THE FEDERAL FARM LOAN BOARD.

The Federal Farm Loan Board is charged with the administration of the Federal farm loan act. It established the 12 Federal land banks, fixed their respective districts, appointed the temporary directors of each of them, supervises their operations, appoints their registrars and appraisers, and has power to grant charters to national farm loan associations and joint-stock land banks. It makes appraisal of farm lands and prepares and publishes amortization tables. It supervises the operation of national farm loan associations and joint-stock land banks. It is its duty to disseminate by publications of its own and through the press matter setting forth the advantages to borrowers and investors of the system of loans established by the act. It may authorize Federal land banks to appoint agents for the making of loans to farmers in localities which fail to form farm loan associations. It has the power to revise and alter rates of interest charged by Federal land banks; to grant or refuse to Federal land banks or joint-stock land banks authority to make any specific issue of bonds; to control charges made to borrowers for expenses incident to the making of loans; to require Federal land banks to meet their obligations to each other; and to exercise such incidental powers as are necessary or requisite to fulfill its duties and carry out the purposes of the Federal farm loan act.

BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing designs, engraves, prints, and finishes all moneys and securities of the Government, embraced under the following: United States notes, bonds, certificates of indebtedness, certificates, national-bank notes, Federal reserve notes, Federal reserve bank currency, internal revenue, postage, thrift, war savings, customs stamps, and Treasury warrants, Treasury drafts and checks, disbursing officers' checks, licenses, passports, commissions, patent and pension certificates, portraits of deceased Members of Congress and other public officers authorized by law, and all postage stamps, moneys, and securities authorized by the Bureau of Insular Affairs for the insular possessions of the Government.

WAR RISK INSURANCE BUREAU.

The Bureau of War Risk Insurance was created by act of Congress approved September 2, 1914, to insure American vessels and their cargoes against the risks of war. By an act approved June 12, 1917, Congress added the duty of insuring the lives of masters and crews of American vessels. October 6, 1917, the most important provisions of the war-risk insurance act were added. These provided for payment of allotments and allowances to the dependent families of members of the military forces of the Nation, payment of compensation for death or disability, and the writing of term policies of insurance by the Federal Government against death or total permanent disability. Several amendments to the act have been made since, notably, the amendments approved December 24, 1919, which provided for an optional payment in lump sum of the converted forms of insurance and substantial increases in the amount of compensation payable on account of death or disability. The bureau has had the duty, under the soldiers' and sailors' relief act, of guaranteeing life insurance policies not in excess of $5,000 held in private companies by members of the military forces of the United States. It has been charged with the regulation of enemy and ally-of-enemy insurance companies under the trading-with-the-enemy act. In addition to compensation, the war-risk insurance act provides that discharged service men shall be provided reasonable governmental medical, surgical, and hospital services, with such prosthetic appliances as may be necessary, for injury or disease caused or aggravated by their active military service. Facilities available are also utilized in the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, in Army and Navy hospitals, and in private civilian hospitals.

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE.

The act approved August 14, 1912, changed the name of the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service to the Public Health Service, and considerably increased its powers and functions. The bureau of the service at Washington comprises seven divisions, one section, and the chief clerk's office, the operations of which are coordinated and are under the immediate supervision of the Surgeon General.

The Division of Scientific Research conducts the scientific investigations of the service. Intensive studies of diseases of man, including influenza, malaria, pellagra, pneumonia, trachoma, tuberculosis, and typhoid fever; of child, school, mental, and

industrial hygiene; of rural sanitation; of public health administration; of morbidity; of milk; and of stream pollution and sewage are carried on from special headquarters in the field in cooperation with State and local health authorities. Technical and purely laboratory studies are conducted at the Hygienic Laboratory in Washington, at special field laboratories, and at the leprosy investigation station in Hawaii, the latter being carried on in connection with the medical treatment of lepers. Information thus obtained is disseminated through publications, correspondence, lectures, and conferences with health authorities concerning the results of field studies in their jurisdictions. Through the division the department enforces the act of July 1, 1902, to regulate the sale of viruses, serums, toxins, and analogous products, including arsphenamine. The division is in charge of control measures of trachoma, through the establishment of hospitals and clinics, in the Appalachian Mountain district and other points where the disease is prevalent. The Surgeon General is required by law to call an annual conference of State and Territorial health authorities, and special conferences may also be called at any time. For advice in respect to scientific investigations he may convene the advisory board of the Hygienic Laboratory. Through the Division of Foreign and Insular Quarantine and Immigration the Surgeon General enforces the national quarantine laws and prepares the regulations relating thereto. He has control of 44 Federal quarantine stations in the United States, and others in the Philippines, Hawaii, and Porto Rico, and supervises the medical officers detailed in the offices of the American consular officers at foreign ports to prevent the introduction of contagious or infectious diseases into the United States. Under section 17 of the act approved February 20, 1907, he has supervision over the medical officers engaged in the physical and mental examinations of all arriving aliens.

