HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 287 
This is a hardship on the importer, which he objects to very strongly, 
but thus far there has been no way out of it. : 
The Cuarrman. You say that is a hardship on the importer; what 
is the object of most of the importation of animals—menagerie 
purposes ? 
Mr. Merriam. In asmall percentage of cases they are for menageries. 
The Cuarrman. In other words, there is a very small percentage 
for the commercial good of the country ? 
Mr. Merriam. Most of them are for private preserves, game pre- 
serves, which are becoming very numerous all over the country, and 
others are unusual pets; but most of them are imported through 
dealers. And dealers complain. The dealers in merchandise of vari- 
ous kinds have Government examination by custom officials without 
cost to them, but here we discriminate against them in the matter of 
live animals and birds, and make them pay for the inspection of their 
own goods, which is $5 an inspection. That could be put under the 
existing law—the same fee to the inspectors. It does not amount to 
much after all. In New York City this year there were only 125 
inspections, which would be only $625. 
The Cuarrman. What becomes of that money? 
Mr. Merriam. The inspectors keep it. It is paid to the inspectors. 
They are not employed by the Government at all. They simply agree 
to go on call to inspect any incoming cargo, and they are notified by 
the collector of customs and also by the importers; and they have to 
leave their business-—-they are all business men—and go down and 
examine these things at once. We have to have three in New York, 
three alternates, because it has happened that one has been sick when a 
large importation came in; so to obviate such an embarrassment we 
have had three. In one case Doctor Palmer had to go from here to 
New York to examine a large shipment. 
The Cuarrman. A large shipment of what? 
Mr. Merriam. Of birds. Some very large consignments came there 
at once. 
Then, in the way of field work we need more money under all three 
of the lines. In the work of the geographical distribution and map- 
ping the life zones and crop zones in detail, we are able to work only 
a comparatively small part of each year. Each field party has a small 
allotment, and when that is used Be has to come back. It would be 
much more economical if they could stay out the full season without 
having to come back to Washington as soon as their allotments are 
expended. 
The Cuarrman. What beneficial results to the agricultural interests 
of the country have you obtained from this work of mapping the crop 
and animal zones? 
Mr. Merriam. We show the areas where certain crops can be 
raised and where they can not. 
The Cuarrman. Have not people very generally found out where 
they can raise things and where they can not? 
Mr. Merriam. Those that have found out have found out by an 
expensive method, by spending hundreds and thousands of dollars, 
where a few dollars This is one of the maps [showing and dis- 
tributing them to the members]. Those maps show, in a general way, 
on a very small scale what we are doing in mapping the areas that are 
fit for cultivation of certain crops. 
