street, and thence to the Capitol. Connected with it is one running from the Treasury Department along Fourteenth street to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and Agricultural Department, and one down Fifth street to the Pension building. There are about 500 feet of 13-conductor Patterson cable running from the cable pole in the Capitol Grounds into the basement of the Senate, and 250 feet of 20-conductor cable running from the cable pole on the corner of Seventeenth and G streets into the State, War, and Navy building.

The underground cable laid by the Standard Underground Cable Company, of Pittsburg, in October, 1883, under permit granted for experimental purposes, and afterwards purchased by the Government in accordance with an act of Congress, has been useless for telegraphic operations since the winter of, 1891-92, owing to the manner in which it was laid, being without any protection from the picks, etc., of workmen in the streets.

During the past year the main and local batteries received good attention and were maintained in good working order. All crosses and other obstructions were removed from the lines as soon as possible. All of the old and worn-out fixtures on roof of Treasury Department were removed and replaced with new. New fixtures were made, painted, and put on the roof of the Interior Department, and all old fixtures removed.

Fifty-five new chestnut poles from 50 to 80 feet in length were purceased, trimmed of knots, the sap shaved off, gained for cross arms, and erected along the line in place of old poles which had become decayed and too short for further use, owing to the growth.of trees along the streets. All the wire on the old poles which was in good condition was transferred to the new poles. Two miles of No. 12 copper conductor insulated wire and 13 miles of No. 12 iron wire were used and put in place of old and worn-out wire which was of no use. All of the old and worn out wire was removed from the old poles, and the old poles taken down and removed from the streets.

The old fixtures on the roof of the State, War, and Navy building were removed and replaced with new. A new 12-pin oak cross-arm was placed in position on the roof of the Executive Mansion, and all the wires running from the Treasury building to the Executive Mansion were pulled up and placed in proper position. The old cables on the roof of the Executive Mansion, which had been in use a number years and had become defective, were removed and replaced with new, with conductors sufficient to work the necessary circuit in the house, with a few extra in case of necessity. All the worn-out wire on the roof of the Treasury Department was removed and replaced with new. The wires on the roof of the Department of Justice were repaired and renewed where necessary. All of the old and worn-out wire running between the Interior Department and the Post-Office Department was removed and replaced with new. The old 6-wire cable running from the roof of Post-Office building to offices on second floor was removed and replaced with a new one.

The two wires running down Fifth street to make the necessary connections with the Pension Office were replaced with new No. 12 insulated wire. The lightning arresters in the cable pole on Capitol Grounds were taken out, repaired, cleaned, and replaced in good shape. All of the cables in basement of Capitol were carefully gone over and repaired where necessary and put in place. The instruments of the House of Representatives which were stored away in the office of Public Buildings and Grounds during the recess were repaired, cleaned, and put in

place ready for the reassembling of Congress. Minor repairs were made to instruments, etc. The damage done by the storm of September 29, 1896, was very great, but not expensive, as it was the old line that suffered, which was at the time being done away with. It did not do any damage to the new line of poles which had just been erected. The wires which were all broken down from the old poles were allowed to remain so until transferred to the new poles.

The work of removing the telegraph office of the United States Senate from the second to the first floor was commenced in June; 200 feet of 10-wire cable was made and put in place ready to connect to the new instruments which are to be furnished by the Sergeant-at-Arms, at whose request the change was made.

The necessity for replacing the poles with a system of underground cables is so apparent that argument in its favor is unnecessary.

Estimates have been carefully prepared and submitted in previous years. The cost of the underground system will be $25,000, and the matter is presented for such action as Congress may deem best.

OLD RECORDS OF THE CITY OF WASHINGTON.

The first Commissioners were appointed by President Washington January 22, 1791, in conformity with act of Congress approved July 16, 1790. The duties of these Commissioners were transferred by various acts of Congress to their successors in office who were appointed from time to time by the President of the United States.

By act of Congress, approved March 2, 1867, the office of the Commissioner of Public Buildings and Grounds was abolished and the duties transferred to the Chief of Engineers, who thereby became the lawful successor of the original Commissioners appointed by President Washington in 1791, and the custodian of the original records of the District of Columbia.

The detailed history of these first original records is given in Annual Report for 1895. They are invaluable for reference in all real estate matters since all titles to real estate in the District of Columbia are more or less founded on them.

These old records and maps show in detail the various transactions of the first Commissioners in the original laying out of the city of Washington; the construction of the United States public buildings, and the sale of public lots between the years 1791 and 1867. A tabulated statement has been prepared showing every lot originally belonging to the United States as well as those which were sold by the General Government between the years 1791 and 1867.

