REPOET OF THE SECEETAEY. 27 



Loeb collection. The members of the committee have offered to 

 solicit additional original chemical material for the series. Ar- 

 rangements were made with trade journals for advance notice of the 

 publication of new chemical compounds, in order to facilitate prompt 

 solicitation. 



Steps were taken to have greater use made of the facilities af- 

 forded Washington by the National Museum. Through arrange- 

 ments with the authorities of the public schools of the District of 

 Columbia the Museum, when notified in advance, furnishes expert 

 guidance by a member of its staff to scholars and teachers visiting 

 its halls. In some instances such visits have resulted in further 

 work along similar lines after the return to their school buildings 

 and on several occasions have been followed by talks to the students 

 in their classrooms bj^ members of the staff of the Museum. Through 

 cooperation with the Wild Flower Preservation Society of America, 

 the Atidubon Society of the District of Columbia, and the American 

 Forestry Association, the Museum arranged a series of six Saturday 

 morning lectures in the auditorium of the Museum for honor pupils 

 of the seventh and eighth grades of the public schools, and the 

 American Forestry Association awarded blue ribbons for the best 

 bird houses submitted by the pupils. 



The schools of Washington, in common with the higher educa- 

 tional establishments of the country, have long shared the benefits 

 of the duplicate specimens distributed hj the Museum for educa- 

 tional purposes, and this year was no exception. 



The value of the Museum to the commercial interests of the Na- 

 tional Capital, as well as to its educational interests, was demon- 

 strated by a series of lectures by the curator of textiles given to 

 several groups of employees handling textiles in one of the large 

 department stores of the city, who, at the solicitation of their firm» 

 came to the Museum during business hours for the purpose. 



The influence of the Museum in education is being felt outside 

 its immediate vicinity, through the lai:ge delegations of students 

 visiting it annually, often as part of their courses of instruction, and 

 also through its assistance in the preparation of textbooks. Photo- 

 graphs and essential data of the exhibits pertaining to the mineral 

 industries were supplied to the Pennsylvania State Board of Edu- 

 cation, and to other inquirers. 



President Harding, on October 24, 1921, under authority of the 

 legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation bill for the fiscal 

 year ending June 30, 1913, directed the Bureau of Efficiency to pre- 

 scribe a uniform system of employee ratings for all departments, 

 and requested the heads of the departments to put the system into 

 effect. Ratings were first to be established for employees engaged 



