z 
 Z52 
 
 J6U6 
 
 UL-wriLr 
 
 B M ITE 517 
 
s'iiil 
 
 SPECIAL REPORT 
 
 RELATIVE TO 
 
 PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 
 
 JOHN a. A.MES, 
 
 STJPEEINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTEKIOE. 
 
 WASHINGTOJS^: 
 
 GOVEBIOIENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 
 1894. 
 
SPECIAL REPORT 
 
 KELATIVE TO 
 
 PUBLIC DOCUMEI^TS 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN a. ^INdCES, 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, DEPARTMENT OF THE IXTERIOR. 
 
 WASHINGTOi^: 
 
 GOVERNIVIENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 1894. 
 
SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCU- 
 MENTS. 
 
 Department of the Interioe, 
 
 Washington^ November 20^ 1894. 
 
 Sir: Referring to your verbal request for an expression of my views 
 relative to the subject of public documents in general, and especially 
 to the system and regulations governing their distribution, I beg leave 
 to submit the following remarks : 
 
 The custom of issuing documents at the public expense for distri- 
 bution among the people has prevailed for more than half a century, 
 and their nund)er has increased with the increase of population until 
 the Government Printing Office has become the largest publishing 
 house in the world, the product of its presses amounting to more than 
 1,000, 000 volumes annually. From the beginning, however, there seems 
 to liave been no serious attempt on the part of any one to present pub- 
 lic documents in an attractive form as to their general make-up, and 
 especially their binding, nor to establish any thoroughly good system 
 of classihcation and indexing, nor to introduce anything like business 
 jjrinciples into the work of their distribution. 
 
 In considering this matter the question is at once suggested whether 
 the benefits which have accrued to the public from the printing and 
 distribution of documents Justify the large exi^enditures involved, and 
 whether the publications of the Government are of sufficient value to 
 warrant the continuance of these expenditiires. It is undoubtedly 
 true that in the popular estimation public documents have held, and 
 to a large degree still continue to hold, a very low place. They have, 
 to be sure, been willingly received by citizens, because they have been 
 gratuitously supplied; but to how many the mere fact that a volume is 
 a public document carries with it the conclusion that it is of no prac- 
 tical value, except as an evidence that the reci[)ient is borne in thought- 
 fnl and kindly remembrance by some member of Congress or other 
 officer of the Government, or as it helps to fill a place in the bookcase 
 that would otherwise renuiin vacant. And yet it is not too much to say 
 that no series of publications of greater intrinsic value issue from any 
 publishing house than from tlie Government Printing Office of the 
 United States. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are expended every 
 year, and hundreds of experts in their several departments are con- 
 stantly employed, in prosecuting scientific research in many directions, 
 in exi^lorations, in careful investigations of economic and social ques- 
 tions, in experiments conducted after the most approved modern 
 methods, all having practical ends in view and designed to promote 
 the general material and social welfare, and it can not be otherwise 
 than that the results of tliese researches, as detailed in the reports of 
 such competent investigators, possess a value nuu-h beyond that usually 
 assigned to public documents. 
 
4 SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 
 
 The pnblicatious oftlie Geological Survey, the Smithsoiiiau Institu- 
 tiou, the Natioual Museum, the Coiinnis«ion of Fish and Fisheries, the 
 Bureau of Ethnology, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Census Office, 
 the Bureau of Statistics, the Bureau of American Kepublics, Consular 
 Eeports, and the reports of the iSTational Academy of Sciences, the 
 American Historical Association, and of the several international expo- 
 sitions, not to mention other documents — nearly all the work of special- 
 ists — contain a mass of important information not elsewhere accessible, 
 ruaking these publications works of permanent interest and standard 
 reference. The regular and special reports of the Department of Agri- 
 culture are becoming increasingly valuable as bearing upon the develop- 
 ment of the agricultural resources of the country, suggesting and open- 
 ing the way to the establishment of new industries, protecting against 
 fraud and adulteration, and so, in manifold ways, encouraging and 
 affording aid to tliat largest element in our population — those whose 
 support and prosperity depend upon the products of the forest and field. 
 
 The Dei)artment of Labor, by its investigations, is accumulating a 
 store of facts, set forth in its reports, which, to the student of social 
 science, is replete with interest, and which will materially assist in 
 solving certain social questions and those growing out of the relations 
 of capital and labor whicli are now pressing for consideration. 
 
 Of the reports of other departments and offices of the Government, 
 many abound in information of practical importance much beyond and 
 very different from the mere detail of their annual operations, while 
 many of the reports of special commissions and of committees of the 
 two Houses of Congress present the results of the most thorough and 
 often exhaustive examination of subjects civil, financial, social, and 
 economic, with which the well-being of the whole nation is intimatelj^ 
 asvsociated. 
 
