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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION   1262

for which procurement and supplies are handled from the Director's office of that bureau, since the Zoo comes under a separate appropriation and is operated at a distance from the central location of the other Smithsonian activities in Washington.

There was a also a combination of two offices engaged in the handling ad distribution of our publications so that these are now under one head. Shipping procedures also have been unified from the two separate offices operated formerly.

These changes have led to increased efficiency and smoother operation.

In the National Museum for years the sections relating to the various groups of animals and of plants have been operated as one Department of Biology. The work dealing with plants has grown to such as extent, with similar growth in the sections concerned with zoology, that the two operations have been separated as of July 31, 1947, as a Department of Zoology, and a Department of Botany. This has led to increased efficiency in operation and has been particularly important in promoting easier and closer cooperation with botanical interests in the Department of Agriculture and private agencies throughout the country.

FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS

The Secretary reported as follows:

At the Annual Meeting for last year (1947), the Secretary outlined the difficulties facing the Institution relative to maintenance and operation under its existing federal appropriations for the governmental bureaus under its administration. It was pointed out then that while Federal agencies in general had increased greatly during the war period, the government bureaus under the Smithsonian had actually decreased in number of employees during this time, and that purchasing power of the

A.W.