Evening star., 1912-09-22

criminal to spend so much money on the
senators. l want y" These are a
few specimens of what can be found in
almost any days mail.
4
Sending out 3OOO0, 900 documents year
means that every day enough is sent out
to fill 500 mail bags 1t
Immense means that millions of
vo,, pounds of printed matter
is constantly being sent
through the mails and that were the
documents placed end to end, the
total length would be sufficient to en-
circle the globe several times, cover the
surface of Washington or fill several
thousand cubic feet if stacked together.
Congress appropriated last year $4,000
for printing and binding. That means
! that every working day in the year the
Department of Agriculture spends more
than 81 800 for such work. If the money
appropriated for the maintenance of the
division is included. more than s., ITO is
spent daily for the purpose Of furnishing
the American, people with information
along agricultural lines. The appropria-
ton for printing and binding is a lump
sum, the disposition of which is left to
the discretion Of the Secretary. Conse-
quently, one of the most important fac
tors in the preparation of every docu-
ment Is determining its possible popular
fty from the standpoint Of numbers. The
pulse Of the public has to be felt with q
view to determining just how many
copies OF any document they will want.
the waste of precious money, which
might go toward the printing Of some
other document.
The report for 1911 of the ''editor and
chief Of the division OF publications. -
Joseph A. Arnold, gives some Interesting
all the money spent for printing and
binding, the largest amount was for
farmers bulletins, with the bureau Of
plant industry coming second. with ex-
penditures of $11S,OOO and $37 600, re-
spectively. The office Of experiment sta
tions came third with $34 eco. and the
forest service fourth with. $4,000. The
farmers bulletins are documents dealing
with agricultural subjects from the
standpoint of the farmer himself, and are
specially designed to aid in improving
agricultural conditions in this country.
1t is interesting to note that twenty-five
years ago the number OF such bulletins
sent out In year was $4,000 In lS1
the department issued 9,219,O0 while an
additional b,474O78 were sent cut by
congressional distribution.
~
There were forty-eight new Farmers
Bulletins issued during 1911. and Of that
number the one on
Most Popular Corn Cultivation
proved to be the most
ouAAeIih' popular. having a circu-
lation Of III, 600 copies. Next to that one
Of the publications Of the experiment sta
tions proved most popular with a distri-
button of $1,000. The popularity of this
class of publication can easily be judged
when it is realized that Of the entire
forty-eight not one was issued to less
than 1900 farmers, while the average
circulation is between 10000 and 10000.
The growth of the department as an in
formation bureau can be seen from the
fact that whereas twenty-one years ago
the entire number of publications sent
out in q year was less than 2,oOo,UO, To-
day 10000, 900 a year are issued. among
each years output are considerable
number of reprints. These are documents
which have proved more popular than
ANTICIPATED, and additional copies have to
be printed. In 1911 there were 6S3 sucn
documents, with the total number Oh
copies distributed reaching more tnah
A detailed account Of the work done In
1911 shows that the 1858 publications
prepared and issued by the department
contained q total Of 1850 pages. Ihe
bureau Of plant industry was responsible
for 219 of these, of which there were
$4,000 copies sent out, many OF the
Farmers Bulletins originating in this bu-
reau- There were SOFT letters written
relative to requests for publications.
while the orders made in connection with
these letters numbered 12.O26. The num-
ber of index cards prepared was 2l.S29
and the number of copies made A, 767,
making total of 81, $50.
All illustrations used In publications are
made in the department. In 1911 1855
drawings were prepared by three drafts
men. The Photographic output was 49,
224 OF the drawings made, 80 were for
the bureau of animal industry and 356
for the bureau Of plant industry.
y
An important feature of the work done
is sending publications abroad. During
1911 there were 1854
Foreign packages of mail matter
49, sent to foreign countries.
neaueis' which weighed 1855
pounds and required 1882 worth Of post
age. That amount did not include the
matter sent to England. Germany or
France, which Is sent through the Smith
sonian exchange, and which amounted to
6.222 packages and weighed 2.492 pounds.
The division of publications was orig
inally a section OF the division OF sta
tistics. Almost the earliest direct service
of the government for farmers was the
collection and publication Of agricultural
statistics, and in 1863. soon after the de-
partment obtained an independent posi-
ton, the division of statistics was estab-
lished. During the early years all the
work could easily be handled by the
force, but gradually the necessity arose
for some separate section which should
have charge of the preparation of publi-
cations. Consequently in 1889 the divi-
sion of publications originated as such
section. In 1890 it became separate Or
ganization, known as the division Of rec
ords and editing. In 1895 it became the
division of publications. George William
Hill was made editor in 1889 and was fol-
lowed by Joseph A. Arnold, the present
head.
Under the change which will bring the
distribution of all government documents
under the charge of the printing Office
the division of publications Of the De-
partment of Agriculture will be only
slightly altered. The stenciled lists which
make up the mailing lists" will be