promotes the general interests of agricultural education throughout the United States, including especially the introduction of instruction in agriculture into secondary and elementary schools.

2. In carrying on the various lines of work outlined above, the office has prepared and accumulated reports, maps, charts, photographs, card indexes, and other valuable information concerning the institutions for agricultural education and research in this country and abroad, all of which has been available to those wishing to study along these lines. At different times between 1899 and 1903 this office, as well as other divisions and bureaus of the Department of Agriculture, employed graduates of agricultural colleges as "scientific aids" at nominal salaries, with the understanding that the young men thus employed would be permitted to devote a part of their time to graduate study. The position of "scientific aid" has been discontinued. In connection with the nutrition investigations at Middletown, Conn., students have been given opportunities for laboratory practice with the respiration calorimeter and for making dietary studies in public institutions.

3. The Office of Experiment Stations has a large number of textbooks and manuals written by teachers and investigators in agricultural colleges and experiment stations, and it also has access to the splendid library of the department. It employs a librarian and an assistant, who gladly assist the office staff and visiting workers along agricultural lines to assemble the literature of any subject. The office has also accumulated a vast amount of statistical information, historical notes, card-index references, and other published and unpublished material concerning irrigation, drainage, nutrition, and agricultural institutions in this country and abroad, which is not easily accessible elsewhere. Visiting students will be given every possible opportunity to use this material, and will be assisted and directed in their researches so far as the facilities of the office will permit.

All members of the scientific force of the office are given opportunities and are encouraged to pursue lines of study which will afford them training and contribute to the fund of knowledge concerning agricultural education and research. Special opportunities for study are afforded to members of the engineering force during several months in the year when they are in the Washington office. This takes the form of special advice regarding drainage literature in books and current periodicals, and frequent meetings of the engineering force at which topics under investigation, in connection with projects upon which the office is working, are discussed and explained in detail.

There is no regular provision for the appointment of student assistants. One graduate student, a candidate for the degree of doctor of philosophy at Columbia University, was appointed collaborator in 1908 in order that he might have better opportunities to study the problems of secondary agricultural education and in order that this office might come into possession of information collected by him which would be of interest and value to the general public.

4. Twelve members of the engineering force, one graduate student (collaborator), and several others who were here for a few days.

5. No material change in facilities is contemplated for 1909, except that the recent transfer of the respiration calorimeter and accessory apparatus from Middletown, Conn., to this city will afford an opportunity here to study questions concerned with the nutritive value of different foods, their use in the body, and related topics, while the large amount of bibliographical and experimental data now on hand is of value to students of dietetics with reference to individual, family, and institution food problems.

6. Officers, teachers, and investigators from State agricultural colleges and experiment stations and other educational institutions will be welcomed at any time and given every available facility for study and research. Occasionally a graduate student can be assisted, as in the case of the collaborator mentioned under paragraph 3, but no salaried positions are regularly open to such students.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OFFICE OF PUBLIC ROADS.

(Officer reporting, A. S. Cushman, acting director.)

1. March 3, 1893. The clause in the agricultural appropriation bill of the above date empowered the Secretary of Agriculture to make inquiries in regard to systems of road management throughout the United States, make investigations in regard to the best methods of road making, etc. The work of the office has been gradually enlarged, and the division of tests, established in 1900 for the purpose of testing the physical and chemical properies of road materials, was consolidated with it July 1, 1905, to form the Office of Public Roads. An educational campaign for better roads was carried on by the National League for Good Roads previous to the establishment

of this office. (See Bulletin 14, Office of Experiment Stations, and National League for Good Roads Proceedings, October 20 and 21, 1892.)

2. Owing to the demand for skilled highway engineers and the insufficient number available, the office determined in 1905 to provide instruction of a practical character in this branch of engineering. Since that year a limited number of graduate civil engineers have been appointed annually to the position of civil engineer student after having passed competitive examinations. These men are employed for a period of one year at $50 per month and expenses while on field duty, during which time they receive practical training and instruction not only in laboratory work and methods of road administration, but also in actual road building in various parts of the country. At the end of this period they are eligible for promotion without further examination. 3. The office has well-equipped physical laboratories, which test the physical properties of road materials submitted. Chemical and petrographic analyses are also made in many cases.

