110 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



other Bureaus, the services of a chief clerk are necessary. A property 

 clerk has also become a necessity. Perhaps there is no other Bureau, 

 with the possible exception of the Weather Bureau, that has so valu- 

 able a collection of property as is found in the Bureau of Chemistry. 

 The platinum ware alone in the jwssession of the Bureau is worth sev- 

 eral thousand dollars. A great deal of the property of the Bureau is 

 constantly i^assing into use and has to be replaced. The services of an 

 additional stenographer and typewriter are necessary, besides addi- 

 tional assistants for the tabulating work before mentioned. 



For the present, it is the purpose of the Bureau to retain the cleri- 

 cal force in a single body and not distribute it among the different 

 laboratories. It is believed that a more economical and efficient use 

 of the force can be secured in this way than in any other. 



SALARIES OP HEADS OF LABORATORIES. 



Under the present appropriation only one assistant in the Bureau 

 of Chemistry receives a salary of $2,500. The importance of the lab- 

 oratory work in the Bureau, it seems to me, is quite as great as that 

 in any other, and merits an equal compensation. It is not my pur- 

 pose to ask for the whole of this increase at once, but onlj' for a 

 moderate amount. It is therefore recommended that the heads of 

 the laboratories receive from $2,000 to 12,500 each. 



WORDING OF THE APPROPRIATION BILL. 



In|order that the scope of the work outlined in the Bureau of Chem- 

 istry may be fully set forth before the committee of Congress having 

 charge of the appropriations, a draft of the appropriation bill, in so 

 far as it relates to the Bureau of Chemistry, is submitted. In this 

 draft the estimated amounts for each branch of the work follow each 

 section, but placed in brackets. It is desirable that the whole amount 

 for the Bureau be appropriated in one sum, which is placed at the 

 end, in order not to complicate the accounts of the Disbursing Office. 



RECOMMENDATION REGARDING CHEMICAL V^ORK. 



I strongly recommend that all the work of the Department of Agi-i- 

 culture of a chemical nature not otherwise specifically provided for 

 by law be assigned to the Bureau of Chemistry, to be conducted in 

 accordance with a plan to be mutually agreed upon by the chief of 

 Bureau and the officials desiring the work done, and approved by the 

 Secretary. The establishment of chemical laboratories is expensive, 

 and the distribution of chemical work under various directions will 

 lead to duplication, overlapping, and unnecessary expenditure. It is 

 evident that the best and most economical work can be done under a 

 single bureau, and doubtless Congress in establishing such a bureau 

 intended it to have charge of all the chemical work of the Depart- 

 ment. Among the investigations of tliis kind we may mention the 

 study of the nutritive value of foods. Thc^se investigations are chiefly 

 chemical, and would liiid in tlie Bureau of Chemistry an appropriate 

 direction. The Bureau of Chemistry has sometimes been held respon- 

 sible for chemical pul)lieations with which it had nothing whatever to 

 do and to which its attention was never called until after the publi- 

 cation had been made. It is evident, if in the public mind work of 

 this kind is attributed to the Bureau of Chemistry, that this is an 



