THE CHIEF CLERK.

This officer has general supervison of the clerks of the department, and directs the distribution, method, and dispatch of business. His duties pertain to numerous details which cannot be well particularized here. It is sufficient to say that they are of the same general character as those devolving upon other chief clerks as provided by law, and explained in the previous chapter of this work under the title of the Executive Departments Generally.

The business of the department is further distributed, according to law or by assignment, to the following bureaus and divisions:

II. CONSULAR BUREAU.

82. This bureau, under direction of a chief as denominated by statute, has charge of correspondence with consular officers and of miscellaneous correspondence relating to consulates.

It has three subdivisions, designated by the letters A, B, and C, each under the immediate charge of a head, whose duties pertain to correspondence with and relating to consular officers and consulates in the dominions respectively enumerated in those classes. The countries so enumerated and the class to which they belong are specified in the preceding section, relating to the duties of the assistants of the Secretary of State.

83. Consular officers are required by regulation to make reports from time to time to the Secretary of State, containing full and authentic commercial information respecting the communities in which they reside, embracing statements of all changes in the commercial systems of the governments to which they are accredited, copies of all commercial treaties, regulations, light-house notices, rev

enue laws, acts and regulations respecting warehouses, tonuage duties and port dues, all tariffs and all enactments. decrees, royal orders, or proclamations which in any manner affect the commercial agricultural mining, or other important interests of the United States.

1. They are required to report annually on the trade of the consular districts in which they respectively reside, specifying the articles of import and export, the countries which supply the former and receive the latter, the comparative increase or decrease in the amounts of the same, and the causes in both cases; the average market price within the year of the staples of export and import, and the average rates of freight to the United States. In such report they are required to designate articles the importation of which into their consulates is prohibited; also all privileges of importation as regards any articles and any restrictions there may be, and to state to what vessels they apply. They are required to report all tonnage and port dues; all warehouse and sanitary regulations, and those relating to the entry and clearance of vessels; all matters regarding the employment of the capital of our citizens in industrial, agricultural, scientific, and commercial pursuits. They are required to transmit statements touching the consumption of the staple products of the United States as well as of other countries, the amount of those articles imported into their districts in United States vessels, and the amount of foreign tonnage employed in such trade, and of other matters, to enable the Secretary of State to prepare for Congress annually a report on the commercial relations of the United States, as required of him by law.

85. These reports from the consular officers are classified by countries, published bodily for the information of Congress, and contain a mass of statistics, observations, and information of great interest and value to our people.

III. DIPLOMATIC BUREAU.

86. This bureau is similar in its organization to the one just mentioned. It conduets correspondence with and relative to our diplomatic representatives. The several subdivisions of correspondence correspond with the classifi cation referred to under the head of Consular Bureau.

87. This correspondence pertains to all subjects relating to our relations with foreign governments, and all matters of information regarding domestic affairs which should be communicated to our representatives abroad. It also embodies whatever communication on foreign affairs our own Government may desire to make through our diplomatic ministers with foreign governments. The reports and communications of those ministers to the Secretary of State form an interchange of correspondence which is annually submitted by that officer to Congress for information as to the state of our foreign relations.

IV. BUREAU OF ACCOUNTS.

88. The chief of this bureau bears a relation to the Department of State of the same nature as that borne by the disbursing clerks to their respective departments.

89. Under direction of the Secretary of State he disburses the appropriations made for payment of the expenses of the department, embracing compensation of the Secretary, assistants, and all the officers, clerks, messengers, and laborers; also for the contingencies of the department, such as fuel, repairs, and furniture; for stationery, books, extra clerk hire, the editing, furnishing, publishing, and distribution of the laws of the United States, and for other objects of expenditure for the department proper. He has also the custody of indemnity funds and bonds deposited in trust, and the care of the building and property of the department. In these duties he is assisted by the several clerks assigned

to duty in this bureau. The regulations of the department require from this bureau periodical reports to the Secretary showing the exact condition of each appropriation and account on the first day of each month, stating particularly the amount appropriated, the statute making the appropriation, the amount of the appropriation remaining in the Treasury, amount drawn during the month, amount of such draft remaining unexpended, amount expended during the preceding month, and the place of deposit of moneys remaining on hand. Also a report respecting any trust or other funds in his custody or control, stating the date of receipt, the origin of the fund, the original amount, the amount of interest received and date of receipt, the present amount of the fund, the nature of the investment, amount in his hands, and place of deposit of the same.

V. BUREAU OF INDEXES AND ARCHIVES.

90. Upon this bureau the duty devolves of opening the mails, preparing and registering the same, making daily full abstracts of all correspondence with and from the department, and indexing the same, both by subjects and persons. It has also the charge of the files or archives of the department, and is engaged in answering calls of the Secretary, assistant secretaries, chief clerk, chiefs of bureaus, and others for correspondence, &c.

By act of April 11, 1878, it is provided that the records and proceedings of the Electoral Commission, created by act of January 29, 1877, to regulate the counting of the votes for President and Vice-President, shall be deposited with the Secretary of State, who is required to preserve the same among the archives of his office.

VI. THE LIBRARIAN.

91. This division performs duties formerly appertain ing to the Bureau of Rolls and Library, now abolished.

Accordingly, it has custody of the rolls of acts of Congress, orders, and joint resolutions of that body. It has charge also of the printing and publication of the same, and the distribution of such copies as the law requires to be furnished each Senator and Representative in Congress and the Executive of each State. It has charge also of the publication of the volumes of the statutes of the United States and their promulgation. It has also care of the library of the department, the public documents, the revolutionary archives, and the archives of international commissions.

DIVISION OF STATISTICS.

92. This division has charge of the compilation of the numerous reports of United States consuls on the commercial relations of our people with the ports and countries to which the consuls are accredited. This volume is prepared annually, in accordance with law, for the information of Congress, and contains the specific data as to commerce, navigation, mining, agricultural products, &c., required by statute to be obtained, a reference to which is more particularly made in section 62, herein.

THE EXAMINER OF CLAIMS.

93. This is an officer nominally connected with the Department of Justice. He is called by the statute the Examiner of Claims for the Department of State, and it is provided that he shall exercise his functions under the supervision and control of the head of the Department of Justice. The law, however, does not define what those functions are, or indicate of what his duties shall consist. He is, however, regarded as the solicitor for the Department of State. He is the law adviser of that department, and performs such duties and considers such questions of law arising in the administration of that department as may