DIVISION OF ACCOUNTS AND DISBURSEMENTS. 259 



RENT OF ADDITIONAL BUILDINGS. 



Two thousand dollars is provided for the payment of rent for the 

 ensuing year for the Bureau of Forestry, the accommodations in the 

 main building being wholly inadequate to the needs of the Bureau. 

 In this connection all of the seventh floor and part of the eighth floor 

 of the Atlantic Building, 008 F street NW., was leased on July 1, 

 1901, at an annual rental of $2,000, and the Bureau force has been 

 installed therein, together with all office fixtures and furniture. 



The appropriation for the Division of Publications carries $2,500 

 "for the rent of a building and for such alterations as may be needed, 

 for the storage of publications." The Department has arranged with 

 the owner of ground on B street, between Thirteenth and Thirteen- 

 and-a-half streets SW., who is now erecting a large, double brick 

 building, which is to be completed at an early date, and will be leased 

 by the Department for a period of years, subject to an annual appro- 

 priation by Congress for rental. The building will be arranged 

 expressly to accommodate the work of the Division of Publications 

 in the storing and handling of publications. 



These sums added to the amounts paid for other private property 

 already under lease will make for rental in the District of Columbia, 

 for the year ending June 30, 1902, over $10,000. 



LAW CLERK. 



In the estimates for this Department for the fiscal year ended June 

 30, 1897, one " law clerk " was provided for at an annual salary of 

 $2,200. The recommendation failed to receive the approval of Con- 

 gress, and no further effort has been made in that direction. Since 

 then, however, on account of the urgent necessity for legal advice, a 

 third-class clerk on the roll of the Secretary has been detailed to act 

 as law clerk, and assigned to duty in the Division of Accounts and 

 Disbursements. Although not a regular graduate, this clerk has a 

 fair knowledge of law, especially departmental, and has performed 

 the duties of the trying position very acceptably. 



The legal work of the Department has increased enormously during 

 the past two or three years, while the importance and serious charac- 

 ter of the questions involved require the most careful and expert con- 

 sideration. The amount and importance of the work will continue to 

 increase with the growth and development of the Department ; in fact 

 the work has already grown to such proportions that the services of 

 an assistant law clerk could be utilized not oidy to advantage, but 

 will shortly become an actual necessity. This is the only Department 

 of the Government without a statutory roll for legal experts, and it is 

 earnestly recommended that a law clerk be included in the estimates 

 of this Department for the next fiscal year. 



REVISED EDITION OF THE FISCAL REGULATIONS. 



A revised edition of the "Fiscal regulations of the Department" 

 was issued on July 1, 1901. This edition includes all amendments 

 made necessary by recent rulings of the Comptroller of the Treasury; 

 it also includes certain modifications of the rules of the Department 

 governing field expenses, etc. Among other changes $5 is allowed for- 

 daily subsistence instead of $4, as formerly. Laundry expenses are 

 also allowed when the travel extends beyond one week. 