 These publications, so full of interest and so important for present 
 use and future reference, comprise a very large portion of current pub- 
 lic documents. 
 
 Why is it, then, that the name "public document" suggests to so 
 many a volume dull, uninteresting, unprofitable; a volume which, if it 
 could not be had gratuitously, would not be worth procuring at all ? 
 
 GRATUITOUS DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 Possibly the very fact that they have been given away in sucli vast 
 numbers has had not a little to do with the low estimate placed upon 
 them. That which costs nothing is usually little valued, and it is not 
 irrational to suppose that when documents are pressed upon the people 
 as a gratuity many of them come naturally to think that what is so 
 freely bestowed is of small worth. This prejudiced conclusion is, how- 
 ever, undoubtedly decreasing, and the number of those Avho by careful 
 reading of public" documents learn to appreciate them at their real value 
 is year by year on the increase. 
 
 UNATTRACTIVE BINDING. 
 
 Another cause of the popular impression regarding ])ublic documents 
 is the forbidding aspect which they to so great an extent present. In 
 a miscellaneous collection of books'^ it would not ordinarily be dilficult 
 to detect any chance public documents from their mere external appear- 
 ance, so often in unfavorable contrast with surrounding volumes. Pri- 
 vate publishers vie with each other in endeavors to make their publica- 
 
SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 5 
 
 tious attractive to the eye, understaudiug- well that thus attention to 
 their contents is not infrequently secured. It is, of course, essential 
 that no extravagant expenditure be incurred in producing public docu- 
 ments; but it is doubtless true that at little or no additional expense 
 many of the publications of the Government could be issued in a more 
 attractive style than has hitherto characterized them. 
 
 A tasteful variety in the color of the binding of different series of 
 documents, with uniformity in the color of those of the same series 
 from year to year, would be a slight improvement upon past custom, 
 though of late attention has evidently been given to this point. A set 
 of the animal reports of the Smithsonian Institution in uniform style 
 of binding is more attractive than, and for this reason preferable to, a 
 set one volume of which is in red, another in black, and another in green. 
 The same is true of other documents. To be sure, this is of minor 
 importance; but whatever will secure increased attention to public 
 documents and secure for them a permanent place upon the library 
 shelf is deserving of consideration. In particular, however, it is 
 believed that some advantageous change can readily be made in the 
 binding and general make up of what is known as the "reserved 
 edition," from which all de])ositories of public documents are supplied. 
 Everyone is familiar with these heavy "full sheep" volumes, and 
 knows what appearance they present when massed upon the shelves of 
 our public libraries. Tiiat anything popularly entertaining or inter- 
 esting or profitable is to be found within their covers would not be 
 inferred, more than within the covers of a .series of volumes of legal 
 lore. To bind in half morocco or half Russia would be little if any 
 more expensive, but it would seem to i)nt these publications almost out 
 of the category of public documents, so great a divergence from the 
 stereotyped style would they ])resent. To reduce, on the average, by 
 one-third the size of the volumes would be another material improve 
 ment, thus bringing them Avithin the range of convenient manipulation 
 
 MULTIPLICITY OF EDITIONS. 
 
 Another source of great confusion and annoyance to those having 
 occasion to consult public documents is the multiplicity of editions of 
 many of the most important publications of the Government, issued in 
 different styles of binding, with varying title pages and back titles, so 
 that one may possess three or four copies of the same work without 
 discovering from their outward api)earance tiiat they are all the same 
 document. This is true of many of the annual reports of the execu- 
 tive offices, and to a less degree of the scientific i)ublications of the 
 Government. The fornier are all embraced in the executive documents 
 of Congress, bound in leather, with a special front and back title. 
 They appear again in an edition kmiwn as Message and Documents, 
 correspondingly backed. Once more they are issued in a departmental 
 edition, as reports of the Secretary of, etc., volumes 1, 2, etc., and 
 lastly, many of them are published in a bureau edition as reports of 
 the chief of the bureau, with an ai)propiiate title. 
 
 This multiplicity of editions is the bane of librarians and indexers. 
 It prevents any satisfactory classification and arrangement of these 
 documents upon the librai'y shelves, as it so often hap))ens that one 
 volume of a series is of one edition and the next of another; and so it 
 is not surprising that sometimes an ordinary librarian in/lespair is 
 disposed to reject all public documents, while the labor of preparing a 
 satisfactory general index is so increased that any one nury well hesi- 
 tate to enter upon the undertaking. 
 
SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 
 
 I have before ine now four volumes of wliich tlie back titles read as 
 follows : 
 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 J. W. Powell, 
 
 Director. 
 
 Eleventh 
 
 Amiiial Report. 
 
 1889-'90. 
 
 Part 1. — Geolojrv. 
 
