106 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 



As has been pointed out in severul 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 comparativeh'^ 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 woidd 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 Jul3% 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- 

 saiy, the regulations governing the enterprise. 



It was provided also that an international council should meet 

 in London at least once every three j^ears 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, 



Leonard C. Gunnell, 



Assistant in Charge. 

 Dr. XI!harles D. Walcott, 



Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



