The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-15
BY FREDERIC }. HAsKIN.

to come the highest single undertaking
IN the printing line. Think OF X. over
10000 pages OF history dealing with one
five-year period, IL required upwards OF
than three billion ems OF type 70 pupiisH
this great work The whole edition COM
prised about million and half FoionleSS-
It is said that the finest piece q VOTE
Uncle sam ever executed was ne 1ls ~. ,
OF the capitol. That IL is fine BOOK may
be inferred from the statement that al
though nothing IS charged for n It's saIs
but the bare cost after the plates were
made. It sells for SIC a volume great
many valuable works come from the
presses OF Uncle Sans big pTinteTy. out
there is such an abundance Of chaff with
the wheat that even the libraries oesig-
mated as repositories were surtelted VIZ" VIE
government documents. Perhaps tie
greatest need that Uncle Sam. as pup
Usher has. is a corps Of trained editors.
who are masters Of the art OF biue pen
Cling. An examination Of the average
public document reveals the 1act that
half OF its contents might have been cut
out without the loss Of q single essentlai
fact and with the gain Of an inesumaDle
degree of interest and seTviceablenesS
Not the least uninteresung part OF
Uncle Sans big publishing business IS
the work Of the superintendent or dOcu-
ments. To be able to sell that which can
be had for nothing is an unusual accom-
pllshment. But the present lncuInDeIlt
has been able to do that very thing. and
TO no inconsiGera bic extent HIS success
mas hinged on the doctrine that advertis-
ing pays That there are documents py
the tens Of thousands lying in the stoT-
&c rooms Of the government whicn are
Invaluable if placed in proper hancs, Is
d well known fact. But the pubic mas
been unconscious Of their existence ann
Of how 10 get them. To inform them OF
the existence % these documents and OF
how TO get them. he secured from con-
greSs A negligible appropriation ror ad-
vertising purposes. He issued IeH
magazine and newspaper advertising
statements and then got out an attrac-
tive poster which the postoffice depart
ment authorized him to have hung IN
every Postoffice- In this ne eApiail ne.
fully the scope Of public documents, their
value when intelligenty selected, etc. ana
gave descriptions Of several hundred OF
the most valuable and useful ones. The
result was that Uncle sam. pookselier,
was able to do $4,000 worth OF business
last year, in direct competition with Uncle
sam, gratuitOus distributor Of books,
And the sales are still increasing.
It is interesting to note that nearly al
Of these sales were OF the cheaper publ
cations. those relating 10 subjects Of in
teTest to the farmer being in greatest &c
mand. The majority Of the business comes
from the rural districts
To the average man the most usefu
work done under the superintendent OF
documents is that OF indexing all publca-
/ tons issued by the government Inc SUI
perintendent says that what is needed
to unseal the veritable treasures Whicf
are buried IN public documents is COM
plete dictionary catalogue but that this
| IS not now possible at any price, OWING
to the lack of men trained TO do Ii. 4
former incumb bent of the office estimated
that he could. in six years, prepare sucI
a catalogue Of documents, and topical
index 20 the debates IN congress trolI
the beginning Of the government dowr
TO 1905 at a total cost Of 3166, 900 The
mn
it cannot be done in six years. neither
can IL be done at an outlay Of sl66.OOO
He would probably want ten years ana
more than S3lo,cu9 The indexes that have
been prepared in the past have been de-
/ cidedly amsteurishs One index IS called
a Birds Eye Index to the Tory Bank
rupt Bill" vet Il 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 older
days. The gold braid and brass button
spirit that permssted everything then Is
entirely done AVA with now, am ono
/ feels he is among ordinary, everyday
mOrtals once more when he has business
there. Nowhere else in Washington i:
there such a splendid example Of how
the policy Of those higher up will reflect
down to the lowest employe. The mel
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 Tur
as smoothly hereafter as any other
branch Of the government. OF course the
1 people who lost their Jobs by the advent
of printing machinery win still have theil
] grievances. and win frequently air them
but otherwise all will 90 along as smooth
y as if il were pennies instead OF dol
lars that are being spent.
I Copyright, 1902 by Frederic J. Haskin.
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