344 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



making compilations. During the fiscal year the official correspondence 

 of the office aggregated 653 letters, covering 848 pages. Of this 440 

 letters, covering 530 pages, were written to collectors of customs and 

 other officials of the Treasury Department relating to statistics reported 

 on Treasury circulars. 



4. Miscellaneous correspondence. — There has been a considerable amount 

 of* miscellaneous correspondence relating to the business of the office. 

 This has been chiefly with the Executive Departments, the committees 

 of Congress, and the International Fisheries Commission, and has related 

 principally to matters connected with the fishery relations between the 

 United States and Canada. As will be seen from the foregoing para- 

 graph, 213 letters of this character were written during the year. 



5. Preparing a card catalogue. — A card catalogue is kept of fishing ves- 

 sels sailing from the United States upon which is recorded all informa- 

 tion of the fishing fleet that is obtained from the bureau reports, letters 

 and records of Fish Commission agents, newspapers, etc. This is alpha- 

 betically arranged, according to names, and contains, in addition to 

 names, rig, tonnage, and hailing port, all information obtained regard- 

 ing each vessel that relates to her movements, etc., including fares of 

 fish landed, where landed, date, etc. Thus a life history of each vessel 

 is recorded, and it is thereby feasible to trace its work and movements, 

 so far as information concerning it has been received. 



6. Classification of newspaper items. — Items relating to the fisheries 

 which have been clipped from newspapers are received from various 

 sources, but chiefly from established agencies, These are pasted on 

 paper and filed. A rough classification has been attempted, but the 

 system now in vogue is inadequate to the needs of the office, and can 

 be materially improved. I have made an extensive private collection 

 of material of this character, much of which has been systematically 

 classified. This has been placed at the service of the division. 



7. Increase of routine rvorlc, etc. — In considering the routine work of 

 the office it is proper to state that it has increased to such an extent 

 that the force which could be assigned to it without any special provis- 

 ion by Congress has been found inadequate, and it has been necessary 

 to make extra exertion to keep current work from getting behindhand. 

 This inadequacy was greatly increased in the latter part of the year by 

 the assignment of myself and several clerks to duty in connection with 

 the preparation of the Fish Commission exhibit for the Cincinnati Ex- 

 position. 



F. — Status of uncompleted reports. 



8. General considerations. — Allusion has already been made to the 

 fact that, at the date of the organization of this division, reports con- 

 cerning certain important investigations of special fisheries were either 

 incomplete or had not been begun. The paramount importance of pre- 

 paring these reports for publication as soon as practicable is so evident 



