of their reports as published. It is believed that this has greatly stimulated consular officers to make better reports.

During the year much greater discretion has been used in sending questionnaires to consuls, so that only the questionnaires most pertinent for the consular district concerned are submitted for action. The replies to these specific questionnaires have been, in the main. highly satisfactory.

An adequate system of distributing reports from commercial attachés and trade commissioners to all departments of the Govern ment has been devised and put into effect. A weekly list of reports received is submitted to the liaison officers of all the departments and reports that they request are made available to them.

One of the greatest accomplishments of the year was the agree ment upon and putting into effect of the Executive order of April 24, 1924. This order provides, in brief, for an exchange of informa tion between the field officers of the Department of Commerce and consular officers fortnightly on reports on preparation and those contemplated, so as to avoid duplication; that any field officers of the United States abroad may call upon any other field officer for infor mation in the preparation of reports; for general supervision over the activities of all field officers by the chief diplomatic officer in th country wherein they are stationed; and for a general exchange of information between officers of the various departments, so as to avoid duplication in reporting and promote interests of the Unite States abroad.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The following are, in my opinion, the essential needs of the Bureat of Foreign and Domestic Commerce:

1. Adequate legislation to place the foreign service of the department on a permanent basis.

2. Additional offices in foreign countries, particularly in the Carib bean region and various trade centers in South America, where inadequate communication facilities make the establishment of branc offices very essential. With the settlement of the outstanding prob lems in Europe the bureau must have larger facilities for observing European competition in Latin America.

3. A larger appropriation for the work of the division of domesti

commerce.

4. Adequate facilities for meeting the constantly growing demand for prompt and detailed statistical work, particularly as regards data on trade in specific commodities along the lines of the monthly statements now issued for chemicals and cotton and woolen textiles 5. Legislation authorizing the bureau to send experts and exhibits to trade conventions and to charge fees for enrollment on the Exporters' Index.

Very truly yours,

JULIUS KLEIN, Director.

BUREAU OF STANDARDS

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE,
BUREAU OF STANDARDS,
Washington, July 1, 1924.

Hon. HERBERT HOOVER,

Secretary of Commerce.

DEAR MR. SECRETARY: In response to your request I furnish the following condensed report upon the work of the bureau during the past year:

COOPERATIVE ACTIVITIES

The bureau has official responsibilities in connection with many branches of the Federal Government, as well as with certain national organizations. Thus, the director is ex officio chairman of the Federal Specifications Board and of the National Screw Thread Commission, and a member of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and the National Research Council. He is serving this year as president of the American Society for Steel Treating and of the Annual Conference on Weights and Measures, and on the executive committee as past president of the American Society for Testing Materials. The assistant director is a member of the President's Committee on Patent Policy. On the American Engineering Standards Committee the department is represented by the director, assistant director, and chief of the division on mechanics and sound. In the field of technology and science the director is chairman of several joint committees, such as the Joint Committee on Sulphur and Phosphorus in Steel, and the Committee on Welded Rail Joints, and is a member of others, including the Joint Committee on Molding Sand Research. The bureau is carrying out experimental work in cooperation with these and other national organizations, and members of the staff are serving on numerous committees of such organizations, representing many engineering, technical, and scientific activities of the country. The accomplishments of these cooperative activities for the past year will be found recorded under the appropriate headings of this report.

NATIONAL SCREW THREAD COMMISSION

During the past year eight meetings have been held, and a second report, to be known as the 1924 Report of the National Screw Thread Commission, is nearly ready for submission to the Secretaries of War, Navy, and Commerce for their acceptance and approval in accordance with the provisions of law.

The screw-thread standards established by the commission have already been widely accepted by the manufacturing industry, have

been approved by the American Engineering Standards Committe as an American standard, and their general acceptance and use constitute the greatest single step recently taken in standardization as applied to interchangeable manufacture.

FEDERAL SPECIFICATIONS BOARD

This board is composed of one representative from each executive department and independent establishment which purchases supplies under specifications.

