CLASS 41-Products of the forest-Dr. John Torrey, Mr. William H. Webb. H. Brownne, Mr. D. G. Elliot, New York; Mr. J. C. Brevoort, CLASS 43.-Vegetable textile fibrics-Mr. John Priestley, Hon. A. H. Rice. CLASS 44.-Chemical products, &c.-Dr. John Torrey, Dr. R. Ogden Doremus. New York; Professor John W. Fraser, Philadelphia; Frank H. Storer, Boston; E. N. Horsford, Professor Wolcott Gibbs, Cambridge; Mr. Ed. N. Kent, Dr. E. L. Youmans, Dr. Ed. R. Squibb, Professor Charles A. Joy, Professor Charles F. Chandler. CLASS 46.-Leather and skins-Mr. Loring Andrews, Mr. Jackson S. Shultz, Mr. Oliver Hoyt, New York. The preliminary work of preparation for making the selections of mineral specimens has been already commenced, under the advice and at the request of President Barnard, of Columbia College, one of the professional commissioners of the United States; but in order to secure its due completion, it will be indispensably necessary for the government to provide at once for the actual expense of the hired assistants, and of labelling, packing and boxing the specimens, the whole of which may be covered by two thousand dollars. The large amount of minerals and cereals added to the exposition will also increase the necessary expense of shipment to Paris, requiring an addition to the existing appropriation, of eight thousand dollars. Mr. F. W. EVANS, Chairman of GROUP 6, embracing machinery, &c., reports: The committee on Group 6 was organized in July last, as soon as the action of Congress rendered it certain that the articles accepted could be sent. They had to select from about 500 applications, and their aim has been to fill up the space allotted to them with representative articles for each class, paying no regard to priority of application, and taking care that every branch of manufac ture and of industry comprised in this group should be represented. In order to do this, the space being limited, the committee had first to decide on the relative amount of ground to be allotted to each class, and then to fill up such space with the representative articles corresponding. This part of the work required careful study, much correspondence, and some travel, in order to see and understand, so as to decide knowingly on the merits of the articles for which space was demanded. Some of the best articles not being forthcoming, the committee deemed it advisable to solicit their representation, especially when such exhibition would necessarily entail great expense upon the owners. And it is to be regretted that it was not in the power of the agency to furnish material aid for some of the manufacturers of expensive and complicated machinery, whose exhibition would confer lasting honor upon the mechanical skill of the country without any immediate pecuniary benefit to the owners. As examples of this class of machinery we might instance the Hoe printing press, the steam fire-engine, &c. We have in this group apparatus for mining and metallurgy; fertilizers and the methods of distributing the same; plans, designs and models; agricultural implements; hunting apparatus; methods of alimentary industry; grain elevators; chemical and pharmaceutical products; petroleum and gas apparatus; motors and steam generators; machines and mechanical apparatus in general; pumps; steam, air, and hydraulic engines; standard scales, weights and measures; machine tools; complete sets of iron-working machinery, from the caps and dies for a one-eighth bolt up to the machine capable of planing a piece of metal eight feet broad, eight feet high, and sixteen feet long; wool-spinning; flax and hempdressing machinery; cotton gins and apparatus, and methods of rope-making; apparatus and methods of weaving; machines for weaving any irregular forms; weaving cassimeres; knitting, carding, spinning machines; burring pickers, &c.; machines and methods of sewing leather; cloth or cambric embroidering, and making button-holes; boots, shoes, harness, &c.; apparatus and methods for making furniture and household objects; complete sets of wood-working machinery apparatus and methods of paper-making, coloring and stamping; type setting and distributing machine, and a printing press which prints both sides at once from a roll of paper 800 yards long; machines for cutting, paring and stamping paper, for stereotyping; machines for cutting files; nail-making and screw-making machines; carriage and cart work, phatons, buggies, sleighs, carriages army wagons, ambulances, &c; ploughs, reapers, agricultural machines, harness work, and saddlery; materials for railroad cars, horse railroad cars, sleeping cars; American locomotives, car wheels, locomotive lamps, brakes, &c.; apparatus and methods of telegraphy; plans of villas, churches, tunnels, &c.; brick machines; builders' hardware; railroad and canal locks; models of steamers, sailing vessels, iron-clads, life-saving apparatus, ship-making machinery, disengaging tackles for ship boats; apparatus for marine salvage, &c. Most of the articles enumerated above are of a very heavy and bulky nature, requiring much time for their fabrication. The final action of Congress took place in July last, and the successful applicants were notified as soon thereafter as possible. The time was too short, however, for some of the most important machines to be built before the sailing of the vessels freighted for the Exposition, and it will therefore be necessary to send them by steamer. Congress authorized the construction of a supplementary building, but made no provisions for the extra freight on articles to fill it, neither for the furnishing of motive power for the machinery in the "annex"-that of the main building being furnished by the Imperial Commission. It is the opinion of the committee that for a