The age-herald., 1898-12-06

presents gratifying evidences of the ad-. vancement of education, of the increase ofi communication and business activity and of
 the improvement of mail facilities leading to their constantly augmenting use. so The war with Spain laid new and excep7- tional labors in the postoffice departmenta The mastering of the military and naval forces of the United States required special mail arrangement sfor every camp ana | every campaign The communication be- | tween home and the camp was naturally 1 eager and expectant. In some of the larger | places of rendezvous as many as 5O,OO0 let
 ters day required handling. This neces- l sty was met by the prompt detail and dis
 patch of experienced men from the estap-
 lished force and by directing all the instru-
 mentalities of the railway mail and post
 office service so far as necessary to tnls
 ne wend.
 Congress passed an act empowering the | postmaster-general to establish offices or l branches at every military camp or station
 and under this authority the postal maehin- l cry was speedily put into effective opera7t | ton. The Postal Service
 l Under the same authority, when our 1 forces moved upon Cuba, Porto Rico ana the Philippines they were attended ana followed by the postal service. Though the act of congress authorized the appointment of postmasters where necessary, 1t was early determined that the public interests would be best subserved not by new des- ignations but by the detail of experienced
 men, familiar with every branch of the
 service, and this policy was steadily fol- lowed. When the territory which was the theater of conflict came into our possession 1t became necessary to re-eStabltSh mail facilities for the resident population as well as to provide them for our forces for oc- cupation, and the former requirement. was met through the extension and application
 of the latter obligation. gave the requisite authority and the same general principle was applied to this as to other branches of civil administration under military oecu- patton. The details are more particularly given in the report of the postmaster-gen- eral, and while the work has just begun, it is pleasure to be able to say that the service in the territory which has come
 under our control is already materially im- proved.
 | The following recommendations of the
 secretary of the navy have my earnest ap- proval:
 l. Three sea-going sheathed and coppered battleships of about 13500 tons trial dis placement, carrying the heaviest armor and most powerful ordnance for vessels of their class and to have the highest prac-
 ticable speed and great radius of action. Estimated cost, exclusive armor and armament $S, 600 000 each. 2. Three sheathed and coppered armored cruisers of about 12000 tons trial displace-
 ment, carrying the heaviest and
 most powerful ordnance for vessels of their class and to have the highest practicable speed and great radius of action. Esti-
 mated cost, exclusive of armor and arma- ment &,0O0O00 each.
 3. Three sheathed and coppered protected cruisers of about 5000 tons trial displace- ment. to have the highest practicable speed and great radius of action and to carry the most powerful ordance suitable for vessels of their class. Estimated cost, exclusive of armor and armament, S2 900 each.
 4. Six sheathed and coppered cruisers of about 2,500 tons trial displacement, to have the highest practicable speed compatible with good cruising qualities, great radius of action and to carry the most powerful ordnance suited to vessels of their class. Estimated cost, exclusive of armament, $1 Al 500 each zn
 l join with the secretary of the navy in recommending that the grades of admiral and vice admiral be temporarily revived to be filled by officers who have especially dis tinguished themselves in the war. with Spain. -.7sa t. &tti
 I earnestly urge upon congress as the inn portance of early legislation providing for the taking of the twelfth census. This is necessary in view of the large amount of work which must be performed in the preparatiofi of schedules preparatory to tile enumeration. of the population. f.-f
 There were on the pension rolls June 90, 1898, 993,714 naes an increase of nearly 1S,000
 over the number of the rolls for the same day of tn epreceding year. The amount ap. propriated by the act of December F, 1895,
 for tiie payment of pensions for the fiscal year 1898 was $140O00,000. Eight million sew enty thousand eight hundred and seventy
 two dollars and forty-six cents was ap
 propriated by the act of March 31, 1898, to
 cover deficiencies in army pensions, and repaymentS in the sum of $12,020. 23, making total of S14S 0S2, ,S92.79 available for the pay ment of pensions during the fiscal year 1898. The amount disbursed from that sum was S144 ,651 ,S79.S0, leaving a balance of $343l,- 012.99 unexpended on the 30th of June, 1898, which was covered into the treasury. There. were 3S9 names added to the rolls during the year by special acts passed at the sec-
 ond session of the Fifty-6fth congress, making a total of 6,496 pensioners by cons gressional enactment since 1861.
 Receipts of Patent Office
 The total receipts Of the patent office during the past year were $1, ,253, ,9iS.H. The expenditures were $1, ,633. 79, leaving sur
 plus of SIP ,314.65. The public lands disposed of by the gov
 ernment reached S,463 S9692 acres, an in- crease of GA 7S026 acres over the previous
 year. The total receipts from public lands during the fiscal year amounted to $2277,-
 995.1 10, an increase of $190 063 O9 over the pre- cedfng year. The land embraced in the eleven forest reservations winch were sus-
 pended by the act of June f. 1S97 again
 became subject to the operations of the proclamation of February 22, 1897, creating them, which added an estimated amount of 19,951 ,360. acres to the area embraced in the reserves previously created In addition
 thereto, two new reserves were created during the year-the Pine mountain and Zaca lake reserve in! California, embracing l644,oo4 acres, and the Prescott reserve in Arizona, embracing 102i0 acres; while the Pecos reserve in New Mexico has been changed and enlarged to include 120, 900 ad- ditional acres.
 At the close of the year, thirty forest reservations, not including those of the Afognac forest and the fish culture reserve in Alaska has been created by executive permission under section 2 of the act of March 3, 1891, embracing an estimated area of 40, 0,19,44 acres
 The department of the interior has inau- gurated forest system made possible bv the of IllI. :.