During the second session of the Sixty-first Congress 6,063 persons were included in the special acts passed, at the rates specified in the following summary:

Pensions granted by special act during the second session of the Sixty-first Congress.

Of the above, 563 were granted to persons never before on the pension roll and 5,500 to persons then receiving smaller pensions. The annual value of said special acts is $1,838,088, and the annual increase in payment of pensions due to such acts is $894,495.

The following statement shows the number of pensions and increases of pensions granted by special acts during each Congress since March 4, 1861:

Number of pensions granted by special acts each Congress since March 4, 1861.

There were 89 new cases presented by the bureau to the Department of Justice for prosecution on account of offenses against the pension laws, and indictments were found in 71 cases.

There were 61 cases brought to trial during the year, in 55 of which convictions were secured. Only 9 of these were cases against persons who had rendered military or naval service. At the close of the year there were 145 cases pending in the hands of United States attorneys.

Three civil suits were instituted during the year; one was compromised and two were settled by payment to the United States of the amounts involved. There were four suits pending in the courts at the close of the year.

Money recovered from all sources, including reclamation on forged checks, amounted to $20,557.38.

BOUNTY-LAND WARRANTS.

During the year four original military bounty-land warrants were issued, granting 560 acres of land; and duplicates of two 80-acre, two 120-acre, and three 160-acre warrants lost or destroyed were also issued. Service to give title to bounty land must have been for at least fourteen days, or in a battle, prior to March 3, 1855; and if in the Regular Army or Navy must have been in some war in which the United States Government was engaged.

The following statement shows the total number of bounty-land warrants of all classes issued by the bureau (including partial estimate of those issued for service in the Revolutionary war) and the number of acres granted to June 30, 1910:

This bureau has no record of the warrants issued directly from the General Land Office under special acts of Congress, or of those issued on account of the Virginia military land grants satisfied by the United States after the cession of the Northwestern Territory, and they are not included in the above table.

REIMBURSEMENT CLAIMS.

In accordance with an act approved March 4, 1909, claims for reimbursement for expenses of the last sickness and burial of deceased pensioners, which prior to that date were settled by the Auditor for the Interior Department, are now adjudicated in this bureau. There were 2,415 such claims pending July 1, 1909, 7,230 were received during the year, and 69, which had been formerly disallowed, were reopened, making a total of 9,714. Of these, 6,478 were allowed, 1,029 disallowed, and 695 abandoned, leaving 1,512 pending at the close of the year.

83933°-Ab. 1910-vol 2- 40

CARD INDEX OF RECORDS AND REMOVAL OF USELESS PAPERS.

The records of the bureau are kept in large, heavy, cumbersome books. Upon these books are inscribed the names of all applicants for pension, numbering into the millions. By constant handling the writing has become partially effaced and many of the books worn and ready to fall in pieces. It became apparent about four years ago that a different method of keeping the records should be adopted, and a card system was decided upon. The carding of the records was commenced, and a few cards were written in 1906; but the passage of the act of February 6, 1907, so increased the regular work of the bureau that it became necessary to suspend the carding for a time, as the services of all of the clerks were required in the adjudication of claims.

In August, 1907, the work was resumed in a small way, and after the necessary appropriation for file cases was obtained in 1908 the force engaged thereon was gradually increased until at the present time 160 clerks are employed upon it. Up to this date 3,067,611 cards have been written, compared, arranged, and filed. It is esti mated that there will be 7,000,000 cards when the record is complete. This, of course, does not mean that there were 7,000,000 soldiers and sailors, but that three sets of cards are being written, one set to be arranged alphabetically, one numerically, and one by the organizations in which service was rendered. With the complete card record a claim can be found with the name alone, while at present it is necessary to have, not only the name, but the number of the claim or the military or naval service of the soldier or sailor. The work is going forward as rapidly as possible, and it is believed that it will be finished in two years.

There are over 74,000 claims on account of service in the Revolutionary war. The papers in these claims are in bad condition and difficult to handle. They are being put in as good order as possible and placed in flat files, where they will be easy of access and better preserved from injury than when tied in bundles as at present. A card index for these old claims is also being prepared. Fourteen clerks are engaged in connection with the Revolutionary work.

