The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-06-26
NATIONAL PRINTING.

Printed by the Federal Government.
There are 6S, 063 titles in Major Ben
Perley Poore's recently published de
scriptive Catalogue of Government Pub
lications.' And it is estimated thai
there are at least 10000 titles not in
cluded in this compilation. 1t is pref
ty safe to say, therefore, that the Gov
eminent has published since its organ.
ization rs, 600 distinct works, so that
the Pub. Docs" as they are irrever-
entity called, would alone make libra
nv that would rank among the largest
in the country.
The most complete collection OF these
documents is that in the Boston Public
Library: the next in fullness is found
in the Congressional Library, and the
third large collection is probably owned
by the antiquarian book firm OF Angilm
& Co., of this city. These dealers are
now completing full set OF puphc
documents from the Twenty-thlrd Con-
gress. Only few volumes are miss.
/ ing. and these they expect to find, and
when the collection is finished they es-
| innate it will contain 10000 titles. The
price of this library is set at $3,OOO,
and. as all the volumes which compose
IL were printed at the public expense
and distributed gratuitously, this sum
should represent good profit to mid
alemen.
The documents are of all sizes and
relate to every imaginable topic. Some
an great thick quartos, like the census
volumes or the Medical History of the
War; And at the other extreme are
thousands of pamphlet reports on small
matters. But it should be noted tna'
the bills introduced in the Congresses
are not included in the titles, If they
were. the total would be high in the
hundreds of thousands. The largest
single publication ever undertaken BY
the Government is the ''Tenth Census,
which, if completed, would fill about
twenty-four large quarto volumes
Only half of these have been issued Of
ever will be, but even as it is the Cen
tennial Census is probably the mos
voluminous public document, not count
. ing as one serial the various annua
reports. No doubt the finest and cost
Hest group of publications relate to the
! Government surveys. Many OF thes'
reports are superbly gotten up, co
piously illustrated, and accompanied o.
: maps of the highest scientific and me
chanical excellence. One special serle
: of twenty separate titles relate to TN
: canals, routes and Isthmus of Panama
4 Then there are reports of expeditions T
.. the Arctic and to the Amazon, report
on the cholera, on birds, and bugs, an
grasses, on various branches ofpolitica
r Economy, on the Indian from ever
f standpoint; many elaborate reports O.
: patents; the learned volumes put fort
under the auspices of the Smithsonia
Institution; such bulky documents
! the stenographic reports OF the Sta
Route trials and the Guitea
trial: codiication of the Ian
i. laws. and the many publication
" relating to the civil war. These al
all executive documents, put out, thu
!, is, by the departments. Then, IN az
Isl dition, there are the Congression'
l. documents which include the Recort
1T which alone has now swollen to seve
n or ten thick quartos for each Congress
II the great volumes full of tedious an
interminable testimony in committt
- investigation, and the thousands
:. smaller committee reports.
The pace of the Government pre-
has kept up with the rapid progress I
the country in all directions. Accor.
ing to the index the documents for Il
IN first quarter of century were abo
1000; for the next quarter, $500; f
Il the third quarter, 1000; for the fourt
es 22.5OO; and the annual output no
ce runs up to about 1000 titles annual
ha Then it must be remembered that Il
10 editions are much larger than in &
early days. Rarely are less than 8
70 copies of document printed, and II
az ouently the edition is many times tn
size. OF the annual report OF I
ne Commissioner of Agriculture 5000
- copies are issued and distributed.
W. The United States Government is,
short, the greatest publishing house
the world. By the side of its resourc
such an establishment as the Harpe
-se becomes quite small. There are on
paw roll 400 compositors. besides
large force of superintendent, TO
men, etc. Fifty proof-readers
- employed, and As pressmen. 1l5 pr
~ feeders and 81 ruling machine feede
The estimates call for 100000 realms
printing paper, or 48,00O,0OO shee
each sheet making eight or sixte
pages. Washington Cor. N. Y. Sun.