WEATHER BUREAU. 65 



the lessened opportunities for such work in view of the shortage of 

 labor in <;eneral. 



More changes in the observing force were necessary than usual, 

 owing to a large shifting from the usual lines of work to those pertain- 

 ing to the war, but the continuity of the work was usually provided 

 for and the records as a whole were remarkably complete, and con- 

 tinued improvement in practically all features of the Avork was noted. 



INSPECTION OF STATIONS. 



The policy of inspecting cooperative stations once in each three 

 years, temporarily suspended during the early porticm of the fiscal 

 year just closed, was vigorously tal;en up toward the latter part and 

 is being continued whenever feasible for officials to absent themselves 

 from their stations. These visits of inspection impress the cooperative 

 observers with an added sense of the importance of their work, estab- 

 lish a spirit of sympathetic cooperation, and encourage them to re- 

 newed effort in case they have become discouraged at the prospective 

 amount of work without financial remuneration or an apparent lack 

 of appreciation by the Bureau or the public of the value of the 

 records they are at such pains to make. 



During the year most cordial cooperation was maintained with 

 other Government bureaus in collecting meteorological reports from 

 points that would naturally be without representation but for the 

 willingness of the officials to take up this special duty in addition to 

 their regular lines of work. 



OCEAN METEOROLOGY. 



As was pointed out in previous reports, the work of the marine sec- 

 tion was seriously interfered with by the war, the loss of reporting 

 vessels and censorship restrictions together having the effect or 

 greatly reducing the number of reports available for charting and 

 study. So far as possible, however, the work of the section proceeds 

 along the usual lines. 



Upon the close of the war attention was centered upon a program 

 for the restoration and extension of the marine work, and plans have 

 been formulated Avhich will result in a material advancement of our 

 knowledge respecting meteorological conditions of the great ccean 

 areas. 



Progress in this direction is necessary to enable the Bureau to meet 

 tlie increasing demands for information regarding weather condi- 

 tions over the oceans resulting from the expansion of our merchant 

 marine and commercial development associated therewith, as well as 

 tliose arising from experiments in trans-oceanic flight. 



MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS OF WORK. 



The usual work incident to the receipt, examination and filing of 

 tlie meteorological reports of the Bureau went forward as usual. 

 The section publications were assembled and prepared for distribu- 

 tion and the sets of these intended for station files for the year 1918 

 were bound and distributed. The binding of the original records of 

 the preceding year was accomplished as usual and all reports put in 

 shape for permanent preservation. The tabular matter usually ex- 

 tracted from the original records has been entered in the books pre- 



