No. . Doc MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, CALLING Attention to the importance of providing for the continuance of the board for testing iron, steel, and other metals, and recommending an appropriation for that purpose. JANUARY 30, 1877.-Read, referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I desire to call the attention of Congress to the importance of providing for the continuance of the board for testing iron, steel, and other metals, which by the sundry civil appropriation act of last year was ordered to be discontinued at the end of the present fiscal year. This board, consisting of engineers and other scientific experts from the Army, the Navy, and from civil life, (all of whom, except the secretary, give their time and labors to this object without compensation,) was organized by authority of Congress in the spring of 1875, and immediately draughted a comprehensive plan for its investigations, and contracted for a testing-machine of four hundred tons capacity, which would enable it to properly conduct the experiments. Meanwhile the subcommittees of the board have devoted their time to such experiments as could be made with the smaller testing-machines already available. This large machine is now just completed and ready for erection at the Watertown arsenal, and the real labors of the board are, therefore, just about to be commenced. If the board is to be discontinued at the end of the present fiscal year, the money already appropriated and the services of the gentlemen who have given so much time to the subject will be unproductive of any results. The importance of these experiments can hardly be overestimated, when we consider the almost endless variety of purposes for which iron and steel are employed in this country, and the many thousands of lives which daily depend on the soundness of iron structures. I need hardly refer to the recent disaster at the Ashtabula bridge in Ohio, and the conflicting theories of experts as to the cause of it, as an instance of what might have been averted by a more thorough knowledge of the properties of iron and the best modes of construction. These experiments cannot properly be conducted by private firms, not only on account of the expense, but because the results must rest upon the authority of disinterested persons. They must, therefore, be undertaken under the sanction of the Government. Compared with their great value to the industrial interests of the country, the expense is very slight. 2 BOARD FOR TESTING IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER METALS. The board recommends an appropriation of $40,000 for the next fiscal year, and I earnestly commend their request to the favorable consideration of Congress. I also recommend that the board be required to conduct their investigations under the direction of the Secretary of War, and to make full report of their progress to that officer in time to be incorporated in his annual report. EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 30, 1877. с U.S. GRANT. In obedience to law, an abstract of the militia force of the United States. FEBRUARY 2, 1877.—Ordered to lie on the table and be printed. WAR DEPARTMENT, February 2, 1877. The Secretary of War has the honor to transmit to the United States Senate and House of Representatives an abstract of the militia force of the United States, as required by section 232 of the Revised Statutes. J. D. CAMERON, Secretary of War. Abstract of the militia force of the United States, (organized and unorganized,) according to the latest returns received at the office of the Adjutant-General, U. S. A., furnished for the information of the Congress of the United States, in compliance with section 232 of the Rerised Statutes. States. Abstract of the militia force of the United States, &c.-Continued. Kentucky Minnesota 1876 Unorganized strength 26 36 66 695 761 i 15, 639 17 49 49 17, 608 81 34 113 235 2,390 2,625 94, 447 Colorado Returns not received. A deficiency estimate for the surveying service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876. FEBRUARY 2, 1877.-Referred to the Committee on Appropriations and ordered to be printed. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D. C., February 2, 1877. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a deficiency estimate for the year ending June 30, 1876, in the surveying service, which has been prepared by the Commissioner of the General Land Office. He informs me that it was inadvertently omitted in the deficiency estimates which I submitted on the 31st ultimo. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Z. CHANDLER, Hon. T. W. FERRY, President of the Senate pro tempore. Secretary. AN ADDENDUM. Estimate of appropriation required for the surveying service, to supply a deficiency for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876. General object. Title of appropriation. Detailed object of expenditure and explanation. Amount to be appro priated. Public lands. 16. Surveying public lands in Louisi. For surveys executed by James L. Bradford, ana. United States deputy surveyor, under his $614 38 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, January 29, 1877. J. A. WILLIAMSON, Commissioner. |