before that time all work must cease.  To arrest progress for any length of time now, when matters are advancing so satisfactorily, would be deplorable.  There will be no money with which to meet pay roll obligations and none with which to meet bills coming due for materials and supplies; and there will be demoralization of the forces, here and on the Isthmus, now working so harmoniously and effectively, if there is delay in granting an emergency appropriation.  Estimates of the amount necessary will be found in the accompanying reports of the Secretary of War and the commission.

I recommend more adequate provision than has been made heretofore for the work of the Department of State.  Within a few years there has been a very great increase in the amount and importance of the work to be done by that department, both in Washington and abroad.  This has been caused by the great increase of our foreign trade, the increase of wealth among our people, which enables them to travel more generally than heretofore, the increase of American capital which is seeking investment in foreign countries, and the growth of our power and weight in the councils of the civilized world.  There has been no corresponding increase of facilities for doing the work afforded to the department having charge of our foreign relations.

Neither at home nor abroad is there a sufficient working force to do the business properly.  In many respects the system which was adequate to the work of twenty-five years or even ten years ago, is inadequate now, and should be changed.  Our Consular force should be classified, and appointments should be made to the several classes, with authority to the Executive to assign the members of each class to duty at such posts as the interests of the service require, instead of the appointments being made as at present to specified posts.  There should be an adequate inspection service, so that the department may be able to inform itself how the business of each Consulate is being done, instead of depending upon casual private information or rumor.  The fee system should be entirely abolished, and a due equivalent made in salary to the officers who now eke out their subsistence by means of fees.  Sufficient provision should be made for a clerical force in every Consulate composed entirely of Americans, instead of the insufficient provision now made, which compels the employment of great numbers of citizens of foreign countries whose services can be obtained for less money.  At a large part of our Consulates the office quarters and the clerical force are inadequate to the performance of the onerous duties imposed by the recent provisions of our immigration laws as well as by our increasing trade.  In many parts of the world the lack of suitable quarters for our embassies, legations, and Consulates detracts from the respect in which our officers ought to be held, and seriously impairs their weight and influence.