also incorporate changes in the conditions of the contract with the carriers.

Standard Form 1063, Collecting and disbursing officer's or agent's report of no transactions.

It has been the usual practice for Government disbursing officers and agents who disburse or collect funds only occasionally, and for a large part of the time have no public funds on hand, to submit, nevertheless, an account current, noting on its face the words "No transactions," or similar words. In the interest of simplicity, standardization, and economy of paper and paper work a card form, "Report of no transactions" (Standard Form 1063), was prescribed by General Regulations, No. 70, October 12, 1928, on which all disbursing officers and agents, except postmasters, are required to report to their administrative offices and to the General Accounting Office the fact that no funds were received, no collections or disbursements made, and no funds were on hand at the beginning or end of an accounting period. In all cases where fiscal transactions actually occur they are reported on the standard forms of account current.

Standard Forms 1064 and 1065, Schedule of disbursements and Summary statement of disbursements, respectively.

For some time the experiment had been tried in a few of the larger departments having numerous disbursements whereby bills received and disbursement vouchers prepared in the various bureaus were scheduled by said bureaus on a special form of schedule (other than Standard Forms Nos. 1024 and 1025, used by disbursing officers) and sent with the schedules to the disbursing officers for payment, either directly subject to post audit by this office or through this office for preaudit before payment. The original schedule becomes the schedule of the disbursing officer submitted to this office, thereby dispensing with the necessity of his again listing the paid vouchers on Standard Forms Nos. 1024 or 1025. Daily, and also monthly or quarterly, as the case may be, the disbursing officer summarizes the disbursements by appropriations and forwards same to the respective bureaus, to be returned to him after verification has been made with the bureau's accounts, thereby effecting a reconciliation with each other's accounting records. The trial of the above procedure proved so satisfactory that it was determined to extend same to all departments and establishments where applicable, including field services. For this purpose Standard Forms 1064 and 1065 were prescribed by General Regulations, No. 72, dated June 21, 1929. Such procedure is similar to that prescribed by General Regulations, No. 40, Supplement No. 1, covering the receipt and disposition of collections, and it is contemplated that the use of the new forms and procedure will become general throughout the Government service. The change means the elimination of several hundred separate accounts current theretofore rendered to the General Accounting Office for audit and settlement and the discontinuance of checking accounts therefor with the Treasurer of the United States.

In addition to the standard forms and procedures described above, the following uniform procedures have been prescribed, no standard forms being involved therein:

Consolidation of special deposit and regular accounts of disbursing and collecting officers and agents.

Commencing with the accounts for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1929, all disbursing and collecting officers and agents of the Government are required, if practicable, to consolidate regular and special deposit accounts on accounts current rendered for regular accounts and close out the special depositary accounts with the Treasurer of the United States, returning to the Treasury Department the check forms pertaining to such special deposit accounts. (General Regulations, No. 71, March 18, 1929.)

Adjustment of collections on account of suspended and disallowed items in accounts of disbursing officers, procedure extended to field offices.

The provisions of General Regulations, No. 63, dated April 7, 1927, prescribing a procedure for the prompt adjustment of collections on account of suspended and disallowed items in the accounts of disbursing officers in Washington, were extended to the field services. (General Regulations, No. 63, Supplement 1, November 24, 1928.) Accounting for retirement fund deductions; supplemental instructions.

Supplemental instructions were issued by Supplement No. 2 to General Regulations, No. 54, October 1, 1928, in order to secure uniformity and standardization in the preparation and submission of data necessary to a proper accounting for civil-service retirement fund deductions.

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

The Government Printing Office maintains a division of tests and technical control in charge of a technical director for the purpose of inspecting and testing all materials offered and delivered for the use of the office; to prepare or assist in the preparation of standard specifications for all materials purchased; to exercise technical control over the quality and production of various materials used or produced, such as manufacture of printing inks, press rollers, type-metal alloys, and adhesive compositions; and to conduct technical research with relation to the various materials and processes used by the office in order to promote the best interests of the Government.

The research investigations of the technical division are of value not only to the office itself but to the printing industry in general. The results are published for the benefit of the commercial industries. By the act of May 14, 1928, Congress authorized the Government Printing Office to engage in cooperative research work in the same manner as other branches of the Government service. This cooperative work is conducted under the research associate plan by which associations or groups in the printing and binding industries place technically trained men at the Government Printing Office for intensive study of selected problems approved by the Public Printer. The work of the research associates is conducted under the supervision of the technical director. The laboratory facilities and equipment of the Government Printing Office are available for such research work. The results of the research are made available to the industry through trade publications or Government bulletins. At the present time there are two research associates at the Government Printing Office, one, representing the mechanical section of the American Newspaper Publishers' Association, is working on newsprint paper and news inks; the other, representing the Employing Bookbinders of America, is working on bookbinding materials.

Standard technical specifications are being developed and research is being conducted relative to various processes, as the Government office includes practically every branch of the printing industry. The following is an outline showing the scope of the technical work by the Government Printing Office:

These investigations are conducted in cooperation with the

Employing Bookbinders of America.

Mechanical department of the American Newspaper Publishers' Association. Standardization committee and research department of the United Typothetæ of America.

National Association of Glue Manufacturers.

Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry.

Paper manufacturers.

Type-metal supply companies.

Bookbinding leather manufacturers.

Individual printing, binding, and allied manufacturers.

The Public Printer is a member of the standardization committee of the United Typothetæ of America.

