an increase of $18,997,163.76 over the sum which the reorganization
committee originally agreed to bid for the joint property, the
Government receiving its whole claim, principal and interest, on the
Union Pacific, and the principal of its debt on the Kansas Pacific
Railroad.

Steps had been taken to foreclose the Government's lien upon the Central
Pacific Railroad Company, but before action was commenced Congress
passed an act, approved July 7, 1898, creating a commission consisting
of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney-General, and the
Secretary of the Interior, and their successors in office, with full
power to settle the indebtedness to the Government growing out of the
issue of bonds in aid of the construction of the Central Pacific and
Western Pacific bond-aided railroads, subject to the approval of the
President.

No report has yet been made to me by the commission thus created.
Whatever action is had looking to a settlement of the indebtedness in
accordance with the act referred to will be duly submitted to the
Congress.

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