(Witness: Merriam.)

that the subject is properly stated, and that it is presented in fairly good English.

The CHAIRMAN. And then, after that, it is again read by an editor in the Division of Publications?

Doctor MERRIAM. Yes; by one of the editors; but the editor does not undertake to take what we call a crude original manuscript and prepare it for the press. They do not do that for us. They have not the force for it. We have to do that ourselves.

The CHAIRMAN. Why can you not have one man to do the whole thing? Why is not that perfectly feasible?

Doctor MERRIAM. You mean one man in our office?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; either in your office or in the other.

Doctor MERRIAM. It would be perfectly feasible for one man to read and edit all of the publications in our Bureau, but we have never had any such man, or any means to employ him, and the editorial division has not the force to lend us a man to do it. That is the trouble. Of course, such editing requires special knowledge and it takes time. As a general rule, our subjects are so related that there are two or three, or even more, men whose work bears on different parts of a bulletin. When a bulletin is offered to us for publication, it is presented to the chief of the Bureau, or the acting chief, who takes it and generally has it read by two or three men in the office to see that it is scientifically correct; that it does not exaggerate, and that it does not say things that we do not know to be so. We have these different men go over it from their different points of view. Then we take it and fit it editorially for publication. That is the history of most of our publications, as to the detail we go through. The CHAIRMAN. In order to get accuracy, is it necessary to go through all that detail?

Doctor MERRIAM. We think it is in most cases. Some men are peculiarly able to do a particular kind of work-we have several of that kind-work nobody else in the world can do. They have a special line of research in which they are preeminent; but they have not the faculty of putting the results in good form for publication, and they may not know enough about certain corelated subjects that come in incidentally to make perfectly accurate statements. So we have their bulletins read over by several of us to check them up and see that they are just as accurate as possible.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you compare the manuscript with the data from which the original man worked?

Doctor MERRIAM. Not often, but sometimes; it depends.

The CHAIRMAN. It depends on whether you are familiar with the subject, I suppose?

Doctor MERRIAM. Yes; which we generally are.

The CHAIRMAN. Your idea is, then, that you could not have a man that had the capacity or ability to have the knowledge on the subject and the requisite literary ability to make one editing sufficient?

Doctor MERRIAM. No; we could not have such a man, but we could have an editor; we could have a man who is a good English writer, a trained editor, who could take our manuscripts when they have been checked up, and put them in shape for publication, thus saving the time of my head men-such important men as Doctor Palmer, and

(Witness: Merriam.)

Mr. Henshaw, and Mr. Bailey, and myself. That would save us the time that we now have to put on this kind of mechanical drudgery. The CHAIRMAN. Most of these other bureaus have them?

Doctor MERRIAM. Yes; I think about all of the bureaus have editors. We have hoped for one for a long time, but so far without

success.

The CHAIRMAN. In the Government reservations, game or otherwise, is there any legislation protecting the game, regulating the closed time, and imposing penalties for violation of the law, and all that sort of thing?

Doctor MERRIAM. We have now no Government game reservations that could be strictly called such, except the islands I have mentioned the bird islands in Florida and Louisiana, and up in North Dakota. There are seven of them, and they are under our jurisdiction, but we have not money enough to employ wardens. The Audubon Society, with which we have cooperated, helps us, so that we pay each warden $1 a month, and they pay him enough salary to get him to stay there and do his work. He simply has a commission from us as a Government officer at $1 a month, and the Audubon Society puts up the money to keep him there. These wardens have proved efficient officers, and have prevented the destruction of the breeding colonies in their charge.

The CHAIRMAN. Inasmuch as we have no forest reserves or game preserves in which the legislation of the United States operates and in which we undertake to protect game, the duties of this bureau for the protection of game, as I understand it, are confined first to these islands, where you have territory over which the United States has jurisdiction, and where you have laws prohibiting the capture of birds and animals, or whatever it may be, within certain limits?

Doctor MERRIAM. And in Alaska.

The CHAIRMAN. In Alaska; yes. Now, then, in addition to that, the only other work you do in the line of protecting game is by conferring and consulting with these various people who are operating under the game laws of the various States, and then doing what you can to unify State legislation on the subject of the preservation of game.

Doctor MERRIAM. Yes; and by rendering service in the case of violations of the Lacey Act, which are occurring all the time.

The CHAIRMAN. Oh, yes.

Doctor MERRIAM. Sometimes thirty or forty such cases are up before the Department of Justice, and we cooperate with them in various ways, in identifying the specimens that have been illegally obtained. and shipped, and so on-furnishing expert information. We are also required by law to prevent the introduction of noxious animals that are brought from foreign lands. We have three inspectors at New York and two at each of the other principal ports of entry from New York to San Francisco. Whenever a ship comes in the inspectors must be ready to go and inspect the birds and animals that it brings. Sometimes as many as 15,000 birds are introduced on one ship. They can not be landed without a permit from our office. We often grant such permits on telegraphic request from the shippers or the consignees, and have our inspectors examine the consignments to see that they are as represented.

The CHAIRMAN. What kind of birds are those that are imported?

(Witnesses: Merriam, Zappone.)

Doctor MERRIAM. Various kinds of birds from all over the world. The great majority are canaries and other harmless song-birds; but amongst them are all kinds of birds, including sometimes noxious birds birds that are very injurious to agriculture that we are trying to keep out of this country--and thus far we have succeeded in keeping them out. Before this law was passed a lot of birds were introduced at Portland, Oreg., that probably would have done millions of dollars of damage to the grain and fruit crops of the west coast had it not been for a fortunate circumstance. The birds were brought from the north of Europe, where they are migratory, and introduced into Oregon, where the winters are cold enough so that when the birds felt winter coming on the migratory instinct took them south, and they never came back. They were lost. That was our salvation. 'But we can not count on anything of that kind; our only safety is to keep noxious species out of the country.

