486 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



On June 30, 1910, there were 4G7 employees in the Bureau of 

 Chemistry, of which number 228 were analysts, 89 clerks, and 41 

 inspectors. Half of the total number are employed outside of Wash- 

 ington. 



During the year 120,000 letters Avere written to approximately 

 25,850 correspondents. In addition, 17,500 copies of mimeograph 

 letters, covering 250 subjects, besides a large number of printed cir- 

 cular letters, were sent out, 3,024 requisitions for supplies were pre- 

 pared, 7,500 vouchers checked and passed for payment, and 89G let- 

 ters of authorization drawn up; G,05G guaranties under the food and 

 drugs act were received, examined, filed, and serial numbers assigned 

 thereto. Complete purchase, property, and financial records were 

 kept. Verbatim reports of all hearings before the Board of Food 

 and Drug Inspection are made and complete records, involving a 

 vast mass of detail, are kept, covering the collection and analysis of 

 samples under the food and drugs act, as well as all data relating to 

 each case thereunder. 



WORK PLANNED FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1910-11. 

 INSPECTION WORK. 



The principal work of the inspectors for the fiscal year of 1911 will 

 be, as usual, the collection of official samples of foods and drugs to be 

 used as the basis for criminal prosecutions. This work involves the 

 preparation of testimony to establish sale and interstate delivery, 

 necessitating that the inspectors procure the affidavits requested by 

 district attorneys from dealers and other persons concerned in the 

 prosecution. The regular inspection of factories, for the purpose of 

 observing the character of raw materials used and the sanitary condi- 

 tions surrounding the manufacture of food and drug products, will 

 be continued. 



Attention will be given to interstate shipments of flour bleached 

 with nitrogen peroxid, and instead of confining this work to a special 

 investigation, as heretofore, involving the activities of a limited 

 number of inspectors, it will be made general and include an exami- 

 nation of shipments received in every section of the country in inter- 

 state delivery. The investigation of the sardine industry on the 

 northern Atlantic coast will be pursued until the inspector in charge 

 is prepared to recommend what steps should be taken to suppress 

 traffic in sardines shown to be adulterated by reason of the unsani- 

 tary character of the fish due to the methods of packing or the sur- 

 rounding conditions. The milk supply of several cities, which, be- 

 cause of their situation, receive a large portion of milk from adjoin- 

 ing States, will be investigated. It is contemplated to make work 

 of this character more general, necessitating the attention periodically 

 of only a few inspectors at the principal cities, instead of undertak- 

 ing the investigation by a short campaign, demanding the services 

 of a number of chemists and inspectors simultaneously. 



The inspection force will, for the most part, be wholly occupied 

 with the routine work connected with the collection of samples and 

 the prosecution of violations and the investigations made in conjunc- 

 tion with or at the request of the laboratories. 



