history, and general literature. A quarterly list of the additions to the library is published, and several lists of books on agricultural subjects have been issued. Succeeding Mr. Russell as librarian were Mrs. Ernestine H. Stevens, who served from November 1, 1877, and William Parker Cutter, who was appointed August 28, 1893. The present librarian, Miss Josephine A. Clark, was appointed on December 31, 1900, to succeed Mr. Cutter.

The librarian has charge of the library and supervises the arrangement and cataloguing of books, the preparation of bibliographies and similar publications, and the purchase of new books. The mailing lists for the distribution of Department publications to foreign countries are under the supervision of the librarian.

LEGISLATION AND EXPENSES.

LAW CREATING THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

The Department of Agriculture was established by an act of Congress approved by President Lincoln, May 15, 1862. The full text of the act is as follows:

AN ACT to establish a Department of Agriculture.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby established at the seat of the government of the United States a Department of Agriculture, the general designs and duties of which shall be to acquire and to diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and plants.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a "Commissioner of Agriculture," who shall be the Chief Executive officer of the Department of Agriculture, who shall hold his office by a tenure similar to that of other civil officers appointed by the President, and who shall receive for his compensation a salary of three thousand dollars per annum.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Agriculture to acquire and preserve in his Department all information concerning agriculture which he can obtain by means of books and correspondence and by practical and scientific experiments (accurate records of which experiments shall be kept in his office), by the collection of statistics, and by any other appropriate means within his power; to collect, as he may be able, new and valuable seeds and plants; to test by cultivation the value of such of them as may require such tests; to propagate such as may be worthy of propagation, and to distribute them among agriculturists. He shall annually make a general report in writing of his acts to the President and to Congress, in which he may recommend the publication of papers forming parts of or accompanying his report, which report shall also contain an account of all moneys received and expended by him. He shall also make special reports on particular subjects whenever required to do so by the President or either House of Congress, or when he shall think the subject in his charge requires it. He shall receive and have charge of all the property of the agricultural division of the Patent Office in the Department of the Interior, including the fixtures and property of the propagating garden. He shall direct and superintend the expenditure of all money appropriated by Congress to the Department and render accounts thereof, and also of all money heretofore appropriated for agriculture and remaining unexpended. And said Commissioner may send and receive through the mails, free of charge, all communications and other matter pertaining to the business of his department, not exceeding in weight 32 ounces.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of Agriculture shall appoint a chief clerk, with a salary of two thousand dollars, who in all cases during the necessary

absence of the Commissioner, or when the said principal office shall become vacant, shall perform the duties of Commissioner, and he shall appoint such other employees as Congress may from time to time provide, with salaries corresponding to the salaries of similar officers in other departments of the Government; and he shall, as Congress may from time to time provide, employ other persons, for such time as their services may be needed, including chemists, botanists, entomologists, and other persons skilled in the natural sciences pertaining to agriculture. And the said Commissioner, and every other person to be appointed in the said Department, shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office or appointment, make oath or affirmation truly and faithfully to execute the trust committed to him. And the said Commissioner and the chief clerk shall also, before entering upon their duties, severally give bonds with sureties to the Treasurer of the United States, the former in the sum of ten thousand dollars and the latter in the sum of five thousand dollars, conditional to render a true and faithful account to him or his successor in office quarter-yearly accounts of all moneys which shall be by them received by virtue of the said office, with sureties to be approved as sufficient by the Solicitor of the Treasury; which bonds shall be filed in the office of the First Comptroller of the Treasury, to be by him put in suit upon any breach of the conditions thereof. (12 Stat. L., 387.)

CHANGE IN RANK OF THE DEPARTMENT.

The Department was made an Executive office of the first rank under the law approved by President Cleveland February 9, 1889. By that act the title of the head of the Department was changed from Commissioner to Secretary, and he became a member of the President's Cabinet.

