garding
schools, methods of instruction and school discipline, etc., and
otherwise to promote the cause of education. The results of the
investigations here carried on, though with a small clerical force, are
of the utmost value to all educators, and such is the extent to which
the merit of the work and publications of this office are recognized by
the leading educators of the country, that, in their opinion, the Bureau
should be re-established as a department, and its chief be made a member
of the President's cabinet. The publications of the Bureau consist of
(1) _Annual Reports_, which set forth statistics and general information
concerning the educational systems of the States, Territories, larger
cities, universities, and colleges; professional, special, and
scientific schools, academies, preparatory schools and kindergartens,
with a summary of the progress of education in foreign countries; (2)
_Special Reports_, on subjects pertinent to the times; (3) _Occasional
Bulletins_, on matters of current educational interest; (4) _Circulars
of Information_, on important questions of educational work or history,
which are issued in yearly series. Under this last title there is now in
course of publication a very valuable series of monographs upon the
History of Higher Education in the various States. These monographs are
being prepared by competent scholars under the editorial supervision of
Dr. H.B. Adams of the Johns Hopkins University. Numerous Annual Reports
have been issued, and one is now in press, for the year 1889-90. The
working force of the Bureau is divided into three divisions: (1)
Records; (2) Statistics; (3) Library and Museum. The library of this
Office contains one of the most valuable pedagogical collections in the
country.

_The Commissioner of Railroads_ has charge of the government's interests
in certain railroads to which the United States has granted loans of
credit or subsidies in lands or bonds. By the acts of July 1, 1862, and
July 1, 1864, Congress, in order to encourage the building of a
trans-continental railroad, granted to several Pacific railroad
companies subsidies in land adjacent to the roads, and issued certain
amounts of bonds on which was guaranteed interest at the rate of six per
cent. The amount of lands given and bonds issued were in proportion to
the number of miles of road constructed. The lands were a gift. The
bonds were to be repaid by the companies with all interest which might