204 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



must be accompanied by an exchange of an invoice and a receipt, and 

 the record of such exchanges upon a property boolt by the property 

 clerk. It provided for a form of board of survey to account for 

 propert}^ lost or worn out in service, and for a semiannual property 

 return by the property clerk. 



No radical departure was made in the purchase of instruments or 

 supplies. Every effort was made to standardize the field instruments 

 and equipment, and this effort has added to their effectiveness and 

 resulted in a considerable saving of money. The requirements of the 

 law and the fiscal regulations of the Department concerning compe- 

 tition have been closely observed whenever practicable. 



Files and Filing. 



An increase in efficiency and security was effected bj' several minor 

 changes in the system of filing correspondence in the Bureau. The 

 system as a whole continues to give general satisfaction, and its 

 economy of operation is noteworthy. 



Correspondence. 



During the year 28,518 official communications were received in the 

 Bureau, and 33,125 sent out. 



Stenography and Typewriting. 



During the month of January, 190i, all stenographers -and type- 

 writers not specially assigned to offices were transferred to this sec- 

 tion. In it manuscript is copied and general typewriting is done, and 

 from it stenographers are temporarily detailed when required. The 

 result of this concentration was a noteworthy gain in economy of 

 clerical labor and in uniformity of work. From its inception to the 

 end of the year, 81:9 items of work were performed, compi-ising a total 

 of 9,837 tjrpewritten pages, of which 1,413 pages were in tabulated 

 form; 6,888 mimeographed sheets, and a large amount of miscellane- 

 ous work. In addition 105 temporary details of stenographers were 

 made for a total of 451 days,. The average number of stenographers 

 assigned to this section was 10. 



Photograph Laboratory. 



During the past year the effectiveness of the photograph laboratory 

 was considerablj' increased by a rearrangement of the equipment here- 

 tofore in use and the installation of new equipment. The new equip- 

 ment provided for velox or line work, blueprinting by electric light, 

 and for making bromide enlargements and transparencies. The use 

 of electric light was introduced also in making wet -plate negatives for 

 maps. In consequence, the laboratory gained largely in efficiency and 

 in econonij' of time and labor. 



Publications. 



There were issued during the year 9 new publications, of which 

 77,000 co]3ies were printed. The bulletins were as follows: A Work- 

 ing Plan tor Forest Lands in Hampton and Beaufort Counties, South 



