States are granted as a mark of courtesy, and request "all officers of the United States or of any State thereof, whom it may concern, to permit to pass freely, without let or molestation, and to extend friendly aid and protection in case of need" to the person or persons named.

The greater part of the Department business relative to passports has always been in the hands of some clerk especially adapted to perform the work, and is now in charge of the Passport Bureau, of which the Passport Clerk is the head. He receives the returns of foreign passports, the applications and fees, conducts whatever correspondence is necessary, and issues the passports, subject to the instructions of his superior officers. At the close of each day he transfers whatever moneys may have come into his hands to the disbursing officer of the Department and receives a receipt therefor. Each passport is numbered, and a record kept of its number and of the name of the person to whom it is issued. The applications and the corre

spondence are filed chronologically. The moneys received are transferred by the disbursing officer of the Department to the Treasury Department, and credited to the fund "Miscellaneous Accounts."

The Passport Bureau also has the custody of the Department seal, and affixes it to such documents as require it, principal among which are commissions to consular officers who are not appointed by the President, and authentication of public acts.

Before reaching any other bureau, all mail coming to the Department is received and opened in the Bureau of Indexes and Archives. The routine of that Bureau is as follows:*

The mail of the Department is received in the Bureau each morning from the mail clerk and distributed among the different index clerks. The diplomatic index clerk takes all correspondence received from United States diplomatic officers abroad, from foreign ministers accredited to this country and from foreign sovereigns and secretaries of state; the consular index clerk, all correspondence from *Methods of Business in the Executive Departments, III, 12 et seq.

American consular officers abroad and from foreign consular officers in the United States; the miscellaneous index clerk, all other communications, including those from Congress, the Executive Departments, and from private individuals and corporations. The communications are then opened by the proper index clerk, carefully read and full abstracts, under appropriate "catch words" made in large books labeled, respectively "diplomatic," "consular," and "miscellaneous register"-To the Department. These registers are arranged under convenient heads, and from them the writer, the subject, or the date being known, any communication can be found and its contents fully noted.

The incoming mail being thus daily indexed as soon as received, is sent to the Chief Clerk * * *. The letters written by the Department are, in turn, after being signed by the Secretaries, sent to the Index Bureau, where they are carefully read by the chief and the index clerks, and full abstracts entered in a set of books corresponding to the incoming registers, which are labeled "From the Department."

After being indexed the outgoing mail is sent to the Bureau from which it emanates, where it is press-copied and sent to its destination.

Press-copies are then sent to the Index Bureau, where they are distributed among the diplomatic, consular, and miscellaneous recording clerks, who copy them into blank

books, which become the permanent records of the Department. The press-copies are for a certain number of years kept for convenient reference and are then carefully stored away, it being the practice of the Department to destroy none of its records of whatever nature.

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To return to the incoming mail, which we have seen has now been indexed and answered. This is again returned to the Index Bureau, where it is filed in pigeon-holes conveniently arranged for ready reference. The pigeon-holes

As soon as the pigeon-holes contain a sufficient number of communications, the communications are arranged chronologically in their proper divisions and bound in book form. There are numerous series of volumes; one for each American Legation abroad, one for each foreign legation in this country, one for each consulate, &c. The miscellaneous letters make a series of volumes by themselves.

All of the routine work of the Department is immediately under the supervision of the Chief Clerk. His duties were defined in the report of the Senate Committee as follows:*

Methods of Business in the Executive Departments, III, 4 et seq.

The Chief Clerk of the Department of State is its executive officer under the direction of the Secretary of State. He has the general supervision of the clerks and employés and of the business of the Department. ***

After the daily mail is received at the Department, opened, and indexed in the index room, * * * it is placed upon the Chief Clerk's desk, read by the Chief Clerk, and distributed among the Assistant Secretaries for their action. During the day the Chief Clerk receives and transacts the business of all persons having interests connected with the Department of State, other than those whose business is of such a character as to require the personal hearing of the Secretary of State or the Assistant Secretaries. * * * After the several Assistant Secretaries have given (usually by written memorandum) their directions as to what action is to be taken by the Department upon the various written communications addressed to it, the mail is returned to the Chief Clerk's desk, and again by him distributed to the Bureaus charged with the execution of the Assistant Secretaries' instructions.

In the afternoon the mail prepared for the signature of the Secretary or the Assistant Secretaries, and embodying the latter's instructions, is delivered to the Chief Clerk, by him read carefully, and sent to the Secretary, or distributed among the Assistant Secretaries, for whose signature it is prepared. The Chief Clerk is, besides, constantly ready