106 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 
As has been pointed out in several previous annual reports, this 
enterprise is in no sense commercial, and should be freed from the 
necessity of depending entirely on subscription for its maintenance. 
A comparatively small endowment would materially aid in improv- 
ing the form and expanding the scope of the index to include some 
of the applied sciences. Could this be done, it is more than probable 
that increased demands would more than make up for increased ex- 
pense, for when the catalogue meets the demands of the applied 
sciences, as it now does those of pure science, it will become a gen- 
eral work of reference for all branches of arts and industries. The 
organization is complete and satisfactory, and its usefulness could 
be greatly increased by the expenditure of a comparatively small sum 
annually. 
No advance or improvement can, however, be undertaken until 
an assured additional income becomes available. 
The International Catalogue was originally organized by a num- 
ber of international conferences, the third of which met in London 
in July, 1900. The delegates there assembled provided that an 
international convention should meet in London in 1905, in 1910, 
and every tenth year thereafter to reconsider and revise, if neces- 
sary, the regulations governing the enterprise. 
It was provided also that an international: council should meet 
in London at least once every three years to regulate the affairs of 
the catalogue between two successive meetings of the convention. 
A meeting of this international council was held June 11 and 12, 
1914, and after authorizing the necessary contracts for the continua- 
tion of the enterprise and disposing of a number of other routine 
matters, discussed the very vital question of altering and revising 
the classification schedules. It was provided that further alteration 
would best be made by the introduction of subdivisions to the now 
existing schedules, such subdivisions to be suggested by the regional 
bureaus as the need for them should appear. 
Very respectfully, yours, 
Lronarp C. GUNNELL, 
Assistant in Charge. 
Dr. Cuartes D. Watcort, 
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 
