The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-08
OWENS DEPARTMEN
IS OF GREAT VALUE
Thousands of Documents Are
to Be Distributed
WILL ADVERTISE STATE
George w. Miles Announces That Peo-
Pile of Montgomery Will Have To
Tell Where They Get Liquors.
Some Take to Woods.
WILL ADVERTISE STATE

Montgomery October 7.-(Speeal.)-A
valuable side to the activities of the state
department of archives and history is
brought out in the announcement by the
director, DR.. Thomas NJ. owen, that he is
prepared for a distribution of state doc
uments for free use, which do not in
clude such things as codes and reports of
the supreme court, sold by the secretary
of state. During the last few months the
department has been able to gather up
and prepare for sending out to libraries
and individuals who need them fully 3d.
0O0 of this sort of documents.
These which run back to 1865, may be
had as far as possible, though there are
some that are out and cannot be found.
In the main, however, there are enough
of the following to supply the demands:
House and senate journals, hand books,
reports of the auditor, treasurer super
intendent of education, railroad commits
sioner, insurance commissioner, agricul-
tural department, tax commission, bank
examiners, geological surveys and any
other miscellaneous books of this kind.
There are few full sets preserved, some
running low and some high.
Among the collections made by the de-
partment are number of the carrier
codes, the years of 1867, 1886 and 1895 pc
ing included. Also separate sections OF
the laws, known as revenue codes, mill
tary laws, insurance code and such ike.
Current reports, it must be remembered,
are sent out by each office the depart
ment distribution coming along when they
become, in a sense, back numbers The
activity illustrates the wldened use of
the department to students and others
who must have information. Many IL
braries in the state have their sets
filled by the department, and the demand
from out of the state is growing all the
time.
1t is estimated that recently as many as
50 calls from out of the state libraries
have been responded to. This is bound TO
be of great advertising value to the state
for the reason that students and speakers,
as well as writer's, will seek and use ex-
amples from the records of this state and
give to the state as a consequence much
valuable publicity. The outlook is that
this is to be one of the greatest of BOOM
ers for the state, placing it in the hands
of every man to know and use what has
been accomplished along many lines of
material welfare.
Increase Shown.
The annual report of the department of
agriculture, which will be made to the
governor in a few days, shows an increase
of SLIGHTEST in receipts over the fiscal year
1918, the total for the 10 months ending
September 30 last being 114,626.79. OF this
amount s106,e5 was for tags. $3.50 for reg
istering brands and 1927 for licenses.
Talking of Oats.
Commissioner of Agriculture ]. A. Will
kinson is still urging farmers to SOW oats.
He states that In reply to the letter pub
! lished by him last week more than 5000
bushels of Texas and Appler homegrown
oats have been reported for sale. While
| he will not handle these he will be glad
to let people know where they can be
found. In each case he will refer the
buyer to the closest man.
Citizens Uneasy.
Following the announcement by George