SIR: It appears upon an examination of the judiciary fund for the eight months of the present fiscal year, ended the 11th instant, that there has been advanced to you, for defraying the expenses of the United States courts in Dakota, the sum of $49,000. This enormous expenditure in your Territory for this purpose causes me much concern. I am unable to comprehend how it is possible for such a large sum of money to be expended unless great extravagance obtains in its disbursement.

In an interview with Mr. Cowles, the United States attorney for Dakota, this morning, he informs me that it is a common practice for the grand jurors to cause subpoenas to be issued without his knowledge or consent. It is the duty of the district attorney to ask for subpoenas in all cases which are presented to the grand jury; and hereafter you will serve no subpœnas upon persons to appear before the grand jury unless they have been issued at the request or under the direction of the district attorney. This practice of issuing subpoenas at the dictation or upon the request of members of the grand jury is, I am informed, one cause of the large expenditures in your Territory for court expenses.

By conforming strictly to the above directions in regard to subpoenas, doubtless you will be able to reduce expenses somewhat; and I hope you will use every proper means in your power to keep the judicial expenses of your Territory within reasonable bounds.

SIR: I am in receipt of your requisition of the 11th instant for $10,361.70, to defray the expenses of the August term of the United States courts at Salisbury and Asheville.

There has been advanced to you during the present year the sum of $53,307. The expenses of your district have of late become so enormously large that I am constrained to again call your attention to the fact.

On the 13th instant I wrote urging upon you the necessity for the most rigid economy in your expenditures for court expenses.

The appropriation for this purpose made by Congress at its last session for the present fiscal year is very limited, and it will be only with the greatest possible care in its disbursement that it will suffice for the year.

It appears to me that the amount of $40,000, remitted to you last month, should be sufficient to defray all the expenses of your district, including the term for which you have now made requisition. I do not understand how it is that the expenses of your district are greater than, with one exception, those of any other. I do hope that in the future you will exercise more economy.

Should the amount advanced be already expended and you have not now sufficient funds on hand for the August terms of the courts at Salisbury and Asheville, I will make you a remittance; but I trust you can get along with what funds you have on

band.

SIR: My attention has been called to the large increase in the expenses of the United States courts in your district during the past twelve months. It appears from the records of the Department that, for the June term of the circuit court held at Raleigh,

there was advanced to you, on the 19th ultimo, $20,000, and on the 29th, upon your statement that the funds placed in your hands to defray the expenses of that term of the court had been exhausted, and that $20,000 more would be needed, that amount was remitted to you.

The expenses of the courts generally throughout the country, and particularly in the South, have of late reached such an enormous sum that I am constrained to invite the attention of the several United States marshals to the fact and to express the hope that in the future more economy may be exercised by them. It appears to me that with due economy the expenses of your courts should not be near as heavy as they are. It has come to my knowledge that a very large portion of these expenses is for witnesses' fees and their travel. Much abuse exists in the summoning of witnesses. They are summoned from a great distance and kept at the place where the court is being held for weeks at a time, when the testimony they may be able to give is immaterial, or perhaps they may have no knowledge whatever of the circumstances of the case in which they are called as witnesses.

I desire that you will confer with the district attorney, that such measures may be adopted as will enable you in future to avoid this evil, and thereby cause the expenses of the courts in your district to be kept within a reasonable sum.

Please inform me how much of the last remittance of $20,000 will be required by you to defray the expenses of the term of court for which it was sent.

Very respectfully,

S. T. CARROw, Esq.,

United States Marshal, Raleigh, North Carolina.

GEO. H. WILLAMS,

Attorney-General.

No. 4.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
Washington, August 27, 1872.

SIR: My attention has been called to the great increase of the expenses of the counts of your district since your appointment to the office of marshal.

It appears that in May there was remitted to you, $34,150; in June, $22,500, and in July, $31,200, making the aggregate $87,850; and that there is now a requisition awaiting the action of this Department for $9,000 more.

I do not understand, and cannot comprehend, how it is that the expenses of your courts have so enormously increased. I am aware the recent trials of persons indicted for violations of the enforcement act have to some extent increased your expenses, and I make due allowance therefor; but the expense of such trials cannot alone, without the most unwarrantable extravagance, be the cause of this great increase. More economy must be exercised by you in the disbursement of the public funds. At the present rate of expenditure the courts in South Carolina will cost the Government nearly $300,000 per annum. This cannot be allowed to continue, for, if it does, the small amount appropriated by Congress at its last session for the expenses of the courts will soon be exhausted. The increase of the expenses of the courts generally in the South is to me a source of apprehension, and the officers of the court must hereafter use all the means that may be in their power for the reduction of these expenses.