This investigation has developed the fact that there are a number of squares and lots in different parts of the city of Washington for which there is no satisfactory evidence to show that the United States has ever received payment or granted deeds in fee simple.

In order to care for, index, patch up, and preserve these invaluable and irreparable documents, and to exhibit them to those properly entitled to consult them, and frequently to produce these records in court, the whole of one man's time is absolutely necessary and barely sufficient. The only employee of the office who could be utilized for this purpose was the one draftsman allowed on the office force, Mr. John Stewart, an earnest, faithful, and intelligent gentleman, who has now devoted nearly twenty years to the care and systematic assortment and investigation of these records. Meanwhile the office is practically without a draftsman, whose services are absolutely essential to the proper conduct of the regular business of the office.

Special attention is invited to this important matter, and it is urgently recommended that provision be made for the employment of a clerk to take charge of all these old records and of the very necessary labors connected with their care, and thus permit the only draftsman now allowed the office to attend to no less pressing and important work.

This request is the more confidently urged because of additional duties recently assigned to this office. All building plans in the city of Washington which contemplate projections beyond the building line are required by law to be approved by the Secretary of War. In order that the facts in each case may be thoroughly known, this office is very properly charged with investigation and report. But as Washington is now a city of over 275,000 inhabitants, and as these requests for projections average more than two a day throughout the year, it will readily be seen how absolutely necessary the services of another employee have become.

RESERVATIONS, WHICH ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE UNITED STATES OCCUPIED, IT IS BELIEVED, IN VIOLATION OF LAW.

[See map in Annual Report for 1894.]

The following reservations, claimed as the property of the United States, are now occupied, it is believed, without authority of law: Reservations Nos. 113, 127, and 197, by the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Company.

Reservation No. 226, by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. This reservation has been occupied since 1884 by a large derrick and used as a yard. No record of proper authority therefor can be found. The matter has time and again been reported in the annual reports of my predecessor, and has also been reported to the law officers of the Government. The members of the Northeast Washington Citizens' Association have lately made a renewed effort to have this reservation restored to the United States and improved for the beautifying of that part of the city.

Reservation No. 125, by the Central Union Mission, as a place of worship.

Reservation No. 186, by the Bethany Chapel of the New York avenue Presbyterian congregation.

Reservation No. 293, intersection of Canal and N streets S. and First street W., occupied by a party who built a frame house thereon in 1888. This case has been in the hands of the United States district attorney for the District of Columbia for the past six years.

Reservation No. 249 is occupied as a lumber yard, by a party who claims to rent it from a gentleman in Port Deposit, Md.

Reservations Nos. 137, 138, 141, 152, 164, and 169 have been inclosed with iron or wire fences and partially improved by the owners of adjacent property.

The following also are improved and utilized by adjacent property owners: Nos. 65, 67, 139, 143, 161, 162, 167, 168, 175, 208, and 284.

STATUES.

There are 17 statues in the national public grounds under charge of this office, as follows:

Daguerre, Admiral Du Pont, Admiral Farragut, President Garfield, General Greene, Dr. Gross, General Hancock, Professor Henry, Presi

dent Jackson, Lafayette, President Lincoln (2), General McPherson, General Rawlins,. General Scott, General Thomas, Washington.

The stains on the bronze work of all the statues in the parks and the worst stains on their stone pedestals were cleaned off, and broken joints in the stonework of those pedestals were repaired with Portland cement. All of these statues are in good condition, but there should be a small annual appropriation of $150 for cleaning them and pointing up the pedestals.

The statue of Prof. Samuel D. Gross, M. D., LL. D., was placed by the sculptor upon the pedestal constructed by the United States in the Smithsonian grounds, and was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies May 6, 1897. The figures "1897" were cut under the inscription on the pedestal of this statue and bronzed and the incised letters of the inscription were rebronzed.

The statue of Daguerre was removed from the National Museum, where its room was needed and where it could hardly be seen to advan tage, to a good site east of the Museum.

The foundation for the statue of General Logan has been built in Iowa Circle, the fountain having been removed, and it is expected that the bronze pedestal will arrive and be in position before the end of the calendar year 1897.

It is anticipated that within the next three years statues will be erected in the parks in the city of Washington to the memory of Generals Sherman, Sheridan, and Logan.

MONUMENT AND WHARF AT WAKEFIELD, VA., THE BIRTHPLACE OF WASHINGTON.

The lawn around the monument has been mown as required during the year by the United States watchman in charge.

The iron railing around the monument being in need of repainting, the Comptroller of the Treasury was asked, in April, 1897, whether a portion of the small balance remaining from the appropriation for the construction of the monument could be applied to its maintenance. He replied that the balance was not applicable to that purpose.

