by this Department, immediate steps were taken for the erection of the building. Proposals were duly invited by public advertisement, and on the 26th of April last a contract for the erection of one wing of the building, in accordance with the plans adopted, was awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. Upon a careful comparison of the proposals it was found that but one wing of the penitentiary could be built within the amount appropriated. By the terms ot the contract the building is required to be completed by the 24th of November next, and the latest advices from the superintendent of construction indicate that such requirement will be fulfilled by the contractor. When the building is finished it will be delivered into the charge of the United States marshal for the Territory, pursuant to the provisions of section one of an act of Congress approved January 10, 1871. By a subsequent act approved January 24, 1873, Congress repealed so much of the former act as related to "placing the penitentiaries in the Territories of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado under the care and control of the re spective United States marshals for said Territories," and transferred the care and custody of said penitentiaries to said Territories respectively. Inasmuch as the erection of the penitentiary for Washington Territory was not provided for until after the passage of the latter act, and as no reference to said penitentiary is made therein, its provisions are not applicable to that penitentiary, and the building will necessarily remain in the custody of the United States marshal until Congress shall otherwise direct, as in the cases above mentioned.
PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.
Frequent application is made to this Department, by officers of the Government authorized to receive them, for volumes of the United States Statutes and Wallace's Reports of the Supreme Court, to complete deficient sets in libraries and to furnish offices newly created. As the supply of the earlier volumes of the United States Statutes and of Wallace's Reports is entirely exhausted, the Department is and has been for some time past unable to furnish them. I would suggest that a sufficient amount be appropriated to furnish these documents, in order that requisitions for them in future may be filled.
In this connection, I beg to call your attention to the fact that tho _existing laws regulating the distribution of the standard public documents, such as the United States Statutes at Large, Wallace's Reports of the Supreme Court, the Official Register, and the Pamphlet Laws, are somewhat vague and indefinite in specifying the officers of the Government who are entitled to them. The experience of late years has also demonstrated that the number of copies of the before mentioned documents allotted to heads of Departments and Bureaus is altogether insufficient to meet the demands of the public business, and some increase should be made in these instances; especially should the number of
