pose of determining the longitude by telegraphic signals and making magnetic observations at the following-named points: Vera Cruz, Mexico; Coatzacoalcos, Mexico; Salina Cruz, Mexico; La Libertad, Salvador, and San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.

Telegraph lines now extend from Vera Cruz, by cable, to Coatzacoalcos, thence, by land, across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to Salina Cruz, on the Pacific coast. From Salina Cruz a cable extends to the south, touching at La Libertad, San Juan del Sur, Panama, and several points on the South American coast.

The differences of longitude to be measured by telegraph are between the various ports mentioned, from Vera Cruz to San Juan del Sur. The longitude of Vera Cruz was established in the spring of 1883, and that of Libertad from Panama in 1884. The expedition proposed for this winter will connect these points, thus making an unbroken series of telegraphic measurements, extending from Washington to Cordova, in the Argentine Republic, and will also put in the measurement from Libertad to San Juan del Sur, near the Pacific terminus of the proposed Nicaragua canal. The importance and amount of this work will render it advisable to keep this thoroughly-equipped party in the field for a considerable time to come.

Hydrographic Office.-The report of the Hydrographer shows in detail the operations of this important office. The branch offices in our sea-board cities continue to be of great value to maritime communities, and also to the Department, and should be liberally supported.

Attention has been previously called to the fact that the present quarters of the Hydrographic Office are entirely inadequate. Greater economy in time and labor would follow, and better results could be accomplished if the Hydrographic Office were placed in a building specially constructed for it. As the supply of valuable engraved copper-plates is rapidly increasing beyond the capacity of the room for storage, and as the printing of the charts can not be carried on in a building devoted to offices, unless specially built, a plain fire-proof building should be constructed, giving plenty of light for the engravers and draughtsmen, and so arranged as to render all parts of it easily and quickly accessible. I would suggest, therefore, that an appropriation be recommended for the construction of a specially adapted building, and that in the mean time an increased appropriation be obtained for the renting of buildings of sufficient capacity.

Nautical Almanac Office.-The report of the Superintendent shows the work performed during the past year. The American Nautical Almanac for 1891 was issued from the press in April last, and of the volume for 1892, 325 pages are in type. The computations for the volumes of 1893 and 1894 are in a state of forwardness.

The preparation of new tables of the planets is also progressing fav orably.

Naval Observatory.-The report of the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory details the work performed with the great equatorial, transit circle, and other instruments, which have been in constant use when the weather permitted. Attention is called to the backward state of the work of the transit circle, owing to the want of a sufficient force of computers, and two additional computers are asked for; this request meets with the approval of the Bureau.

The chronometer and time service department has been increased in efficiency in various ways.

The daily time signal at noon of the seventy-fifth meridian has been sent over the wires of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and 11294-N 88- -6

time-balls have been dropped at various points on the coast. In the estimates for the support of the Observatory an appropriation of $5,000 is asked for to maintain this service properly and to extend its benefits to other commercial cities. This estimate meets with the hearty approval of the Bureau, and the special attention of the Department is asked to this important item.

The Gardner system continues successfully to supply the various public buildings in this city with the standard time from the Observatory, and has been definitely adopted by the Patent Office to the exclusion of all others.

The work of the magnetic observatory has been pursued during the year, and the results will be ready for publication at an early date.

The report of Lieut. A. G. Winterhalter on the International Astrophotographic Congress is now in press, and will shortly be followed by that on the various observatories visited by him while in Europe under the orders of the Department.

Attention is especially called to the proposed charting of the heavens by the photographic process and the necessity for an adequate appro priation to enable the Observatory to perform its share of this great work.

Work upon the new Observatory on Georgetown Heights has begun. It will be necessary in order to the uninterrupted progress of the work that the appropriation for the next fiscal year be made immediately available, and the whole amount asked for should be granted, as it will be required during the fiscal year 1890.

Department library-The Department library has received the usual accessions during the past year. The preparation of the catalogue has been nearly completed, and will be printed this year, if possible. The selection of works for the library has been rigidly confined to the needs! of the Department, and no books are purchased save those of a professional or technical character, or such as are required for reference in the various branches of naval investigation. The indispensable and constantly increasing material for study in the various professional journals imposes upon the library the necessity of devoting a consider able sum to these acquisitions. This fact, and the heavy cost of cer tain technical but absolutely necessary publications, make it desirable to increase the appropriation from the amount allotted last year, namely, $1,000, to $2,500, as provided prior to the fiscal year 1885-'86. The reduced amount does not meet the actual necessities of the Department. Naval War Records. The preparation of the Naval War Records for publication, first directed by Congress in the act of July 7, 1884, has hitherto made slow progress, owing to the smallness of the clerical force authorized for the work. By the act of July 11, 1888, the force was for the first time placed on such a footing as to enable the office to make a substantial beginning. In order to carry it on to completion within a reasonable time it is absolutely essential that the number of clerks and copyists should be now increased, and estimates have been submitted with this object.

