air. This can easily be remedied by the placing of heating coils, to be supplied with steam, as the pipes which heat the library are supplied, in the passages, particularly in the large passages leading from the western front to the rotunda. These passages once warmed, the warm air would ascend through the stairways, and aid very materially in keeping the rotundo and the passages leading from it to the two halls, comfortable. I hope, for their own comfort and health. that Congress will authorize such an improvement to be made. There is no room in the building worse heated and ventilated than the Supreme Court room. The heat is supplied entirely by the burning of fuel in fire places, and smoky ones at that-and there is no ventilation except what is afforded by the open doors and windows. The same appliances that already heat the two chambers of Congress and the library, can, at no very considerable expense, be used to heat the Supreme Court room. My attention has been especially called to this matter many times during the past two years by the Chief Justice and other members of the court, and I respectfully submit to Congress whether it will not authorize the proper measures to be taken to remedy the evils complained of. THE CAPITOL GROUNDS. Within another year it is probable that the exterior of the Capitol extension will be completed, and there will be an absolute necessity of enclosing the public ground north and south of it. A bill is now pending in the House of Representatives, which has already passed the Senate, providing for the purchase by the United States of squares No 687 and 688, and enclosing them as a portion of the Capitol grounds. It is to be hoped that the bill will be passed by the House, and become a law during the next session. Should this be done, and the other improvements contemplated by that bill be carried out, the grounds around the building can be permanently completed and beautified, and a finished appearance given to the entire structure, which is now so much wanted; for no building, be it ever so beautiful, has a finished appearance if the grounds around it are rough, uncouth, and unenclosed. All the grounds around the Capitol which are enclosed are in admirable order, |