212 ANNUAL EEPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTTJRE. 



This work has been very thorough in certain States where close coop- 

 eration between the Food Administrator and the local food-control 

 officials existed. It has been less effective in those States where such 

 cooperative relations could be less perfectly established. 



The bureau has cooperated also with the Food Administration in 

 the control of certain perishable products, in the control of the fat 

 and oil supply, and in the control of canned goods, especially with a 

 view to the conservation of tin plate. 



It has also cooperated in the control and licensing of the arsenic 

 end insecticide industries. As a result, an adequate quantity of such 

 insecticides was made available. 



In this connection it may b-e mentioned that the control by the War 

 Department of the acetic acid supply threatened to make it impos- 

 sible for a Paris green to be manufactured. The bureau assisted in 

 introducing the use of distilled vinegar for this purpose instead of 

 acetic acid. It has cooperated also in controlling and licensing the 

 ammonia producing and the fertilizer industries, a matter of much 

 importance, since an equitable distribution of ammonia is necessary 

 if both the refrigeration and explosives requirements of the country 

 are to be met. 



When war was declared the services of the Bureau of Chemistry 

 were offered to the Quartermaster General, since it seemed that the 

 organization of the bureau, with its laboratories scattered through the 

 principal producing centers of the country, w'as eminently adapted 

 to assist in the purchase and inspection of the vast quantity of :?ood- 

 stuffs and drugs needed by the Army. At first but little use was made 

 of the bureau's facilities. Gradually the officers in charge of some 

 of the quartermaster's depots outside of Washington requested rep- 

 resentatives of the bureau to undertake the examination of supplies 

 offered. Later similar requests were made in Washington, The 

 volume of such requests has steadily increased until a vast anjount 

 of work of this nature is being done by the bureau. In these matters 

 no responsibility has been placed upon the bureau, either with refer- 

 ence to the preparation of specifications, the letting of contracts, or 

 the acceptance of deliveries. The bureau's function in these instances 

 is largely limited to the objective report of the chemical or physical 

 examination of the goods. 



The demand upon the bureau's force, already greatly depleted, 

 became so great that, in spite of the fact that a very large proportion 

 of the time of the bureau's field force was given to this work, it 

 became necessary for the Quartermaster's Department to assign a 

 limited number of additional men to the various laboratories of the 

 bureau. These chemists work under the immediate supervision of the 

 chemists in charge of the laboratories. The work, having devel- 

 oped gradually as a matter of evolution rather than according to 

 a predetermined plan, resulted in a not inconsiderable amount of 

 unnecessary work and duplication. In consequence it has become 

 necessary to establish in the bureau a special office to deal with the 

 relations between the bureau and the Quartermaster's Department, 

 in so far as food and feedstuffs are concerned. At the same time, for 

 the more expeditious conduct of this work, it will be necessary to 

 establish specijil laboratories in localities in which the bureau now 

 has no laboratories. 



