Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-03

gressional Record. The library contains Peter
Forces valuable collection Of documents known
az the American Archives. and full set of the
American State Papers. file of the No
| ttond Infeittgencer from 1919 until its publica-
ton ceased IN also upon the shelves. As may
be seen. this collection of books, even though
1t Consists OF government publications, has a
genuine value and il is much resorted to by the
employees Of the department when they are in
| search OF information about former legislation.
| WANDERING FROM PLACE TO PLACE.
For years the nucleus Of this collection was
kept in the Postmaster Generals room and
| formed his library. Then when it became too
| large the books were sent of to another room
and began q series Of wanderings through the
| department building, which included the heat
| OF the attic story and the dampness Of the sub
basement. At one time the books were boxed
never been any one in charge Of this collection
| until some years ago. Mr.. John Meigs, q clerk
| in the second assistants Office, befriended and
kept them in order and protected them from
destruction. The officials Of the department
during the past few years have shown quite an
| interest in the library and now by direction of
| Mr.. Cooley, the chief clerk Of the department,
Miss Marley, a clerk in the dead letter Office,
has been detailed for duty in the library. She
keeps the library open each day and when o
book Is taken out she makes a record of it.
UNCLAIMED MAIL MATTER.
During the last administration the superin-
tendent of the dead letter Office turned over to
the library some volumes, which had collected
in his Office, as unclaimed mail matter. This
practice has been continued and now the col
| lection Of miscellaneous volumes numbers $50.
As might be inferred these books are of all
kinds, but they are appreciated by the en-
| ployes and Miss Manley finds that the volumes
are taken ont by the employees very generally.
| She estimates that between 800 and 400 volumes
| are taken out each month. This is a practical
| demonstration Of the needs of the departmen mt
| in this direction and Postmaster General
Wanamaker, appreciating the situation, in his
last annual report has the following to say
| about the library:
MORE IN NAME THAN REALITY.
"The department library has been one more
in name than in reality. 1t has been little more
than repository for accumulations of public
documents and reports. have asked in the
annual estimates for an appropriation of 81 900
for the purchase Of books and of II 900 for the
pay of a librarian. The information and bene-
fits to be derived by the army of postal en-
ployes from collection of standard books Of
reference on postal subjects will fully justify
this expenditure"
THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
The library connected with the geological
survey is a fine working collection of books.
1t is not a circulating library, but it is place
where the TOOLS so as to speak. of the scientists
connected with the survey are kept In cur
rent geologic literature the library is especially
rich. It's features are collections Of transac-
tons of societies, standard treaties on geology,
paleontology and mineralogy, official and local
geologic reports, books which assist in map
making and maps. This library has been de-
veloped to its present high condition of ex-
celience under the direction of Mr.. Charles OAR
win, who, nine yearsago, left The Library of Con-
gress to undertake the task of bringing together
| a special scientific library. Soon after his ap-
pOintment Mr.. Darwin visited Cincinnati and
succeeded in obtaining by purchase from Mr..
Robert Clark the whole geological portion of
his fine private library. The scientific books
of DR.. F. V. Hayden we're sent by his widow to
the library. A number of books were pur-
chased in small lots. The library has been en-
| larged by gratuitous contributions and also
| receives considerable material through the
medium of exchange. The current growth of
the library is chiefly through the latter source,
although a small fund is devoted to the pur-
chase of books. The library now contains
about 2S,l07 volumes and about 1000
pamphlets and a fine collection of topographic
and geologic maps.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.
The library of the Department of Justice is
almost exclusively composed of law books and
contains about 20, 900 volumes. This entities it
to rank as the second largest and most COM
plete law library in the country, that included
The latter, however contains many duplicates,
so that the 10000 of the Department of
Justice may be an actually larger num-
Der Of books than are contained in the
literary repository on the Hill. This library
has been growing ever since Attorney General
Cushing, in the SOS, sent man to
Mexico to collect the law books Of that
country for the purpose OF throwing light
on the controversy about the California
land cases. The books which he brought
haek from fba land Of tho Mnptazuunoa foryr cd
the nucleus for this splendid collection of law
volumes, which has been growing ever since.
There is an annual appropriation of 81, 500
| for the purchase of new books for the Ii
| brary. This sum is all expended each year.
Miss Cummings is in charge Of the library
and is one of the busiest people in the depart
ment. Besides caring for the books she has to
send out the publications of the Attorney Cen
eral, which sometimes amount to four volumes
| q year. copy Of each is, by law, to be sent to
each state and territorial judge and clerk of a
court in the country, and the mailing list
amounts to 600 persons.
In the matter Of selecting new books Miss
Cummings is aided by Judge Bentley, the ex-
aminer of titles of the department
| The books are referred to very frequently by
the officers of the department in the pursuit Of
| their investigations Of law points and are
| almost invaluable to the service. They are
| often drawn by the officers of the Court of
Claims and other branches Of the government.
The library of the Department of Agricul-
| ture has been under the charge Of Mrs. Stevens
! for over thirteen years. and under her care
has grown into collection of fully % 900
volumes. almost entirely of q scientific char
| acter. Tins library is undoubtedly the most
complete in all topics relating to agriculture
and the kindred sciences in the country, and is
even thought to be ahead of any in the world.
| 1t is recruited mostly through exchange of the
works of the department. with foreign socie-
ties and similar depar tments and with the state
| agricultural bureaus. Fully 1000 volumes are
nov annually added to the shelves. There is
| an annual appropriation of 5000 for the pur-
chase of new books, all of which il expended.
The salaries amount to 20, 400. The collection
| of miscellaneous works is an insignificant per-
centage Of the whole number of volumes on the
| shelves, but is growing rapidly in the line of
general literature for the use Of the increasing
| number Of clerks Of the department.
THE LABOR BUREAU.
A good working library il owned by the
department of labor. The books are not taken
| out Of the building, but are used for reference
by the employees, who find that these works are
] of great assistance to them in the performance
| of their duties The books have been selected
with special reference to the needs of the de-
| partment. There are works on statistics. on
economics and variety bearing on social ques-
tions of the day. The origin of the library
| dates back to the organization of this
| branch OF the government service,
which was about six years ago. At first
| the office was merely bureau of the Interior
| Department. Now 1t is an independent depart
ment. The amount annually expended for