552 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Miscellaneous section. — This section has charge of tho prepara- 

 tion of the several annual reports to Congress and the administrative 

 examination of the accounts of the Forest Service and of the Weather 

 Bureau ; also audits all accounts of the Board of Consulting Scientific 

 Experts. 



Freight and transportation section. — This section audits all 

 passenger and freight accounts and prepares and issues all passenger 

 transportation requests and bills of lading covering freight snipments. 



WORK OF THE YEAR. 



appropriations, expenditures, etc. 



. The total appropriations for the department for the year ended 

 June 30, 1911, amounted to $17,278,976.10, not including $1,440,000 

 appropriated for the several State agricultural experiment stations. 

 Of this sum (817,278,976.10), $14,759,292.08 was disbursed prior to 

 the close of the year, leaving a balance of $2,519,684.02, nearly all of 

 which is covered by outstanding liabilities. Supplemental accounts 

 for the year 1910 were also paid, amounting to $747,329.26. The 

 unexpended balances for the year 1909, amounting to $306,336.91, 

 were finally covered into the Treasury on June 30, 1911. 



There were received, audited, and paid 62,424 accounts, amounting 

 to $10,277,119.25 (not including Forest Service). In payment of 

 these accounts 115,802 checks were drawn on the Treasury at Wash- 

 ington and the Subtreasuries at New York and at Chicago. 



There were also audited and sent to the Treasury Department for 

 payment 2,969 accounts. 



LOST CHECKS. 



During the year 71 checks were lost in transit through the mails or 

 by the payees. 



REQUISITIONS, LETTERS, AND REQUESTS. 



One hundred and eight requisitions were drawn on the Treasury, 

 aggregating $9,954,606.50 (this does not include Forest Service). 



The number of requisitions issued for supplies was 23,741. 



The number of letters of authorization for travel was 6,307. 



The number of letters written and received in the ordinary trans- 

 action of business was about 95,000. 



The number of requests for passenger transportation was 35,168. 



The number of requests on the Quartermaster General for the 

 transportation of Government property was 551. 



The number of departmental bills of lading issued was 3,113. 



TEMPORARY SPECIAL DISBURSING AGENTS. 



Twenty-six temporary special disbursing agents and nine district 

 fiscal agents were active during the year, and the sum of $6,166,758.60 

 from the appropriations of the department was advanced to them, 

 requiring the issuance of 188 requisitions upon the Treasury. The 

 total number of temporary special disbursing agents and district 

 fiscal agents shown includes 10 and 9, respectively, for Forest Service, 



