44 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



tion and extension of the powers of the department board of awards 

 competition has been widened on supplies and equipment bought. 

 By consulting with commodity experts in this and other departments 

 prior to purchasing, the department has kept informed on market 

 conditions in various lines and has been able to place orders more 

 advantageously. The purchase of certain commodities has been cen- 

 tralized for Washington and near-by field stations, enabling the de- 

 partment to secure better prices by quantity orders. 



Investigation is constantly being made into the availability of 

 surplus property from other departments and its use wherever eco- 

 nomical instead of the purchase of new equipment by the department. 

 The stocks and equipment of the entire department itself have been 

 gone over carefully, both in Washington and in the field, and under a 

 system which has been established a large amount of surplus equip- 

 ment for which the holding bureaus have no further use is furnished 

 to other bureaus, thus avoiding additional purchases. Serviceable 

 motor trucks have been secured at nominal costs from surplus stocks 

 of other departments to replace worn-out trucks in the centralized 

 trucking unit of the department, making better hauling service avail- 

 able to the bureaus at lower cost. The revenues from the sale of per- 

 ishable products from the field stations of the department near 

 Washington have been more than doubled by a special order issued 

 during the year centralizing all such sales in the department's supply 

 division. 



To summarize, here as elsewhere in the service, " Economy with 

 efficiency" has been the watchword. The constant aim during the 

 year has been to develop a consciousness on the part of each officer 

 and employee of the department of the necessity and personal re- 

 sponsibility on his part for the maximum efficiency and economy with 

 respect to his own particular work and the items of expenditure with 

 which he may have to do. Economies and increased efficiency effected 

 in this way in connection with the routine business operation of the 

 department can not be adequately measured by figures, but they are 

 of fundamental importance as the sound foundation of the whole 

 economy program. The record of the year includes gratifying re- 

 ports of this type and reflected increases in the efficiency of the lines 

 of work affected. A few typical instances are interesting. 



Reduction in manufacturers' price of automobiles and tires and 

 tubes for field use taking place after proposals had been submitted 



