other scientific experts
from the Army, the Navy, and from civil life (all of whom, except
the secretary, give their time and labors to this object without
compensation), was organized by authority of Congress in the
spring of 1875, and immediately drafted a comprehensive plan for
its investigations and contracted for a testing machine of 400 tons
capacity, which would enable it to properly conduct the experiments.
Meanwhile the subcommittees of the board have devoted their time to such
experiments as could be made with the smaller testing machines already
available. This large machine is just now completed and ready for
erection at the Watertown Arsenal, and the real labors of the board are
therefore just about to be commenced. If the board is to be discontinued
at the end of the present fiscal year, the money already appropriated
and the services of the gentlemen who have given so much time to the
subject will be unproductive of any results. The importance of these
experiments can hardly be overestimated when we consider the almost
endless variety of purposes for which iron and steel are employed in
this country and the many thousands of lives which daily depend on the
soundness of iron structures. I need hardly refer to the recent disaster
at the Ashtabula bridge, in Ohio, and the conflicting theories of
experts as to the cause of it, as an instance of what might have been
averted by a more thorough knowledge of the properties of iron and the
best modes of construction. These experiments can not properly be
conducted by private firms, not only on account of the expense, but
because the results must rest upon the authority of disinterested
persons. They must therefore be undertaken under the sanction of the
Government. Compared with their great value to the industrial interests
of the country, the expense is very slight.

The board recommend an appropriation of $40,000 for the next
fiscal year, and I earnestly commend their request to the favorable
consideration of Congress. I also recommend that the board be required
to conduct their investigations under the direction of the Secretary of
War, and to make full report of their progress to that officer in time
to be incorporated in his annual report.

U.S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, _February 2, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit, in answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 10th ultimo,
a report of the Secretary of State, with its accompany