The iron-pile wharf at Bridge Creek Landing, near Wakefield, erected under the supervision of this office in 1894 under the direction of the Department of State, was damaged in February, 1897, by a violent storm and extensive ice jam, and 11 of the iron piles broken. The facts were at once reported to the Chief of Engineers, and an estimate for funds for its repair, amounting to $987, submitted. No appropriation having been made, the repairs have not been undertaken by the United States, but in March, 1897, a permit was granted by the Secretary of War to a gentleman living in the vicinity to make temporary repairs to the wharf by propping up broken parts with wooden posts so that he could put timber off from it. In granting the permit, it was provided that no compensation should be paid by the United States for the work and that it should not hereafter constitute a claim against the United States.

LEGISLATION NEEDED.

Experience of years has shown the urgent need of better-defined regulations than now exist for the protection of the national park grounds in the District of Columbia and for the better security and comfort of the public.

A draft of suitable legislation to obtain this was prepared by my predecessor (Gen. John M. Wilson, Chief of Engineers) and printed as House Doc. No. 81, Fifty-fourth Congress, first session. It is as follows:

AN ACT to regulate the use of the public parks and improved reservations under charge of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, within the limits of the District of Columbia.

Whereas the improved parks and reservations under the charge of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, within the limits of the District of Columbia, are for the purpose of adorning the District; therefore, the following statute for the regulation of the public use of such parks and reservations is hereby enacted:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That public travel in and occupancy of the improved parks and reservations within the limits of the District of Columbia, under the charge of the Chief of Engineers, shall be restricted to the roads, walks, and places prepared for the purpose by flagging, paving, or otherwise.

SEC. 2. That it is forbidden to occupy the roads in such manner as to hinder or obstruct their proper use, to drive rapidly upon them or with animals not under perfect control, or to use them for the conveyance of goods or merchandise, except to or from the public buildings erected upon them on Government service.

SEC. 3. That it is forbidden to expose any article for sale; to throw stones or missiles; to interfere with birds; to display any sign, placard, or form of advertisement; to solicit fares, alms, subscriptions, contributions; to discharge firearms, fireworks, or explosives, or set fire to any combustible: Provided, however, That upon public holidays or other occasions of rejoicing, the officer in charge of public buildings and grounds, or such subordinate officer as he may direct, may permit, at his discretion, the use of such grounds in the vicinity of the Washington Monument as he may deem best, for the purpose of fireworks display and firing salutes.

SEC. 4. That it is forbidden to make any harangue, or utter loud, threatening, abusive, or profane language, to play games of chance, to bathe or fish in fountain basins, or to do any obscene or indecent act, or to commit a nuisance of any character.

SEC. 5. That it is forbidden to step or climb upon, remove, or in any way injure any monument, statue, fountain, wall, fence, or other construction, or any tree, shrub, plant, turf, or flower, or to interfere in any way with the waterworks.

SEC. 6. That it is forbidden to ride or drive a horse at a rate faster than eight miles an hour; to ride a cycle at a rate faster than eight miles an hour, or without a bell attached or a light at night.

SEC. 7. That it is forbidden to play ball or other games or sports, except upon grounds specially provided for that purpose.

SEC. 8. That offenses against this act shall be triable before the police court of the District of Columbia, and shall be punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the judge of such court, the fine not to exceed one hundred dollars; the imprisonment not to exceed sixty days. But in case of heinous offenses, by reason of which public property shall have suffered damage to an amount exceeding one hundred dollars in value, said judge of the police court may commit or hold to bail the offender for trial before the supreme court of the District of Columbia, when the offense shall be punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a period of not less than six months nor more than five years.

SEC. 9. That it shall be the duty of all policemen and watchmen having authority to make arrests in the District of Columbia to be watchful for offenses against this act, and to arrest and bring before the proper tribunal those who shall offend against it under their observation, or of whose offenses they shall be advised by witnesses. SEC. 10. That it shall be the duty of all persons employed in the service of the Government, under the officer in charge of public buildings and grounds, to prevent, as far as may be in his power, offenses against this act, and to aid the police by information or otherwise in securing the arrest and conviction of offenders.

A similar law applying to the Capitol grounds has been in existence since 1882, and corresponding legislation is urgently needed and respectfully urged for the proper administration of the public interests in charge of this office.

Estimates for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1899.

Salaries of employees, public buildings and grounds, etc.:

One office clerk

$1,600.00

One messenger..

One public gardener

840.00 2,500.00

One clerk in charge of old public records of Washington

City.

1,500.00