SESSIONS OF CONGRESS CONVENED BY LAW OR PROCLAMATION-Continued.

+ The first session of the Fortieth Congress adjourned twice (by concurrent resolutions) from March 30, 1867, to July 3, 1867, and from July
20, 1867, to November 21, 1867.

LIST

OF

REPORTS TO BE MADE TO CONGRESS

AT THE

FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTY-THIRD CONGRESS

BY

PUBLIC OFFICERS.

[PREPARED IN OBEDIENCE TO A STANDING RULE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.]

Officer, and nature of the report.

By what au-
thority.

Section or page.

When to be made.

BY THE HEAD OF EACH DEPARTMENT. A detailed statement of the manner in which the contingent fund for his Department, and for the bureau and officers therein, has been expended, giving the names of every person to whom any portion thereof has been paid; and if for anything furnished, the quantity and price; and if for any service rendered, the nature of such service, and the time employed, and the particular occasion, or cause, in brief, that rendered such service necessary; and the amount of all former appropriations in each case on hand, either in the Treas ury or in the hands of any disbursing officer or agent; and he shall require of the disbursing officers, acting under his direction or authority, the return of precise and analytical statements and receipts for all the money which may have been, from time to time, during the next preceding year, expended by them. A report of the names of the clerks and other persons that have been employed in his Department and the officers thereof stating the time that each clerk or other person was actually employed and the sums paid to each; also whether they have been usefully employed; whether the services of any of them can be dis

List of reports to be made to Congress by public officers-Continued.

Officer, and nature of the report.

By what au-
thority.

Section or page.

When to be made.

BY THE HEAD OF EACH DEPARTMENT--Continued.

pensed with without detriment to the public service; and whether the remova! of any individuals and the appointment of others in their stead is required for the better dispatch of business.

NOTE. The heads of Departments, in communicating estimates of expenditures and appropriations to Congress, or to any of the committees thereof, shall specify, as nearly as may be convenient, the sources from which sich estimates are derived and the calculations upon which they are founded, and shall discriminate between such estimates as are conjectural in their character and such as are framed upon actual information and applications from disbursing officers. They shall also give references to any law or treaty by which the proposed expenditures are, respectively, authorized, specifying the date of each and the volume and page of the Statutes at Large or of the Revised Statutes, as the case may be, and the section of the act in which the authority is to be found.

Whenever the head of a Department, being about to submit to Congress the annual estimates of expenditures required for the coming year, finds that the usual items of such estimates vary materially in amount from the appropriation ordinarily asked for the object named, and especially from the appropriation granted for the same objects for the preceding year, and whenever new items not theretofore usual are introduced into such estimates for any year, he shall accompany the estimates by minute and full explanations of all such variations and new items, showing the reasons and grounds upon which the amounts are required, and the different items added.

The head of each Department in submitting to Congress his estimates of expendi tures required in his Department during the year then approaching shall designate not only the amount required to be appropriated for the next fiscal year, but also the amount of the outstanding appropriation, if there be any, which will probably be required for each particular item of expenditure.

Except when a different time is expressly Rev. Statutes.

prescribed by law the various annual

reports required to be submitted to Con

sec. 195

gress by the heads of Departments shall be made at the commencement of each regular session and shall embrace the transactions of the preceding year.

A detailed statement required of expendi- Stats. L., v. 19. p. 306 Beginning of the

tures for contingent expenses in any Department or bureau of the Government for the preceding fiscal year.

session.

List of reports to be made to Congress by public officers-Continued.

Officer, and nature of the report.

By what au-
thority.

Section or page.

When to be made.

BY THE HEAD OF EACH DEPARTMENT-continued.

A statement showing in detail the number
of buildings rented for the use of their
respective Departments or the subordi
nate bureaus or offices thereof in the city
of Washington, the annual rental paid
for and cost of heating and lighting
each, the appropriations from which said
expenses are respectively paid, and also
to submit estimates, specifically, for the
rental and other expenses of such of said
buildings as may be necessary for the
use of the Goverment.

A report of the condition and character of
any papers which are not needed or use-
ful in the transaction of the current busi-
ness of their Departments, and the
amount of the proceeds from the sale of
such papers deemed useless.
The number of employés in each burean
and office and the salaries of each who
are below a fair standard of efficiency.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

The Chief of Engineers shall, as Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, and as Superintendent of the Washington Aqueduct, annually submit the folfollowing reports to the Secretary of War:

First. A report of his operations for the
preceding year, with an account of the
manner in which all appropriations for
public buildings and grounds have been
applied, including a statement of the
number of public lots sold or remaining
unsold each year, of the condition of the
public buildings and grounds, and of the
measures necessary to be taken for the
care and preservation of all public prop.
erty under his charge.

Second. A report of the condition, progress,
repairs, casualties, and expenditures of
the Washington Aqueduct and other
public works under his charge.
Annual report of the Civil Service Com-
mission, showing its own action, the
rules and regulations and the exceptions
thereto in force, the practical effects
thereof, and any suggestions it may ap
prove for the more effectual accomplish-
ment of the purposes of the civil service
act.

A report by the commission authorized to
investigate the books, accounts, and
methods of railroads which have received
aid from the United States.

A report by the commission authorized by Stats. L., v. 25. p.

section 6 of the act for settling controversies and differences between railroad

companies and other common carriers and their employés.

List of reports to be made to Congress by public officers-Continued.

A statement containing an abstract of all the returns made to him, pursuant to law, by the collectors of the different ports, of the seamen registered by them, together with an account of such impressments and detentions as shall appear by the protests of the masters to have taken place.

Stats. at L.,
vol. 27.

p. 349

No time specified.

Rev. Statutes. sec. 207

A statement, in a compendions form, of Rev. Statutes.
all such changes and modifications in
the commercial systems of other nations,
whether by treaties, duties on imports
and exports, or other regulations, as
shall have been communicated to the

Department, including all commercial
information contained in the official
publications of other governments which
he shall deem sufficiently important.
A synopsis of so much of the information
which may have been communicated to
him by diplomatic and consular officers
during the preceding year as he may
deem valuable for public information,
specifying the names of any consuls or
commercial agents who may have been
remiss in transmitting commercial in-
formation.

A full list of all consular officers
A report of any rates or tariffs of fees to
be received by diplomatic or consular
officers which may have been prescribed
by the President during the year pre-
ceding.

A statement of such fees as may have been
collected, accounted for, and reported by
the various diplomatic and consular ofli-
cers during the preceding year.

A statement of the list of passengers arriv.
ing in the United States from foreign
places, returned to him quarter-yearly
by the collectors of customs.
A statement of the names of any consular
officers, not citizens of the United States,
to whom salaries have been paid, during
the year preceding, together with the
circumstances under which they were
appointed.

NOTE. The annual statement of expendi tures from the contingent fund, required to be made by the Secretary of State, must include all the contingent expenses of foreign intercourse and of all the missions abroad, except such expenditures as are settled upon the certificate of the Presi dent.

The President is authorized to prescribe, from time to time, the rates of tariffs of fees to be charged for official services, and to designate what shall be regarded

Within ten days after the commencement of each regular session.

Rev. Statutes. sec. 207

Annually.

Rev. Statutes.
Rev. Statutes

.

Rev. Statutes. sec. 208

Annually.

Rev. Statutes sec. 208 Annually.

Rev. Statutes.

sec. 208 Annually.

Rev. Statutes. sec. 208 Annually.