AN ACT to enlarge the powers and duties of the Department of Agriculture and to create an Executive Department to be known as the Department of Agriculture.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Department of Agriculture be an Executive Department under the supervision and control of the Secretary of Agriculture, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; and section one hundred and fifty-eight of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended to include such Department, and the provisions of title four of the Revised Statutes, including all amendments thereto, are hereby made applicable to said Department.

SEC. 2. That there shall be in said Department an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall perform such duties as may be required by law or prescribed by the Secretary.

SEC. 3. That the Secretary of Agriculture shall receive the same salary as is paid to the Secretary of each of the Executive Departments and the salary of the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture shall be the same as that now paid to the First Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior.

SEC. 4. That all laws and parts of laws relating to the Department of Agriculture now in existence, as far as the same are applicable and not in conflict with this act, and only so far, are continued in full force and effect. (25 Stat. L., 659.)

Several other changes have been made in the law, including an amendment which repeals the requirement that the Commissioner (Secretary) and chief clerk give bond. Neither is now charged with any Government property or money.

LAW CREATING THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY.

The Bureau of Animal Industry was established as an integral branch of Department activity by a law approved on May 29, 1884. The text of that law is as follows:

AN ACT for the establishment of a Bureau of Animal Industry, to prevent the exportation of diseased cattle, and to provide means for the suppression and extirpation of pleuro-pneumonia and other contagious diseases among domestic animals.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Commissioner of Agriculture shall organize in his department a Bureau of Animal Industry, and shall appoint a chief thereof, who shall be a competent veterinary surgeon, and whose duty it shall be to investigate and report upon the condition of the domestic animals of the United States, their protection and use, and also inquire into and report the causes of contagious, infectious, and communicable diseases among them, and the means for the prevention and cure of the same, and to collect such information on these subjects as shall be valuable to the agricultural and commercial interests of the country; and the Commissioner of Agriculture is hereby authorized to employ a force sufficient for this purpose, not to exceed twenty persons at any one time. The salary of the chief of said bureau shall be three thousand dollars per annum; and the Commissioner shall appoint a clerk for said bureau, with a salary of one thousand five hundred dollars per annum.

SEC. 2. That the Commissioner of Agriculture is authorized to appoint two competent agents, who shall be practical stock raisers or experienced business men familiar with questions pertaining to commercial transactions in live stock, whose duty it shall be, under the instructions of the Commissioner of Agriculture, to examine and report upon the best methods of treating, transporting, and caring for animals, and the means to be adopted for the suppression and extirpation of contagious pleuro-pneumonia, and to provide against the spread of other dangerous contagious, infectious, and communicable diseases. The compensation of said agents shall be at the rate of ten dollars per diem, with all necessary expenses, while engaged in the actual performance of their duties under this act when absent from their usual place of business or residence as such agent.

SEC. 3. That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Agriculture to prepare such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary for the speedy and effectual suppression and extirpation of said diseases, and to certify such rules and regulations to the executive authority of each State and Territory, and invite said authorities to cooperate in the execution and enforcement of this act. Whenever the plans and methods of the Commissioner of Agriculture shall be accepted by any State or Territory in which pleuro-pneumonia or other contagious, infectious, or communicable disease is declared to exist, or such State or Territory shall have adopted plans and methods for the suppression and extirpation of . said diseases, and such plans and methods shall be accepted by the Commissioner of Agriculture, and whenever the governor of a State or other properly constituted authorities signify their readiness to cooperate for the extinction of any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease in conformity with the provisions of this act, the Commissioner of Agriculture is hereby authorized to expend so much of the money appropriated by this act as may be necessary in such investigations, and in such disinfection and quarantine measures as may be necessary to prevent the spread of the disease from one State or Territory into another.

SEC. 4. That in order to promote the exportation of live stock from the United States the Commissioner of Agriculture shall make special investigation as to the existence of pleuro-pneumonia, or any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease, along the dividing lines between the United States and foreign countries, and along the lines of transportation from all parts of the United States to ports from which live stock are exported, and