projectiles used by the modern high-power guns are grimly suggestive of the havoc that would be wrought in war.

The Library of the Department contains more than twenty thousand volumes, besides the many special collections scattered among the various bureaus. All the publications relating to modern methods of warfare are on the shelves, and no pains are spared to keep the collections up to date. The Department has charge of the publication of the Records of the Civil War, a work of great magnitude and value.

The rooms occupied as Headquarters of the Army are in the northern wing and form an elegant suite of apartments. They contain portraits of all the Commanders-in-Chief of the Army of the United States.

In the rooms of the Bureau of Military Justice are preserved several relics of Lincoln's assassination. Here is the pistol used by Booth and the fatal bullet that ended the life of the martyred President.

THE NAVY DEPARTMENT

Occupies the eastern front of the State, War, and Navy Building. The Secretary of the Navy has charge of all matters pertaining to the Navy, and, in addition, has the direction of the Naval Observatory and the work of the Hydrographic Office. The business of the Department is conducted by the various Bureaus, such as those of Yards and Docks, Navigation, Ordnance, Steam Engineering, etc.

The office of the Secretary is on the second floor opposite the grand staircase. It is a large apartment, handsomely decorated in the Grecian style and beautifully furnished. It contains fine portraits of some of the later Secretaries of the Navy. In the corridor opposite the entrance and on the floor above are beautiful models of some of the recent additions to the "New Navy." The model of the "Vesuvius" shows the peculiar arrangement of its dynamite guns. The monitor "Miantonomoh" and the "Monterey" illustrate the modern type of coast-defence vessels. The great change that has taken place during the last fifty years in the construction of naval vessels is strikingly shown by comparing these new types with the old line-of-battle ship "Pennsylvania," a model of which

can be seen in the Secretary's office. Though the "Pennsylvania carried one hundred and twenty guns, the weight of her entire broadside was not much greater than that from the four great guns of the "Miantonomoh," while between the destructive energies of the two vessels, no comparison can be instituted.

The Reception Room of the Library of the Department is on the fourth floor. It is the handsomest room in the building, being beautifully panelled in costly foreign and domestic marbles and adorned with bronze symbolic figures. Over the door is a piece of verd-antique, brought from the ruins of the Temple of Jupiter at Pompeii. The collection of works pertaining to naval matters is very complete, and numbers more than twenty thousand volumes, many of them works of great rarity and value.

The Hydrographic Office is under the direction of the Bureau of Navigation. It supplies the Navy and mariners generally with charts of all the navigable waters of the world except those of the United States. The Coast Survey, a bureau of the Treasury Department, has charge of the latter.

The Bureau of Navigation has also charge of the Naval Observatory and of the publication of the Nautical Almanac. The calculations for the Almanac are made by the best astronomers in the country, and the value of their labors is highly appreciated both at home and abroad. The Almanac is published three years in advance, and no vessel is allowed to leave port without a copy of this or a similar publication issued by some other of the great maritime nations.

THE TREASURY BUILDING

Is east of the White House. The southern portion lies across the line of Pennsylvania Avenue and intercepts the view from the White House to the Capitol. Tradition makes President Jackson responsible for the selection of the site, and the story-whether true or false is very characteristic of his quick, imperious temper. The building in use by the Department since 1814 had been destroyed by fire in 1833, and, as late as 1836, the new building had not been begun. Wearied at the long delay, the President one morning walked over from the White House, and, striking his cane on the ground, exclaimed, "Here, right here, I want the corner-stone laid.”

Possibly it was not his business to determine the matter, but few people would have cared to tell him so.

The Treasury is an immense building, four hundred and sixty feet long and two hundred and sixty-four feet wide. The style is an adaptation of the Ionic order of Grecian architecture. There is a rustic basement and three upper stories surmounted by a balustrade. The older or eastern portion is of sandstone and has a façade of thirty columns, thirty-one and one-half feet high. It was designed by Robert Mills and completed in 1841. The rest of the building is of granite, completed in 1869, after designs of Thomas U. Walter. On the three fronts are porticoes of lofty monolithic columns. The total cost was nearly $10,000,000.

The Secretary of the Treasury is in charge of the financial affairs of the Government, and is one of its most important officials. The vast business under his direction is subdivided among the various bureaus and requires the services of a whole army of clerks and minor officials. Much of the business is transacted at the subtreasuries and custom-houses throughout the country, but the most interesting matters are to be found in Washington. The chief objects of interest in the Treasury Building are open to the inspection of visitors.

The Cash Room is a very beautiful apartment. It is two stories in height with a balcony around the second story. The walls are panelled with fine specimens of various foreign and domestic marbles, highly polished. Vast sums of money are paid out here daily, as much as $10,000,000 having been paid on one order.

The rooms of the Secret Service Division, on the second floor, contain a curious collection of objects pertaining to the various frauds attempted on the Government. There is a "rogues' gallery," consisting of the photographs of counterfeiters. While the majority of these "crooks" have most repulsive faces, showing unmistakable traces of vicious natures, there are others whose appearances would deceive the most wary, and these are generally the ones who have been most successful and have given the officials the greatest trouble. There are many dies, moulds, and plates used by the counterfeiters, quite a collection of weapons taken from them, and specimens of their work imitating the money and securities of the Government. One of the most interesting objects is a counterfeit $20 note. So

well is it executed that it would defy any but the most careful scrutiny, but on close inspection it is seen to be done with pen and ink. The maker has never been detected, and it would seem that his object cannot be to get money, for he could make far more by spending his time and talents in some lawful pursuit.

The Bureau of Redemption is in the northwestern corner. Here the worn-out notes are brought from all over the country to be cancelled and redeemed. They are carefully counted and their face value returned to the owners. After they have been made up in packages about one-half inch in thickness they are placed under a machine which quickly punches four holes in them. They are then taken to a room in the basement containing the macerating machine. This is a huge steel vessel inside of which there is a grinding apparatus revolving in water. The opening through which the notes are introduced is secured by three locks, and the keys are in the custody of the Secretary, the Treasurer, and the Comptroller. Unless all three of these officials or their representatives are present the macerator cannot be opened. After the notes are reduced to a fine pulp, a valve, secured by three other locks, is opened in the presence of the same officials, and the mass allowed to escape into a tank underneath, from which it is pumped out into one of the court-yards and then sold, at the price of about $40 a ton, to the manufacturers of coarse paper. Small portions are made up into little souvenirs of various designs and sold to curious visitors. The average face value of the notes thus destroyed at one time is about $400,000, but sometimes rises as high as $2,000,000.

The final operation in making the notes of the Government is performed in the basement. As they come from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing they lack the red seal of the Department. When this has been put on they are taken to the vaults.

The vaults for the storage of the gold and silver coin are very interesting, not so much from their construction, which seems simple enough, but from their contents. The large vault shown to visitors contains what looks like a huge cage, formed of cross-bars of steel. A passage about two feet wide separates this from the walls. Through the bars one can see rough wooden boxes piled up to the ceiling. In one place is a table on which are piled one thousand silver dollars. The visitor follows the guide in his walk around