working of the several apparatus under their control. Considerable progress has been made in the construction of the terraces. Mr. Fred. Law Olmsted, landscape architect, giving his attention to the improvements of the grounds only, has relinquished control of the construction of the terraces since the close of the last fiscal year, since which time that work has been exclusively under the direction of the Architect of the Capitol. These terraces not only add to the beauty of the Capitol and its grounds, but will, when finished, provide committee and storage rooms so much needed. It is hoped that Congress may at an early day provide for their completion.

The court-house in this city has been completed as provided by the act approved July 7, 1884.

FREEDMEN'S HOSPITAL.

The whole number of patients admitted for treatment in the Freedmen's Hospital during the past year was 1,794, an increase of 285 over the year before, and an average of about 150 admissions per month; 725 were white and 1,295 were colored. A large percentage of those treated were admitted upon the recommendation of the police authorities of the District and of charitable associations. About 230 exsoldiers, who had come from a distance to look after their claims for pension and had become sick and destitute, were admitted. In the dispensary attached to the hospital 2,879 prescriptions were given. The appropriations for the purposes of the hospital for the current fiscal year are:

For subsistence.

For salaries of surgeon-in-chief and other employés
For rent of hospital buildings and grounds

For fuel, light, clothing, bedding, forage, transportation, medicines and medi-
cal supplies, repairs and furniture, and other absolutely necessary expenses

For alterations to porches, to provide fire-escape, fire-hose, &c., and for purchase of one force-pump..

$22,000

13,000

4,000

10, 500

49,500

1,400

50, 900

The estimates of the surgeon-in-chief for the fiscal year of 1886–87 are as follows:

For erecting one 2-story building to be used as bath-rooms and waterclosets for wards 1 and 2...

For excavating four cellars, and heating eight wards by furnaces... $2,550
For heating main building by furnaces

1,480

900

4,930

55, 430

The surgeon-in-chief states that the means of fire-escape and the force-pump, authorized by appropriations for the current year, have been provided, and four bath-rooms have been built in the female wards, which have greatly added to the comfort of patients. He states there is pressing need of two additional bath-rooms and water-closets in the male wards, those now in use being inadequate and unsuitable. He also recommends that a more economical method of heating the hospital than is now afforded by the stoves in use should be provided, and submits an estimate of the cost of furnaces for the wards and for the main building, which, in his opinion, would be covered in a short time by the saving of fuel. He also suggests the purchase by the Government of the buildings and a portion of the grounds now occupied by the hospital, and for which an annual rental of $4,000 is paid to the Howard University.

GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.

The Board of Visitors of the hospital report that the additional buildings recently erected have proved a great relief from overcrowding of patients, especially in the female department, and are found to be in every way satisfactory. A new barn building, 120 by 60 feet, with foundation and basement of brick and superstructure of wood, is nearly completed. This is designed to afford storage for hay and other forage crops from the farm and shelter for the herd of cows from which the hospital is supplied with milk, averaging during the past year 152 gallons per day. They state that the dining-hall and cabinet-shop, for which appropriations have been made, will probably be completed within the current fiscal year.

The appropriations for the hospital for the current fiscal year are as follows:

For current expenses (sundry civil appropriation act)..
For support of the indigent insane of the District of Columbia (act mak-

$216,538 00

The estimates of the Board of Visitors for the fiscal year of 1886-87

For separate inclosed building for convict insane and additional accommodations for colored insane

67,000

83, 400

363, 400

The Board recommend an appropriation for reconstruction of the wash room and drying-chamber of the laundry, which they state has become so decayed from long exposure to steam that no repairs short of rebuilding will be of any avail, and also the refitting of the machinery and apparatus of the laundry. They also recommend that provision be made for three cottages for farm laborers at a cost of $800 each, two of which are deemed necessary for the oversight and protection of growing crops, and the third, to be located at the cemetery, for the protection of the graves from desecration. They also call attention to the need of a green-house of adequate size for the propagation and preservation of bedding plants for the lawn and for bringing forward early plants for the vegetable garden. They regard a building of this character as a necessary adjunct to the hospital in providing a pleasant resort amongst flowers for the patients, diverting them from morbid brooding.

