Mines has been steadily improving methods of preparing clays and other raw materials from American deposits. It has been conducting successful firing tests on refractories, china, and sanitary wares in the Pacific Northwest, where hydroelectric power from the Grand Coulee Dam is available, and in Tennessee, which is served by the Tennessee Valley system.

Over 1,360,000 first-aid and mine-rescue courses have been given by the Bureau of Mines in its first 30 years, including 986,000 in the coal-mining industry alone. In an endeavor to comply with the requests of the mining industries, the Bureau has emphasized training activities. The unusual number of coal-mine disasters in the past few months, however, points to the need for focusing increased attention on accident prevention.

During the first 8 months of 1940 there have been a number of unfortunate disasters in the coal-mining industry. While 1939 had but one major explosion with a total of 28 deaths, there were three explosions in the bituminous coal mines in the first 8 months of 1940: one, in January, in West Virginia with 91 deaths; one, in March, in Ohio with 72 deaths; and one, in July, in Pennsylvania with 63 deaths. This makes a shocking total of 226 fatalities up to July 15-the greatest number since 1928, when there were 14 major disasters with a total of 326 deaths.

The excessively high average number of fatalities per disaster is as disheartening as it is inexcusable. There is absolutely no question that if known safety procedures were followed in bituminous mines, widespread explosion disasters would be reduced to the vanishing point.

Another disturbing trend in connection with major disasters since 1933 is that, of six coal-mine explosions with a loss of 25 or more lives, all have occurred during the past 3 years. Moreover, five of the six have been in highly mechanized mines. In four of the five the explosion was caused by the blasting procedure; and the sixth (at Sonman, Pa., which occurred in a hand-loading section) was initiated by a machine (a trolley locomotive). This very strongly indicates that while mechanization of coal mines has many undoubted advantages, it also present hazards which are not being safeguarded as adequately as they should be.

THE BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION

On December 1, 1939, the Bonneville Power Administration's first high tension transmission lines, two 40-mile circuits between the Bonneville Dam and Vancouver, Wash., were completed. A few hours later electric power from the Columbia River was being delivered to the Portland metropolitan area. The vision of years-the harnessing of the Columbia River-had become an actuality, and the latent energy of this great western stream had been put to work to produced public power for the people of its territory.

Years of intensive preparation at Bonneville bore dramatic results. during the 1940 period. At the beginning of the year, major transmission lines were only partly constructed or existed upon engineers' blueprints. At the end of the period, two 43,200-kilowatt generators were in operation; two 54,000-kilowatt generators were being in

stalled; 660 circuit miles of transmission line were in operation; 449 additional miles of line were under construction, and 189 miles were ready for contract. A total of 101,350 kilowatts of firm power had been contracted for by industries, municipalities, public utility districts, and private utility companies. Power was surging over the wires at the lowest wholesale rate in America-$17.50 a kilowatt year at any point on the line. Deliveries ranged as high as 91,000 kilowatts-more than the rated capacity of the generating units. The power contracted for was in excess of the installed capacity at the powerhouse.

With the delivery of power came its corollary-industrial development. Attracted by the large amounts of cheap power which the project is making available, came important metal and chemical industries. The construction of the first aluminum reduction plant west of the Mississippi River was put under way by the Aluminum Co. of America. Shortly after the close of the fiscal year, actual production of aluminum was started with Bonneville power.

This, of course, meant a new source of aluminum supply for the country's defense needs and for peacetime use. Most of the first production was for use in airplanes for the Army and Navy. Thus one of the first dividends to be paid back to the people of the United States on their investment in this project was in the form of modern equipment for national defense. The Aluminum Co.'s first demand of 27,000 kilowatts of energy will be increased progressively until it will be producing on a basis of 60,000,000 pounds of metal a year. Estimates indicate that this amount of aluminum, if converted to airplanes, would provide for the manufacture of any of the following groups of planes: 1,500 Boeing Flying Fortresses; 13,000 Curtis Hawk 75's; 9,200 Douglas Attack Bombers; 7,000 Twin Engine Attack Bombers; 12,000 North American Dive Bombers; 13,000 Sivirsky Pursuit Ships, or 20,000 Grumman Fighters.

