desirable features of those carried out by war agencies in order that continuity would not be interrupted when the emergency agencies were disbanded.

Nonmetallics

Supplementing its regular annual and other periodic statistical reports in the highly diversified field of nonmetallic minerals, the Bureau of Mines prepared for the war agencies special monthly or quarterly canvasses on minerals of noteworthy military importance and provided the answers to inquiries on current supply situation, new developments and uses, and various other factors associated with the industries.

To make this service possible, the Bureau's extensive information files on the nonmetallics were augmented with several thousand items of current data. Furthermore, field trips were made to areas where supply problems demanded attention with respect to such war minerals as asbestos, barite, graphite, and magnesite. For the third year, the Bureau prepared monthly and confidential series entitled "Mineral Trade Notes" and comprising abstracts of consular and other reports primarily on foreign mineral developments, for use of various war agencies.

Special reports were written on such critical minerals as optical crystals, graphite, corundum, and phosphate rock. A comprehensive survey was prepared covering international trade in all nonmetallics, and a 33-year history of the chemical raw material and fertilizer industries was issued. General reviews were compiled for the technical press of all major developments in the broad and complex field of nonmetallic minerals.

Petroleum and Natural Gas

During the war, much of the information normally published by the Bureau of Mines on the production and demand for crude petroleum, natural gas, and their products was available for confidential use by Government agencies only. In anticipation of the termination of such restrictions, the Bureau undertook to prepare special reports to show the major changes in demand on the domestic and world markets. In the United States, the major oil problems of the postwar period will include the future rate of crude production, restoration of the normal supply of motor vehicles, and the expansion of aviation. Outside the United States, the discovery of new reserves in the Middle East, the increase in crude production in the Caribbean region, the restoration of devastated refineries and oil fields, and the future rate of consumption in enemy countries will materially change the international trade in crude oil and its products and make essential more complete and accurate information on oil supply and demand.

During the year, the Bureau of Mines made numerous special economic studies of distribution and trends of consumption in the field of petroleum. Its work also included collection of comprehensive statistics on refinery operation, including the production of aviation gasoline; the preparation of monthly forecasts of demand for crude petroleum; an annual survey of the consumption of fuel oils by States and uses; the production and distribution of natural gas, natural gasoline, related products, and carbon black; and assembly of data on foreign oil production and competitive trends in international trade in crude petroleum and refined products.

Well-developed before the war, the Bureau's services made possible an accurate analysis of the changes in demand during the war and will be of equal value in indicating postwar readjustments.

Coal

Now encompassing bituminous coal as well as anthracite, lignite, and other solid fuels and byproducts, the detailed studies of the Bureau of Mines on requirements, production, shipments, and uses provided information indispensable to carrying out the distribution and pricing programs of the Solid Fuels Administration, War Production Board, Office of Price Administration, and other Government agencies concerned with solid-fuel shortages. This information served as a basis for the equitable distribution of anthracite, coke, and special-purpose coals at a time of unprecedented demand and acute shortage. When broad-wage-scale revisions in all producing coal fields required corresponding changes in maximum prices, the statistical facilities and trained personnel of the Bureau were made available to the war agencies in working out the adjustments.

Well-established weekly, monthly, and annual reports published by the Bureau were continued on an expanded scale, particularly those concerning the distribution of bituminous coal, anthracite, and lignite. Detailed studies were made on the production, consumption, and resources of coal in eastern European and Far Eastern countries at the request of the Combined Production and Resources Board. Staff members also worked closely with the Technical Industrial Disarmament Committee in the preparation of a report on the German solid fuels industries from a standpoint of international security.

Foreign Minerals

A program for postwar activity initiated a year ago developed during the fiscal year 1945 to a stage where adjustments in policy and procedure were required to enable the Bureau of Mines to participate more actively in foreign investigations.

If the Congress approves legislation sponsored by the Department of State, the Bureau proposes to establish 18 regions throughout the

world and assign competent technical specialists to the United States Foreign Service to aid this Government on problems relating to supplies of mineral raw materials. At the request of the Department of State, the Bureau now is extending mining and metallurgical technical assistance to Brazil under a $25,000 congressional appropriation which restricts the investigations to those minerals in which the United States is deficient.

Several Bureau engineers visited Mediterranean and other European areas as studies of foreign mineral resources were extended to include areas liberated during the fiscal year 1945.

