New-York tribune., 1900-05-21
"OFTHE MAKING OF BOOKS. "
ALMOST INTERMINABLE SERIES OF
VOLUMES on THE CIVIL WAR.
TBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBuNE.l

IBY TELEGRAPH TO THE rRIBuNEl
Washington May 2O-Captan r. W. Kerr. the
chief OF the War Department document room, has
tust completed mailing to henefciaries another
volume OF the Civil War records which is Serial
No l25 OF the aggregate output of books. This IL
Volume ", Series 3. and bears evidence tnat the
War of the Rebellion is still going on-n the Gov
ernment print shop. at all events. According 10 ita
meaningless title this last volume embodies cor
respondence. orders reports and returns OF the
Union authorities from January /, 1884 to April 3D.
1865" but upon what subject or subjects IS not
designated The headings are Correspondence.
ETC." on one hand and Union Authorities on
the other, afrording clew whatever to ther
contents the nature of the book. as IN the t"o
preceding SERIES which finished
1t is only by examining the preface. which for
mally sets out the scheme of the work. and an
attentive study of the data OF the entire four
volumes of Series that one can determine that
1t deals chiefly with the organization OF the Union
armies and analogous subjects. Otherwise Cor
respondence ETC. and Union Authorities,
leave one completely in the dark, the more so as
the dates covered have already been gone over
twice In the other two series 1t is careless
misnomer for such heterogeneous coiiection.
Nearly one hundred pages OF the last volume are
devoted to the final report Of the "Freedmen's s
Inquiry Case" thirty to the regulations or
the Provost Marshal General and many other
pages to rules and regulations to prevent col
lisions at sea- to military railroads, to official
proclamatons of various kinds. to reprint OF laws
etc, which not correspondence at all Even
the Presidents Message a tabular statement OF
Presidential votes the annual reports of the Secre-
tary of War and the Bureau officials reprinted
AS such miscellaneous reprint matter occupies ap-
parently the largest part of the volume of l.2s7
pages. more properly the title should be reversed
and read Etc. Correspondence"
MORE BOOKS TO FOLLOW
AS this volume carries the Etc" Of the Re-
bellioh up to April 30 1865 after the fighting was
all over It is probable that another to cover the
mastering out OF the troops will finish Series 3.
Then there will follow Series T. devoted to the
same character OF events on the Confederate side.
a volume of statistical Information and two vol
umes of general indexes. Incidentally. 1t s noted
that Volume of Series 8. covering Correspond
ence. etc." from November 1, 1850 to March 81.
1862 carries the first document Page 1 of
date November 12 1859, nearly a year prior to the
ton ''"s p'e''o'' u N'' A''''''''' ''e'
It is almost precisely thirtysix year. since this
Nothing of Importance was accomplished in the
sums Of money so-caed Specialists Il issued num- n
ber OF crude volumes. lilly compiled and worse con-
large masses Of the most important historical doc
uments. They were subsequently totally discarded.
e their failure
both and
He issued the first book il 1880 just twenty
Scott published twenty-sx books. when he
sRcoone LSze scotts l Congress
changed the machinery again. and put Board
fhanss IN the eighty SooR
besides completing the atlas containing many
psted the e first 5 n series and FIVE out Of the eight
paiSns etc, really embodies ali The essentsl fea
ures of the war records. so far public interest
about prisoners. organization of the troops. mobi-
zation OF the armies and other collateral matters.
important TO the historian.
ANOTHER CHANGE OF EDITORS
Mr.. Meikejohn changed the machinery OF publica-
ton again by dissolvng the Board and devoving
the work on General Ainsworth Of the Record and
Pension Bureau-ato whom the work thought
naturally to belong. At that date the main matter
for all the remaining. volumes had been collected
ndexed. Excluding these, within the last two
years, only ceven new volumes have been complied
than under the Boards charge. A, the present
rate it is probable that two or three years more
will elapse before the work is finally completed.
There are not so many people engaged now upon
the publication formerly although it is i'm
upon it. as the. War Records Bureau has been
consolidated with the Record and Pension Office.
First and last nearly 100000 has been expended
upon this project. represented by 125 volumes
OF each separate book an edition of eleven thou
sand copies is issued. A few reserved for sale.
but the balance is distributed free to the public
through designations by Senators and Representa-
tives and heads of departments. Such assign
ment carries the whole series The original assign
edition. and remain for free distribution. Eff
forts have been made to have this limited edition
the entire set, but they have always failed. II is
popular and mrch sought after. but the long con-
perhaps unavoidable have had the effect ex-
haust public patience.