Other industrial contracts for Bonneville power were signed with the Sierra Iron Co., which has planned a plant for pig iron production, and with the Pacific Carbide and Alloys Co., an electro-chemical firm. The importance of this industrial expansion to the national defense cannot be overemphasized.

Eight months after the first power reached the Vancouver substation, the Bonneville Power Administration had executed 23 contracts calling for delivery of 106,850 kilowatts of energy. Of these contracts, 5 were with public utility districts; 10 with municipalities; 1 with an R. E. A. cooperative; 3 with private utilities, and 4 with industries. These contracts, together with prospective sales, assured the Administration revenues during 1941 of $1,880,000 and of $4,000,000 in 1942. With power actually available, an increasing number of industrial inquiries were received by the Bonneville Administration relative to possible location of plants. The signing of a considerable number of additional industrial contracts may be expected during 1941.

The extension of the Federal transmission system into all sections of the Pacific Northwest is a guarantee that Columbia River power will be available to all types of distributors and industries at the same low wholesale rate. The interconnection of the Federal system

with other generating plants, both private and public, will assure the Pacific Northwest one of the most dependable supplies of power in the United States. When all the generators are installed at Bonneville and Grand Coulee, they will produce more than 2,400,000 kilowatts. This is more than a million kilowatts greater than will be available from all 10 dams of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

It became apparent during the year that the proximity of the Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams made it desirable that some common method be established for marketing the large amount of power that the two will produce. Both dams serve the same general area and their location and interconnection will make possible complete service for the Pacific Northwest area. Shortly after the close of the year the organization along these lines was so far advanced that it was possible to promulgate your Executive Order designating the Bonneville Power Administration as the common marketing agency for the power from both projects.

The social and economic significance of the development of 2,400,000 kilowatts of cheap electric energy in the Northwest is enormous. It is impossible at this time to foresee the final results, but the general shape of the things to come in that part of the Nation may be discerned from present trends. Properly administered, this source of energy should have a profund effect in promoting a better physical distribution of industries in this country. It can help to disperse the heavy concentration of industry in the northeast corner of the Nation by making it possible for it to go elsewhere, thus helping to relieve a potentially dangerous military situation inherent in a geographically concentrated industry. With intelligent direction and proper use, it will bring a whole section of the Nation closer to self-sufficiency and will modify the present dependability of that area upon distant centers of industrial production. It will make possible local processing of the natural resources of the northwest and open new avenues for the general betterment of our people.

BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY

With the transfer of the Bureau of Biological Survey from the Department of Agriculture, in accordance with your Reorganization Plan No. II, the Department became primarily responsible for administering the wildlife of the Nation. This national resource, wisely managed, makes important, though in many respects intangible, contributions toward a national strength that is more essential than ever in times of emergency. That country is worth dying for which is worth living in. Conserving wildlife is one way of making a country worth living in. Vacations spent outdoors, in hunting and fishing or in studying and photographing wildlife, develop healthy, happy citizens with a genuine regard for liberty.

The Department has made much progress this year toward perfecting an organization that will promote efficiency in wildlife conservation. The wildlife division of the National Park Service was transferred to the Biological Survey, and there has been a closer coordination of the Survey's work with other agencies of this Depart

ment. Arrangements for continuing the Bureau's cooperation with its former associate agencies in the Department of Agriculture were effected. And, finally, on the last day of the fiscal year, in accordance with Reorganization Plan No. III, the Biological Survey and the Bureau of Fisheries were consolidated to form the Fish and Wildlife Service. As a result of these changes the Federal Government enters the fiscal year 1941 better organized than ever before to carry on work in wildlife conservation.

