FOREST SEEVICK. 235 



RECORDS. 



SECTION OF ACCOUNTS AND SUPPLIES. 



Upon the transfer of the forest reserves on February 1 it became 

 necessary to appoint a special fiscal agent to be custodian of the 

 funds derived from the sale of their products. In order to simplify 

 the handling of this money the same officer was later made disbursing 

 officer for the Forest Service, thus avoiding delay in the transmittal 

 of accounts and in auditing and making payment, and reducing the 

 amount of bookkeeping. Salary, reimbursement, and miscellaneous 

 vouchers are now audited and paid in the Forest Service. 



On February 1 arrangements were also made for the disbursement 

 of cooperative funds, which amount to about $2,000 a month, by the 

 special fiscal agent. The manner of handling cooperative vouchers 

 now conforms to the fiscal regulations of the Department in every 

 particular. A system of cost keeping was introduced to secure a 

 complete and detailed record of the cost of each study and project 

 undertaken, and of the cost of administering each forest reserve. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC LABORATORY. 



The map-copying equipment was of effective service, especially 

 in securing maps of the forest reserves. A new map case and a system 

 of indexing maps on file were installed. Specific instructions for 

 taking forest photographs were furnished the members of the Service, 

 and other steps to improve the general standard of forest views were 

 taken. 



QUARTERS. 



No considerable increase in the rental of office rooms has been 

 made during the past year. Arrangements have been made for the 

 occupancy of three rooms on the first floor of the Atlantic Building 

 as storage rooms for instruments, field equipment, and office supplies, 

 which permits the loading and unloading of shipments direct to and 

 from the property rooms. 



FILES AND FILING. 



The system of filing correspondence was found satisfactory both 

 in security and in economy of operation. A fireproof vault installed 

 in the basement of the Atlantic Building at the beginning of the year 

 provided a convenient and safe place of storage for valuable records. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



During the year 65,861 official communications were received in 

 the Forest Service, and 61,713 were sent out. 



STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING. 



The concentration in this section of stenographers not assigned 

 to offices continued to show a marked gain in the amount and char- 

 acter of the work done. It has resulted in developing a corps of 

 skilled stenographers and copyists capable of meeting with prompt- 

 ness the various needs of the Service. During the year 1,451 items 

 H. Doc. 6, 59-1 24 



