The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-12-10


Of this department and S. 900 under the act Of MAY 20
1858, or the payment of salaries and incidental expen
SEES OF said Institution The disbursements amounted
TO SO 1913 ss. leaving balance hand at the com
mencement OF the present fiscal year
The management and present condition of the penten
ary win be understood from the accompanying report OF
the board of inspectors and those Of the warden clerk
physician, chaplain, and maron OF the institution The
number of conycs at the close of the year ending Sep
TENDER 80, 1857 was rs. On the S0th of September
1858, the number l08-G6 white aud AZ colored
The inspectors of opinion that they have length
succeeded in eectng arrangement by which the labor
of the convcts win be made TO pay the their main
enance thus relieving the government of all charges for
that purpose II the system, adopted with that view,
should accomplish this much great Improvement upon
the past will have been gained fair trial shall at all
events, be made, in order TO its praccabity and
under the guidance of intelligent board OF inspectors
have every confidence in its success
WAGON ROADS
The wagon roads placed under the direction of this
partent have all been located and for the most part
structed. There is material improvement OF the
the old routes Complete reports from of the
superntendents have already been received the Others
are in Of preparation. AS they all
pleed and received they will be communicated to Con-
gress Ii is confidently expected that these reports will
mbody much interesting and useful information In re-
gard to the respective routes and the extensive regions
through which they pass.
Under the act approved june 8, 1858, authorizing n
survey of the boundary line between the State of Texas
and the territories of the United States effective com
mission organized and directed to cooperate with
such agents might be selected by the authorities Of
Texas The joint commission expected 10 leave San
Antonio early in November the initial point of their
operations on tho Rio Grande,
PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.
BY resolution adopted on the goth of March, 1858
Congress far amended the joint resolution adopted Jan
uary Is, 1857, respecting the distribution of certain
public Documents" to increase the number to be
placed at the disposal of this department to three
dred and fifty copies of each document printed by order
of either branch of Congress- and direct the disrbu-
ton thereof to be made to such colleges and other nst
tnons named in the resolution referred TO- should be
designated by he representative in Congress from each
congressional district and by the delegate from each Ter
ritory in the United States
This provision Of law relieves the department from the
responsibility Of selecting the institutions to which the
books to be sent and limits its duty to the very
pie operations of receiving the documents distributing
so many as can be equally apportoncd to the several
congressional districts and institutions entitled to receive
Them and retaining the remainder subject such future
disposition as Congress may direct to be made Of them
From the commencement of the present Congress there
will remain, after supplying institution in each con
gressonal district and such other public libraries
entitled to receive the books under special of Con-
grcss with one set of documents, supus of hun
dred and sets for the distribution of which further
legislation will be required
Under the resolution originally passed. there should
have been placed at the disposal of this department two
hundred and thirty seven sets of books, as follows:
from the Department OF State, ISL SETS
From the Library of Congress, so sets
Those from the State Department have been supplied
and the librarian has furnished those required from him
to make the number to which the department IL eni
tied for the 3fh Congress- with the exception of twenty
copies OF Senate miscellaneous documents and twenty
copies OF Senate documents, vol 49, of the LIST and
"a sessions An effort is being made secure these vol
umes from other sources with fair prospects of
The number of institutions entitled to receive these
documents is at present two hundred aud forty three
being Six more than can be supplied by this department
under the resolution originally passed the whole
number therein provided for shall be placed it, dispo-
sal. These six, however each be supplied with a
full and complete set Of the House documents number
ing fy-our volumes, and including nearly all Of the
more valuable publications. made by order Of the 34h
Congress.
sets each containing hundred and three volumes of
the documents of the 34th Congress have been distb
uted, and seven perfect sets remain hand In add-
ton to this have twenty sets complete lacking two
volumes each All the demands thus far made upon the
department. for these books have been met but it will
be impossible with the on hand fully to ex
ecute the law so far relates to the documents of the
last Congress, unless the missing volumes above referred
to be obtained
The librarian Of Congress was directed by the resou
ton OF the 2sth january 1857, also to transfer this
department. the fifty additional copies of the documents
printed by order OF either house, the purpose of ex
change in foreign countries, under the resolution Of
July TO- lsfO and the fifty copies Of thc public Journals
and documents of the House of Representatives direct
VI iesoiution Oh April 5u 1914, ITO be deposited in
the library of Congress, and list of the books thus re-
ceived is herewith submitted These are in broken sets
and some of them in damaged condition owing as
an informed by the librarian to the fire which some
years since destroyed the congressional library and the
insecure manner in which they have since been kept
They are consequently of but little value yet it rec
commended that some provision bo made for their dstri
btlon that the space occupied BY them may be used for
other and more useful purposes
.a CENSUS
The constitution provides that the actual enumeration
OF the inhabitants Of the United States shall be taken at
periods OF every ten years. in such as shall be
directed by law. The approach of the period for
taking the eighth makes it incumbent upon Con-
gress at this session to provide the necessary for
the commencement of the work ~
The law approved May 49, 1850, providing for taking
the seventh census drawn with great care and il re-
qres that other law shall be passed prior to the
first day of January 1860 supersedng it, the Secretary
of the Interior shall proceed to take the eighth census
coadng to Its provisions The plan Of the last census
was devised by board Of eminent men, and was
the result of unusual preparation 10 reported to- and
adopted by Congress after the most searching scrutiny
and careful amendment and presented no feature
winch Inteposed any obstacle to its easy execution Its
schedules were full and comprehensive by them we
not only ascertained the number and character of our
population, and the condition Of agriculture manufsc
lures and trade but they embraced within their
scope the examination of many moral and social facts
illustrative OF the intelligence prosperity and happiness
OF the people the duration of life and the causes of
death The value of these developments will be greatly
enhanced by such uniformity in future censses as viii
enable US to institute comparisons and exactly determine
or progress without which the results lose their
significance and interest Although the greatest precau