G82 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Miscellaneous section. — This section has chaifre of the prepara- 

 tion of the several annual reports to Con<2,ress and tlie adminislrative 

 <^x;uniniUio]\ (if the accounts of the Forest Service iiiid of (lie AVealher 

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

 Experts. 



Freight and transportation section. — Tlds section audits all 

 passenger and freight accounts and prepares and issues all passenger 

 transportation requests and bills of lading covering freight shipments, 



WORK OF THE YEAR. 



appropriations, expenditures, etc. 



The total appropriations for the department for the year ended 

 June 30, 1912, amounted to $21,172,880.53, not including $1,440,000 

 appropriated for tJie several State agricidtural experiment stations. 

 Of this sum ($21,172,880.53), $10,032,446.08 was disbursed prior to 

 the close of the year, leaving a balance of $5,140,434.45, nearly all of 

 which is covered )\y outstanding liabilities. Supplemental accounts 

 for the year 1911 were also paid, amounting to $1,214,424.51. The 

 unexpended balances for tlic year 1910, amounting to $410,828.27, 

 were finally covered into the Treasury on June 30, 1912. 



There were received, audited, and paid 70,987 accounts, amounting 

 to $12,813,366.88 (not mcluding Forest Service). In payment of 

 these accounts 133,163 checks were drawn on the Treasury at Wash- 

 ington and tlie Subtreasuries at New York and at Chicago. 



There were also audited and sent to the Treasury Department for 

 payment 4,221 accounts. 



lost checks. 



During the year 62 checks were lost in transit through the mails or 

 by the payees. 



requisitions, letters, and requests. 



One hundred and twelve requisitions were drawn on the Treasury, 

 aggregatmg $12,156,211.79. (This does not include Forest Service.) 



The number of requisitions issued for supplies was 25,771. 



The number of letters of authorization for travel was 0,683, 



The number of letters wi^itteu and received m the ordinary trans- 

 action of business was about 115,000. 



The number of requests for passenger transportation was 38,207. 



The number of requests on the Quartermaster General for the 

 transportation of Government property was 15. 



The number of departmental bills of lading issued was 4,088. 



TEMPORARY SPECIAL DISBURSING AGENTS. 



Twenty-eight temporary special disbursing agents and seven district 

 fiscal agents were active during the 3^ear, and the sum of $5,405,505.81 

 from the appropriations of the department was advanced to them, 

 requiring the issuance of 176 requisitiojis upon the Treasur3^ The 

 total number of temporary special disbursing agents and district 



