Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-02

| cents a mile from the government, osten-
sibiy for transportation.
| DR.. Ames expresses surprise that public
| documents hold SO low place In public
| estimation. 1T is not too much to say"
| says he. that no series of publications Of
greater intrinsic value issue from any pub
| fishing house in the world than from the
| government printing office. Hundreds Of
| thousands OF dollars are expended every
year and hundreds of experts in their sew
eral departments are constantly employed
In prosecuting scientific research in many
directions in explorations in careful in
vestigation of economic and social ques-
| tons. in experiments conducted after the
| most approved modern methods, all having
| practical ends in view and designed to pro-
mote the general, material and social well
| fare; and 1t cannot be otherwise than that
| the results OF these researches as detailed
IN the reports OF such competent investiga-
| tors, possess value much beyond that
| usually assigned to public documents"
one or the reasons, DR.. Ames thinks for
the unpopuarity of the public document is
| tie fact that it is usually given away: and
| people are apt to regard a free book as of
small worth-to class 1t with the patent
| medicine almanac. Another perhaps is the
| miserable binding in which most of the
| public documents appear. 1t is the Same
| style or binding which was used a hundred
years ago for public documents Another
| reason why the demand for these books is
SO limited is the limited knowledge of their
character and of the means of obtaining
| them. To counteract this 1t has been pro-
| posed that catalogues be printed and that
a monthly list of government publications
| be made feature of the Patent Office
| Gazette, which has a wide circulation. and
| of the Congressional Record. Not only is
| there no catalogue of government pubiica-
lions later than 1881, but there is not even
| an index to the publications of each Con-
gress. DIR. Ames has planned a congress
| sional index and has been at work on II
| for year. 1t is now about ready to go to
the printer. Instead of the chronological
4 order followed a naf a1 f,o,, "
| to 1881, compiled by Ben. Perley Poore he
| has followed the alphabetical system. There
| will be three columns in the index. In the
| middle column will be the alphabetical list
| of publications; the column to the left will
| contain the name of the Senator or mem
| Der introducing or reporting the document
or the department from which 1t came, and
| the column to the right will give the class
and number of the document so that refer
ence can be made to 1t. 1t is a solemn fact
| that the Senate of the United States de-
Ponds today on the memory of AMI Smith
| the superintendent of the Senate document
| room, for Its index of government publica-
| tons. II AMI should be called away, the
Senate would be completely at sea. There
| fore ii would be just as well perhaps If
| some permanent index was printed When
| the index which DIR. Ames has prepared
| ranging over four years. has been pub
| lished, possibly Congress will make provis-
| ion for indeSing the publications of Con-
gress at least far back as 1851.
] But what Congress may or may not do is
enc Of those things which depends largely
| On chance. A bill passed the House of Rep
| resentatives some time ago to establish 4
| bureau of documents at the Capitol. Ii Is
| now in the hands of the Senate committee.
| Whether Ii ever comes before the Senate is
| a question to be determined. A similar bill
| passed both houses in the last Congress,
| but failed liz conference. The objections to
| it arose not 80 much from the conviction
| that the bill was not just, as from the fear
| that ii would cut off a few senatorial pri-
| Sa1 lint
| Congressman should send their orders for
| books to the new bureau. so that If these
| orders duplicates the orders of other Con-
| gresSmen, the superintendent could give
notice of the fact. By this provision it was
| hoped to prevent the costly Implications of
| documents. But the Congressman objected
to this strenuously on the ground that 1t
| was an Arrangement OF their rights, and
| particularly because they were afraid that
the lists of their constituents and friends
| might be used some time for a political pur-
| pose. Possibly another reason for this
| objection was that 1t would affect the trade
| in public documents which Congressman
| now carry on. Then II was proposed that
| the documents to the number of half a
| million now rOtting in the basement of the
Capitol should be turned over to the super
| intendent of documents for distribution TO
| Libraries. but the Congressman stepped in
| with protest that they wanted these docu-
| ments for themselves. AS result, the
| documents still rot in the Capitol basement
| If DR.. Ames could have his way. prob
| ably no documents would be distributed
| gratuitously except to public libraries. He
| thinks that IL there was general distribu-
| ton among Libraries where the books could
| be consulted at any time, public interest
| would be fully served and any man who
wanted additional copies of publications for
| his private library could afford to pay for
| them. This idea is not likely to meet with
| approval from Congress, as 1t would de-
| prive the Congressman of one of his most
| valuable perquisites.
| Not "a Great Cash Business.
The cash business of the document bureau
of the Interior Department is not very
great. To be sure. IT is confined to the doc
uments of Congress, the reports of the Off
GERS of the Interior Department, the publ
| cations of the geological survey, the official
| register of the United States, or Blue Book
| and the reports of the Supreme Court Some
| of the other departments are allowed to sell
| special publications, but, as rule, the trade
| in them is very small The government
| printing office sells any government publ
| cation at an advance of 10 per cent on it's
| cost; but the orders for the books must be
| given before they are put to press And as
very few people outside Congress and the
| departments have any idea what Is to be
| issued from the government printing office,
| very few people have an opportunity of
ordering books from the printing office. The
| books sold al the Interior Department are
sold at cost price, The amount received for
| documents in 1857 was s2.3ol; in 1SSS-S9 1t
was sI,46i; in 1890 1t was 81. 500; in 1891 1t
was s., 45I. The average sales now are
about $500. There will undoubtedly be an
| increase a result of the publication of the
] census reports. These census reports will
range in price from IS cents to 81. The
| average price of a government report is
$3.50. The more expensive publications are
| usually those which are accompanied by
| maps. There is an atlas of Colorado, issued
| by the geological survey, which sells for
$3.50. The annual report of the geological
| survey for 1874 costs $3.50 in full morocco.
| The report on the Black Hills. with accom-
panying atlas, costs 81 in half-morocco. or
1922 in cloth. A publication containing re-
vised Indian treaties costs s.. IS. There are
| monographs of the tenth census which sell
| for cents each. That is the cheapest pub
| LEGATION issued by the government One of
| the most expensive Gt is not popular) is a
monograph on geometrid moths. which sells
| for S. The subject matter of these publica-
tions ranges through every form OF indus
| try, through the natural history of America
| through photography. geology, up to a die
tonary Of attitudes. of which only one copy
| has been sold in several years.
GEORGE GRANTHAM Balm.
| Ballad of the Surplus Spinsters.
| From the London World.
| The last census shows that there soc. 900