The library of the office contains standard works on highway construction and civil engineering, files of State highway commission reports and bulletins, State geological survey reports, and works on chemistry, physics, and geology for use in the laboratories. About 50 domestic and foreign technical and trade journals are regularly received. The chemical laboratory is equipped for the analysis of road-making rocks, slags, and cements, and for the examination of oils, tars, and asphalts. The physical laboratory is equipped for mechanical and physical tests of road materials to determine hardness, toughness, cementation value, tensile strength, and resistance to compression.

The civil engineer students are under the immediate direction of the chief engineer when engaged in field work, and under the assistant director when engaged in laboratory work. During the months of January and February, 1908, when there was little field work in progrsss, courses of lectures were given by members of the office staff. Each student's time was divided into lecture hours and laboratory work. The students were then sent into the field for actual work on roads.

All branches of the work of the office are closely correlated, and members of the staff are given opportunities for study, described under sections a, b, and c.

In special instances, where instruction in the road-material laboratory and special courses in highway engineering are desired, there is opportunity for the appointment of a few students for laboratory and field instruction during the summer months.

It is the policy of this office to cooperate closely with colleges with a view to introducing, wherever practicable, a course in highway engineering, and, where this has already been done, assist in developing and improving such course. To this end lectures are given by members of the office staff in colleges and suggestions furnished in regard to the curricula necessary.

4. The following civil engineer students were appointed during the fiscal year 1908: Andrew P. Anderson, Bozeman, Mont., graduate Montana Agricultural College; Lucius D. Barrows, Orono, Me., graduate University of Maine; Randolph Maritn, Indiana, graduate Purdue University; Charles R. Thomas, jr., Newbern, N. C., undergraduate University of North Carolina; and Raymond E. Toms, Frederick, Md., graduate Cornell University.

The following studied the work of the testing laboratory: Prof. W. R. Hoag, of the University of Minnesota; Capt. Harry A. Eaton, United States Army, of the University of West Virginia.

Prof. H. L. Bowlby, of the University of Washington, was employed for field engineering during the summer of 1907.

5. Facilities for the fiscal year 1909 will be of the same character as those offered for the fiscal year 1908.

6. The civil engineer students are recruited from the results of annual civil-service examinations. Applications will be received only from graduates in civil engineering and from graduating students. They must be 20 years of age or over on the date of the examination. The examination consists of the subjects mentioned below, weighted as indicated:

1. Pure mathematics..

2. Theoretical and applied mechanics.

3. Construction and use of instruments (including field work).

4. Materials of construction..

5. Elements of construction.

Total....

Weights.

22222

100

No provision has been made for instruction other than that described above, and the number of civil-engineer students is limited by the amount of the annual appro

priation available for this purpose. No student assistants are appointed under the present arrangements.

Graduate students in engineering from recognized colleges and universities are admitted to pursue special lines of investigation when the director is satisfied that they will do efficient work.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE: LIBRARY.

The library of the Department of Agriculture has notable collections of books, periodicals, and society publications on agriculture and related sciences. These collections are open to the public for reference use from 9 a. m. to 4.30 p. m. on secular days.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR: BUREAU OF CORPORATIONS.

(Officer reporting: Herbert Knox Smith, commissioner.)

The information collected by the Bureau of Corporations is so largely of a confidential character, until published by order of the President, that it is impracticable to afford facilities to students for study or research. The library of the bureau is very small, consisting mainly of law books, statutes, and official documents, with a few trade papers, nearly all of which are more readily accessible to students elsewhere, and the bureau has no available office room for the accommodation of students desiring to use its library. The published reports of the bureau, however, contain much exact information of ultimate value to students of industrial conditions. The reports thus far published, aside from the annual reports of the commissioner, are on the following subjects:

1. The Beef Industry. March 3, 1905.

2. Transportation of Petroleum.

May 2, 1906.

