REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHIC BOARD. 



21 



maps, gazetteers, local histories, atlases, etc. Especially does it seek 

 after, and it generally obtains, the local usage, to which it attaches 

 great importance. Local usage is usually obtained by correspond- 

 ence with county clerks, postmasters, and residents who are con- 

 versant with local conditions. This information derived from cor- 

 respondence is often supplemented by the oral testimony of indi- 

 viduals having personal knowledge of the name under consideration. 

 The information needful for deciding may be obtained quickly, 

 within a day or two, or it may take months. When the executive 

 committee is satisfied, it tabulates the results on cards, which are 

 printed blanks whereon spaces are left for entering various items 

 of information. When all the data are tabulated the members of 

 the committee record their preferences, signing their initials. Thus 

 there is a record vote of the executive committee. The cards so pre- 

 pared are submitted to the Board at its regular monthly meetings, 

 and considered one by one. Usually the executive committee agrees 

 on its recommendations. Not infrequently, however, there is a di- 

 vided report. The case being submitted to the Board, a vote is taken, 

 and a majority, not of those present, but of the whole Board, is neces- 

 sary to decide. The decision so reached is written at the top of the 

 card, which is thereupon stamped Approved^ with the date of the 

 approval. Usually from one to several cases at each meeting are 

 sent back by the Board to the committee for additional investigation. 

 A facsimile of one of these cards is printed herewith : 



UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHIC BOARD. 



^d^Pt«<i}stony Ledge. 



Thing \Spur of Greylock Mountain, Berkshire 

 named. / Co., Mass. 



Approved 

 Aug. 10, 1897. 



Names. 



TheBluffs 



Stony Ledge 



Local usage, Stony Ledge. 



Authorities. 



U. S. Geol. Survey, Oreylock sheet. 



Berkshire Insurance Co.'s map. 



Walker's atlas. 



Berkshire County atlas. 



P. M. at South Williamstown. 



Submitted by Geol. Survey. 



Date July 13,1897. 



This card prepared by Marcus Baker. 



Recommendation of executive committee. 



Stony L edge M.B. 



" " A.H.A. 



" H.G.O. 



Such is the present practice of the Board, gradually developed as 

 the outcome of experience. The principles which govern decisions 

 were at the outset considered and formulated with great painstaking 

 and care. They were the subjects of many and earnest discussions, 

 and it is a matter on which the Board congratulates itself that these 

 principles so elaborated and adopted have so well stood the test of 