The importance and value of these records have been frequently alluded to in my reports, but I now call attention to the subject, as Con gress, by its action last year, has shown its intention that the work should be seriously prosecuted. There is no doubt whatever that the Army War Records, for the compilation of which a liberal provision has been made, form to day one of the most valuable and most sought-after of all the Government publications. The naval records are of equal importance, and demand equal attention. Without them the record is

incomplete. In some respects they are even more important than those of the Army. The civil war is not only the first war in which naval operations on a great scale have been conducted since the introduction of steam, but it is the only war in which those modern appliances have been used which have revolutionized the art of naval warfare. The only operations of any magnitude with rams, with torpedoes, with iron-clads, with rifled ordnance, and it might be added with steam-vessels, that can be studied by the professional man are those of the war of 1861-65. The maintenance of a steam blockade and the employment of commercedestroying steam-cruisers, two of the most important operations of modern war, occurred only in this conflict. To place this record in a permanent and accessible form, where it can be referred to by the naval service, by the executive and legislative departments of the Government in their efforts to insure the highest efficiency in the Navy, and by the public generally, is the object of this publication, which clearly ought to appear side by side with that of the War Department.

The necessity of speedy action in providing for the work is apparent, by reason of the fact that a large quantity of official correspondencé at the close of the war, as is well known, remained in private hands, and is thus in danger of loss or destruction. Each year's delay makes it more difficult to obtain these papers, and the office with its present limited force is unable to handle them. It is therefore desirable that no time should be lost in putting the force upon its proper footing.

The estimates submitted for an increase include three clerks of class 4, one of them to be employed in indexing the work and another in the preparation of statistical tables. The third will be employed in the general work of verification and classification. The absolute accuracy required in these matters, without which the publication will be valueless, calls for a high standard of ability, which experience has shown can not be obtained in the lower grades of the clerical force. The remaining clerks asked for are required for the examination of bureau and fleet records, of navy-yard records, and of official papers obtained from officers and their representatives. Four additional copyists are asked for at $900 each. These are urgently needed for the actual work of copying records, it being found that the best qualified copyists presented by the civil service will not, as a rule, accept the lower rate, since other branches of the service offer them better compensation, although there is no branch where greater accuracy is required. An assistant messenger is also urgently needed, and an estimate has been submitted therefor.

For the stationery and other contingent expenses of the office of Naval War Records a moderate estimate of $500 has been submitted. This is obviously necessary, as there is no provision at present made by law for this purpose.

It is earnestly hoped that Congress, having made a good beginning of this very important work, may now be induced to push it to speedy completion.

Naval War College.-The fourth annual session of the Naval War College opened on the 6th of August. The programme as reported by Capt. A. T. Mahan, U. S. Navy, the president of the college, shows a continued improvement and extension in the course of study. Instruction was given, as in previous years, by lectures and by oral discussion. The more important courses included lectures on naval history, involv ing the consideration of naval power as a strategic factor of war, and the tactical employment of naval forces, by the president of the college; on naval strategy and fleet battle tactics and the strategic features of