The technical director is a member of the research and survey committee for the printing industries division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

The Government Printing Office is represented on the Federal Specifications Board by the technical director and is also represented on nine technical committees of the Federal Specifications Board.

The Government Printing Office has three representatives on the paper specifications committee appointed by the Joint Committee on Printing to fix the standards for paper and envelopes for the public printing and binding and for use of the Government departments and establishments in the District of Columbia. The committee meets annually for the purpose of revising the paper specifications for the use of the Government.

INLAND WATERWAYS CORPORATION

For the first time since its organization in 1924 the Inland Waterways Corporation is able to look forward and plan intelligently for standardized equipment upon the Mississippi, the Missouri, the IllinoisChicago waterway, and the Ohio River.

Previous to this time the effort has been made to adapt the equipment to the existing rivers, because there was no standardized channel, no standardized locks, and no assurance as to when each of these would be standardized.

The United States Engineers, however, report that there will be a navigable 9-foot channel on the Ohio River, from Pittsburgh to

Cairo, by 1930; that there will be a navigable 6-foot channel on the upper Mississippi by 1931; that a navigable lower Mississippi, St. Louis to New Orleans, is practically 95 per cent complete; that there will be completed in 1930 a navigable 9-foot channel on the IllinoisChicago River from Grafton to Utica; and that by 1931 there will be a navigable 6-foot channel on the Missouri as far west as Kansas City. Under these conditions this corporation set itself the task of designing a standard barge, capable of carrying at least 1,000 tons on a 6-foot channel and at least 2,000 tons on a 9-foot channel, for the primary purpose of avoiding unnecessary transfer costs when freight is shipped from one barge to another. This has been successfully accomplished, and 40 of these barges have already been delivered or are under construction. They have been adopted as a standard for any future barges.

The rivers to be operated upon have been divided into three sections, one group comprising the upper Mississippi, the Missouri, and IllinoisChicago route, with a single standard type of towboat serving all three divisions.

From St. Louis to Memphis and from Pittsburgh to Memphis (if we operate on the Ohio) a different standard type of towboat, suitable for deeper water, with all available power for the draft, is being developed.

From Memphis to New Orleans the present fully powered equipment, requiring 8-foot 6-inch draft, will operate. We thus have arrived at a standard type of barge and standard types of power boats, just as railroads have arrived at a single container and power adapted to conditions.

Specifications for construction, repairs, rentals, purchases, etc., conform as nearly as practicable to the standard forms issued by the Government.

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION

The Interstate Commerce Commission prescribes standard systems of accounts for steam roads, water carriers, electric railways, sleepingcar companies, express companies, pipe-line companies, telephone companies, and telegraph and cable companies, subject to the interstate commerce act. All such carriers are required to file annual reports with the Interstate Commerce Commission on standard forms prepared by the commission.

The commission prescribes the manner in which carriers subject to the act shall prepare their publications containing the rates, charges, and regulations applicable to interstate commerce.

The commission prescribes regulations for the transportation of explosives and other dangerous articles by freight and express and as baggage, including specifications for shipping containers.

The commission, under authority of law, has prescribed the safetyappliance standards of freight and passenger-train cars; has promulgated rules and instructions for the inspection and testing of locomotives and their appurtenances, and specifications for automatic trainstop or train-control devices.

The commission also fixes the limits of the standard time zones for the continental United States and Alaska.

NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS

Standaridization of Method of Analysis of Aircraft Accidents.As a result of the deliberations of a special subcommittee of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which included in its membership representatives of the air organizations of the Army, Navy, and Department of Commerce, a standard method of accident analysis has been prepared, which has been officially adopted for use by the Army Air Corps, the Bureau of Aeronautics of the Navy, and the Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce, and which has been transmitted to the Governments of Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan, with a view to its possible adoption by their organizations. The need for such a standard method to provide a basis for the classification and comparison of aircraft accidents in various organizations was brought to the attention of the National Advisory Committee by the Air Coordination Committee, which consists of the Assistant Secretaries for Aeronautics in the Departments of War, Navy, and Commerce.

The method adopted provides for the analysis of aircraft accidents from the point of view of both personnel and matériel problems, and permits the analysis of a particular accident into two or more distinct causes, making possible, by the use of percentages, the indication of the relative weight of each cause. The system provides also for the analysis of crashes according to the nature of the accident (take-off accidents, tail spins following engine failure, etc.), the degree of seriousness of personnel injuries and amount of damage occurring to matériel, and, by the use of a cross-analysis method, allows for the analysis of pilot errors and matériel failures according to the underlying causes of these errors or failures. All these bases of analysis have been combined into a single chart, intended to be used in the study of each individual accident. This chart, together with definitions and explanations as to its use, was published in Technical Report No. 308 of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, entitled "Aircraft Accidents-Method of Analysis."

In order to study the working out of the standard method of accident analysis so as to introduce improvements from time to time, if desirable, and in order to analyze accident statistics with a view to reducing the number of accidents, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics has established a standing committee on aircraft accidents, thus providing for the continuation of the study of this important problem.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF COORDINATOR

During the year the office of the Chief Coordinator, assisted by the Bureau of Standards, has devoted much time to effecting the consolidation of private branch exchange telephone switchboards in Federal buildings outside the District of Columbia housing two or more Government activities. Preliminary reports from points where this consolidation has been accomplished indicate that this project will secure standardization of telephone service and promise considerable operating economy.

This office has furthered the program during the year of concentrating in one building all Federal activities renting space in a given city. Such arrangements permit the application of the rules of the Federal