The evening times., 1897-01-22

The report OF F. A Crandall, superin-
tendent OF documents at the Government
Printing Office. has just been published.
IL is the first covering an entire year that
has been made. Mr. Crandall says that he
has saved from vaults, lofts, and libraries,
where they were entirely useless. public
documents worth half million dollars.
Their first cost was good deal more than
that.
During the year the office has received
zS6 .S7l public documents, of which 252,-
6O2 were accommodations froo various de-
partnents; l43,04S were news; 81 ,321
duplicates from public and college libra
ries, and $4,000 testimatedD received
from various publishing bureaus to be cat
alogued.
The books were distributed as follows;
To depository libraries. 105,170 volumes;
other libraries, 65, 1928; TO members of Con-
gress, 1880; 60 government bureaus,
95I, and sold, 1851. The remainder,
297 $50, have been preserved in the office,
and put in availatIe condition.
From the publications remainingOn hand
a document library OF $4,000 distinct pub
ncatiOns has been created. Mr.. Cran.iall
is now sending publications to 1921 libra
ries, and has a subscription list OF 21,01o
for the compilation OF Messages and Papers
OF the President.
The system of selling public documents
instead of giving them away, the report
says, is proving to be satisfactory. About
5000 documents were sold during the first
wear OF the existence OF the office, at an
average of % cents each. This price is
about one-fourth the average for books
OF similar size and quality in the private
trade. But the sales have been at cost, as
required by law; so that an octave volume
of 100 pages without plates sells for 5
cents At this nominal cost the researches
OF government scientists are furnished TO
the people on the other hand, the price
Of some elaborately illustrated surveys and
explorations is SO per volume.
The government is thus populariZing the
results of its Investigations The book
which is sold always goes to somebody who
wants it; given away, it is frequently
wasted.
The man who calls for ST 900 worth Of
books on a postal card the report states
''has no use for a price list, no matter
how low the prices may be placed"
Then examples are cited where pOstalS
said: "Send me the Congressional Record
from 1871 to 1896 Inclusive -Send all
the scientific publications of the Agricultu-
raj Department and the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition"
As the books were supposed to be free
for the asking it was easy to apply for a
carload as for those really wanted. Many
letters OF congratulation upon the change
have been received. The eagerness TO Sc
cure the public documents OF the United
States, especially the scientific documents,
is by no means confined TO our own coun-
try. Not only have orders been received
and filled during the year from apparently
almost every nook and corner OF the United
States, but also from Canada. Mexico, Eng
land, Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, Holland.
Australia, British India and the Friendly
Islands.
The sales OF public documents show a
continual increase. indicating that they
may in time grow to large proportions
BY months, for the fical year 1896. the
numbers sold were as follows: July, 4;
August. 4; September. 10; October, 6S;
November. 80: December, so; January,
23S; February, 295; March, col; April,
GAS; May, 9O3; June, 7O6.
in Washington is the effort being made by
Mr.. Crandall TO create a complete library
OF the public documents OF the United
states. No money has been appropriated
for buying rare books, nor has any trained
assistance been provided for the work.
Yet considerable progress has been made
Fugitive publications are collected and
bound, and i'm all 536 volumes have been
added in this way.
A sort Of Clearinghouse system has been
established with libraries OF the country,
10y which these duplicate volumes are sent
where they are needed, and then broken
sets are filled out. The library here has s
been able 10 add largely to its own stock
in this way. Among other things, it has
secured a perfect copy Of the census Of
500 from the librarian of Fairmount Col
lege, Wichita, Kan
1t is estimated, however, that the docu-
ment library, though the most complete
in the world, does not contain more than
one third the government publica tions
printed since 1889.
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ET-NERAT nE EDANE WHITE