tariff changes that are now in prospect in many foreign countries and the consequent impossibility of presenting data that would retain their accuracy for any considerable period. Moreover, the insufficient staff of the division would have made it impracticable, in any case, to undertake the translating and tabulating involved in such work.

The division has, as always, kept fully informed concerning tariff movements in foreign countries, and this task has been especially exacting because of the many tariff changes, resulting mainly from the economic dislocation that attended and followed the World War.

INCREASED ACTIVITY IN CORRESPONDENCE AND DISTRIBUTION WORK.

The correspondence of the Bureau registered a substantial increase over the preceding fiscal year. There were about 150,000 incoming letters, while the total outgoing correspondence (comprising general answers to inquiries and not including mimeographed communications) approximated 115,000 pieces. More than half of the outgoing correspondence originated and was prepared in the correspondence section of the division of correspondence and distribution. The division answered a very great variety of trade inquiries.

This division includes, also, the distribution section, which sends out Bureau publications, circulars, and trade lists, and the commercial-intelligence section, which maintains a World Trade Directory of business houses and prospective buyers and agents. About 17,000 new reports on foreign firms were received for this directory during the past fiscal year. The commercial-intelligence section prepared 831 separate commodity trade lists, showing the character of business conducted by all the firms named and "starred," in most instances, to indicate their relative size. More than 500,000 copies of such lists were distributed to American business men during the year. This service is growing in popularity and importance.

EDITORIAL DIVISION.

The editorial division handled, as usual, a very large number of reports. The commercial attachés and trade commissioners, representing the Bureau in foreign countries, sent in 4,962 reports during the year, an increase of 1,482 over the previous fiscal year. On the other hand, the number of registered consular reports decreased from 22,610 in 1920 to 19,825 in 1921; the discontinuance, in the fall of 1920, of the practice of numbering trade letters accounts for most of this difference. A decrease of 40 per cent took place in the Foreign Trade Opportunities, the number in 1921 being 1,926 as compared with 3,364 in 1920.

Material edited in the division during the year amounted to approximately 11,600 printed pages. Eleven monographs were prepared for publication in the Special Agents Series, 61 in the Industrial Standards Series, 3 in the Miscellaneous Series, and 1 in the Special Consular Series. During the year there were 6,592 pages in the daily Commerce Reports and 1,219 pages in the Supplements, the latter containing the annual reports of American consular officers. The publication of the Supplements was discontinued at the end of the year 1920, principally as a measure of economy, by reason of the shortage in the printing appropriation. Since that time the more significant of the annual reviews have been published, in condensed form, in Commerce Reports itself.

A new feature in Commerce Reports that has been well received by the business community is the "Monthly cable service," comprising strictly up-to-date information cabled to the Bureau by the commercial attachés and trade commissioners throughout the world. At the end of the fiscal year, steps were being taken to publish Commerce Reports weekly, instead of daily. This important change went into effect September 6. The size and make-up were greatly altered. The various articles are now grouped under commodity headings, such as "Textiles," "Chemicals," "Machinery," etc. In the past, there has been no definite classification of articles. The new Commerce Reports have at least 64 pages each week.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

The Bureau requires great additional strength if it is to serve the purpose really intended by Congress and meet the demands that are made upon it by the business men of the country in their present distress. Not only should more attention be given to trade promotion, with which the Bureau has been almost exclusively concerned in the past, but it should be possible to make the more detailed economic surveys abroad that are now so indispensable because of the enormous financial interest we have in foreign fields. There never has been a time in the past, and perhaps may never be in the future, when accurate economic data on the situation in foreign countries was so vital to our material well-being.

Before the close of the fiscal year under review Congress provided funds for the establishment of commodity divisions in the Bureau, and shortly after the beginning of the new year a sufficient number of high-class men were found to organize some 12 or 14 such divisions. These divisions will not only organize and direct the collection of information abroad concerning their commodities (such as textiles, coal, machinery, etc.), but will set up, with the active help

of the industries themselves, the machinery for the best possible distribution of such information. These divisions are revolutionizing the methods of the Bureau and should be considered a long and important step in the right direction. Next year another long step should be taken and money should be forthcoming to expand the work along logical lines.

Congress has also very wisely provided a new technical division to handle the difficult subject of foreign commercial laws. The unit was in operation shortly after July 1, 1921. The Bureau should have more technical divisions of this sort to provide really expert advice on such subjects as foreign credits, packing, and transportation.

