430 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 



forms. The letters dictated and reviewed by the Com- 

 missioner before signing, amount to at least half that 

 number. 



The death of Professor Henry in 1878, and the suc- 

 cession of the present Commissioner to the office of 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, so greatly in- 

 creased his work as to make it necessary to give up all 

 the outside work which had enabled him to add to his 

 private income. 



For a number of years all the office accommodations 

 required by the Commission were furnished gratuitously 

 by the Commissioner in his private residence. 



From 1871 to 1875 the best room of his home was 

 given up to the uses of the Commission. The Commis- 

 sioner on removing to another residence built by him 

 with special reference to the needs of the Commission, 

 supplied two basement rooms, with an iron safe, closet, 

 and other necessities. With the increasing volume of the 

 work of the Commission Congress authorized the renting 

 of the house next door, which was then connected with 

 the Commissioner's residence so as to allow access from 

 either building. A few years later the Commissioner 

 extended his private residence to afford needed additional 

 room for the Commission. 



No rent was ever asked or received by the Commis- 

 sioner for any of the quarters furnished by him. All the 

 expenses of lighting and heating the rooms occupied by 

 the Commission have been borne by the Commissioner 

 and the total expenses represented by the increased cost 

 to him have been hardly less than $1500.00 per annum, 

 for the fifteen years during which he has acted as the 

 unpaid agent of the Government in connection with Fish 

 Commission work. Excluding the cost of transportation 