Accident and Employment Data

With critical labor shortages in the mineral industries focusing attention on accident prevention as a primary means of conserving manpower, information compiled by the Bureau of Mines on frequencies and causes of accidents and related employment data were used widely by the War Manpower Commission, War Production Board, and other Federal agencies charged with war labor procurement and production maintenance duties.

A confidential monthly series of employment and productivity data on bituminous-coal mines, assembled on a Nation-wide basis and later on a State basis were supplied to several war agencies. Mineral industry employment information was used to gage transfers of labor from unessential to necessary mining or war work and to measure the effective mine-labor force in localities and regions.

Detailed analyses of individual accident reports on the cause and severity of coal-mine injuries were undertaken through the Coal Mine Inspection Act as a standard feature of the Bureau's work. In addition to usual uses, virtually all of the regular accident statictics on the metal, nonmetal, and mineral fuel industries were used in one or more ways for war purposes. Facts on the constituents and consumption of industrial explosives were required by the armed forces as well as by those permanently interested in explosives production and markets.

PUBLIC REPORTS

During 1945 the volume of publications prepared and issued by the Bureau of Mines increased somewhat in response to a rising demand from industry, war agencies, and the public for informative material on virtually every subject associated with the mineral industries. In all, there were 660 publications, which required editing 20,520 pages of copy, reading proof, and preparing 2,437 illustrations for processing. The publications included 124 bulletins, technical papers, Minerals Yearbook chapters, miners' circulars, and other printed reports; 230 special war minerals reports for restricted use; 107 reports of investigations and information circulars; 177 speeches and

papers for the technical press; and 22 miscellaneous manuscripts, together with numerous periodic statistical reports for industry.

As in all the war years, however, the number of copies printed and distributed was restricted to the barest minimum to save funds and paper and the total number of copies issued remained substantially unchanged. Security restrictions on the distribution of the Minerals Yearbook were lifted after VE-day, making this authoritative publication again available.

The Bureau's Washington library of selected reference material was increased by 2,351 books and pamphlets and 207 bound volumes of periodicals; 247 periodicals were received regularly; and 19,611 books and periodicals were loaned for use outside the library. Approximately 5,000 readers visited the library for reference work, and about 4,500 telephone calls were received. The catalog of the library's collections was increased by 8,066 cards.

Free educational motion-picture films, produced under the Bureau's supervision and paid for by private industry, were shown on 84,959 occasions to audiences totaling 7,932,361 persons. Three new sound films entitled Sand and Flame, A Story of Copper, and A Story of Arc Welding, were added to the Bureau's library of more than 10,000 reels. The last-named is the first Bureau film in technicolor. These films, shown in many countries, were in constant demand for war training and rehabilitation classes, Army and Navy personnel, engineering and scientific societies, business and civic groups, schools and colleges, and other groups.

The Bureau continued to effectuate its policy of the widest possible dissemination of its technologic, economic, and scientific information consistent with national security, and made plans for reprinting and even wider distribution of its reports upon the termination of hostilities, in response to an ever-growing demand from industry for such information.

ADMINISTRATION

As in past years, activities of the Bureau of Mines were administered from Washington, D. C., but were carried on largely in the field offices, laboratories, and pilot plants. To handle more efficiently the large volume of administrative work, an Administrative Service was organized to include the divisions of Personnel, Field and Property, and Budget and Finance.

Personnel

On June 30, 1945, there were 3,974 full-time employees in the Bureau of Mines, distributed as follows:

Includes instrument makers, safety instructors, laboratory aids, assistants, etc. ' Includes laborers, mechanics, messengers, wage employees, etc.

Property

As of June 30, 1945, the property of the Bureau had a total cost of $9,960,310.98, of which $3,114,745.06 was for land, buildings, and improvements; $2,368,139.74 for laboratory equipment; $1,720,908.57 for machinery and power-plant equipment; and the remainder for office furniture and equipment, automobiles and trucks, rescue cars and specialized apparatus, and other goods.

Finance

The total funds available to the Bureau of Mines for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1945, including direct appropriations, departmental allotments, reappropriated balances, and sums transferred from other departments for service work, were $28,988,520. Of this amount $20,926,543 was spent, leaving an unexpended balance of $8,061,977. On the regular work of the Bureau, $19,162,455 was expended. These figures are subject to revision because of unpaid obligations.

Table 1 presents classified information regarding the financial history of the Bureau for the fiscal years ended June 30, 1942–46. Table 2 gives a statement of the distribution of congressional appropriations to the services and divisions and the expenditure of these funds in 1945 by Bureau divisions.