WEATHER BUEEAU. 193 



PERSONNEL OF THE BUREAU. 



The total numerical strength of the Bureau at the close of the fiscal 

 year was 6,895. Of this number more than two-thirds rendered 

 service without compensation other than through the free receipt 

 of government publications. The increase of 285 over the figures 

 given at the close of the preceding year was mainly due to the em- 

 ployment of observers in connection with the extension of mountain 

 snowfall investigation in the Western States, although more than a 

 hundred were added to the lists of special meteorological observers 

 and cooperative observers and correspondents; the number of em- 

 ployees engaged in the remaining lines of work remained practically 

 unchanged. 



The distribution of the 792 commissioned employees of the Bureau 

 gave 210 to the central office at Washington and 582 to the stations 

 throughout the country. This represents an increase of 6 and 14, 

 resjDectively, in the record of similar assignments for the close of the 

 preceding twelve months. At the central office the distribution of 

 the emi3loyees among the several divisions remained practically as in 

 the year iDefore, except in the Publications Division, where an in- 

 crease in the amount of printing necessitated an addition of 5 to 

 the working force. At stations the transfer of the climatological 

 work from Galveston to another point and the curtailment of special 

 evaporation studies at Salt Creek Bridge, California, caused the 

 working force at each of these stations to be reduced b}^ three, while at 

 a number of other points the force was lessened by one man through 

 transfers to stations where the demands for additional help had 

 become imperative. It is a fact that both in the central office and 

 at stations the increase in the number of employees has not been 

 proportionate to the increase in work ; in other words, the operations 

 of the Weather Bureau have been so enlarged during the past year 

 as to require more work than formerly from each member of its 

 commissioned force, despite the fact that the number was increased 

 by 20 during that period. 



In the chissified service of the Bureau there were 4 more perma- 

 nent appointments, including those effected by transfer and rein- 

 statement, and 7 more temporary appointments than in the preceding 

 year. The promotions during the same period — 52 at the central 

 office and 129 at stations — were fewer by 59 than in the year before. 

 All promotions but 5 were made to the next higher grade; of the 

 exceptions noted, 4 resulted through the assignment of especially 

 meritorious employees to charge of important stations in large cities, 

 where the enlarged duties and responsibilities called for appreciable 

 increases in compensation, and the remaining instance was that of a 

 central office employee possessing particular qualifications for the 

 duties to which assigned. There were 53 voluntary resignations in 

 the classified service during the year, or 11 more than in the pre- 

 ceding twelve months. By far the larger part was in the subclerical 

 force, especially among the messengers and messenger boys, which 

 was to have been expected, a less stability naturally belonging to the 

 lower and less remunerative grades than elsewhere. A loss of 8 

 recently appointed assistant observers through resignation, however, 

 was larger than looked for, and, in view of the time and attention 

 required in their preliminary training, worked to the disadvantage 



73477°— AGR 1910 13 



