report.  The appropriations available for the present fiscal year are $14,502,250.67, which will, in the opinion of the Secretary, answer all the ordinary demands of the service.  The amount drawn from the Treasury from July 1 to November 1, 1879 was $5,770,404.12, of which $1,095,440.33 has been refunded, leaving as the expenditure for that period $4,674,963.79.  If the expenditures of the remaining two-thirds of the year do not exceed the proportion for these four months, there will remain unexpended at the end of the year $477,359.30 of the current appropriations.  The report of the Secretary shows the gratifying fact that among all the disbursing officers of the Pay Corps of the Navy there is not one who is a defaulter to the extent of a single dollar.  I unite with him in recommending the removal of the observatory to a more healthful location.  That institution reflects credit upon the nation, and has obtained the approbation of scientific men in all parts of the world.  Its removal from its present location would not only be conducive to the health of its officers and professors, but would greatly increase its usefulness.

The appropriation for judicial expenses, which has heretofore been made for the Department of Justice in gross, was subdivided at the last session of Congress, and no appropriation whatever was made for the payment of the fees of marshals and their deputies, either in the service of process or for the discharge of other duties; and since June 30 these officers have continued the performance of their duties without compensation from the Government, taking upon themselves the necessary incidental outlays, as well as rendering their own services.  In only a few unavoidable instances has the proper execution of the process of the United States failed by reason of the absence of the requisite appropriation.  This course of official conduct on the part of these officers, highly creditable to their fidelity, was advised by the Attorney-General, who informed them, however, that they would necessarily have to rely for their compensation upon the prospect of future legislation by Congress.  I therefore especially recommend that immediate appropriation be made by Congress for this purpose.

The act making the principal appropriation for the Department of Justice at previous sessions has uniformly contained the following clause:  And for defraying the expenses which my be incurred in the enforcement of the act approved February 28, 1871, entitled “An act to amend an act approved May 31, 1870, entitled ’An act to enforce the rights of citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of this Union, and for other purposes,’” or any acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto.  No appropriation was made for this purpose for the current year.  As no general election for Members of Congress occurred, the omission was a matter of little practical importance.  Such election will, however, take place during the ensuing year, and the appropriation made for the pay of marshals and deputies should be sufficient to embrace compensation for the services they may be required to perform at such elections.