Los Angeles herald., 1909-05-19

Tafts might think that Mr.. Taft's was
a baclSwoods law office in comparison.
Uncle Sam, publisher, has finished
some big Jobs, but that monumental,
if not highly useful work, the Rebel
lion Records, with its 12S volumes and
a 1200-page index, will perhaps remain
for generations to come the greatest
single undertaking in the printing line
Think of it! over 100000 pages of his
tory dealing with one five-year period
1t required upwards of $4,000 reams of
white paper and more than three bill
lion ems of type to publish this great
work. The whole edition comprised
about a million and half volumes
1t is said that the finest piece of
work Uncle Sam ever executed was
the History of the Capitol" That
it is fine book may be inferred from
the statement that, although nothing
is charged for in its sale but the bare
cost after the plates were made, it
sells for $40 volume. A great many
valuable works come from the presses
of Uncle Sans big printery, but there
is such an abundance of chaff with
the wheat that even the libraries desig-
mated as repositories were surfeited
with government documents. Perhaps
the greatest need that Uncle Sam as a
publisher has is corps of trained edi-
tors who are masters of the art of blue
penciling. An examination of the av-
erage public documents reveals the
fact that half of its contents might
have been cut out without the loss Of
a single essential fact, and with the
gam of in inestimable degree of in
terest and serviceableness.
Not the least uninteresting part of
Uncle Sans big publishing business
is the work of the superintendent of
documents To be able to sell that
which can be had for nothing is an
unusual accomplishment. But the in
cumbent has been able to do that very
thing, and to no inconsiderable extent
His success has hinged on the doctrine
that advertising pays That there are
documents by the tens of thousands
lying in the storage rooms of the gov
eminent which are invaluable if placed
in proper hands is a we'll known fact.
But the public has been unconscious of
their existence and of how to get them.
To inform them of the existence of
these documents and of how to get
them, he secured from congress a neg
l1gibe appropriation for advertising
purposes. He issued a few magazine
and newspaper advertising statements.
and then got out an attractive poster
which the postoff1ce department au-
thorized him to have hung in every
postoffice. In this he explained fully
the scope of public documents, their
value when intelligently selected, etc.
and gave descriptions of several hun
dred of the most valuable and useful
ones. The result was that Uncle Sam.
bookseller, was able to do $50, 900 worth
OF business last year in direct compe-
tition with Uncle Sam, gratuitous dis
tr1butor of books. And the sales ara
still increasing.
1t is interesting to note that nearly
all or these sales were of the cheaper
publications, those relating to sub
Jects of interest to the farmer being in
greatest demand. The great majority
OF the business comes from the rural
districts.
To the average man the most useful
work done under the SUPERINTENDENT of
documents Is that of indexing all pub
locations issued by the government
The superintendent says that what is
needed to unseal the veritable treas
ures which are buried in public docu-
ments is a complete dictionary cata-
logue, but that this is not now possi-
Bile at any price, owing to the lack of
men trained to do it. A former in
cumbent of the office estimated that
he could, in six years, prepare such a
catalogue of documents, and a topical
index to the debates in congress from
the beginning Of the government down
to 1905, at a total cost of $166,000 The
present superintendent frankly says
that 1t cannot be done in six years.
neither can 1t be done at an outlay of
$166, 900. He would probably want ten
W -rs and more than $30000 The in
deXes that have been prepared in the
past have been decidedly amateurish.
One index is called a "Birdseye Index
to the TORY Bankrupt Bill" yet it is
only a single page table of contents
no better and no worse than hundreds
of indexes of one kind and another
that congress has bought at big prices.
Things are going better in Uncle
Sans publishing business today than
in olden days. The gold braid and
brass buttons spirit that permeated
everything then is entirely done away
with now, and one feels he is among
ordinary, everyday mortals once more
when he has business there. Nowhere
else in washington is there such a
splendid example of how the policy of
those higher up will reflect down to
the lowest employee. The men who
wore the gold braid are still there, but
the spirit they were then called upon
to reflect is entirely gone and Uncle
SANS printing business will perhaps
run as smoothly hereafter as any other
branch of the government. OF course,
the people who lost their jobs by the
advent of printing machinery viii still
have their grievances and Will ire
uuently air them, but otherwise all
will go along as smoothly as If 1t were
pennies instead of dollars that are be-
ing spent.
Copyright, 1909, by Frederic ]. Heskin:l
49, oe +1,a children of men, who