Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-10
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT is DOING

IN OVAV
Joker IN the amendment Of 1901. which
restricts the production Of tax-free spir-
its to 100 gallons per day. which IL known
to be too small an amount to permit
its economical manufacture. The Treas
ury regulations governing the adminis-
tration Of the law are also claimed to be
burdensome. entailing so much expense
for inspection Of the denatured afcohot
as to make the cost OF the product pro-
hibitive. i.
Since the defects in the present indus
trial alcohol law were explained In this
paper several weeks ago. a number OF
members and representatives of farmers
oranges have written or called on Sem
enactment of a denatured alcohol law
which will operate for the benefit OF the
farmer will assist the development OF
agriculture in this country more than any
other piece Of legislation. Several men,
bers in the House of Representatives
are also interested in the proposal to
repeal the present law and enact a new
one.
Some members Of oranges have sug-
gested that this government should also
come from Germany. where or
cents per gallon Is given by the govern
ment to encourage its manufacture. A
bounty In this country is not thought to
be feasible. however, even II it Is need
leve that the manufacture of alcohol is
only Of secondary consideration, and that
the mash" from which it is produced
will be worth as much as the alcohol
as feed for cattle. Potatoes beets and
be made will also benefit the land in fol-
lowing out a system Of crop rotation
At the present time the President and
the Secretaries Of Agriculture and the
Treasury have the recommendation Of a
new industrial alcohol law under con-
sideration, and 1t is probable that before
the end of the regular session of Con-
gress American farmers will be given a
chance to equal the accomplishments of
Germans in manufacturing denatured al
cohol or perhaps exceed them.
~
How to insure promptness in the dis
tribution Of publications continues to be
vexing prob
distribution or lem, In the many
Public Documents. var,an uS h o, ehe
es Of the government. particularly in the
departments OF Agriculture, Commerce,
Interior and Labor. These are the de-
partments which publish the greatest
number of printed documents for which
there is a popular demand. The govern
ment is spending millions of dollars on
printed bulletins for popular distribution
each year, the fund for the dissemina-
ton of information through the medium
of printers ink in the Department Of Ag-
riculture alone amounting to more than
81, 100000.
At the present time all bulletins are
sent out by the superintendent Of docu-
ments Of the government printing Office.
This officials task would be easy and
his service most satisfactory if his work
were restricted to the sending out Of
bulletins to large mailing lists. but ac-
Congress. he has to take care OF all mis-
cellaneous distribution, and all mail re-
quests for bulletins of any kind must be
filled by the government printing Office
The object Of this law was efficiency
and economy. but chiefs of various bu-
reaus believe that 1t entails more expense
in the end than the original system Of
direct distribution. When Congress made
the law. which has been In operation
about one year. it did SO on the informa-
were carted from the government print
ing office to the individual bureaus and
thence mailed out over the country. Be-
cause of the fact that the government
printing Office is near the Union station
1t was figured that a saving in transpor-
tation could be effected If the bureaus
would refer their requests for bulletins
to the superintendent of documents and
he should mail them direct to the appli-
cants. The theory Of the practice which
was outlined and on which the law gov
erning the present method of distribu-
ton Is based was good, but it's working
out has proved defective in many In
stances.
Director William J. Harris of the bu-
reau of the census had his attention call
ed to defects in the present method q
few weeks after coming into Office. A
correspondent wrote to Director Harris
requesting that summary of the latest
agricultural statistics be mailed him. A
form letter was written in the census Of
ice to the applicant for information, say
ing that the request had been referred
to the superintendent of documents, and
that the bulletin containing the statistics
would be mailed from the government
printing Office. The Information was
wanted in hurry; the correspondent
waited five days, then wrote to the su-
perintendent Of documents stating that
Director Harris had written saying that
the bulletin would be mailed from the
printing Office. polite request was made
Of the superintendent of documents to
hurry the information. as the time for
completing the article in which the sta
tistics were to be included was growing
very SHOrt. ne superintendent OF QOCu-
ments then sent a form post card to the
correspondent saying that his letter had
been referred to the director of the cen
sus. The correspondent, whose patience
was almost worn out by this time, hav-
ing expected the information in one or
two days at the most after his original
request was made, brought the matter to
the attention of Director Harris, who was
surprised that the red tape created by
the present law makes prompt distribu-
ton of public documents almost impossi-
BILE, providing the request for them comes
by mail. On personal application a docu-
ment will be furnished immediately but
only those people living in Washington
can have the benefit Of this prompt serv-
ice.
Hundreds Of cases similar to the one
which has just been outlined occur every
month in the departments, and. accord
ing to chiefs Of bureaus, 1t is becoming
harder and harder to disseminate the
vast amount of information which Uncle
Sam is spending millions Of dollars to
gather. Bureaus Of the Department of
Agriculture, which prints more bulletins
than any other branch OF the govern
ment, perhaps suffer most by the delays
caused In forwarding requests for infor-
nation to the superintendent Of docu-
ments. who, in turn. mails the bulletins
requested to the applicant. Under the
old system request for a document
would sometimes be filled the same day
1t was received. Under the present sys-
tenn the time taken may be anywhere
from two days to more than week. In
the case of the request for agricultural
statistics from the bureau of the census
the letter was received in the office of the
director at o'clock one Saturday morn
ing. and the bulletin requested was not
received by mail from the government.
printing office until the following Satur-