Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-06

undisposed Of. there having been only for
ty-three pending July /, 1897, and seven
argued and awaiting decision.
business of the Federal Courts.
The work of the federal courts through
| out the country is given by the Attorney
General. l. shows that Is. 1874 cases Were
terminated during the year.
The report of Special Attorney Reynolds
shows in detail the business done by the
Court of Private Land Claims during the
past yer.
The importance Of the work of this court
to the governments interests and rhe still
greater Importance of it in settling titles in
a large section of the country require 10
special argument. Large portions of the
public domain have been saved by recent
decisions of the Supreme Court upon some
OF these claims. In the New Mexico dis
| trict. ffty-seven cases have been disposed
| OF, wherein there were claims to 2.612. SIJ
acres. which have been rejected % The
amount of I.434. 494 acres.
The Library.
Regarding the library he says:
THE Importance of large law library to
this dcpa, melt need not be seriously ar
gued. nor is the expensiveness of many
legal publications unknown to Congress
Yet for years past the Attorney General has
recommended without success an increase
| in the appropriations of 81 $50 and $50 and
purchase of books. I again recommend ap-
Preparations of $3.50 and 5000. The re-
| port of the librarian. appended. calls atten-
| tioh TO the neeG of more room for the Ii
Dfary- Ihat need is no more real, how
ever, for the books than for the officers Of
| the department, and 1 may take this OPP
portunity to say that the department has
| outgrown the building it occupies. 1t may
nave escaped attention that this building,
| owing to high ceilings, affords less floor
! room than it appears to have, and that the
| whole force Is crowded upon four stories
one wholly occupied by the new accounts
division. Besides the rooms of the library
and that division. the total number of
rooms. large and small. is twenty, some of
| them hardly entitled to be called rooms.
recommend that some provision be made
| for a suitable building, as well as tenn
porary relief for the library
Pardons.
| The report of the attorney in charge Of
pardons exhibit O. contains the following,
covering the fiscal year 1897:
| Applications filed, GO: pardons granted,
! so; pardcns granted conditionally. 8: SEN
| zenship. 81 respites, 5: fines RENTED. 5:
applications denied by the President, 10.
The expenses of the department proper
| for the past year, including all items, were
$319, ia %.
United states Prisoners.
The status of United States prisoners,
with relation to the places of their confine-
| ment, employment and treatment, has not
materially changed since the last annual
| report to Congress.
On June 80, 1897, there were confined in
| the various prisons and reformatories of
| the country 3.O77 United States prisoners
| The number confined on June 80, 1896,
| was 3012, showing an increase of but Go
| during the year. In the previous fiscal
year from June 80, 1895, to June 30, 1Sa6.
| the increase was 1876 These figures would
seem to indicate that the acme, as to num-
berS, has been reached. and ii may be fair
| ly questioned whether the total number of
federal conVictS for whom provision must
| be made in the future will greatly exceed
| 1900 at any time. If not possibly less.
| What was said upon this subject in the
last annual report, calling attention to the
Importance and necessity OF providing for
| the erection of suitable government pris ons,
| is now repeated in the hope that proper
action will be taken.
United States convicts are now confined
| in the prisons of more than thirty states
and territories, to which they are sentenced
and left without any special provision tor
subsequent inquiry or supervision by fed
eral authority. No state thus disposes Of
it's prisoners, and the reasons which in
duced this policy on the part of the C-aeral
government have lost their force.
But SO long as the present practice of
scattering federal convicts throughout the
states and territories continues specific
provision should at least be made for fire.
quent inspections under direction of the
Attorney General with a view to ascer-
| tanning their condition and treatment nd
discharging the duty involved in the rela-
| ton of the government toward them. Such
examinations of this nature as nave been
heretofore conducted have been made as
opportunity permitted. with but slight at
tempt at regularity, and by officers or en-
nln
as incidental to the discharge of other du-
| ties at the same time.
The results Of these infrequent investi-
gations however, have been sufficient to
shcw the need of measures for mere ade-
Quate governmental supervision. The ne
| cessity for suitable United States prisons
and reformatories has been heretofore
urged in the reports to Congress from this
| DEPARTMENT and it is believed that the
| time for adequate provision to that end has
| fully arrived.
An act was passed by the F'ifty-first Con-
gress authorizing the purchase of sites
| for the erection of three United States
I prisons, but was held tc be imperative be-
carse 1t carried no appropriation. Should
| 1t be deemed inexpedient now to make an
| al propria ton sufficient to carry out the
| original purposes of that law. it is sug-
gested that at least one penitentiary should
| be established in a southern state for the
| confinement of convicts from southern dis
| tricts.
1t has been ascertained that there are In
| the south quite large number of reserva-
| tions belonging to the government, mill
| tary and otherwise, among which a suita-
| BILE site for a prison could doubtless he
selected. If not, offers made after the
passage of the act just mentioned sho~
! that the land required would doubtless be
| furnished free of cost to the government
District of Columbia Jail.
The Attorney General says regarding To-
| cal institutions:
THE Jail in the District of Columbia is
| in excellent condition, and its management
satisfactory to this department. The pris-
orers are well cared for, are well fed at
very reasonable cost, and the institution
| is maintained at moderate expense. Sew
| eral necessary repairs have been de,
among them a new roof, at a cost Of 5000,
which was imperatively necessary. An APP
preparation has now been made by Con-
gress for a new cell room for female pris-
| oners, the necessity for which has fire.
quenrly been urged in former reports; the
work has been inaugurated and will soon
| be completed. By these improvements am
pie accommodations will be afforded for
all the female prisoners I'm a portion of the
building entirely separate and apart
sPreparat tons also being made to
| begin the erection Of a wall about the in