Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/30

viii Commissioner of Navigation. — Eugene Tyler Chamberlain. Has general superintendence of the commercial marine and merchant seamen of the United States, except so far as supervision is lodged with other officers of the Government. He is specially charged with the decision of all questions relating to the issue of registers, enrolments, and licenses of vessels, with the supervision of laws relating to the admeasurement, letters, and numbers of vessels, and with the final decision of questions concerning the collection and refund of tonnage taxes. He is empowered to change the names of vessels, and prepares annually a list of vessels of the United States.

Office of Steamboat Inspection. — James A. Dumont, Supervising Inspector-General. Superintends the administration of the steamboat inspection laws.

Light-House Board. — Secretary of Treasury, President; Commodore Francis J. Higginson, U.S.N., Chairman. Has charge of all administrative duties relating to the construction and maintenance of light-houses, light-vessels, beacons, fog signals, buoys, and their appendages.

Life-Saving Service. — S. I. Kimball, General Superintendent. Supervises the organization and government of the employees of the service and the expenditure of all appropriations for its support and maintenance, and makes all rules and regulations necessary for its purposes.

Marine Hospital Service. — Walter Wyman, Supervising Surgeon-General. Charged with supervision of the marine hospitals and other relief stations of the service and the care of sick and disabled seamen, and under his direction all applicants for pilots' licenses are examined for the detection of color blindness. He also passes upon the medical certificates of claimants for pensions under the laws of the life-saving service, and frames regulations for the prevention of contagious diseases. He is also charged with the conduct of the quarantine service, and has the direction of laboratories for the investigation of the causes of contagious diseases. Connected with this office is the Hygienic Laboratory.

Coast and Geodetic Survey. — Henry S. Pritchett, Superintendent. Charged with the survey of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts of the United States, including the coasts of Alaska; the survey of rivers; deep-sea soundings; magnetic observations and gravity research, and all matters which naturally come under an office of survey.

Bureau of Immigration. — T. V. Powderly, Commissioner-General. Prepares and revises all regulations pertaining to immigration; supervises the expenditures for the same and the enforcement of the alien contract laws; collects and compiles all statistics relating to immigration, a duty which was formerly performed by the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department.

Bureau of Statistics. — Oscar P. Austin, Chief. Collects and publishes the statistics of foreign commerce, with tables showing imports and exports, and all data relating to foreign trade; also publishes an Annual Report on Commerce and Navigation, an Annual Statistical Abstract, and Monthly Reports on Commerce and Finance.

Bureau of Engraving and Printing. — Claude M. Johnson, Director. Designs, engraves, prints, and finishes all the securities and other similar work of the Government, so far as they are printed from steel plates, including notes, bonds, certificates, national-bank notes, internal revenue, postage, and customs stamps. Treasury drafts and checks, licenses, commissions, patent and pension certificates, and such portraits as may be