Activities of the year were largely concerned with the prosecution of programs already under way, with the result that wildlife conditions in general were again better at the end of a year than at its beginning. This indicates that the Nation is at last on its way toward the restoration of this once abundant natural resource. The most recent of the major programs, providing Federal aid to the States in wildlife restoration, increased in effectiveness during this, its second year. Appropriations were increased from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000, and the wildlife conservation projects undertaken by the States grew from 57 in the first year to 237 in 1940. These new refuges were added to the national wildlife refuge system, bringing the total to 263, with an acreage of 13,635,363. In these areas there were noticeable increases in the wildlife populations.

Partly as the result of this refuge program under favoring climatic conditions, but largely as the outcome of the careful regulation of hunting and the strict enforcement of the game laws, a general increase in migratory birds was noted for the fifth consecutive year. The same intensive scientific investigations that revealed these increases, however, also indicated that some species, notably woodcocks and doves, had suffered severely from winter storms during their stay in the South. Precautionary measures were taken to give these birds additional protection during coming seasons.

Wildlife administration has continued to include not only encouragement of desirable species but also intelligent restraint of species that do damage. Control of destructive mammals and birds, carried on more efficiently than ever as a result of the operations of and demonstrations by the Biological Survey, takes on added significance during a national emergency in which food supplies become of critical importance. However, it must be the recognized policy that control should never exceed the demonstrated need for it.

It is to be borne in mind that, although intelligent wildlife administration can further the purposes of national defense, there is need, as with other resources, for extreme caution against a perversion of patriotic zeal that might endanger an important endowment that must be defended. Wildlife conditions in the United States are not yet what they should be. The favorable conditions that do exist are the result of years of planning and of carrying out corrective measures that were sorely needed as the result of unheeding exploitation. The wildlife resource is not a storehouse to be exploited during any presently conceivable period of stress. In emergencies as well as in all future years, the Nation must continue to maintain its now firmly established purpose of restoring wildlife to something approaching its former abundance. It must prudently conserve this great natural resource as one of the American requirements for good living.

with other generating plants, both private and public, will assure the Pacific Northwest one of the most dependable supplies of power in the United States. When all the generators are installed at Bonneville and Grand Coulee, they will produce more than 2,400,000 kilowatts. This is more than a million kilowatts greater than will be available from all 10 dams of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

It became apparent during the year that the proximity of the Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams made it desirable that some common method be established for marketing the large amount of power that the two will produce. Both dams serve the same general area and their location and interconnection will make possible complete service for the Pacific Northwest area. Shortly after the close of the year the organization along these lines was so far advanced that it was possible to promulgate your Executive Order designating the Bonneville Power Administration as the common marketing agency for the power from both projects.

The social and economic significance of the development of 2,400,000 kilowatts of cheap electric energy in the Northwest is enormous. It is impossible at this time to foresee the final results, but the general shape of the things to come in that part of the Nation may be discerned from present trends. Properly administered, this source of energy should have a profund effect in promoting a better physical distribution of industries in this country. It can help to disperse the heavy concentration of industry in the northeast corner of the Nation by making it possible for it to go elsewhere, thus helping to relieve a potentially dangerous military situation inherent in a geographically concentrated industry. With intelligent direction and proper use, it will bring a whole section of the Nation closer to self-sufficiency and will modify the present dependability of that area upon distant centers of industrial production. It will make possible local processing of the natural resources of the northwest and open new avenues for the general betterment of our people.

BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY

With the transfer of the Bureau of Biological Survey from the Department of Agriculture, in accordance with your Reorganization Plan No. II, the Department became primarily responsible for administering the wildlife of the Nation. This national resource, wisely managed, makes important, though in many respects intangible, contributions toward a national strength that is more essential than ever in times of emergency. That country is worth dying for which is worth living in. Conserving wildlife is one way of making a country worth living in. Vacations spent outdoors, in hunting and fishing or in studying and photographing wildlife, develop healthy, happy citizens with a genuine regard for liberty.

The Department has made much progress this year toward perfecting an organization that will promote efficiency in wildlife conservation. The wildlife division of the National Park Service was transferred to the Biological Survey, and there has been a closer coordination of the Survey's work with other agencies of this Depart