COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.

In its endeavor to secure the most effective action with State agencies seeking the improvement of efficiency and the lessening of accidents in the mineral industries, the Bureau of Mines, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, has made cooperative agreements with State organizations and with State universities and mining schools.

In the past fiscal year investigations as outlined were conducted under the terms of cooperative agreements with the universities, mining schools, and State organizations named below:

University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.-Improvement of conditions in the mining, quarrying, metallurgical, and miscellaneous mineral industries, with special reference to the treatment of lowgrade copper ores.

Industrial Accident Commission of California.-Improvement of conditions in mining, quarrying, metallurgical, and other mineral industries, safeguarding life among employees, and preventing unnecessary waste of resources.

University of California, Berkeley, Calif.-Improvement of conditions in mining, quarrying, metallurgical, and other mineral industries, with special reference to quicksilver and the precious metals. University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho.-Investigations aimed at the improving of conditions in the mining, quarrying, metallurgical and cther mineral industries, with special reference to the losses that take place in the mining and milling of lead and zinc ores; safeguarding life among employees and preventing unnecessary waste of resources. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colo.-Recovery of values from rare metals and from low-grade and complex ores.

Engineering experiment station of the University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill., and Illinois Geological Survey.-Study of coal-mining methods, means of promoting the safety of coal miners, and methods of utilizing coal.

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.—Improving conditions in the mining, quarrying, metallurgical, and other mineral industries, especially in connection with the mining and concentration of iron and manganese ores, safeguarding life among employees, and preventing unnecessary waste of resources.

Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.-Increased efficiency in the utilization of mineral substances necessary to the ceramic industry, stimulating and upbuilding this industry and substituting ceramic products of American manufacture for those now imported.

Oregon Bureau of Mines and Geology.-Improvement of conditions in the mining, quarrying, metallurgical and other mineral in

dustries, safeguarding life among employees and preventing unnecessary waste of resources.

Industrial Commission of the State of Utah.-Methods of mining that relate to health, sanitation, and safety conditions, and the appliances best adapted to prevent accidents in mines, mills and smelters; the improvement of conditions affecting health and safety in mining, milling and smelting; improvements in the use of explosives and electricity in such operations; inquiries and investigations relating to health, sanitation, and safety in the mining and metallurgical industries, and the obtaining of prompt and reliable reports of personnel accidents in such industries.

State School of Mines of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Recovery of valuable minerals from low-grade and complex ores, the prevention of waste and the increase of efficiency in the preparation, treatment and utilization of mineral substances.

University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.-Improvement of condition in the mining, quarrying, metallurgical and other mineral industries, with special reference to mining and preparation of coals, dressing low-grade ores, and electrometallurgy; safeguarding life among employees and preventing unnecessary waste of resources.

ORGANIZATION.

As a result of the signing of the armistice and the immediate cessation of hostilities by American forces, work on various investigations was suspended, and various members of the bureau, feeling that their country no longer needed their services, resigned. The administrative divisions, each in charge of a division chief who reported to the director, continued during the year, the work of explosives regulation and the investigations relating to war minerals being grouped in separate divisions.

The strictly administrative work at the bureau headquarters in Washington, D. C., continued under the immediate supervision of the director, Van. H. Manning. H. Foster Bain was assistant director until his resignation June 11, 1919. D. A. Lyon acted as supervisor of mining experiment stations. The local administration of the Pittsburgh mining experiment station was intrusted to O. P. Hood, chief mechanical engineer, until August 16, 1918, when it was intrusted to D. A. Lyon. L. H. Duschak, chemical engineer, acted as administrative head of the station at Berkeley, Calif.; R. B. Moore, physical chemist, acted in a similar capacity for the station at Golden, Colo.; Edmund Newton, mining engineer and metallurgist, was in charge of the Minneapolis station up to September, 1918, when he was succeeded by C. E. Julihn; J. O. Lewis, petroleum engineer, was superintendent of the Bartlesville,

Okla., station until January 22, when he became chief petroleum technologist, and was succeeded at Bartlesville by W. P. Dykema. Thomas Varley, metallurgist, was in charge of the station at Salt Lake City, Utah; F. K. Ovitz, ore-dressing engineer, was in charge of the station at Seattle, Wash., and C. E. van Barneveld was supervising engineer and metallurgist of the station at Tucson, Ariz. E. A. Holbrook, mining engineer, was in charge of the station at Urbana, Ill.; R. T. Stull, chief ceramist, was superintendent of the ceramics station at Columbus, Ohio; J. A. Davis, mining engineer, was in charge of the Alaska station at Fairbanks, and C. P. Bowie, petroleum engineer, was in charge of the office in San Francisco, Calif.

F. J. Bailey, chief clerk, had charge of routine administrative matters at the Washington office. J. W. Thompson and P. S. Black, law examiners; and A. H. Fay, mining engineer, charged with the collection of mine-accident statistics, were also stationed in Washington.

The general supervision of the bureau's library and the conduct of affairs with respect to publications, personnel, mails and files, supplies, and accounting were centered at the Washington office.

In addition to his other duties, the director has general supervision of the work of the Federal mine inspector for Alaska, and the inspection of coal mines on Indian or Government lands in Oklahoma and Wyoming.

By reason of the many changes in personnel, the magnitude of the war work that had been done, and the need of reorganizing the bureau's activities so as to coordinate the work of the experiment stations, the advisability of a general reorganization of the bureau became evident by the end of the fiscal year. The general plan of organization adopted after thorough discussion and with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior is shown by the accompanying diagram, Plate I.

The divisions that did investigative work during the fiscal year 1919 and the chief investigations undertaken are named below.

MINING DIVISION.

George S. Rice, chief mining engineer, stationed at Washington, had charge of the mining division.

J. W. Paul, chief coal-mining engineer, had charge of all field investigations and all work at the experimental mine pertaining to coal mining. The mining engineers in charge of the several field districts are named on pages 686 to 689.

D. J. Parker, mine-safety engineer, stationed at Pittsburgh, had charge of mine-rescue operations, the testing of mine-rescue apparatus, the training of miners in first-aid and rescue methods, and the conduct of rescue and first-aid contests.