1100 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



PUBLICITY. 



The advantage of carrying on a cainpaii^ of education through 

 which the trade, State ollicials, and the eoiisuminj; piibUc might 

 acquire a fauiiUar knowledge of the insecticide law, its purposes, and 

 the methods of its enforcement has not been overlookea. Necessary 

 informal i(Hi has been disseminated throughout the United States by 

 means of form letters to State ollicials and dealers and by the distri- 

 bution of copies of the law, regulations issued thereunder, and insec- 

 ticide decisions, to members of scientific societies, oflicial represent- 

 atives of foreign countries, and to those directly and indirectly con- 

 nected with the manufacture and sale of insecticides, Paris greens, 

 lead arsenates, and fungicides. Approximately 65,000 public docu- 

 ments of the character above described have been distriouted, while 

 information has been further conveyed through the medium of press 

 notices summarizmg insecticide decisions and other matters of general 

 interest. A voluminous correspondence has been conducted with 

 persons who have been sulliciently interested in the law to make 

 special inquiries. From the tenor of the correspondence received at 

 this department and from the oral hearings W'hich have been held it 

 is evident that an overwhelmmg majority of the manufacturers, 

 jobbers, and dealers of this country desire to conform to the pro- 

 visions of the act and to accede to the opinions of this department 

 respecting its construction. It is hoped, therefore, that the publica- 

 tion of the opinions and decisions of the department will give to 

 manufacturers the information necessary to enable them to comply 

 with the law and thus avoid litigation. 



CLERICAIi AND FISCAL OPERATIONS. 



A total of 8,000 letters was written to approximately 2,200 corre- 

 spondents; 6,500 letters were received and filed; 313 purchase orders 

 were issued for current supplies for the ollice and laboratories; 615 

 vouchers were checked and passed to the disbursing officer for pay- 

 ment; 106 expenditure authorizations were issued to those connected 

 with the work; 561 manufacturers' or dealers' guaranties under the 

 insecticide act were received, examined, filed, and serial numbers 

 assigned thereunder. In the executive office complete records were 

 kept of the coUection, receipt, analysis, and disposition of each case 

 arising under the msecticide act. These records are complex, impor- 

 tant, and voluminous, and involve verbatim reports of hearings and 

 exact detafied records of all intermediate action pending final dispo- 

 sition of the cases. An executive ofiicer, two stenographers, and a 

 messenger boy carry on this work, the letters relative to the scientific 

 subjects being prepared in the various bureaus by members of the 

 board along their special hnea. 



