BUREAU OP ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 137 



BUREAU PERSONNEL, 



At the beginning of the fiscal year the persons in the employ of 

 the bureau numbered 3,572. During the year there were 1,730 addi- 

 tions, as follows : Appointments, 1,659 ; transfers from other branches 

 of the Government service, 35 ; reinstatements, 36. During the same 

 period there were 1,196 separations from the service, as follows: 

 Eesignations, 235; deaths, 34; removals for cause, 7; transfers to 

 other bureaus or departments of the Government, 30 ; all other sepa- 

 rations, 890. The last item includes terminations of appointments 

 by limitation and for administrative reasons, exclusive of separa- 

 tions for disciplinary reasons. On June 30, 1915, the bureau per- 

 sonnel numbered 4,106, a net increase of 534 over the number a year 

 ago. Of these, 2,726 were in the meat-inspection service. 



The new work undertaken for the eradication of foot-and-mouth 

 disease alone necessitated the transfer of approximately 750 em- 

 ployees to that work from the various branches of the service. It 

 was necessary, of course, in nearly every instance to replace each 

 man transferred. Nearly all of these employees were returned to 

 their regular work after the disease was under control, and all of the 

 temporary appointments which were made necessary to replace regu- 

 lar men transferred were terminated. During the year 11 civil- 

 service examinations were requested and subjects and weights fur- 

 nished to the Civil Service Commission. 



VETERINARY EDUCATION. 



For some years the Department of Agriculture has cooperated 

 with the Civil Service Commission in establishing a list of accredited 

 veterinary colleges, the graduates of which are eligible for the civil- 

 service examination for veterinary inspector in this bureau. This 

 action was taken for the purpose of obtaining competent, well-trained 

 veterinarians to act as mspectors. Regulations were promulgated 

 stating under what conditions a college was accredited and what 

 subjects should be taught. A college that fails to meet the demands 

 of these regulations is removed from the list and its graduates are 

 excluded from the civil-service examination until such time as there 

 is compliance with the conditions set out in the regulations. A new 

 college must also show a compliance with the regulations before it 

 is added to the list. This fact requires the bureau to keep in touch 

 with the veterinary colleges, and this is done through the Miscella- 

 neous Division. 



During the year one veterinary college, the Royal Superior Vet- 

 erinary School of Naples, Italy, was added to the accredited list. 

 The list now comprises 21 American and 8 foreign colleges. For 

 the session of 1914-15 there were enrolled at these American colleges 

 2,550 students, an increase of 106 over the preceding session. Of 

 these, 698 completed the course of study and were graduated at the 

 end of the session, being 14 more than the number of graduates for 

 the previous session. 



THE EXPERIMENT STATION. 



The work of the experiment station at Bethesda, Md., under Dr. 

 E. C. Schroeder, superintendent, was of the same general character 

 as in previous years. It consisted of tests and studies, made both 



