First, many of these boards are of an industrial character, such as boards of agriculture, food and dairy commissions, live stock, fish, and mining commissions, and the like. In general their purpose is to promote the agricultural, mining, and industrial interests, generally, of the state, through the collection and dissemination of information concerning the best method of conducting those industries. A second class of boards are of a more distinctly scientific and research character, such as boards of health, bureaus of labor and statistics, geological commissions, forestry boards, and the like. Although some of these, like the board of health, are charged with the execution of certain laws, the general purpose of all of them is scientific research and the collection of data. A third class of boards are those charged primarily with the supervision of certain businesses or industries affecting the public interest, and with the enforcement of the laws relating to such businesses. Such are the railroad commissions, commissions of insurance, public utility commissions, commissions of inland fisheries, and the like. In some instances these commissions not only have power to prescribe rules for businesses affected with a public interest, but also to fix the rates which they may charge. A fourth group of commissions or boards are those charged with examining applicants for admission to practice certain professions or trades such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, architecture, and plumbing. The purpose of requiring such examinations is to secure a standard of efficiency, and to protect society against quacks. A fifth class includes those which have supervision over the public institutions of the state, educational, penal, reformatory, charitable, etc. In recent years there has been a marked tendency to consolidate boards of this class, by putting all the charitable and penal institutions under the control of a single board, or under two boards, one for charitable and the other for penal institutions. In a few states all the higher educational institutions are under one board. Members of all these classes of boards are usually appointed by the governor, though occasionally a board is made up of members chosen by popular election. _State Administrative Reorganization._--In 1917 a more systematic organization of state administration was established in Illinois. Nine main departments were established, each under a director, in place of a large number of former offices, boards, and commissions. Similar reorganizations have since taken place in a number of other states.