The Washington times., 1894-04-23
ON THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY.

BY reason OF the enact
bf THE ment of international copy
LIBRARIAN right in July, 1891, the copy
a., c,,,,,r., right business has heavily in
creased, far beyond the nor
NAL annual increase growing out of the devel-
opment Of the country and its publishing
interests. The number Of copyrights entered
in my office in 1890 was 42,75s. In 1893 the
aggregate was over sc, 900. or an increase Of
SO per cent During all this time only one
additional clerk has been allowed, while the
labor thrown upon the office has been enor-
mously increased. That labor involves the
receipt and reply to about 10000 applications
for copyright yearly; the record and deposit
OF fees received; the return OF fees in a large
number of rejected applications; the record
ing of all copyrights, and the issue,
under seal of my office, of certificates;
the decision of many thousands Of doubt
full claims to copyright record; the indexing
Of all the records of copyright by name and
subject matter; the preparation every week OF
a complete catalogue of copyright publica-
tions received for publication as an aid to
customs officers; the receipt and care Of over
100. 900 publications of all kinds in every
year: the stamping, numbering, labelling, and
cataloguing of their great mass Of copyright
accessions; the production Of many publica-
tions to be examined in suits for copyright
infringement constantly arising, and the fur
nishing of certified copies Of all records
wanted Immediately in such litigation.
All these varied and responsible labors, it
is to be borne in mind, are in addition to the
work of the Library proper, already twice as
large as any American library, and involving
in the care and arrangement Of its vast COL
lections, the selection OF works to be added
tho cataloguing of additions, the service Of
books and information to Congress, to the
courts, to the departments, to the foreign
legations, and to the public, and the constant
recording of books given out and returned.
Add to this the notoriously deficient space
in which the multifarious business OF the
library and copyright department has to be
carried on, fearfully overcrowded as 1t is in
every part, by which all the difficulties of ad-
ministration are iDcalculably increased, and
it becomes case of distress, calling for as
prompt and efficient relief as the supply of an
adequate working force can furnish.
The whole number of assistants allowed
the Librarian is but thirty-one, while the
British Musuem library. with no copyright
business, and no circulation of books, has
over 100 and the Boston Public Library. with
half the number of books. and no copyright
hnSi froYy ft-f fo ipbf
sistants. Unlike these libraries, the Congress
sional Library pays into the Treasury annu-
ally about s45 1000, being the whole receipts
from copyright fees, while the entire appro-
priation for salaries is but s43, 500.
As less than half the clerical force is en-
ployed in the copyright department of the
Library business. it is obvious that this de-
partment is far more than self-sustaining.
Congress, therefore, is not asked for de-
lciency, but for a reappropriation of SO much
of the funds paid in by a copyright as will
place that department in a state Of business
efficiency, such as it maintained before the
enormously increased labor thrown upon it in
the last three years.
1t has resulted from the grossly inadequate
clerical force provided that the current work
of the copyright records has fallen into
arrears which are discreditable to the gov
ernment, and the subject of just complaint on
the part of authors and publishers. The un-
dersigned holds that every applicant for
copy right should receive his certificate within
a week. instead of waiting months, as now
compelled. A. R. SPoFFoRp.