with unnecessary expense.
Orders have therefore been issued for the reduction of the number of
persons employed within the smallest limits consistent with the safety
of those engaged in the service and the prompt and efficient execution
of their important duties.

Returns have been received from all the officers engaged in taking
the census in the States and Territories except California. The
superintendent employed to make the enumeration in that State has
not yet made his full report, from causes, as he alleges, beyond his
control. This failure is much to be regretted, as it has prevented the
Secretary of the Interior from making the decennial apportionment of
Representatives among the States, as required by the act approved May
23, 1850. It is hoped, however, that the returns will soon be received,
and no time will then be lost in making the necessary apportionment and
in transmitting the certificates required by law.

The Superintendent of the Seventh Census is diligently employed, under
the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in classifying and
arranging in tabular form all the statistical information derived from
the returns of the marshals, and it is believed that when the work shall
be completed it will exhibit a more perfect view of the population,
wealth, occupations, and social condition of a great country than has
ever been presented to the world. The value of such a work as the basis
of enlightened legislation can hardly be overestimated, and I earnestly
hope that Congress will lose no time in making the appropriations
necessary to complete the classifications and to publish the results
in a style worthy of the subject and of our national character.

The want of a uniform fee bill, prescribing the compensation to be
allowed district attorneys, clerks, marshals, and commissioners in civil
and criminal cases, is the cause of much vexation, injustice, and
complaint. I would recommend a thorough revision of the laws on the
whole subject and the adoption of a tariff of fees which, as far as
practicable, should be uniform, and prescribe a specific compensation
for every service which the officer may be required to perform. This
subject will be fully presented in the report of the Secretary of the
Interior.

In my last annual message I gave briefly my reasons for believing that
you possessed the constitutional power to improve the harbors of our
Great Lakes and seacoast and the navigation of our princi