temperature for the current week and for the preceding weeks of the season in the principal crop-growing areas.

During the winter season the bulletin is continued in a reduced form and is combined with the Snow and Ice Bulletin showing the area covered by snow, the depth of snow, and the thickness of ice in rivers, etc. This information is of especial value to those interested in the winter wheat crop, to ice dealers, and to the manufacturers of rubber goods and other articles, the sale of which is largely affected by the presence or absence of snow and ice.

River and Flood Division.

This Division has charge of the collection of information as to stages of water along the navigable rivers, the issue of flood warnings, and the study of the regimen of the rivers of the United States. It also gathers information on the depth of snowfall in the mountains. of the West for a study of the flow of water in the streams supplying irrigation projects in the interest of water storage for irrigation, power development, and navigation.

The statistical by-product of the work of this Division is a table which appears in the Monthly Weather Review showing the flood stages of the principal rivers in the United States, and the estimated flood loss. This Division also issues an annual publication entitled Daily River Stages of the Principal Rivers of the United States. The river stages are the vertical heights in feet and tenths with reference to the zero of the graduated gage. Gage zeros have generally been placed at the lowest known water or at the bottom of the flowing water at the place of the station. Gage readings are made uniformly at 8 a. m. (eastern time) except in the far western States, where they are made about 7 or 8 o'clock local time.

Other Divisions or Services of the Weather Bureau.

The statistical work of all the other divisions or services of the Weather Bureau-the results of the aerological, solar radiation, seismological and volcanological investigations-appear from time to time in the Monthly Weather Review, or in the supplements to the Review. Probably the most important of these are the aerological statistics which consist of summaries of temperature, pressure, humidity, wind direction and wind velocity data for free air at the usual levels of observation, namely, 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2.500, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, etc., meters. These summaries, by reason of the fact that they are the only ones published containing data for the United States, with the possible exception of the annual reports of the Blue Hill Observatory, located near Boston, Mass., constitute the most complete source of information pertaining to the free air. They are

consulted and used to a wide extent in the United States in a practical way, but are utilized as well in studying the problems of dynamic meteorology in foreign countries as well as in this country.

Besides the results of the observational or research work in meteorology carried on by the Weather Bureau, the Monthly Weather Review also contains contributions relating to similar work carried on by universities, other research institutions, or by individuals, in the United States or other parts of the world as well as abstracts and reviews of important meteorological papers and books.

OTHER SERVICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

The other services of the Department of Agriculture, viz., the Bureau of Soils, the Bureau of Entomology, and the Insecticide and Fungicide Board are not engaged in the collection and dissemination of statistical information.

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

The Department of the Treasury was created by the Act approved September 2, 1789. This Act provided "That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to digest and prepare plans for the improvement and management of the revenue, and for the support of public credit; to prepare and report estimates of the public revenue, and the public expenditures; to superintend the collection of the revenue; to decide on the forms of keeping and stating accounts and making returns, and to grant under the limitations herein established, or to be hereafter provided, all warrants for monies to be issued from the Treasury, in pursuance of appropriations by law; to make report, and give information to either branch of the legislature, in person or in writing (as he may be required), respecting all matters referred to him by the Senate or House of Representatives, or which shall appertain to his office; and generally to perform all such services relative to the finances, as he shall be directed to perform."

The first Secretary of the Treasury made no annual reports, but submitted papers on the public credit, a national bank, manufactures, and the establishment of a mint. The second Secretary of the Treasury made two reports on the receipts and expenditures of the Government.

By the Act of May 10, 1800, it was made the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury "to digest, prepare, and lay before Congress at the commencement of every session, a report on the subject of finance, containing estimates of the public revenue and public expenditures, and plans for improving or increasing the revenues, from time to time, for the purpose of giving information to Congress in adopting modes of raising the money requisite to meet the public expenditures.'

In obedience to these and other provisions, the Secretary of the Treasury issues an annual report on The State of the Finances for each fiscal year. For the year 1921 the report was an octavo volume of 551 pages.

In addition to the review and discussion of the state of the finances of the country, this volume also contains exhibits accompanying the

report on the finances, abstracts of reports of the various bureaus and divisions of the Treasury Department, and a number of statistical tables accompanying the report on the finances. Many of the " exhibits" are also of a statistical nature but the number and scope of such exhibits vary from year to year. The tables, however, are of a more standard form and usually appear in each report of the Secretary of the Treasury. Their character and extent can best be shown by the following list of tables included in the report for the fiscal year 1921:

Statement of the outstanding principal of the public debt of the United States on the last day of the fiscal year. (For each loan this statement shows the act under which issued, length of loan, when redeemable, rate of interest, price at which sold, amount authorized, amount issued, and amount outstanding.)

Statement of the outstanding principal of the public debt of the United States on July 1 of each year from 1856 to the year of the report, inclusive. (This statement shows the total interest-bearing debt, debt on which interest has ceased, debt bearing no interest, outstanding principal, cash in the Treasury on July 1, net debt, including matured interest obligations, etc., less cash in Treasury, and annual interest charge on interest-bearing debt.

Statement of the issue and redemption of loans and Treasury notes and of deposits and redemptions in bank-note account for the fiscal year of the report. Population, ordinary receipts and disbursements of the Government from 1840 to the year of the report, exclusive of postal, and per capita on receipts, and per capita on disbursements.

Statement showing the ordinary receipts and disbursements of the Government by fiscal years; the net gold and available cash in the Treasury at the end of each fiscal year; and the imports and exports of gold, from 1897 to the year of the report, inclusive.

Statement of the balance in the general fund of the Treasury, including the gold reserve, by calendar years from 1791 to 1842, and by fiscal years from 1843 to the year of the report.

Receipts and disbursements of the United States, by fiscal years from 1789 to the year of the report. (Receipts are classified as customs, internal revenue, sales of public lands, direct tax, other miscellaneous items, postal revenue, Panama Canal receipts-proceeds of bonds and premium-and public debt receipts. Disbursements are classified as civil and miscellaneous, War Department, Navy Department, Indians, Pensions, interest on the public debt, postal disbursements, Panama Canal disbursements, public debt disbursements, and excess of national bank notes retired over deposits for retirement.)

Internal and customs receipts and expenses of collecting, from 1858 to the year of the report.

Statement of United States bonds and other obligations received and issued by the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury during the year of the report. Statement of the coin and paper circulation of the United States from 1860 to the year of the report, inclusive, with amount of circulation per capita. Collections, expenses, and average number of persons employed in the Internal Revenue Service during the fiscal year of the report.

Besides the annual report, the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury also publishes a Daily Statement of the United States Treasury, a monthly Statement of the Public Debt of the United