Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-04
or two clerks, at 81, 200, to attend to this

| OF copyright deposits, 5; division of cor
| respohdehee. s; porter, l.; messenger, /:
| total. ~ persons, at a total compensation
| of SAG. 800
| the special service for the year 19oO-19O1
| adds nxe persons, at a total compensat ton
| Estimating the fees of the office for that
year as $4,000 the cost of the service on
| the above be sis including the special serv-
Ice Will fall short of the receipts by S11 $50;
| and II against this balance there be debited
| expenditure for printing, stationery and
| supplies (say $4,000. the Office will still net
of $3.50.
| That the office should be self-supportng
! is reasonable to expect. The clients of the
! office may well complain. however, If it
| yield profit to the government at the eX-
| pehSe OF really adequate service.
! Increase of the Library.
| For the present year my predecessor
recommended an appropriation of 10000,
| and. as distinct item, 5000 for manu-
| scripts. Since that recommendation detail
ed examination is enabling the deficiencies
of the library in standard material to be
| ascertained in detail. With reference not
| merely to the use of the library, but to con-
| venienCe and economy in the reclassifica-
| ton and cataloguing 1t is important that
these deficiencies be supplied at the earliest
| possible moment. The greater the delay
| also the rarer the material and the higher
the price to be paid
considering the gaps to be hlled ana the
| resources at the disposal of competitors,
| consider $4,000 to cover the purchases of
all classes of material as a minimum esti-
mate for the next fiscal year. Were 1t not
| for the difficulty of handling a larger
amount OF accessOns with the force pro-
! vided for, I should recommend the eXpendi-
| ture of much larger sum.
Law books: There are yet many gaps
| to be filled in the statutes and session laws
| of the several states ito name only one Of
| the several needs.
Periodicals, serials and newspapers: The
| list at present subscribed for is far below
the requirements of library of this type.
Travelling Expenses.
"a much larger allowance must be made
| for travelling expenses The material for a
great library comes from all over the civ
| ilized world 1t is not a simple commercial
product which may be ordered upon definite
specification. To secure it by purchase and
gift requires something more than CORE
spondence. Agencies must he established
and periodically inspected. Representatives
must be sent out constantly to search, in
vestigate, examine. explain, attend public
sales, negotiate purchases at private sale,
urge gifts, institute relations of exchange.
The expense of such trips is tritiing com
pared with the material they bring in.
Their purpose is the increase of the library.
A dollar expended on them may often save
ten to the book fund; but they cannot, it
appears, be met out Of the appropriation
for the purchase of books. They must be
provided for as contingent expense But
this means that at present they cannot be
met at all. Under my predecessor a rep
resentative of the library went to Porto
Rico in its behalf. The trip resulted in the
acquisition of important material at a NOM
inal cost. But his expenses, though but
$l69 remain yet unrembursed him.
Binding Papers and Pamphlets.
There now in the library building by
count, over 10000 books and over 200 600
pamphlets in paper covers. How large a
fraction of these are duplicates how large
another fraction consists of material not
justifying the expense of binding, has not
yet been ascertained Forty-three thousand
pamphlets have already been thought
worthy of a catalogue entry, but yet, with
the above, remain unbound. 1t is certainly
safe to estimate that the number of books
now in the library in need of binding or re-
binding or repair may reach 10000 vol
umes; and the number of pamphlets 100000
In addition there are 3,0S6 volumes of news
papers and T,1S5 of periodicals. to which
| number others are added as the sorting of
the old hles progresses. The cost of the
binding, reminding and repair upon these
ioSI volumes of newspapers and period
lcalS alone at the rates now charged by
the government printing office. would ex-
coed ST, 900.
And to all of the above must be added
me IIdi WilICn comes in in the
OF each year, including over 800 newspa-
perS, which, if averaging each but two vol
umeS to the year will cost 5000 to bind
1t is of great importance that all this work
should go forward speedily for the use of
the volumes in paper covers, and of the
newspapers and magazines in unbound
numbers, is a serious injury
The printing Of the catalogue cards is
now attempted only in the case of COW
righted titles. These form but a fourth of
the total number of cards currently pre-
pared. But the rest have to pc withheld
from the printer. owing to the moagerness
are now ready to be turned ~ to him
which must be printed before they can be
made available for the general card cat
alOgues.
The output of the next and each sue
cceding fiscal year may be 30, 900 additional
entries. At the present rates the cost of
putting into type $4,000 entries, with the
necessary multiplication of copies, would
exceed $1,000. The estimate of the public
printer for the class of cards not now rn-
dertaken comprising large proportion of
the present rates.
Excluding all printing of material In
book form and assuming that the biblio-
gra phic publica lions of the library will he
provided for by special authorize ton. there
still! remains to be covered by this appro-
priation all the miscellaneous printing of
the library; blanks, forms, letter-heads,
etc, etc. The forms for the copyright Of
flee alone cost annually between So 900 and
81 600. The total of routine printing in
creases very rapidly with the increase Of
the force in the library and the increase of
its business.
In view of the important pending work
shall ask an increase of the allotment for
this year in the form of a deficiency appro-
priation of $50 900; and / have no hesitation
in naming $4,000 the minimum that
should be granted for the year ending June
so. 1901
Mr.. Putnam says, in submitting estimates
for the library force:
I'm estimating the efficiency of the force
proposed as compared with that of other
libraries for work similar in kind II is to
be remembered that the estimates must
include a department the copyrighD spe-
cial to this library; that the working day
In the Library of Congress Is shorter by Is
per cent than the ordinary library working
day; that the working year also is shorter
Each employee has thirty days of annual
leave, and may have thirty additional days
Of sick leave, without loss of pay; and that
deductions for other absence do not enure
to the use of the library (for substitute
service for instance but are carried into
the United States treasury.
Positions noted as 'submitted' are not
specifically provided for by the present APP
preparation act, though in some cases flled
by detail from other branches of the library.