Evening star., 1905-07-30
BILLS FOR PRINTING
Expenditures Of the Agri-
cultural Department.
FEELING IN CONGRESS
PREVAILING METHODS TO BE
SCRUTINIZED.
Necessity for Certain Costly Publica-
Necessity for Certain Costly Publica-
tions Will Be Questioned and Cur
tailment Will Be Attempted.

When the joint committee of both houses
of Congress meets some time in the autumn
to consider the expenditures of the govern
ment in relation to printing it will make
an especial examination of the methods
.hat have prevailed in the Department of
Agriculture, which is said to spend more
money for printing than any other branch
of the government. Those who have made
careful survey of the work Of the de-
partment in this respect assert that last
year it expended about million and half
dollars for the editing, preparing and pub
lication of It's various reports and bull
letins.
Of Questionable Importance.
1t is said that no other single depart
ment of the government has increased it's
output of literature SO rapidly as has the
Department Of Agriculture. Many of the
reports that are printed by authority Of
the Secretary are looked upon as of the
greatest value. but there are many works
that cost a very large amount of money
that are said to be of questionable inn
portance Many of these relate to the pre-
sentation of theories and experiments that
said to be of a nature that few scien-
tific societies would spend money for their
publication. scientific gentleman of the
department who may be little known and
whose opinions have never received any
especial sanction may conceive some idea
that might be worth a cursory debate. and
forthwith he writes a learned treatise en-
bellished by many colored plate and in
tricate diagrams with pages of tabulated
figures all going to show something or
other that in the end is still a matter
worthy of an afterdinner discussion and
nothing more.
Feeling in Congress.
Many members of the Senate and House
of Representatives are inclined to think
that discussions of this kind, while valuable
and likely, in a small number of instances.
to throw light upon important matters.
should not be dignified by being printed in
a costly colume until they have received
the sanction of men who are thoroughly
capable of estimating their probable value
Whether the joint committee on printing
will go fully into this phase of the work of
the government printing office or not. it is
quite likely that the committees on appro-
priations will insist upon being given some
assurance as to the value of the books to
be printed by the scientific gentlemen of
the department before they appropriate
large sums of money for that purpose next
winter.
Weather Bureau Publications.
The weather bureau has had a large
amount of money for printing. but it is a
question whether that amount can be cur
tailed without causing great protests from
farmers and maritime interests that have
year by year come more and more to value
the information that Is furnished them by
Prof. Moore, the chief of the bureau These
interests claim that the forecasts they re-
ceive concerning the weather, being in the
nature of insurance, are of the grea test inn
portance to them. They assert that as this
work can be performed only by govern
ment, there should be no hesitation in pro-
<l,A,,
Is looked upon by many as akin to the dis
tribution of seeds which occasionally calls
for curtailment and criticism, yet proves
to be so popular with the farmers that sem
ators and representatives hear from their
constituents in very lively manner when
ever the seed distribution is interfered with.
When Secretary julius Sterling Morton
was at the head of the department he cut
out the expenditure for seed on the ground
that the seed, being purchased, were not
rare and unusual as provided in the law,
and claimed that 1t was practically impos
sible to purchase large assortment of rare
and unusual seed for popular distribution.
But the discontinuance of the seed distribu-
tion called down upon the head of the Sec
retary such storm of protest that pres
sure was brought to bear to have the work
continued, and since that time no Secretary
has shown an inclination to interfere with
1t, whatever his private opinion may have
been as to the desirability of such expendi-
ture-
Bureaus Steady Growth.
AS it was with the distribution of seed so,
1t is declared. has been every attempt to
curtail the expenditures Of the weather bu-
reau. The bureau has grown year by year
and its popularity has been thoroughly es-
tablished 1t Is claimed that in order to
make the work of the bureau effective the
printing presses must be worked overtime
and the more printing the better the results
nf no loo . 10 fAl xl~,k
formation Of the weather bureau is valuable
only as it can be distributed. and that al
though large part of that distribution Is
made through the newspapers, yet still more
can only be secured through the printing Of
maps by the government itself. Instead of
curtailing the service 1t is said that as the
years go by there will be more and more
printing demanded, and confidence Is felt
that such printing cannot be curtailed with
out vigorous protests from the farming and
maritime interests.
Bureau Of Soils.
The bureau of soils of the department ia
also responsible for large part of the in
creased appropriation for printing for that
department. The bureau of soils is rather
a recent institution In its extensive deve,-
apment. Soil surveys are being made in
many parts of the country and from va
rious sections there are demands for sur
veys. When these surveys are made the
department is deluged with requests for
the information that has been obtsined in
relation to the nature of the soil of va
riouS localities. This, 1t Is said. makes It
necessary for the department to print ex-
tensively. But the committees of Congress
will want to know more about the necessity
for these publications than it has had
Many of these publications are accom-
panied by Illustrations that are of costly
nature, which many members of the house
especially have criticised as not necessary
for conveying to the farmer the informa-
tion that they require. They believe the
printing bills con be cut down without in
tering with the net result.
Increase in the Bills.
In 1898 appropriations for the entire De-
partment OF Agriculture amounted to some
thing over $3.OOO.0OO. Now. only seven
years later, the cost OF printing alone
amounts to about half that much This
cost Of printing includes the cost @: pre-
pairing the matter for the printer
The bureau of animal industry and plant
industry have also contributed largely to
this increase of the cost of printing The
bureau Of forestry In 1898 cost only s., $40,
while for the last year that bureau cost
$S75, $40. This bureau has been the father
of hundreds of Dublica tiOuS that have com