Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-22

The Distribution of Public Documents.
To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
The chief object of tho printing bill. tabled
on Tuesday, was, SO far as the distribution of
documents is concerned, to put a stop to the
great waste and extravaganza which are the
necessary accompaniment of the present
methods Of distribution, and to promote the
convenience Of members of Congress and
others. This was to be accomplished by the es-
adjustment of single agency having SUPER
vision of the whole work of distribution. so
that the work could be unified and simplified
and business principles introduced into its
methods. There would then be one Office in
which information respecting all publications
OF the government could be secured. whether by
members of Congress or others; one office in
which it could be ascertained whether any par
ticular document could be had and where; and
in which, when member of Congress desired
to know whether any library or individual had
been supplied with any document, this in
formation could be at once obtained. In these
respects the convenience of all concerned would
be immensely subserved.
The present method of distributing docu-
ments Is vicious in the extreme and nothing
more extravagant could be devised. Most OF
the valuable public documents are now dis
tributed by three or four different agencies.
For example. the reports of the geological sur
vey by the Senate, the House. the Secretary of
the Interior and the director OF the geological
survey; the reports of the bureau of education
by the Senate, the House, the Secretary of the
Interior and the commissioner of education
the reports of the bureau of ethnology and the
Smithsonian Institution by the Senate, the
Housoand the secretary of the Smithsonian In
stitution; the reports on foreign and COM
mercial relations by the Senate the House and
by the Secretary of State, and so on through
almost the entire catalogue of public docu-
ments Each of these three or four agencies is
absolutely ignorant OF what the others are
doing, and is therefore of course sending the
same document to parties that have already
received it from one Of the other sources.
Duplication and duplication and quadrupli-
cation cannot possibly be prevented under
such a SYSTEM and one is not surprised to learn
from the report of the Secretary OF the Interior
as to the distribution of the reports Of the
tenth census, all of which were mailed from
his department. upon the plan proposed in the
bill SO Inexperienced by the House, that
orders in duplicate and triplicate covering
more than so, 900 volumes of this single series
have been received by him, and that the dupli-
cation Of this number OF volumes has been ac-
tually prevented. Nor would one be surprised
to learn further that more than 100. 900 Volumes
OF documents have been returned by the libra
rles OF the country for redistribution, these
volumes having been received by them i'll
duplicate under the existing system of distri-
button. This number represents but n part,
and probably a small part of the documents
that are sent in duplicate to these libraries
This evil is increased by the fact that Of thou
sands of documents three or four different edi-
tions are issued; for example, the annual re-
ports of the executive depar tments, which are
published as executive documents OF the HOuse.
some OF which are bound in leather and others
distributed unbound; published also in the Sc
ries known as messages and documents, in cloth;
also in departmental SERIES and lastly many
OF them as separate bureau documents. 1t is
therefore easily possible for a single individual.
to procure sixteen copies of the same docu-
ment, even if he secure but a single copy of
each edition from each OF the agencies now
authorized to distribute it. And when one con-
siders that every one of the more than AGO
members OF Congress is distributing this docu-
ment he can readily see that a shrewd fellow
would not find it difficult to obtain forty or
fifty copies of the same document as was stated
to be the fact on the floor of the House.
Now, plan which would remedy this crying
evil and prevent this extravaganza and waste
should commend itself to all honest men, and
this is, as read the bill in question, of its
main objects.
1t simplifes the whole business of distribut-
ing documents by bringing 1t all under one su-
pervlsIon. 1t makes 1t possible to discover at
once whether any party has already been sup
piled with any particular document and SO
prevents duplication. 1t relieves the depart
ments of the trouble and expense of maintain
ing folding rooms and OF keeping records of
documents received and distributed 1t pro-
vides an agency which is required to keep itself
informed as to all publications of the govern
ment. Of whatever editions. and therefore from
which information can at any time be obtained
as to said documents, and so would be found of
constant service and convenience to men,
bers OF Congress and the departments. 1T
would seem that the expense of such an
Office would be much more than met by
the reduction which would attend the discon-
tlnuance OF existing offices of distribution and
by the consolidation Of this now diffused and
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