404 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
supposed corruption, even with the immense pressure 
behind them, it did not materialize. 
The situation was most disappointing to the new- 
comers. However, there was one group in which the strict 
business methods of the departments had not been so 
generally introduced, namely, the scientific bureaus. In 
the Coast Survey, the Geological Survey and the Fish 
Commission the internal workings had been largely based 
upon honor. Scientific work to be efficient must not be 
too rigidly hampered by red tape. Their relations with 
outside business were normally exact. Here, then, the 
probe might be applied. 
The history of the attack upon the bureaus has not 
been written and this is not the place to record it except 
as it relates to Professor Baird. To be brief, from the 
office of one of the auditors of the Treasury, by the back 
door as it were, tales of misdemeanors were furnished to 
the reporters of the partisan press, which lost nothing 
in the writing up. ‘These stories were not confined to 
activities of the Bureaus, but reflected in the most serious 
way upon individuals. Mostly they were pure fiction, 
based on unfounded suspicion. 
Appropriations were held up, vouchers not honored, 
the work of the Bureaus dislocated. 
The vouchers for the residence at the Wood’s Hole 
station of the Fish Commission were held up, and 
unofficial slanders continued to appear. 
These conditions deeply affected Baird, who returned 
to Washington and demanded an investigation by the 
President. ‘The suspended vouchers were explained to 
the Controller of the Treasury, and by November rgth 
they were pronounced in proper order and passed. This, 
however, did not end the matter; when Congress convened 