3. The Petroleum Industry: Part I. Position of the Standard Oil Co. in the Petroleum Industry. May 20, 1907. Part II. Prices and Profits. August 5, 1907.

4. Cotton Exchanges: Part I. Methods of Establishing Grade Differences for Future Contracts. May 4, 1908.

The bureau has also furnished the Inland Waterways Commission a large amount of matter to be published in the appendices to the commission's report.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR: BUREAU OF MANUFACTURES.

(Officer reporting: John M. Carson, chief.)

1. February 14, 1903. This bureau, however, was not organized until February 1, 1905.

2. Numerous reports on special subjects, mainly commercial and industrial, relating to conditions in foreign countries, have been published. Many of these are out of print. Prior to 1903 these reports, also "Commercial Relations of the United States" (annual), Daily Consular Reports, and Monthly Consular Reports were published by the Department of State.

3. The library is confiend to bureau publications and other public documents concerning commerce and industry, and laws and regulations of foreign countries relating to customs tariffs and cognate subjects.

Persons appointed to the Consular Service, before proceeding to their consulates, and consular officers returning home on leave of absence, might be assigned temporarily to this bureau for duty and practical instruction in the commercial needs of the country, as presented in the correspondence of representative manufacturers and merchants engaged in foreign trade, and in the preparation of consular reports. In case of those newly appointed the service with this bureau should be for a period of two weeks.

5. Facilities offered for the year 1909 will be the same as those at present.

6. Students calling at the Bureau of Manufacturers will be permitted to consult the books and documents relating to customs tariffs of foreign countries and to commercial conditions throughout the world. They could also see the methods of operation in the bureau by which reports from the United States consular officers in foreign countries are compiled and edited, and the methods of filing information relating to commercial and trade opportunities in foreign countries, all of which information is published and distributed gratis to people who are interested.

Owing to the lack of commodious quarters, the space accommodations of the bureau are extremely limited, so that it would be impossible to accommodate more than one student at a time if he desired to spend the greater part of the day in the bureau.

7. Numerous samples of goods (mostly textiles) manufactured in foreign countries have been collected by consular officers and special agents; also photographs showing machinery, methods, etc. These are sent to interested parties making application and to textile schools. No facilities are offered for establishing a depository or museum for exhibition and permanent preservation of this material.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR: BUREAU OF LABOR.

1. February 14, 1903.

(Officer reporting: Charles P. Neill, commissioner.)

(1) Organized as a Bureau of Labor in the Department of the Interior by act of June 27, 1884.

(2) Made a "Department of Labor" by act of June 13, 1888, independent of other departments, but with no change in the title of the chief officer or in the functions of the office.

(3) Made a "Bureau of Labor" in the Department of Commerce and Labor by act of February 14, 1903, without change of title of the chief officer or the functions of the office. For an account of the origin and work of the bureau see "The Working of the United States Bureau of Labor," by Hon. Carroll D. Wright, in Bulletin 54 of the Bureau of Labor.

3. The facilities of its library are the only resources which this bureau is able to place at the disposal of students. Desk room for four persons and the services of a librarian are provided. The bureau's staff of experts can be consulted in regard to sources of information concerning labor problems, labor conditions, etc., as well as the various phases of the work of the office.

The library of the Bureau of Labor contains approximately 18,000 books and pamphlets, and receives about 200 periodicals. This material may be classed as (a) official publications, and (b) other publications.

(a) Official publications. These consist of reports and other documents published in the United States and in foreign countries, and include:

(1) Files of all publications of all labor offices;

(2) Reports of official bodies in charge of inspection of factories and of mines and the enforcement of laws on these subjects;

(3) Reports of official bodies in charge of the insurance of workingmen against sickness, accident, invalidity, old age, death, and unemployment;

(4) Reports of officials and of boards relating to conciliation and arbitration of labor controversies;

(5) Censuses of occupations and of industries;

(6) Reports in regard to the moral, social, industrial, and economic condition of the working people, including wages, hours of labor, conditions of employment and living, etc.;

(7) Statutes of the Federal Government and of the various States of the United States;

(8) Decisions of the higher State and the Federal courts on matters relating to labor in the United States;

(9) Labor legislation of foreign countries;

(10) Statistical yearbooks of the various countries of the world.