Through the Division of Domestic (Interstate) Quarantine is enforced section 3 of the act of February 15, 1893, relating to the prevention of the spread of contagious or infectious diseases from one State or Territory into another. This includes the suppression of epidemics and the sanitation of interstate carriers.

The Division of Sanitary Reports and Statistics collects and publishes information regarding the prevalence and geographic distribution of diseases dangerous to the public health in the United States and foreign countries. Court decisions, laws, regulations, and ordinances pertaining to the public health are compiled, digested, and published. Its publications contain articles on subjects relating to the public health. This division issues the Public Health Reports (weekly) and Supplements to, and Reprints from, the Public Health Reports.

Through the Division of Marine Hospitals and Relief hospital care and treatment is provided for beneficiaries at 20 marine hospitals and 43 Public Health Service hospitals, including 13 sanatoria for tuberculosis and 9 for mental and nervous diseases. Medical examination and out-patient treatment is provided at 3,072 other relief stations. The beneficiaries include seamen and officers of registered, enrolled, or licensed merchant vessels of the United States and of the Coast Guard and Lighthouse Service; keepers and assistant keepers of lighthouses; civil employees injured while in the performance of their duty; discharged sick and disabled soldiers, sailors, and marines, Army and Navy nurses, who are patients of the War Risk Insurance Bureau; seamen employed on vessels of the Mississippi River Commission and of the Engineer Corps of the Army; keepers and surfmen of the Coast Guard; and employees of vessels of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and of the Bureau of Fisheries. A purveying depot for the purchase and issuance of supplies is maintained at Washington. Physical examinations are made of members of the Coast Guard; for the detection of color blindness in masters, mates, and pilots; claimants under the War Risk Insurance Bureau; claimants under the Employees' Compensation Commission; applicants for vocational training by the Federal Board for Vocational Education; and applicants for positions in the classified civil service. The medical evidence of disability in claims for benefits against the Coast Guard is reviewed.

In the Division of Personnel and Accounts are kept the records of the officers and of the expenditures of the appropriations.

The Division of Venereal Diseases was created by act of Congress in July, 1918, "(1) to study and investigate the cause, treatment, and prevention of venereal diseases; (2) to cooperate with State boards or departments of health for the prevention and control of such diseases within the States; and (3) to control and prevent the spread of these diseases in interstate traffic." The division is organized to carry out the duties assigned to it by the act. Cooperative venereal disease clinics have been established in approximately 300 locations. At these clinics venereally infected persons are receiving modern scientific treatment and are controlled by laboratory methods. State boards of health are being cooperated with by the service in 46 States which have qualified to receive their share of allotments from the Chamberlain

Kahn funds. A comprehensive Nation-wide campaign for securing the necessary educational publicity regarding the seriousness of venereal diseases is being carried on. Hundreds of various agencies are cooperating with the Public Health Service in the extension of this work. Interstate quarantine regulations to prevent the spread of these diseases in interstate traffic have been promulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury.

The general inspection service carries out all special investigations and makes inspections of all activities of the service.

In order to coordinate the educational work carried on by the various divisions of the Public Health Service, and especially to extend the educational services which the bureau can render to the public at large, a section of public health education was established in April, 1919. As at present carried on, the section aims to constitute itself a national center or clearing house on the subject of public health education. Plans are under way whereby all the ordinary vehicles of publicity and education will be utilized. This will involve the preparation of press bulletins and the utilization of stereomats and plates, the publication of lithographed health posters, the organization of a lecture service, the administration of a loan library of stereopticon slides and moving pictures, the preparation and organization of traveling exhibits, the maintenance of a public health information bureau, and the employment of such other educational methods as the circumstances may indicate. It is planned to carry on these activities in close cooperation with State and local health authorities and with important national health organizations. In addition, the Public Health Bureau issues a great number and variety of health publications, consisting of laboratory and technical bulletins, popular health pamphlets, publications for the assistance of health officers, and also posters, placards, and charts.