full, complete, and national exposition of the instruments and processes of common arts, the further sum of $50,000 should be furnished by the government. Then we could compete successfully with the other manufacturing nations of the globe. The following gentlemen have acted on this committee: Mr. John Stephenson, Mr. J. Vaughn Merrick, Mr. W. E. Worthen, Mr. J. A. Fay, Mr. Charles H. Haswell, Mr. Henry T. Brown, Mr. William Wright, Mr. T. D. Stetson, Mr. William E. Everett, Mr. B. P. Johnson, Albany, N. Y., Mr. William Allen, Auburn, N. Y., Mr. H. D. J. Pratt, Mr. Norman Wiard, Mr. Thomas McElrath, Mr. FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED, Chairman of GROUP 7, embracing cereals, vegetables, sugars, and fermented drinks, reports: That some of the commissioners of the western States have been very active in collecting material for this group. The various kinds of grain grown in the west, the amount produced per acre, the variety of soil, the extent of unde veloped land, the cost of tillage, and in fact every species of information likely to be of interest to emigrants, will be found at the Exposition disposed in a manner in the highest degree creditable to the country. By a singular coincidence which it may not be inappropriate to notice, three members of your committee were the original founders of the Vine-Growers' Association in 1858, which was so instrumental in introducing the culture of the grape in the west. Since the organization of this association great progress has been made in the culture of the grape, and we shall forward samples of wine from California, Missouri, Ohio, New York, and in fact from nearly every section of the country. Through the active instrumentality of Mr. Commissioner Bowen, specimens of the houses, such as are sold by hundreds to emigrants, will be set up in the park at Paris. Specimens of the soil and its products and of the dwellings in common use will thus be made known to the world. Mr. Horace Greeley, New York; The following gentlemen have been consulted in the formation of Group 7: Gov. Patton, Montgomery, Alabama; Mr. W. S. CARPENTER, Chairman of GROUP 8, embracing animals and specimens of agricultural establishments, reports: That, under the prohibition by the minister of the interior in France, in view of the danger from the prevalent cattle plague, it was found impracticable to send live animals to the Exposition. The few articles applied for were transferred to Group 6. Mr. John Stanton Gould, president of the Agricultural Society of the State of New York, and Mr. B. P. Johnson, our former commissioner to Paris, and at present the secretary of the Agricultural Society, have rendered important aid and advice in the selection of the articles which have been transferred to Group 6. Mr. Gould, in addition, has contributed, as one of the committee of experts, valuable and reliable statements and estimates of the extent and value of the agricultural machines used in this country and of the immense saving they effect in human labor, which he estimates as equivalent to the labor of 2,000,000 men. Mr. THOMAS MCELRATH, Chairman of GROUP 9, embracing horticulture, reports: That the applications in this particular group were not numerous, only two or three being regarded as meritorious, but not of themselves sufficient to justify a separate installation, and hence were accepted and transferred to Group 6. As this group embraces horticulture and floriculture, it is possible that application may be made and space granted during the progress of the Exposition, and therefore it is considered advisable to continue the group organization. The services of Mr. McElrath have been chiefly given to the selection of articles under the 6th group, and have been continuous throughout the year. Mr. CHARLES L. BRACE, Chairman of GROUP 10, embracing objects exhibited with a special view to the amelioration of the moral and physical condition of the population, stated: That efforts had been made to collect plans and models of school-houses, school-furniture, school-books, and apparatus. There was not much response, and it was thought advisable to remove some articles to Group 2. The question of transportation and expense has been detrimental to the execution of plans entertained by some of our citizens of arranging a complete representation of the common-school system of our country. It was proposed to set up a school-house in the park and have it thoroughly furni-hed, and it is even yet not too late for it, if timely appropriations are made for this object. On the earnest invitation of the Imperial Commission, transmitted through Mr. Beckwith to this government by Colonel Rowland, an offer has been made of a company of Indians from the Sioux, Dakota, and Chippewa tribes to take their places among the numerous races to be represented at Paris. They will be sent under the charge of interpreters and experienced agents, and all expenses are guaranteed by our enlightened and liberal citizens, and the government is simply called upon to give its official sanction and protection. From the preceding abstracts of the reports of the chairmen of the ten (10) groups some idea may be formed of the amount of work that has been accomplished by your committees in the limited time at their disposal. There have been about 1,200 applications for permission to exhibit products. Some of them were made in the name of States and cover a large number of individuals. The number of persons directly interested in the Exposition amounts to several thousands. The money value of the articles to be exhibited cannot be stated with accuracy. It would be difficult to form a just estimate; but as only choice articles have been acccepted, it can safely be put down at many