1

the Gulf Coast, also by Captain Mahan; on sea-coast defense, by General H. L. Abbot, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, and on military strategy, by First Lieut. J. P. Wisser, First U. S. Artillery; on the naval conditions of the war of 1812, by Theodore Roosevelt, esq.; on the tactics of the ram, by Commander P. F. Harrington, U. S. Navy; those of the gun, by Lieut. J. F. Meigs, and of the torpedo, by Lieut. D. Kennedy; on commercial sea-routes and the strategic features of the Pacific coast of the United States, by Lieut. Commander C. H. Stockton; on the naval war game, by Lieut. McCarty Little; on naval gunnery, by Lieut. J. F. Meigs; on naval reserves, by Lieut. S. A. Staunton; on the strategic study of the lake frontier of the United States,naval logistics,and the duties of thegeneral staff, by Lieut. C. C. Rogers; on the preservation and care of iron ships, by Naval Constructor R. Gatewood; on naval hygiene, by Medical Director R. C. Dean; and on international law, by Prof. J. R. Soley. The above programme shows that the course at the Naval War College has been strictly confined to the purposes for which the institution was intended, and is at the same time comprehensive and searching within its proper scope. The subjects treated are of the first importance to the naval profession. The recent tendency of intellectual activity in the service has been rather towards subjects connected with the development of material. While no one should underrate the importance of high training for officers in this direction, it must be admitted that the material development would be useless without a corresponding train. ing in the art of conducting naval war. It is to this object that the Naval War College is devoted, and it is believed that it has hitherto fulfilled the object of its creation as far as the limited means at its command would permit. The subjects which its instructors have been called upon to discuss are of modern growth, and have received little system. atic treatment in published works, especially in the United States. Text-books as such have, therefore, been of little assistance, and it was necessary that the branches of naval science to be taught should be largely developed by the instructors themselves. Much credit must be accorded to the officers who have voluntarily and, for the most part, in addition to other duties, given their time and labor to the preparation of lectures for the college. Their efforts have not been without important fruit, for the institution, whose novel plan and method in the be ginning awakened sharp professional criticism, has steadily grown in favor, and now counts among its ardent supporters not only all the officers who have followed its courses, but also, it is believed, the great majority of the service generally, which recognizes in the college the instrument for supplying a long felt want. There is no doubt whatever that it has already directed the attention of a large number of officers to the consideration of the new problems of naval warfare, and has stimulated active thought and research in reference to these problems throughout the whole service. It is the earnest recommendation of the Bureau that whatever changes may be made in the adminis rative relations of the War College, nothing may be done to interrupt the attainment of its main object, namely, the systematic study by naval officers of the practice and methods of modern war as applied to the special necessities of the United States.

The Bureau would desire to call particular attention to the very valuable services rendered by First Lieut. T. H. Bliss, First U. S. Artillery, in his lectures on military strategy, during the three years of his connection with the college, and to express, at the close of his term of service, its sense of the fidelity and ability with which his duties have been performed.

Naval reserves.-I beg to again invite your favorable attention to the subject of establishing a system of naval reserves to meet the demands of the country for rapidly manning and increasing its fleet upon the outbreak of war, as indicated in your last annual report.

At present no means exist for providing the fleet with a single trained man beyond the number prescribed by law for the peace establishment, and it would seem that no argument should be necessary to secure the required legislative authority.

The study and energy of maritime nations is being devoted to placing their reserves of men, as well as material, in such a state of training and readiness as to make them available for effective service on twenty-four hours' notice.

Rapid mobilization may be said to be the leading naval question of the day, and the recent naval maneuvers abroad have given occasion for the frequent statement of the opinion that to readiness of ships and guns must be joined an equal readiness of trained men to make any system of mobilization complete and effective.

By your direction information concerning the systems of reserves in other countries has been compiled and forwarded to Congress, and upon it and the requirements of our needs and institutions the Whitthorne bill has been framed and favorably reported to the House of Representatives.

The passage of such an act would convey ample authority and means to create a most valuable addition to our naval strength.

International marine conference to secure greater safety for life and property at sea.-Attention has been frequently called in the annual reports of this Bureau to the expediency of adopting measures to reconcile the differences existing in the regulations of various maritime states for the prevention of collisions at sea; to bring about the estab lishment of a universal system of marks and buoys for channels and approaches to harbors; to provide for the removal of derelicts, and in general to contribute to the security of navigation at sea, to promote which has always been one of the chief endeavors of the Bureau. The Bureau has also suggested, in reference to certain of these measures, the advantages of referring them to an international congress to obtain a uniform and authoritative conclusion. In accordance with these recommendations, Congress at its late session passed the act (approved July 9, 1888) providing for an international marine conference to secure greater safety for life and property at sea, as follows:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized and requested to invite the government of each maritime nation to send delegates to a marine conference that shall assemble at such time and place as he may designate, and to appoint seven delegates, two of whom shall be officers of the United States Navy, and one an official of the Life-Saving Service, two masters from the merchant marine (one from the sailing marine and one from the steam marine), and two citizens familiar with shipping and admiralty practice, to represent the United States at said marine conference, and to fill vacancies in their number.

SEC. 2. That it shall be the object of said marine conference to revise and amend the rules, regulations, and practice concerning vessels at sea, and navigation generally and the "International Code of Flag and Night Signals;" to adopt a uniform system of marine signals, or other means of plainly indicating the direction in which vessels are moving in fog, mist, falling snow, and thick weather, and at night; to compare and discuss the various systems employed for the saving of life and property from shipwreck, for reporting, marking, and removing dangerous wrecks or obstructions to navigation, for designating vessels, for conveying to mariners and persons interested in shipping warnings of approaching storms, of dangers to navigation, of changes in lights, buoys, and other day and night marks, and other important information; and to formulate and submit for ratification to the governments of all mari