The board now has 65 technical committees at work on groups of related items of specifications, the several technical committees being composed of experts officially designated from the interested activities of the Government. The bureau has taken a prominent part in the work of nearly all of the technical committees, and the chairmanships of 24 committees are held by Bureau of Standards experts. In connection with the development and formulation of the master specifications a great deal of research work has been done. One hundred and sixty-two master specifications have been promulgated as official Government standards.

HANDBOOK OF SPECIFICATIONS

During the past year contacts have been established with organizations representing consumers and with organizations which speak for all of the major branches of industry and in some cases with the lesser branches of industry, both organized and unorganized. All trade associations and technical societies having national recognition known to be interested directly or indirectly in specifications have been communicated with, as have also more than 500 public purchasing agencies, as well as the Federal departments and independent establishments. More than 1,000 of these organizations have been requested to supply copies of their specifications for consideration in connection with the compilation of material for the dictionary or handbook of specifications.

More than 30,000 cards have been prepared for a preliminary classified index of the existing specifications now on file at the bureau. Work thus far has been concentrated on making as complete as possible the collection of existing specifications issued by the public purchasers and the nationally recognized trade associations, technical societies, and public utilities, and on making the classified index thereto as accurate as can be. The next step will be the selection of one or more thoroughly satisfactory well-recognized specifications for each of the important commodities.

How to determine the most satisfactory specifications and how to issue them in the most convenient manner for the use of the public purchasers are among the problems now being given consideration by a representative advisory board. This board is made up as follows: American Electric Railway Association; American Engineering Standards Committee; American Hospital Association; American Hotel Association; American Society for Testing Materials; Associated Business Papers (Inc.); Associated for Government Service; Chamber of Commerce of the United States; National Asso

ciation of Manufacturers; National Association of Purchasing Agents; National Conference of Business Paper Editors; National Conference of Governmental Purchasing Agents; National Electric Light Association; and Society of Automotive Engineers.

AMERICAN ENGINEERING STANDARDS COMMITTEE

Three members of the Bureau of Standards have continued to represent the department on this important committee supported by the engineering organizations of the country. Under its procedure the bureau is "sponsor" or joint sponsor for 14 engineering standardization projects and is represented on 66 others.

PAN AMERICAN STANDARDIZATION

The projects on Pan American standardization of commodities of industrial and engineering interest which the department is fostering through a representative committee, whose chairman is a member of the Bureau of Standards staff, have been outlined and a tentative program drawn up for consideration at the forthcoming Scientific Congress in Lima, Peru, in December. Emphasis is being laid on standards and grades for raw materials, the products of the Pan American countries.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Dr. S. W. Stratton attended a meeting of the International Conference on Weights and Measures at Paris. To the international bureau has been delegated the task of a more complete correlation of standards of measurement among the signatory countries. The Bureau of Standards has also been in communication with the international bureau and other national bureaus looking to international agreements on (1) the temperature scale; (2) the ratio of the yard to the meter; (3) photometric units; (4) electrical standards; (5) radio standards; (6) X-ray standards and technique; and (7) sugar standards. The bureau was represented at the World Power Conference and the meeting of the International Electro-Technical Commission in London and at the meeting of the International Commission on Illumination at Geneva, Switzerland, as well as at meetings of the French and English Physical Societies, and at a wool-standardization conference in England.

AVOIDANCE OF DUPLICATION

Conferences have been held with directors of other bureaus, such as mines and chemistry, as well as with representatives of the Bureau of Efficiency and the chief coordinator, for consideration of borderland activities, and cordial understandings have been reached in practically all matters concerning which there had been uncertainties of jurisdiction and possibilities of duplication.

VISITING COMMITTEE

The membership of this committee the past year consisted of S. W. Stratton, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology;

F. W. McNair, president of Michigan College of Mines; J. R. Freeman, of Providence, R. I.; Prof. W. D. Bancroft, of Cornell Uni versity; and A. Swazey, of Cleveland, Ohio. The committee has held two formal meetings at the bureau and several of its members have visited the bureau at other times.

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