The regional, or geographic, divisions are in process of reorganization, but this reorganization will of necessity fall short of what is needed because of the inadequate funds available for the work. The new commodity divisions will not displace the regional divisions, which must continue to be relied upon for the surveys of general economic conditions in foreign countries.

With improved prospects for adequately staffing the Washington office, the necessity for keying up the foreign staff to the point where it can keep pace with the demand from the directing force of experts at home is at once apparent. The service of the Bureau as a whole can not be better than the weaker of its two branches, whether it be the home office or the foreign service.

Appendix D. ABSTRACT OF REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR

OF THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS.

(S. W. STRATTON, Director.)

The National Bureau of Standards is engaged in industrial research and standardization. The work is grouped under standards of quality for materials, standards of performance for devices, and standards of practice for utilities, scientifically based upon standards of measurement, and upon standard numerical constants or measured data concerning the properties of material and energy. This is an epoch of standardization when standards are being set systematically in all lines of activity to promote efficiency and minimize waste. The simplification of staple grades and sizes of articles of commerce facilitates quantity production, interchangeability, and repair, and promotes economy and efficient utilization generally.

The Bureau's work is conducted by a staff of 850 employees, housed in 13 laboratory buildings, a technical library of nearly 22,000 volumes, and a range of subject and variety of equipment unique in research laboratories. The research results are made available to the industries through the Bureau's publications (of which nearly 800 have been issued). During the year the Bureau issued 86 new publications, comprising 33 scientific papers, 27 technologic papers, 18 circulars, 3 handbooks, and 5 miscellaneous publications. A technical news bulletin, issued each month, describes current investigations in progress and results obtained in the laboratories.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

In connection with length measurements the past year has been a busy one, as this section has spent a great deal of time in overhauling its apparatus and in making some intercomparisons of its standards, doing this work with the highest possible accuracy. In precision length measurements, micrometer microscopes are very largely employed, and because of their importance in this work one member of the section has spent a great deal of time in investigating the performance of such instruments. The routine testing of the length section has been systematized to such an extent that it occupies but a small fraction of the time formerly necessary for such work, thus allowing more time to be put on fundamental research.

Over 6,000 weights were tested by the mass section during the year. These weights were mostly high grade and intended for use in chemical and physical laboratories. The percentage of rejections among these weights is still quite high, and as one bad weight in a set means that the entire set must be rejected, this has resulted in a great deal of delay in supplying weights to those who require certified weights in their work. Some method of avoiding this difficulty should be worked out. Some valuable aid has been furnished the Motor Transport Corps in connection with the weighing of parts of the transmission of motor trucks to determine the amount of wear. Another extended research, completed during the year, is that concerned with the absorption of moisture by celluloid. Considerable time has been devoted to overhauling some of the high-precision balances, and the apparatus of the section is now in very good condition.

The construction of stop watches has been thoroughly investigated, since many of the watches of this type supplied to the Bureau for its work have proved unsatisfactory. It would appear that a great many commercial stop watches are of poor design and construction, and the Bureau hopes to be able to aid the industry in developing a better type. Aid was rendered by the Bureau to the horological industry of the country through a conference under the auspices of the National Research Council, at which the Bureau was represented. The usual large amount of chemical and other volumetric glassware was tested during the year, this work showing an increase of 47 per cent over the fiscal year 1920. The percentage of glassware which passed test was somewhat higher than last year. American firms are planning to place on the market volumetric ware of the highest class, which will be of great benefit to the chemical industry.

In the Southwest, where natural gas is largely employed, the correct functioning of the meters by means of which the supply of gas to towns is measured is of great importance. The Bureau has recently been called upon to test a number of these meters and to settle disputes arising between the gas companies and the municipal governments, as well as between the companies and the consumers. The work has shown that by paying more careful attention to the stopping of leaks in the gas mains several million dollars could be saved each year.

The measurement of the thermal expansion of solids requires very careful work and elaborate apparatus. The total changes of length are usually extremely small, and for that reason must be determined with great accuracy. Important work along these lines has included the study of so-called fish scaling of enameled metal ware, a defect which has caused the manufacturers of this class of articles a large annual loss. The trouble has now been proven to be due to the difference in thermal expansion between the metal and the enamel.