The chief clerk has charge of the following: (1) Appointments, promotions, leaves of absence, and discipline of the clerical personnel of the bureau. (2) Time records and leaves of absence. (3) Office quarters occupied by the bureau in Washington, and equipment therein. (4) Furnishing supplies of stationery and blanks to the bureau and field stations. (5) The official files of the bureau and the receipt and dispatch of mail. (6) The bureau library. (7) Procuring of printing through the Government Printing Office, and supervision of the appropriation therefor. (8) Improvement of office methods.

MISCELLANEOUS BUREAUS.

COAST GUARD.

The Commandant of the Coast Guard is charged by law with the administration of the Coast Guard, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury in time of peace and under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy in time of war. Headquarters are located at present in the Darby Building, Fourteenth and E Streets NW. The act of January 28, 1915, provided that the Coast Guard be created in lieu of the then existing Revenue-Cutter Service and the Life-Saving Service, and to be composed of those two organizations. It also provided that it shall constitute a part of the military forces of the United States, and shall operate under the Treasury Department in time of peace and operate as a part of the Navy, subject to the orders of the Secretary of the Navy, in time of war or when the President shall so direct.

In general, the duties of the Coast Guard may be classified as follows: Rendering assistance to vessels in distress and saving life and property; destruction or removal of wrecks, derelicts, and other floating dangers to navigation; extending medical aid to American vessels engaged in deep-sea fisheries; protection of the customs revenue; operating as a part of the Navy in time of war or when the President shall direct; enforcement of law and regulations governing anchorage of vessels in navigable waters; enforcement of law relating to quarantine and neutrality; suppression of mutinies on merchant vessels; enforcement of navigation and other laws governing merchant vessels and motor boats; enforcement of law to provide for safety of life on navigable waters during regattas and marine parades; protection of game and the seal and other fisheries in Alaska, etc.; enforcement of sponge-fishing laws.

To assist the Commandant in conducting the business of his office there are established at headquarters an inspector, having cognizance of matters relating to the inspection of vessels, stations, boats, and all other property, and the following divisions:

Division of operations: Having cognizance of matters relating to the operations of the service.

Division of personnel: Having cognizance of matters relating to the personnel of the service.

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Division of matériel: Having cognizance of matters relating to supplies, outfits, equipment, accounts, and the files.

Division of construction and repair: Having cognizance of matters relating to the construction of and repairs to the hulls of vessels and boats, stations, wharves, and all other property.

Division of engineering: Having cognizance of matters relating to the construction of and repairs to the motive power of vessels and boats and the machinery of all other property.

Division of communications: Having cognizance of matters relating to the construction, repair, and operation of the coastal communication system and to other means of communication.

Under the direction of the Commandant statistics are prepared regarding the loss of life and property on account of wrecked vessels in American waters. He is also required to acquaint himself, as far as practicable, with all means employed in foreign countries which may seem to affect advantageously the interests of the Coast Guard, and to cause to be properly investigated all plans, devices, and inventions for the improvement of life-saving apparatus for use at the stations which may appear to be meritorious and available.

SUPERVISING ARCHITECT.

Subject to the direction and approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, the duties performed by the Supervising Architect embrace the following: Securing cessions from States of jurisdiction over sites and the payment for the same; preparation of drawings, estimates, specifications, etc., for, and the superintendence of the work of, constructing, rebuilding, extending, or repairing public buildings; the care, maintenance, and repair of public buildings, the direction of the operating force in public buildings, and the supply of furniture, carpets, lighting fixtures, mechanical equipment, safes, and miscellaneous supplies for use of custodians' and engineers' forces in the care of public buildings.

GENERAL SUPPLY COMMITTEE.

The General Supply Committee was created by the act of June 17, 1910 (36 Stat., 531), in lieu of the Board of Awards provided for in section 3709 of the Revised Statutes as amended, and is composed of officers, one from each of the executive departments, designated by the head thereof. The Superintendent of Supplies, who is appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, is ex officio secretary of the General Supply Committee, and he conducts all correspondence, supervises the preparation of all contracts, and performs such other duties as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct. It is the duty of the General Supply Committee to make an annual schedule of required miscellaneous supplies for the use of each of the executive departments and other Government establishments in Washington, to standardize such supplies, eliminating all unnecessary grades and varieties, and to solicit bids based upon formulas and specifications drawn up by such experts in the service of the Government as the committee may see fit to call upon, who shall render whatever assistance they may require, provided that the articles intended to be purchased in this manner shall be those in common use by or suitable to the ordinary needs of two or more such departments or establishments. Every purchase or drawing of such supplies from the contractor is immediately reported to said committee. No disbursing officer may be a member of the committee.

