ments, and a seagoing vessel is needed for use in connection with the marine hatchery at Boothbay Harbor, Me. An increase in the general appropriation for propagation of food fishes is urged, and is provided for in the estimates submitted, for the proper operation of new hatcheries on Puget Sound, for repairs and improvements to prevent depreciation of station property, for increased facilities, and for the natural expansion of operations. Owing to the approaching completion of the Fairport (Iowa) station and its operation on a large scale as a mussel hatchery and experiment station, a small addition to the present appropriation for the division of inquiry respecting food fishes is essential. PERSONNEL. In the estimates submitted to the Secretary for appropriations required for the operations of the Bureau for the fiscal year 1913, changes are made in the designation, compensation, and status of certain employees and provision is made for several new positions, for reasons that have been fully set forth and need not be reiterated here. Among these items that are strongly recommended are: (1) To change the title of chief clerk to assistant in charge of office and increase his compensation from $2,400 to $3,000 per annum; (2) to increase the salary of librarian from $1,200 to $1,500; (3) to establish in the division of fish culture the position of senior clerk, at $1,800 per annum, who shall act as special aid to the assistant in charge and relieve him of manifold routine duties; (4) to create in the division of inquiry respecting food fishes the position of fish pathologist, at $2,500 per annum, and to provide for one additional scientific assistant, at $2,000 per annum; (5) in the Alaska fisheries service, to increase the salaries of two physicians at the seal islands from $1,200 to $1,800 per annum and to raise the salaries of the wardens and four deputy wardens. The deputy commissioner, the agents at Alaska salmon fisheries, and the wardens in the Alaska fisheries service are now nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. It is believed that these positions should be included in the classified civil service and be filled by direct appointment by the Secretary, and this recommendation is embodied in the estimates submitted. The Commissioner takes this occasion to express to the chiefs and subordinates in all branches of the service his appreciation of their loyal support and cooperation, which have resulted in efficient and economic performance of the duties imposed by law, and he renews the recommendation of former years for a general readjustment of salaries, so that adequate compensation, commensurate with individual responsibility and capacity and with changed economic conditions, may be given throughout the service. Respectfully, To Hon. CHARLES NAGEL, GEO. M. BOWERS, Commissioner. Secretary of Commerce and Labor. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF LIGHTHOUSES. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, BUREAU OF LIGHTHOUSES, Washington, November 16, 1911. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911: ORGANIZATION. The act of Congress of June 17, 1910, providing for a reorganization of the Lighthouse Service, went into effect July 1, 1910, and the present report covers the first year of operation under this law. In brief, the effect of this law is to provide for a more direct administration by placing the Lighthouse Service under a simple bureau form of organization instead of under a board. In this Bureau four officers are appointed by the President a Commissioner of Lighthouses, a Deputy Commissioner, a Chief Constructing Engineer, and a Superintendent of Naval Construction. The law also authorizes the rearrangement of the ocean and lake coasts of the United States and Porto Rico into not exceeding 19 lighthouse districts, and provides that a lighthouse inspector shall be in charge of each district. The President, however, is authorized to assign Army and Navy officers to act in lieu of the appointment of civilian lighthouse inspectors for a period not exceeding three years from the taking effect of the act; that is, until June 30, 1913. The President is also authorized to designate Army engineers as inspectors in the districts which include the Mississippi River and its tributaries, and to detail officers of the Engineer Corps for consultation or superintendence of the construction or repair of aids to navigation. The four officers provided for in the act have been appointed by the President. The Commissioner of Lighthouses and the Deputy Commissioner took office on July 1, 1910, the Chief Constructing Engineer on December 5, 1910, and the Superintendent of Naval Construction on December 1, 1910. Although the law became effective July 1, 1910, its full intent, particularly as to the organization in the lighthouse districts, has necessarily been carried out gradually. The civilian lighthouse inspectors authorized by the law were not appointed during the fiscal year for the reason that no appropriations had been made for their salaries. Such appropriations, however, became available on July 1, 1911. Since then and up to the date of this report, five civilian inspectors have been appointed by promotion in the Lighthouse Service. Officers of the Navy were continued on duty as lighthouse inspectors in the coast and lake districts, and officers of the Engineer Corps of the Army were designated as inspectors in the three river districts. Officers of the Engineer Corps have also continued their relation to the Lighthouse Service in the other districts, available for consultation as provided by law. An important effect of the new law has been the consolidation of the work in the lighthouse districts. The entire work in each district has been placed in charge of a single officer, the lighthouse inspector, instead of under two officers as heretofore. This plan was carried into effect on July 31, 1910, in all the districts excepting the Seventeenth, and in that district on September 24, 1910. It has resulted in having but a single office and office force in each district, and a single system for the use of the lighthouse tenders and all the equipment and supplies of the district, whereas there were formerly two organizations in each district, reporting independently to the headquarters in Washington. There has, in consequence, been a saving in personnel, in rents of offices and docks, and particularly in the use of lighthouse tenders. Five of these vessels were sold or otherwise disposed of during the past fiscal year, as being no longer seaworthy without expensive repairs, and also as not required under the reorganization. The officers and crews of these vessels were placed on furlough. A machine shop heretofore maintained in the Second district has been discontinued, and this work transferred to the general lighthouse depot. The following is a general outline of the present organization of the Lighthouse Service: There is an office in Washington, which is the executive center of the Service, under the Commissioner of Lighthouses and the Deputy Commissioner. There are in this office an engineering construction division, under the Chief Constructing Engineer; a naval construction division, under the Superintendent of Naval Construction; a hydrographic division, under an assistant engineer, and the general office force, under the chief clerk. The Service outside of Washington is divided into 19 lighthouse districts, each of which is under the charge of a lighthouse inspector. In each district there is a central office at a location selected on account of either its maritime importance or its geographical position, and there are also one or more lighthouse depots located conveniently for carrying on the work of the district, in the matter of storing and distributing supplies and apparatus. Each district is provided with one or more lighthouse tenders for the purpose of distributing supplies to the various stations and light vessels and for transportation of materials for construction or repair, for the placing and care of the buoyage system in the district, and for transporting the inspector and other officers of the service on official inspections of stations and vessels and on other official duty. In |