Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-26

READING FOR The MASSES
DISTRIBUTION OF DOCUMENTS BY
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
Report by Mr.. George William Hill,
Showing nmbkr Of Publi-
e"'' sued.

'e'
Mr.. George William Hill of the Depart
ment of Agriculture MaAreport just print
ed for distribution, sayS that in spite of the
increased sales through the superintendent
of documents of the department publica-
lions. and, Notwithstanding the efforts made
during the past five years to restrict and
discriminate in the miscellaneous distribu-
ton of It's documents, the number issued
has greatly increased. Nevertheless, the
refusals to honor the requests of applicants
have been greater than ever before.
The increase in the number of copies of
all the publications of the department in
the past four years over the previous four
year period has exceeded $50 per cent, and
yet the refusas sent applicants have been
at least ten times more numerous In the
past four years than in the four years
previous.
One source of frequent demand for the
publications arises, Mr.. Hill declares. from
carelesSneSS in their custody in libraries,
Where complete set of them ought to be
found; such. for instance, as the libraries
OF the agricultural colleges and experiment
stations, OF state departments and of boards
or agriculture. The fact that book or
document is publication Of the govern
ment seems in many. cases to invite indif-
ference as to Its custody, and to engender
oil easy ColiiueHce tnaC, IL necessary, IL Cdl
surely be replaced The result is that we
are constantly in receipt Of requests from
such institutions for copies of publications
to complete their SETS which, with a little
proper care, would never have been broken.
sometimes these requests, with the idea, no
doubt, of insuring our compliance, are pre-
ferred through members Of Congress,
Whlch Is. or course, quite unnecessary, as
the department Is naturally DESTROYS that
complete sets of it's publications should. if
possible, be found in such libraries as are
referred to here. Consequently, as far as
possible these requests are always COM
piled with, but this only makes the evil
more serious. 1t Is really high time, he
says, that the necessity for the careful
preservation of the department publications
should be recognized, in spite Of the fact
that they are SO freely furnished without
cost to the recipient.
Farmers' Bulletins.
The number of new Farmers Bulletins
issued during the year was eighteen. The
aggregate number of copies of these new
bulletins was a25,OO0. Reprints were called
for of ninety bulletins, which aggregated
1,S35,000 copies, making the total number
of copies of Farmers Bulletins printed dur
ing the year 2,360,000. The number dis
tributed through members of Congress was
16G6,909, the law then in force reserving
two-thirds of the whole number for the use
of senators, Representatives and delegates.
Nearly 100000 copies more than the quota
reserved for them was consequently dis
tributed in this manner, Notwithstanding
that nfty-SeVen members failed to order
any. The quota reserved for each senator,
representative and delegate was 5000 an
increase over the previous year of 1000.
This increase due to the fact that a
large proportion of the quota due members
of Congress remained funcailed for at the
close of the fiscal year 1899. and this surplus
was added under the 7 order of the secre
tary, to the quota available for members
for the next year.
For the year 1901 the amount appropri
ated for the printing and preparation of
Farmers Bulletins has been raised from
$4,000 to $57,500i ansv the proportion re-
served for senatofS, Representatives and del
esates is increassdfrom two-thirds to four
fifths. Under this arrangement it will
doubtless be possible to print about 3.5OO,OO0
copies, of which 3ssooooo would properly be
due to members 81 Congress; and as there
still remains a small surplus from the I'M
used congressional quotas for the year 1899,
the secretary has authorized that the allot-
ment for the year 1901 be fixed at 1000
copies. - - ~
Number of Drawings.
The total number OF original drawings
prepared in the section OF Illustrations was
1,767, of which 63o were reproduced and
appeared in publications issued during the
current year. There were besides prepared
by the engraver sixty wood engravings. The
cost Of the original drawings and engrav-
ings was $6,4Qe, being for the pay OF
artists. The cost for reproduetien was 81
52S "a. -
The amount of work devolving on the
document section has sensibly increased;
especially Is this the case in regard to the
correspondence and answering, either by
letter or by means of partially printed
blanks the vast number of applications for
publications received daily from all parts
of the country. There were prepared in
this section during the year 2,O92 letters for
the signature of the Secretary, and 6,741
communications for the signature of the
editor The partially printed blanks, pos
tai cards and circulars bearing printed sig
nature numbered 1922. making a total Of
replies prepared, addressed and mailed to
section of 291 ,155. Adding to this number
the letters and other communications pre-
pared In the main office OF the division we
have the enormous number of 300, 600 sep
arate communications prepared, addressed
and mailed during the year, or LOCO for
each working day. When it is remem-
bered that each one of these communica-
lions involves the consideration, handling
and filing of an order or an application,
some idea may be formed of the amount
Of clerical and semiclerical work entailed
upon the document section, largely per-
formed by persons employed as laborers.
incidentally available for clerical semi
clerical work-a circumstance which adds
largely to the difficulty of adequately per-
forming this vast amount of work.
Quality and Quantity.
From Publicity"
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