Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-27

what might be called an implied trust. which
they in honor bound TO fulfill; but Con-
Eress cannot legislate on the question
That these documents are recognized as De-
ing the personal property of the Senator or
Representative is cOnclusively shown by the
fact that any OF them which remain to the
credit of a Congressman are turned over, not
tO his successor but to his estate Ny beilef
IL that the selling of such publications by a
member OF the national legislature to second
hand s-slers has been a very rare occurrence.
Tassy' was only one such case which we could
obtsia definite information Of during our re-
cent exhaustive Investigation of the general
subject of alleged extravaganza in the admins
tration Of the public printing. In that instance
II was q man whose term had already expired
who advertised through a laborer in one Of the
departments TO sell his quota of certain yalua-
bic books OF course 1t Is svery common thing
for Congressman to exchange such merchan-
disc among themselves.
For example, l represent agricultural
state have use for many more Agricultural
Reports than are allotted to my share. Ac-
cordingly. go TO my friend Gen. Bingham of
Philadelphia He hasn't got a farmer in his
constituency i saw to him. bingham. can you
let me have a couple of hundred Agricultural
reports in exchange for the same number of
50 and so, mentioning some document which
he requires. He readily assents, and so the
matter is arranged conveniently for us both.
However, as have said. the question of dis
tween the Congressman and his constituents"
PLENTY OF ROOM FOR REFORM.
Chairman Richardson of the House commit
tee on printing thinks that there is plenty
Of room for reform in the distribution of pub
lie documents. Said he: There are at pres
ent 1,OOO.OOO volumes of undistributed docu-
ments in the basement of the Capitol MANY
OF these books. according to the statements OF
dealers. are worth from SIS to SIS each on &C
~ N ~ha1r t.
The accumulation has been made chiefly from
the overflow Of the library of Congress and
from publications dispensed with and thrown
out from the committee rooms. For MANY
years these volumes have been rotting awav
rats Lending not little assistance to their
destruction Now they are to be distributed
among the Congressman pro rata for their
constituents.
There are many ways in which public docu-
Inents are wasted. A publication Is distributed
by members of the House. The same publica-
ton Is distributed by Senators. The DEPART
ment from which the publication eranated
distributes II also. In addition the document
bureau IN the Department of the Interior scat
ters II broadcast. Thus II has happened that
IL n single year so 900 volumes have been re-
tu-7ed to the document bureau by libraries
which had already received copies of the same
oOoks from other sources. OF each publication
tls House of Representatives receives a certain
number. which Is divided up among the mem
CCAo- EtALcf cdtu Que mas received lis share
there Is necessarily a fraction left over which
remains IN the hands of the superintendent OF
the folding room. During the last wear these
fractions amounted to A 900 volumes These
20 to swell the useless stock on hand. friend
o. mine told me that on one occasion he had
seen In the cellar of secondhand
dealer 80, 600 copies of government reports a
large part of them in bags which had never
been opened. containing the unbroken quotas
OF congressman. Asan example of small but
expensive swIndle 1 may mention the case of
one man who wrote to at least a hundred Con-
gressmen asking each one u personal favor
for copy of the recently published book on
the horse, issued by the Department of Agricul-
ture- Ii Is a very costly work. He got FORTY
copies by this ingenious plan. which has doubt
lees been often tried with success. Is it sur
prising that Mr.. Ames. superintendent of the
document bureau, should have declared re-
Gently that any private business which was man.
aged on such vicious principles as those which
govern the present method of distributing pub
lie documents would be doomed to almost i'm
mediate bankruptcy"
In the course of the recent investigation the
fact was developed that there are n number OF
young men at the Capitol, not employees of the
government, who make a living by buying ana
selling public documents. purchasing from one
Congressman and dlsposing of their wares to
another. Much of their business is accom-
Pllshed by exchanging publications They act
a. go-betveens and advantage themselye
while contributing to the convenience OF Rep.
re.eutatlyes anu Senators by furnishing eaci,
with what he wants. Ia trade for what is useless
10 him. 1t can hardly be said that there is
anything Legitimate about this. Probably a
large part Of the stock of government docu-
ments in the hands of dealers Is obtained from
the libraries Of Congressman who are leaving
Washington Senator Henderson has accuuu.
lated 1000 volumes of reports. &C.. by merely
keeping one copy Of each publication allotted
to him He means to present them to a library
eventually: but. as he himself SAYS in the event
OF his unexpected demise they would 20 to his
heirs and be sold presumably for the benefit of
his estate.
ONE GREAT soCRcE OF WASTE
One very great source of waste in public
printing is found in the reckless manner of dis
trlbuting government publications which has
prevailed They are scattered broadcast where
they are not wanted, so that thousands upon
thousands of them every year are sold TO
dealers IN waste paper all over the country
without having been taken from their wraD-
Pers- Volumes of statistics COMPLIED at
enormous expense, excite the wonder and dis
may OF bueoiic constituents and learned ESSAYS
on Tertiary insects or other equally abstruse
subjects astonlsh the untutored residents of
city Sums The private secretary of a western
Senator spoke the other day of having seen a
pile OF census reports i've feet high in a coun-
try barber shop net long ago. The tonsorlal
artist IN charge YVES using them for shaving
paper.
Illustrations for government documents las,
year cost $4,000 The expense for this pay:
o. the work varies widely from wear TO wear.
Three or four years ago IL went up to 500, OOJ.
HE Law says that no pictures shall be intro
dueed IN such publications for the sake OF or
nament. but only for necessary illustrating OF
the text Most costly of the Illustrations made
are those for the Department Of Agriculture
ana the bureau of ethnOlOgy. Each depart
msnt draws Its own pictures. but the govern
m-nt printing Office has them reproduced by
n ms IN Boston. New York Baltimore and other
eiAes The printing Office supplies the paper.
and the hrms which take the contracts do the
rest They print the illustrations and return
them 10 Washington. all ready to be bound
with the text For every Job that amounts 10
over Il 200 the printing Office must advertise
Tor bids IL Is not generally known that thu
government printing Office will supply ANY
humber OF copies of any publication to bf
isaIed BIZ the government TO any private eiti.
zen at 10 per cent over and above actuaI cost
however. the order must be handed in befor,
the edition for Uncle Sam has been turned
out
DEvELoPNESr OF THE PUBLIC PRINTING.
The method of printing the publications O
he United States government has gone through
very interesting process of evolution. Ii
he days OF the Continental Congress il was al
done by the publishers of newspapers unde
direction Of the secretary OF that body
The First Congress under the Constitution
began with ordering each bill or documen
printed by special resolution This Iletho,
fOunl undesirable ami In was daci.la,3 .,