The republic., 1852-01-09

President, had been able 10 take my scat her,
before the ertra copies of the public documents o
this session had generally been ordered to be
printed, to have offered resolution providing that
COMPENDIUM or ABsTRAcr Of the annual public
documents be prepared and printed. II has long
appeared to me that something Of this kind is i'm
periously demanded by the mode of printing
the public documents now adopted. large numbers
oi volumes OF the Presidents messag and the ac-
eompanylng documents are printed for general cir
culaton, containing, with great amount Of val
liable matter, a still greater amount Of no public
interest whatever. These documents sometimes
extend to three or four or more large volumes ut q
single session. BY reference to these books, il
will be seen that hundreds of pages are occupied
with mere details and estimates of no earthly SER
vice except to members of Congress, or possibly
for deposit in tho public libraries What posi-
BILE interest can il be for to print and send abroad
amongst our constituents the minute estimatcs for
the various items Of provisions and clothing re-
quired at our various naval and military statons.
With this mass Of useless detail we bury the valu
able information which the documents other wise
contain. We should separate that which is of
public intcrest from that which is not, and print
Tor general circulation only that which 10 Of general
interest. can perceive no way in which this can
be accomplished, except by the preparation of
COMPENDIUM or ABsTRAcr Of the public documents
believe 1t to be practicable to condensc all that is
valuable for general into a single volume of
reasonable size. suited for circulation and with
good index, made exceedingly valuable and con-
venient. Every individual to whom such a volume
should be sent, would have the substance of the
documents showing the operations of the Govern
ment, and all that is Of value to him. in a conye
nient form.
"lt would be a volume which, for its compact
ness and convenience, would be worth moro to the
general reader than the whole set Of annual docu.
ments, a. now published. But it is known to every
Senator that the sets, distributed, are very
generally broken. One volume is cent to one con-
sttuent, and one to another II tho full set s sent
to each person TO whom the first ia forwarded, the
circulation is necessarily confined to a small num-
Der of persons, and they have a small library of
the valuable and the worthless bound I'D to-
gether.
"Another reason for the change suggested is
the saving Of the expense Of printing volumes of
useless matter.
at may be necessary that the proposed abstract
or compendium should be prepared by the head of
one of the Departnents-perhaps the Secretary of
the Treasury or the Secretary of the Interior. 1t
can hardly be expected that it could be convent
entity done by the Secretary ofthc Senate or com
Ini,tee Of either House.
"The subject has been brought to the attention
Of the Senate somewhat unexpectedly, ! was
not aware that question Of this kind would come
up at this session throw out these suggestions
for the attentive consideration of the Senate and
hope they may lead TO the adoption of system
by which the evils OF the present may be avoided
and we U.ay be able to condense into a single |
,k,,t, II
By SO doing greatly increase the circula-
lion Of all the important matter. and at great |
saving ofexpense. throw out these suggestions, |
not with the view of nterposing any objection to
The motion OF the honorable Senator from Virginia,
MIR. HuNrEn,) inasmuch as the report under con-
is one of the most important of our pub
ic documents, but rather a notice that int tend |
o call the attention of the Senate TO the subject
'ereafer."