Evening star., 1936-01-05
WEEKS BOOKS RANGE FROM THE TRAGIC TO WODEHOUSE
TONS OF LITERATURE ON WAY
Washington Soon Be Deuged With Half Million Copies
of Annual Reports of Departments and Their Branches
Printings Large Sales Few.

OF ALL these reports. none contain
material more interesting or bet
ter phrased than documents which
Franklin K. Lane addressed to the Pres
ident at the end Of several Of the years
during which he served as Secretary
Of the Interior.
When Mr.. Lane first became head OF
the Interior Department he aligned
himself with the conservative writers
Of annual reports" These conserva-
tives include among their number the
many Government chiefs who take
large amounts of words written by
their subordinates and preface them
with a two or three line statement
reading something like this:
Herewith I submit my annual re-
port for the year ending June 80 last,
in accordance with direction of Con-
gress."
Mr.. Lane used that short and snappy
style of communication in addressing
his report to the President in 1916.
Then he bolted the conservative ranks
and proceeded to break all sorts Of
precedents by making an annual re-
port highly interesting. Bringing his
scholarly mind into full action and
writing under the emotional stress Of
war time, Mr.. Lane produced sentences
that deserved much better fate than
burial in obscure places.
If you chance to be one Of that
small band Of brave souls who will
undertake to read the current years
crop OF annual reports, try to find
a match for the following quotation
from Mr.. Lanes report for 1918:
adult illiteracy in the less-de-
veloped sections of our country is
not a proud matter of which to talk,
but it Is present. Men who speak
in the language of Shakespeare-and
this is literally true, for their ances-
tors came here in his time, bringing
the language Of the King James
version of the Bible on their tongues
tens of thousands of these men and
women are today, after three CEN
turies in this country, unable to read
one line of Shakespeare or to sign
their names. These people have not
had their chance. Their condition is
a reproach to the Republic"
MOST Of the reports go along in
N drabbish sort of way, year after
year, looking as much alike-inside
and out-as so many telephone d.
rectories. Save for revision Of dates
and statistics, it is hard to locate
changes which the passing 12 months
have made in the matter to be re-
ported and the manner Of report
ing It.
Perhaps this very sameness, this
constant reiteration Of a familiar
form, is responsible for the statement
Of one Government Official, who de-
clared last week that If the reports
were held for sale, and not given
away. the practice of their production
would cease almost Immediately.
There are some notable exceptions
to the rule, however. The report of
the Smithsonian Institution, for in
stance, presents page after page Of
fascinating paragraphs, dealing with
subjects that compel attention. Like
wise, the annual product in print Of
the National Fine Arts Commission
is outstanding among the yearly
reports.
Ordinarily each department and
bureau has at least 1900 copies of the
report of its administrative head
available for free distribution. The
superintendent of documents, from
whom all purchased copies must be
procured, never places more than 100
copies of the maximum printing Of
5000 copies of any annual report on
his shelves to await customers.
Intended originally to be business
like reports to the President, Congress,
or the head of a Federal department,
according to the rank of the issuing
agency. these documents have since
come into extensive service as hand
books.
The Library of Congress gets three
or four copies of each report and
other libraries throughout the country
also are remembered each year. Many
copies Of each document also are
pushed into the hands Of newspaper
men, who carry them to editorial
offices, where they are piled in obscure
corners until canny janitors make
on with them.