We have never paid our inspectors anything until recently. The biological survey has never had any money for that purpose. We have always insisted that the men making the importations should pay the cost of examination, which is $5. But the Secretary of the Treasury ruled against us last year, and said that this could not be done. Since then we have had to pay the inspectors or the service would have stopped. We had no money for that purpose, but were forced to pay it out of our general fund. We have not yet had any additional appropriation, but have been paying the inspectors ever since. We have had to do it.

The CHAIRMAN. How many men have you got through the country watching the importation of birds?

Doctor MERRIAM. Eleven. We have three in some of the large cities, like New York, so that one man can always be reached by telephone. When a ship comes in with a large number of birds on board thousands of birds, perhaps the importer wants to get them ashore promptly. A spell of damp, chilly weather might result in the loss of thousands of dollars in a few hours. So we must have somebody ready to come at telephone call. The men we appoint arrange it among themselves, so that one man is always on hand at a convenient place and will go immediately, without any delay whatever. All he gets for that inspection, which may take him all day, is $5. We pay him that $5 now. We have had to since that ruling of the Treasury.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you think of anything more, Mr. Samuel?
Mr. SAMUEL. No; I do not.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you think of anything further you would like to state, Doctor Merriam?

Doctor MERRIAM. No; I do not think of anything.

The CHAIRMAN. I think that covers the whole ground, unless you wish to ask something, Mr. Zappone.

Mr. ZAPPONE. Nothing more.

BUREAU OF STATISTICS.

JANUARY 17, 1907.

(Part of testimony, on above date, before Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture.)

STATEMENT OF VICTOR H. OLMSTED, ESQ., CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

(The witness was duly sworn by the Chairman.)

The CHAIRMAN. What position do you occupy, Mr. Olmsted? Mr. OLMSTED. I am the chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture.

The CHAIRMAN. And how long have you occupied that position? Mr. OLMSTED. If I remember correctly, I was appointed on June 16, 1906.

The CHAIRMAN. And prior to that time what department had you been in the employ of?

Mr. OLMSTED. Immediately prior to my appointment as chief of the Bureau?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. OLMSTED. I was still in the same Bureau; I held the office of Associate Statistician prior to that appointment.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; you are down here as Associate Statistician at $3,000.

Mr. OLMSTED. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. And your salary is now $3,500 as the chief?

Mr. OLMSTED. Yes. The other position, I might say, was not a statutory position. It was a position created by the necessities of the office shortly prior to my coming back to the office from the Philippine Islands."

The CHAIRMAN. What was that?

Mr. OLMSTED. I do not know when the position of Associate Statistician was created. It was a temporary position, and was done away with when I was appointed chief of the Bureau. I did away with it entirely; I abolished it.

The CHAIRMAN. That was done, you say, when you came back to the Bureau?

Mr. OLMSTED. Yes, sir. I will explain what I mean.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. OLMSTED. In 1902 I was employed by the Bureau of Statistics as a special field investigator, having general charge of investigations and examinations in the field. While I was in that position, the Secretary of War, Mr. Root, desired my services-

(Witnesses: Olmsted, Zappone.)

The CHAIRMAN. What was your salary at that time as an investigator in the field?

Mr. OLMSTED. My salary at that time was $7 per diem.
The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Now go on.

Mr. OLMSTED. While I occupied that position the Secretary of War, Mr. Root, desired to employ me to supervise the taking of the Philippine census; and an arrangen ent was made between the Secretary of War and Secretary Wilson whereby I was given leave, I believe, without pay. At all events, I was allowed to be employed by the Secretary of War for the taking of the Philippine census for as long a time as might be necessary, with the understanding that when that was finished I should be returned to the Department of Agriculture.

The CHAIRMAN. What was that under-the Bureau of Insular Affairs?

Mr. OLMSTED. That was under the Philippine government-not the Bureau of Insular Affairs. I was employed by the Philippine Commission. They employed me through the Bureau of Insular Affairs here in Washington, but I was employed directly by the Philippine Commission.

The CHAIRMAN. The Secretary of State operates on the Philippine Commission through the Bureau of Insular Affairs.

Mr. ZAPPONE. Our records show that Mr. Olmsted was on leave without pay from October 2, 1902, until he was restored to the rolls on April 1, 1904.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. The Chief of the B. rea of Ins. lar Affairs at that time was Mr. Edwards?

Mr. OLMSTED. Mr. Edwards was Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs; yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What salary did you receive then?
Mr. OLMSTED. In the Philippine Islands?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. OLMSTED. It was $720 a month and expenses.

ployed at that rate by the month, not by the year. The CHAIRMAN. That is nearly $9,000?

Mr. OLMSTED. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And expenses?

I was em

Mr. OLMSTED. And traveling expenses; not subsistence.
The CHAIRMAN. How long did that employment continue?

Mr. OLMSTED. That employment, contin ed at that rate for nearly a year, while I was absent from the United States only. My contract with them was that I sho: ld receive that salary while absent from the United States. When I returned to the United States, under a special contract with the Philippine government before I left the Philippine Islands, my salary was reduced to $3,000 a year. The CHAIRMAN. To $3,000?

Mr. OLMSTED. To $3,000 a year.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, on your return to the United States? Mr. OLMSTED. Yes; on my return to the United States, and taking up the work here in the United States of compiling and arranging for publication the material collected in the Philippines.

The CHAIRMAN. When did you return?