On the fourth floor of the building are stored all of the admitted claims. Each claim, with the papers pertaining thereto, is kept in a strong jacket and tied with tape. Nearly all space on this floor is utilized, and more will be needed in the near future for admitted and abandoned claims. An estimate of the weight of papers filed there was made, with the result that it was found there were 910 long tons weight occupying 27 rooms. Congress, upon your request, gave permission to take from these old cases the waste paper. January 20, 1910, 40 experienced clerks were assigned to the task of removing these papers, with instructions not to take out a paper of permanent value or historical interest. A few weeks later the force was increased to 100 and has been maintained at about that number ever since. Although the removal of papers from claims that have been accumulating dust for years is not work of a pleasant character, there has been little disposition on the part of the clerks to avoid it. The work was commenced with widow's certificate No. 1 and has progressed to No. 540999, the claim bearing the latter number hav

ing been completed and returned to the admitted files the afternoon of June 30, 1910. About 62 long tons of waste papers have been removed and turned over to the department contractor. Two and one-half rooms have been vacated. If this gain is maintained throughout the admitted files there will be a result of eight vacant rooms and the removal of about 200 long tons of waste.

Until the card system is completed, the waste papers removed from the old files and the Revolutionary claims placed in flat files, every employee of this bureau will have work from 9 o'clock until half-past 4. The value of this work can be appreciated only by those who know the existing conditions.

By concentrating the force of the Pension Bureau on the second and third floors of the building room has been made on the first floor for the Indian Bureau.

HISTORICAL.

Mrs. Phoebe M. Palmeter, aged 89 years, of Brookfield, N. Y., pensioned by a special act of Congress as the daughter of Jonathan Wooley, who served in a New Hampshire company, is the only pensioner on account of the Revolutionary war remaining on the roll. The last widow pensioner of that war was Esther S. Damon, of Plymouth Union, Vt., who died November 11, 1906, aged 92 years. The last survivor of the war of the Revolution was Daniel F. Bakeman, who died at Freedom, Cattaraugus County, N. Y., April 5, 1869, aged 109 years 6 months and 8 days.

The last surviving pensioned soldier of the war of 1812 was Hiram Cronk, of Ava, N. Y., who died May 13, 1905, aged 105 years and 16 days. The names of 338 widows of the war of 1812 remained on the pension roll June 30, 1910.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Most of the surgeons appointed to examine applicants for pension, or increase of pension, are organized into boards of three members each; but it is sometimes necessary to have single surgeons or specialists make examinations of claimants who can not go before a board, or who require the attention of a specialist. On June 30, 1910, there were 4,660 examining surgeons, and during the year 31,307 examinations were made at an expense of $247,687.

The mail received during the year, including applications for pension, numbered 1,898,539 pieces, and the outgoing mail aggregated 858,947 pieces, making a total of 2,757,486 pieces handled, an average of about 9,000 daily.

During the year 136,437 pension claims were adjudicated, of which 97,207 were admitted, 38,032 rejected, and 1,198 approved for allowance in which no certificates were issued because they would not have been of benefit to the applicants. Many of the claims rejected were applications for increase, in which, on medical examination, no increase of disability was shown. There were also 76 claims for military bounty-land warrants adjudicated during the year, of which 9 were allowed and 67 rejected.

Out of 4,894 appeals decided by the department during the year the bureau was reversed in only 265 cases, being 5.42 per cent of the number decided.

The bureau is required by law to give a notice of thirty days to pensioners before reducing their pensions or dropping their names from the roll. During the year 201 pensioners were dropped from the roll for various causes, being 420 less than were dropped the preceding year. The pensions of 37 persons were reduced, and reissues were made in 52 cases to recover erroneous payments.

Since the passage of the act of March 3, 1899, providing for the division of pensions of resident pensioners of the United States who shall desert their wives or minor children, or who are inmates of national or state soldiers and sailors' homes, 10,843 claims have been filed thereunder, 6,742 of which have been allowed.

During the year there were received in the bureau 132,012 new applications for pension or increase of pension. There were also received 6,965 applications for accrued pension due at death of pensioners, 7,230 applications for reimbursement for the expenses of the last sickness and burial of deceased pensioners, and 73 applications for military bounty-land warrants.

The number of cases for special examination on hand July 1, 1909, was 3,486 and the number referred for special examination during the year was 6,254, making a total of 9,740. Of these 6,917 were disposed of during the year, leaving 2,823 on hand June 30, 1910. The average number of special examiners employed was 123, and the average number of cases disposed of per examiner was 56.

Very respectfully,

The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

J. L. DAVENPORT, Commissioner of Pensions.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

SIR: I have the honor to

Washington, D. C., October 31, 1910. submit herewith the following report of

the business of the United States Patent Office for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910:

Applications and caveats received during fiscal year ended June 30, 1910.