REGISTER'S TONNAGE TABLES. 1. Tonnage of registered, enrolled, and licensed vessels of the United 2. Tonnage of sailing-vessels, steam-vessels, canal-boats, and barges of 3. Tonnage of registered, enrolled, and licensed steam-vessels of the 6. Statement showing the number and tonnage of the vessels built in each State and customs-district of the United States....... 7. Condensed statement of the number and tonnage of vessels built.... 8. Statement of the class, number, and tonnage of the sailing-vessels ERRATA. Page 967, Hong-Kong, for 21,899 tons read 21,889 tons. Page 962, District of Wilmington, Spain on the Mediterranean, for 108 tons read 148 tons. REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, SIR: The Chief of the Bureau of Statistics has the honor to submit the following report of its operations during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1876. CLERICAL FORCE. The regular clerical force of the bureau at the close of the year, in addition to the chief clerk, Mr. E. B. Elliott, consisted of 28 male and 10 female clerks, the greater part of whom were employed in the following divisions: Other stated and miscellaneous work of the bureau was performed as follows: Publication and miscellaneous, in charge of James Ryan, (who is also stenographic clerk;) library and files, of E. T. Peters; stationery, pay, property, and copying, of J. D. O'Connell; revision, R. A. McMurray; and translation, A. H. Girard. In addition to the above, there is also a division, under the superintendence of Joseph Nimmo, jr., for the purpose of gathering and collating statistics of domestic commerce, transportation, &c., which is more fully referred to hereafter. In addition to the results obtained by the divisions above specified, there has been accomplished much important work of a miscellaneous and special character not classified. WORK OF THE BUREAU. The work performed in the several divisions of the bureau has been sufficiently indicated in former reports; and any complete presentation of it here would be but a repetition of previous statements. Nor is it possible to exhibit in a tabular or other condensed statement the great amount of careful and accurate labor, whether of a regular or miscellaneous character, which is performed in the bureau. During the last session of Congress-a session greatly protractedthe demands for information on behalf of committees and individual members the bureau as an aid to legislation was never more apparent. The recent legislation which has largely reduced its clerical force, and the disallowance of the supply of newspapers and other periodicals heretofore authorized and permitted, are to be regretted, as it will be impossible in the future to respond so readily as in the past to the demands for information on which to base legislation. These demands extend to a great variety of financial and economical inquiries, which the records and files of the bureau are insufficient to supply to the desired extent. Books, newspapers, and other current periodicals are therefore necessary to enable the undersigned to furnish the data required by our legislators. REDUCTION OF THE CLERICAL FORCE. In view of the fact that the clerical force of the bureau suffered a reduction of ten under the legislation of the last session of Congress, it is deemed proper to quote the following extract from the report of the undersigned for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1874, showing, as it does, the diminished force and reduced expenditures of the bureau during the 53 months of the time in which it has been under his direction : Section 13 of the act of July 28, 1866, provided for the detail and appointment of such clerks as might be necessary to fully carry out the provisions of the act establishing the bureau, without any limitation as to their number or classification. For the first three months the number of clerks averaged about 42, increasing to 49 in the year 1867, and to 54 in 1868, in which latter year the monthly pay-roll for the officers, clerks, and six messengers and laborers averaged $6,502. In March, 1869, a reduction in the clerical force was commenced, which continued during the year until the number of employés was reduced from an average of 61 in the first quarter to 52 in the last quarter of that year and to 49 in January, 1870. From this date, the number employed was still further reduced, the reduction continuing throughout the 53 months ended June 30, 1874, during which period, although the work of the bureau gradually increased, the number of employés averaged but 454, or about 8 less than during the previous 40 months, while the monthly pay-roll showed a reduction from $5,947.88 in the earlier period to $5,307.19 in the later, a saving of $640.69 per month, or $33,956 during the time in which the bureau has been under the direction of the undersigned. And when, under the act of July 12, 1870, it became necessary to submit to Congress an estimate of the number of clerks and other employés required in the bureau, no request was made for an increase of force to provide for the gradual increase of work incident to the growth of the country, and to that growing interest in economic questions which manifests itself in an enlarged demand for the publication of commercial, industrial, and financial statistics, and in a constantly increasing number of applications for such statistics on the part of legislators, economists, business-men, and writers for the press. The following statement shows, in detail, the number of clerks and other employés, with the average amount of their monthly salaries, including those of the chief officers of the bureau, from the establishment of the bureau to June 30, 1874 : In view of the fact already presented that the increased work of the bureau had been performed during the past four and a half years with a diminished force, and that owing to this increase of work it became necessary to ask for a detail of several additional clerks during the latter months of the past fiscal year, the announcement that Females. Messengers and laborers. Total. Amount. the regular force was diminished by Congress to the extent of four clerks, while clerks detailed from other offices were no longer to be obtained, occasioned deep regret. This reduction of force must have been recommended by the House Committee on Appropriations under a misapprehension of facts, as they certainly had no intention to cripile the bureau, yet it is none the less severe in its operation. Any reduction in the cope of its work, or diminution in the frequency of publication of important commercial statements, is deemed unadvisable, as such a curtailing of the work of the bureau would necessarily impair its usefulness to the public. Indeed, the demands upon it are steadily in the direction of increased activity, necessitating the cultivation of a more extended field of inquiry. The large reduction of the clerical force of the bureau, already men tioned, will be best indicated by a comparison of the above table with the following statement of the number of clerks authorized by the legis lation of the Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses: As the reduction made under act of August 15, 1876, did not fully take effect until October 10, in the current fiscal year, the regular work of the bureau suffered but little interruption or delay, and the compilation of statements for the Eighth Annual List of Merchant Vessels and for the Annual and Quarterly Reports of Commerce and Navigation were prepared for the press nearly as early as usual. Of late the routine work of the bureau is to an important extent retarded. It is unnecessary to add that every exertion will be made in future to prevent delay in the work of the bureau and to suffer its usefulness to be impaired as little as possible. PUBLICATIONS OF THE BUREAU. Quarterly reports.-During the last fiscal year, in obedience to the provisions of an act of Congress, the quarterly reports have been regularly compiled and published, containing statistical information of a character similar to that embodied in the monthly reports which were previously published. The views of the undersigned in regard to the undesirableness of the change have experienced no modification since his last annual report was prepared, and these views are strengthened and confirmed by the expressions of regret which have been received during the year and up to the present moment from editors of leading commercial journals and other persons whose experience gives weight to their opinions. Indeed, the desire for monthly data in regard to our foreign trade has been partially met by the issue, monthly, of summary statements of our exports and imports. Annual Report of Commerce and Navigation.-The statements for the Annual Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, showing the commerce, navigation, and immigration of the United States for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1876, were compiled, and the earlier portions sent to press as early as in previous years. As no provision has yet been made to supply the Department with copies of this important document for distribution, the undersigned earnestly calls attention to the omission, and quotes from his report of last year the following remarks, urging the importance of supplying the deficiency by appropriate legislation: For many years prior to the adoption of the Revised Statutes the annual supply of 300 copies of the Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics on Commerce and |