hundred thousand dollars. Many products, the exhibition of which would have proved highly advantageous to the country, were practically excluded for the reason that there was no provision for return freight. To send them to Paris was, in some instances, equivalent to giving them away. There has been much enlightened patriotism displayed on the part of exhibitors. Many of them have expended large sums of money for the purpose of showing to the world what we can produce, and western railroad companies have liberally offered to carry freight for the Exposition free of charge. Your committee having been familiar with all the details of the work from the beginning, knowing what has been accomplished and how much may yet be done, are in the condition to state what further sums are required to maintain the credit of our country in participating in this world-wide enterprise. To sum up these necessities, there is urgent need of an immediate additional appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars to save the property of exhibitors and to complete the work begun. The enlightened citizens who have loaned their valuable works of art must be secured from pecuniary loss on freight and insurance; the expense of collecting, assorting, selecting, and labelling ores and minerals, and of publishing concise statistical statements of the extent and value of our mineral lands, ought to be defrayed by the government, with additional appropriation for return freight of suites of specimens, which institutions and individuals are willing to loan for the Exposition. In the department of machinery the sum at the disposal of the agency is altogether inadequate; there is an absolute necessity for motive power in the sup plementary building in the park, or a very large class of exhibitors will be deprived of the opportunity of showing their machines in motion, and a considerable addition to the transportation fund is required to enable the agent to forward some of the most important machines yet offered. The fund is also inadequate for inland transportation in France and return of the packages to the seaport; also for the care of them in Paris and the neces sary services of agents and interpreters. There is not sufficient money to defray the necessary expenses of the agent in New York, and it is safe to say that, but for the gratuitous aid received from persons not officially connected with the Exposition, and the meagre salaries accepted by yourself and others, the work would have been seriously interrupted. In the original plan of organization, prepared by the secretary of this committee, provision was made for the appointment of ten commissioners to report the scientific results of the Exposition, and it was proposed to give each commissioner authority to employ the necessary assistants. They should also be authorized, as a body, to appoint a secretary to keep and preserve proper records of their proceedings and their correspondence, and to provide rooms at Paris for meetings and business, with the necessary incidental expenses. Adequate provision should also be made for the expense of collecting and exhibiting the weights and measures, and especially the coins of the United States, reaching back to our colonial era, to properly prepare for the international discussion invited by the French commission of the very important question of a common unit of money for the use of the civilized world.. The successful establishment of a coinage of uniform weight and fineness, and common to all the nations of the world, would annually save hundreds of thousands of dollars to the citizens of the United States. For the necessary objects above specified, your Advisory Committee are of opinion that an expenditure of fifty thousand dollars by the professional commissioners will be necessary, and should be appropriated by Congress. It should be considered, moreover, that the task which has been assigned to these ten commissioners, of preparing a report or series of reports upon the Exposition, and upon the several departments of industry which will be represented in it, is one which, for its proper execution, will require a species of assistance for which no provision has been made in the resolutions under which they have been appointed. In order that such reports may subserve the purpose intended of promoting the advancement of the arts of industry in the country, and thus contributing to the national wealth, they should exhibit not only the present condition of each department, but also some sketch of its history, and some account of the progressive steps by which it has reached its present state of perfection. They will consequently require a large amount of special study and of correspondence or personal communication with the scientific and practical men of other countries. For the intelligible presentation of the results they will require to be illus trated by numerous drawings and diagrams, exhibiting the constructions, appa ratus, and machinery employed in the various processes which they describe. The purely mechanical labor of digesting the literary material thus collected. and of preparing the illustrations necessary, would be more than sufficient to occupy all the time of the commissioners, were not their proper task a higher one than that of mere historians. If their labors are to be practically useful, they must be free to study, discuss, and criticise the objects and processes upon which they report, to bring into clear relief whatever is most meritorious in each, and to point out the particulars in which improvement is still to be desired, and the directions in which it may be sought. They should, therefore, be authorized and enabled to employ such artistic and professional assistance as |