(b)

Material other than official.-This includes:

(1) Publications of American and foreign sociological, economic, and statistical societies which include labor and related problems within their scope;

(2) Publications of labor organizations--local, national, and international-consisting of reports, journals, proceedings of conventions, copies of constitutions, trade agreements, etc.;

(3) Miscellaneous publications relating to labor and related problems.

4. No record has been kept.

6. The use of the library is not restricted.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR: BUREAU OF THE CENSUS.

1. March 6, 1902.

(Officer reporting: S. N. D. North, director.)

Prior to the establishment of the permanent Census Office each census had been taken by a temporary office or bureau specially organized for that purpose and abolished after the completion of the work.

The Census Bureau in its present form is virtually a national statistical office, with a much broader scope than the name of the office would indicate. Many of the lines

of statistical work now carried on by the office have no connection with the decennial Some of them were previously conducted by other bureaus, while others are

census.

new.

For brief historical statement of census organization, see Organization and Law of the Department of Commerce and Labor, page 78. For more recent developments of the work of the Census Office, see reports of the Director of the Census since 1902. 3. (a) The Census Bureau has a statistical library of about 18,000 bound volumes and 28,000 pamphlets.

(b) The Census Bureau has no laboratory in the strict sense of the term. The mechanical devices and apparatus which it employs in connection with its work present many features of interest, and are exhibited and explained to the visitor on application at all reasonable times, but their use has hitherto been strictly confined to official work.

(c) The office is always ready to answer requests for statistical information on particular questions or topics, supplying the information, if possible, or indicating where it may be obtained. Requests of this character are received every day, and many of them come from students. The office not infrequently supplies copies of some of its reports or bulletins for class-room use. It has never undertaken or been asked

to undertake the direction or supervision of statistical work conducted by students not connected with the office force.

(d) The use of the Census library is of course freely granted to the office employees. But aside from this no social apportunities for study and training have been provided, except such as are incidental or essential to the conduct of the regular work of the office. Men who come into the bureau for positions requiring more judgment and intelligence than ordinary clerical work usually have to serve a period of apprenticeship to fit them for their duties. The training thus received is believed to be very valuable, but it is not carried beyond the requirements of the position which they are expected to fill, although it may prove to be of great advantage in other lines of work which they may afterwards enter in Government service or elsewhere.

(e) Prior to the Twelfth Census a number of college or university students were appointed at clerks upon the nomination of the presidents of the universities from which they came. Though the positions thus filled were techically ordinary clerkships, they were regarded as being essentially fellowships, or positions in which the men could carry on investigations of a statistical character under competent direction. Some of the men appointed in this way returned to academic work after a year or more in the census. One is now professor at Leland Stanford University, another at the University of California, a third at the University of Wisconsin. Others have entered other branches of Government service, accepting better-paid positions than the Census Office could offer them. All these men would probably agree that the training received in the Census Office was of great value in qualifying them for the line of work in which they have since engaged.

After the census was made permanent and placed under civil service rules it was no longer possible to make any appointments in the same manner, i. e., upon the nomination of university presidents, but positions of a similar character have been filled by means of a civil-service examination restricted to college graduates. In making these appointments it was assumed that the educational value and training of the positions would be accepted as supplementing the small salaries offered and as forming virtually an important part of the compensation to be considered.

4. No record is kept of the number of persons outside the office who have made use of the census library. The number is not large. No attempt has been made to attract students, but the use of the library is freely granted to all who apply for it. The number of persons holding positions of the class referred to above (3, e) in the fiscal year 1908 was about 10. They were all college graduates. Their work consisted principally in preparing or editing the text of census reports and bulletins, but they have also been employed to some extent in field work, thus giving them experience in the collection of statistical data.

5. The facilities offered for the fiscal year 1909 will be substantially the same as those which have been available in the past.

6. The use of such facilities as the office offers to outside investigators is not limited to any particular type of inquirers. The positions described above (3, e)—which might properly be designated as student assistantships have been restricted to college graduates.