By the Executive order of December 3, 1918, and Treasury Department Regulations, dated December 10, 1918, the General Supply Committee has direct charge of the transfer and sale of surplus office material, supplies, and equipment in the hands of the executive departments and other establishments of the Government in the District of Columbia, and is required to keep a record of all material received and disposed of by it.

The Executive order of August 27, 1919, carrying into effect the provisions of the act of July 11, 1919, designates the General Supply Committee as the central agency to maintain records of all material, supplies, and equipment available throughout the United States because of the cessation of war activities. To the committee are directed all inquiries from the various governmental establishments regarding the availability of such surplus supplies and equipment.

DEPARTMENT OF WAR.

SECRETARY OF WAR.

The Secretary of War is head of the War Department, and performs such duties as are required of him by law or may be enjoined upon him by the President concerning the military service.

He is charged by law with the supervision of all estimates of appropriations for the expenses of the department, including the Military Establishment; of all purchases of Army supplies; of all expenditures for the support, transportation, and maintenance of the Army, and of such expenditures of a civil nature as may be placed by Congress under his direction.

He also has supervision of the United States Military Academy at West Point and of military education in the Army, of the various battle-field commissions, and of the publication of the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion.

He has charge of all matters relating to national defense and seacoast fortifications, Army ordnance, river and harbor improvements, the prevention of obstruction to navigation, and the establishment of harbor lines; and all plans and locations of bridges authorized by Congress to be constructed over the navigable waters of the United States require his approval. He also has charge of the establishment or abandonment of military posts; of all matters relating to leases, revocable licenses, and all other privileges upon lands under the control of the War Department; and with the operation of certain transportation facilities on the inland, canal, and coastwise waterways, and the construction of terminal facilities for the interchange of traffic between those transportation facilities and other carriers.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF WAR.

The Assistant Secretary is charged with supervising and acting upon the procurement and manufacture of supplies and the purchase and lease of real estate, including licenses for temporary use of land under War Department control; approval of expenditures from funds allotted; the approval of purchase vouchers; requests on the Secretary of the Treasury to issue warrants to disbursing officers; plans for the mobilization of materials and industry for war; claims against the War Department; the sale of surplus supplies, equipment, plants, land, or other facilities; approval of inventory and inspection reports; approval of routine expenditures from the appropriation "Contingencies of the Army"; approval of expenditures for military posts; authorizing of advertising; use of patent rights by the War Department and Army; matters relating to battle-field commissions; matters relating to national cemeteries; matters relating to river and harbor works; and the activities relating to the National Association for the Promotion of Rifle Practice; and civilian marksmanship.

ASSISTANT AND CHIEF CLERK.

The Assistant and Chief Clerk of the War Department is the head of the Office of the Secretary of War, and as such has charge of the records and files, and supervision of the receipt, distribution, and transmission of the official mail and correspondence of that office. By law he is authorized to sign such official papers and documents as the Secretary of War may direct, and by direction of the Secretary of War he performs the duties assigned to the Assistant Secretary of War during the temporary absence from the department of the Assistant Secretary. He is charged with supervising and acting upon appointments, promotions, transfers, and separations in the civil service and other matters affecting civilian employees in and under the War Department in Washington and elsewhere; printing and binding and newspaper advertising for the War Department and the Army; expenditures from War Department appropriations for contingent expenses, stationery, rent of buildings, and postage; the War Department telegraph and telephone service, and the War Department post office; allotment of office space assigned for the use of the War Department in the District of Columbia; and performs such other duties as may be required by the Secretary of War.

WAR DEPARTMENT GENERAL STAFF.

The War Department General Staff is organized under the provisions of the act approved June 4, 1920.

The Chief of Staff is the immediate adviser of the Secretary of War on all matters relating to the Military Establishment, and is charged by the Secretary of War with the planning, development, and execution of the Army program. He causes the War Department General Staff to prepare the necessary plans for recruiting, organizing,