REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. I9 



at the present time — ^not only the man who uses an automobile 

 or rides in a naphtha launch, but also the man who runs a 

 gasoline engine for sawing wood or threshing grain. The 

 efficiency of gasoline is largely increased in having the kerosene 

 decreased to eight per cent. I would recommend that the 

 inspection of petroleum products be added to the Bureau of 

 Inspection. 



Practical Housing for the Department. 



The analysis work of the Department of Agriculture is now, 

 and has been done for a series of years, at the Experiment 

 Station, Orono. There was considerable talk at the last legis- 

 lature about erecting a building on the southwest corner of 

 the State House grounds, suitable for a laboratory. I neither 

 favored nor opposed this because I w-as not familiar enough 

 with the subject to pass an intelligent opinion upon it. I soon 

 learned, however, that the Experiment Station is supported by 

 three appropriations — two of them federal, viz. : Hatch and 

 Adams funds, and the third by the Department of Agriculture. 

 The Department of Agriculture, during 1915 and 1916, has 

 paid nearly $12,000 a year, in round numbers $24,000, for hav- 

 ing its analysis work done by the Experiment Station. I have 

 felt chary about dipping into their affairs ana dictating who 

 should do it and w^hat the price paid should be, owing to the 

 fact that I would have been accused at once of introducing 

 politics into the Experiment Station. I have felt, however, 

 that the work could be and should be done very much cheaper. 

 For instance, the director of the Experiment Station receives 

 $4,000 a year, one-third of which the Department of Agricul- 

 ture pays, $111 a month; the chief chemist receives $2,500 a 

 year, or $208 a month, all from the Department ; the assistant 

 chemist, Mr. Hanson, receives $2,000 a year or $166.67 a 

 month, also from this Department. Now, as I understand it, 

 Mr. Hanson has absolute charge of the work of the other 

 assistants of which there are two, one being paid $600 and 

 the other $700 a year. Mr. Hanson takes ofT his coat and 

 enters actively into the work. The men who lend us the grace 

 of their names, viz.. Dr. Woods and Dr. Bartlett. together get 

 $319 per month. The three men who do the work together 

 get $275 a month. It is a question if one man actively engaged 