I trust it will not be necessary to call your attention to the subject again and that you will endeavor to be more economical in the future.

Very respectfully,

R. M. WALLACE, Esq..

GEO. H. WILLIAMS,

Attorney-General.

United States Marshal, Charleston, South Caroliva.

No. 5.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
Washington, August 31, 1872.

SIR: On the 27th of March last, your attention was invited to the large expenditures made by you for court expenses, and you were directed to exercise in the future more economy in the disbursement of the public funds. Since that time there has been paid to you for this purpose $36,530, and it does not appear that my injunction to practice more economy has been heeded.

H. Mis. 23-2

There are few States, and no Territory, in the country in which the expenses come anywhere near those of Dakota. I am unable to account for the extraordinary expenses of your Territory, and I now have to ask of you some explanation as to the cause of this outlay of the public funds. I am aware that, owing to the great extent of territory and the long distance that has to be traveled to attend the various places at which the courts are held, the expenses are great, but while making due allow ance for this I cannot believe that, with proper diligence on the part of the officers of the courts, the expenses should reach such an amount as has been expended by you. I hope that it will not be necessary to call your attention to this matter again, and that hereafter your accounts will show a large decrease in the expenses of your district.

Very respectfully,

GEO. H. WILLIAMS,

Attorney-General.

United States Marshal, Yankton, Dakota Territory,

L. H. LITCHFIELD, Esq.,

3d Session.

No. 24.

ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN CANAL.

MEMORIAL

OF THE

NATIONAL COMMERCIAL CONVENTION AT SAINT LOUIS,

IN RELATION TO

The Atlantic and Great Western Canal.

DECEMBER 19, 1872.— Referred to the Committee on Commerce and ordered to be printed.

To the Congress of the United States:

The National Commercial Convention, composed of representatives from every section of our Union, desires respectfully to call the attention of the Federal Government to the pressing necessity for water-lines of communication between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean.

This necessity has long been felt, but so rapid has been the growth and development of those States lying in the Mississippi Valley, and so vast has become the bulk of their agricultural products, that the question of providing adequate means of transportation demands the prompt and earnest attention of our statesmen.

It is indeed the question of overshadowing importance at this time; and upon the immediate solution of it depend the prosperity and contentment of by far the larger portion of our people.

Agricultural products form the original source of wealth to nine-tenths of our people. Beyond what is necessary for home consumption these products have no value without a market, and their value is, of course, increased or diminished according to the cost of getting them to

consumers.

Cheap transportation therefore is vitally essential to successful com

merce.

Our present means of carriage, both natural and artificial, are notoriously inadequate to the demands of our internal trade, while our foreign exports are so small as to render us almost contemptible in the eyes of commercial nations.

The amount of transportation necessary to move western produce gave rise to the Erie Canal, and to the great number of railways that connect the East and West. Many cherished the hope that the multiplication of railways would solve the question of internal transportation, but experience has proven its fallacy.

The products of the West are of a heavy and balky nature, occupying much space, and consequently requiring cheap carriage. The actual

cost of carriage to the railways, to say nothing of their profits, is far more than western products can bear. Nor is it at all probable that any economical improvements in constructing and operating railroads can ever reduce the cost of transportation on them to such figures as would justify a reliance on them, even if they could do the work. These roads have been liberal in their charges, and although their through rates are in many instances below the cost of operating them, still, they carry to the seaboard but a very small percentage of the freight seeking transportation.

For these reasons, we see the foreign exports of the United States annually diminishing, our coasting trade languishing, and our shipping interests decaying.

The great need of the West, and indeed of the whole country, is the opening of internal water-lines and the improvement of navigation upon our western rivers.

The attention of Congress has been officially called to several proposed lines for ship-canals from the West to the Atlantic.

One of these contemplates the connection of the Tennessee River at Guntersville with the Coosa River at Gadsden, in North Alabama, and a system of canals and slack-water navigation from the Coosa, at Rome, Georgia, to Savannah. The route has been surveyed by Major Walter McFarland, a distinguished engineer and officer of the United States, and by him pronounced practicable and easy at a cost that amply justi fies the construction of the work.

We most earnestly hope that such aid and encouragement may be extended by the Government to this and similar works of great public necessity as will insure their completion at a very early day.

Then may we hope to see our foreign and domestic commerce, fostered by a liberal and generous public policy, attain those vast proportions which our natural advantages promise, our shipping interests restored, our immense mineral resources developed, and prosperity, plenty, and contentment bless every section of our country.

D. H. MACADAM,

BENJ. E. CRANE, President National Commercial Convention.

Secretary of National Commercial Convention.