I deem it my duty to call to the attention of Congress the condition of the present building occupied by the Department of Justice.  The business of that Department has increased very greatly since it was established in its present quarters.  The building now occupied by it is neither large enough nor of suitable arrangement for the proper accommodation of the business of the Department.  The Supervising Architect has pronounced it unsafe and unsuited for the use to which it is put.  The Attorney-General in his report states that the library of the Department is upon the fourth floor, and that all the space allotted to it is so crowded with books as to dangerously overload the structure.  The first floor is occupied by the Court of Claims.  The building is of an old and dilapidated appearance, unsuited to the dignity which should attach to this important Department.

A proper regard for the safety, comfort, and convenience of the officers and employees would justify the expenditure of a liberal sum of money in the erection of a new building of commodious proportions and handsome appearance upon the very advantageous site already secured for that purpose, including the ground occupied by the present structure and adjoining vacant lot, comprising in all a frontage of 201 feet on Pennsylvania avenue and a depth of 136 feet.

In this connection I may likewise refer to the inadequate accommodations provided for the Supreme Court in the Capitol, and suggest the wisdom of making provision for the erection of a separate building for the court and its officers and library upon available ground near the Capitol.

The postal service of the country advances with extraordinary growth.  Within twenty years both the revenues and the expenditures of the Post-Office Department have multiplied threefold.  In the last ten years they have nearly doubled.  Our postal business grows much more rapidly than our population.  It now involves an expenditure of $100,000,000 a year, numbers 73,000 post-offices, and enrolls 200,000 employees.  This remarkable extension of a service which is an accurate index of the public conditions presents gratifying evidence of the advancement of education, of the increase of communication and business activity, and of the improvement of mail facilities leading to their constantly augmenting use.

The war with Spain laid new and exceptional labors on the Post-Office Department.  The mustering of the military and naval forces of the United States required special mail arrangements for every camp and every campaign.  The communication between home and camp was naturally eager and expectant.  In some of the larger places of rendezvous as many as 50,000 letters a day required handling.  This necessity was met by the prompt detail and dispatch of experienced men from the established force and by directing all the instrumentalities of the railway mail and post-office service, so far as necessary, to this new need.  Congress passed an act empowering the postmaster-General to establish offices or branches at every military camp or station, and under this authority the postal machinery was speedily put into effective operation.