The greater part of the hospital building has already been provided with safeguards against fire and with fire-escapes. There are, however, two wings (each having but a single stairway of wood) in which nearly two hundred patients are quartered, for which the Board recommend that suitable protection in case of fire should be provided. They also state that a tract of land adjoining the hospital grounds, containing 50 acres, is offered for sale at $6,000, and they recommend an appropriation of that amount for its purchase. They represent that this addition to the hospital farm is required for pasturage to provide a requisite supply of milk and for the production of other crops consumed in the household. The Board of Visitors urgently recommend an appropriation for the erection of a separate, inclosed building for the convict insane. Inmates of this class (numbering 43 at the end of the fiscal year) are transferred to the hospital, upon the request of the Attorney-General, from State prisons to which they have been sentenced in United States courts, and by transfer from military prisons. Two convicts under life sentence to State prisons have recently been received. The hospital has no special provision for such cases, and they are necessarily placed with the other inmates, whose insanity would seem to be misfortune enough without the enforced association with crime.

6287 1--5

With the exception of a few dangerous homicidal cases, the noncriminal class do not require to have a hospital built or kept like a prison. With them open doors and the freedom of the grounds are conducive to restoration and not incompatible with the public safety. In the case of the convict the protection of the community renders it imperative that whether sane or insane he shall be securely kept. This in the hospital as ordinarily constructed is impossible. They also state that the number of colored insane has so increased as to require the enlargement of their accomodations.

The following table presents a summary of the changes in population of the hospital during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1885:

The number of pupils under instruction during the year was 127— males 105, females 22; in the college, 58; in the school, 69. The usual courses of instruction have been continued, including articulation to a large proportion, and industrial training to a limited number. A new building, providing class-rooms for the primary department, is nearly completed, which is to be called "The Kendall School" as a mark of respect to the memory of the late Hon. Amos Kendall, the founder and early benefactor of the institution. Five young men have completed the collegiate course of study and have received degrees, four as bachelors of art, and one as bachelor of science.

The appropriations to the Institution by Congress were $55,000 for current expenses and $3,000 for the improvement and inclosure of grounds; all of which was expended.

The estimates submitted for next year are $55,000 for current expenses and $8,000 for an additional workshop and for a chemical laboratory. The importance of affording greater facilities in industrial training is strongly urged by the directors, as also the danger of continuing the chemical laboratory, where it now is in a building occupied mainly as a dormitory.

The Institution sent an interesting exhibit to the New Orleans International Exposition.

EDUCATION OF FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN.

In the appropriation for the support of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1881 (sundry civil appropriation act, approved June 16, 1880), it is provided—

That where any indigent applicant to that institution belonging to the District of Columbia and of teachable age is found on examination by the president of the institution to be of feeble mind and hence incapable of receiving instruction among children of sound mind, the Secretary of the Interior may cause such person to be instructed in some institution for the education of feeble-minded children in Pennsylvania, or some other State, at a cost not greater for each pupil than is, or may be for the time being, paid by such State for similar instruction, and the sum necessary therefor is appropriated out of the sum above provided for the current expenses of the Institution.

Eight beneficiaries of this act are now under instruction in the Pennsylvania Institution for Feeble-Minded Children at Elwyn, Pennsylvania, at an expense of $300 each. The president of the Columbia Institution states that the accounting officers of the Treasury have recently decided that the proviso for the payment of the expenses of feebleminded children had reference only to the specific appropriation to which it was attached and to none other, and that in consequence of such decision no payment has been made to the Pennsylvania institution for the six months ended June 30, 1885. He suggests that the attention of Congress be directed to the defect in the legislation on this subject, with a view to such permanent provision for the education of indigent imbecile children in the District of Columbia as is made for the education and maintenance of the blind in section 4869, Revised Statutes.

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND.

Ten blind persons from the District of Columbia were maintained and instructed in the Maryland Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, under authority of section 4869, United States Revised Statutes. The superintendent of the institution reports that these pupils are all making fair progress, and some of them are more than ordinarily promising.

STORE-HOUSE FOR GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

In the act of March 3, 1885 (sundry civil appropriation act), an ap propriation of $15,000 was made

To enable the Public Printer, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to purchase a site in the vicinity of the Public Printing Office, and to erect thereon a store-house for the reception of certain material connected with the Public Printing Office. the store-house to be erected under the supervision of the Architect of the United States Capitol; the cost of the site and the building not to exceed the sum herein appropriated, which may be available from the passage of this act.

The Public Printer submitted for my approval a proposition for the purchase of a site in the rear of the Printing Office, fronting 54 feet on G street, with a depth o 175 feet, which he considered the most