EEPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 55 



ELECTRIC SERVICE. 



In August, 1887, a contract was made with a firm of electricians of 

 this city to furnish all material and labor necessary for j)utting in order 

 the electrical service in the Museum and Smithsonian buildings, tbe cost 

 being $215. The work was satisfactorily completed. A further agree- 

 ment was then made with the same firm to keep the electrical apparatus 

 in order for the remainder of the fiscal year, furnishing all material and 

 labor, for the sum of $12.50 a month. The transfer of the electrical serv- 

 ice from the care of an employe of the Museum to an outside firm has been 

 made in the interest of economy, and has resulted very satisfactorily. 

 The electric bells, other than those belonging to the Telephone Com- 

 pany, reaching twenty-eight points of the buildings, have been kept in 

 good working order ; the clock regulator has been cleaned and repaired; 

 the watchmen's clocks, time dials, and station-boxes in both buildings, 

 numbering twenty-two, have been overhauled and re]3aired; and all 

 wires have been tested and repaired. The door-bells and burglar-alarms 

 have been tested and are now in good order. 



TELEPHONE SERVICE. 



The work of this service has been very faithfully and intelligently 

 performed by Miss M. L. Stone, who, in addition to her duties as tele- 

 phone operator, has had charge of the Bureau of Information, the object 

 of which is to reply to the numerous questions of visitors. The tele- 

 phone switch-board has a capacity for ma,king one hundred connections. 

 At the present time there are only thirty-seven different circuits in use. 

 There are two separate lines connecting the Museum with the central 

 office in this city. The daily average number of calls through the year 

 is about one hundred. During the year 34,318 connections have been 

 made. Through this office telegrams may be sent by the Western 

 Union Telegraph Company, the Baltimore and Ohio Telegraph Com- 

 pany, and the Government Department telegraph ines. 



PROPERTY AND SUPPLIES. 



While the general routine work of the Museum has been the same as 

 in former years, some changes have been adopted which are leading 

 to more satisfactory results. 



It had heretofore been the custom, through the courtesy of the De- 

 partment of the Interior, to avail ourselves of the bids received there, 

 in obtaining our supplies, but our needs being widely different from 

 those of all other departments of the Government, it was thought that 

 an independent course might be more satisfactory. Consequently, in 

 May, 1888, proposals were advertised for and contracts were awarded. 



During this year Mr. J. E. Watkins, who was holding an important 

 office under the Pennsylvania Railway Company, was offered the posi- 

 tion as head of the Department of Property and Supplies, and entered 

 upon his duties January 1, 1888, with the title of Engineer of Property. 