 REPORT 
 
 of the 
 
 SECRETARY 
 
 of the 
 
 INTERIOR. 
 
 Vol. 4. 
 
 Part 1. 
 
 1890. 
 
 MESSAGE 
 
 and 
 
 DOCUMENTS 
 
 INTERIOR DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Vol. 4. 
 
 Part 1. 
 
 1890-91. 
 
 Report 
 
 of the 
 
 Director 
 
 of the 
 
 United States 
 
 Geological 
 
 Snrvey. 
 
 HOUSE 
 EXECUTIVE 
 
 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 2d Session 51st Congress. 
 1890-'91. 
 Vol. U. 
 
 Eleventh 
 
 Annual Report 
 
 of the 
 
 Geological Survey. 
 
 Part 1.— Geology. 
 
 A casual glance at the volumes would not show what a more careful 
 scrutiny discloses, that they are all one and the same work. This is 
 but one of a multitude of documents to which the same confusion 
 attaches. 
 
 Another evil resulting from this multiplicity of editions is that in 
 many ca^cs the same work is sent in duplicate and tiii)licate to the same 
 person, under the im])ression that lie is beinj;- supplitNl with diflerent 
 ]>ublicatioiis. as Senators and Keiuesentatives themselves sometimes 
 fail to recoo'nize the same volume under its several desiiiiiations. 
 
 The remedy for this evil would seem to be comparatively simple. Let 
 but one edition of any document be issued, or let all editions of the 
 same document be ])ractically reduced to one by havin^ii' them all titled 
 
SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 7 
 
 and backed in the same maiiiier. Let the appropriate name, that which 
 most accnrately <lescribes its contents and distinguishes it from other 
 documents, be put upon the baclv of every copy issued, so that it can 
 be identified at a glance. If additional title on the back is required, as 
 in the executive or miscellaneous documents of Congress, let it be evi- 
 dently subordinate to the chief title, and not be made an obstacle to the 
 identification of the volume. These remarks, of course, apply to docu- 
 ments homogeneous in their general character, and of sufticient size to 
 form each a volume by itself, as it would be manifestly impracticable 
 to deal in the manner suggested with volumes made up of a number of 
 separate and distinct documents, such as compose a large portion of 
 the executive and miscellaneous documents and reports of committees 
 of the two Houses of Congress. 
 
 It is, however, worthy of consideration whether it would not be wise 
 to bind separately every document sufficiently large to form a volume 
 of convenient size, instead of combining- them, as is so often done in 
 the leather-bound series, into unwieldly tomes, bringing within the 
 same covers documents as irrelevant and diverse as a report on Indian 
 disbursements and the Annual IJeportof the Commissioner of Patents, 
 or the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint and a report on 
 the loss of the steamer Jcannefte, or Revision of the Rules of the House 
 of Representatives and Geological History of Lake Lahouton. If seri- 
 ous attention were given to it by those having authority in the prem- 
 ises, this whole matter could be readily and satisfactorily adjusted. It 
 is certain that if this were done it would in many ways enlarge the use 
 and increase the value of i)ublic documents. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF DOCUMENTS. 
 
 The publications of the Government known as Congressional docu- 
 ments, which embrace all the annual reports of the Executive Depart- 
 ments and offices of the Government and all other reports submitted by 
 them, and including by far the larger portion of all public documents, 
 are now divided into executive documents, miscellaneous documents, 
 and reports of committees of the Senate and House of Representatives. 
 This classification has been in vogue for forty years, and has therefore 
 become familiar to all parties accustomed to consult them; but on 
 general principles, the simpler the classification of documents the more 
 convenient will reference to and the indexing of them be found. I see 
 no necessity for the division of documents into executive aiid miscel- 
 laneous, or any decided advantage resulting from this classification; 
 nor can any good reason be given in many cases for assigning docu- 
 ments to one class rather than to the other; as, for example, why the 
 Annual Report of the Director of the Geological Survey should be 
 assigned to the executive ^document class and the Annual Report of 
 the Bureau of Ethnology to the miscellaneous document class, or why 
 the Report of the Commissioner of Fi-sh and Fisheries should be classed 
 as a miscellaneous document instead of an executive document. Many 
 other instances of this kind can readily be cited. 
 
 It is suggested, therefore, that the executive and miscellaneous doc- 
 uments of each House of Congress be consolidated, and that they be 
 designated, res])ectively. Senate documents and House documents. 
 There will then be two classes for each House, viz., Senate documents. 
 Senate rei)!)rrs; House documents, House re]iorts. Then let a series of 
 numbers be arranged Avhich shall be uniformlv given to certain annual 
 
Vol 1 X.- . HOUSE DOCUMEXTS. 
 
 ^'Ol. 1 No 1 P ■ , '''''''^'' ^OCUMEXTS. 
 
 Vol. 3, No q n "^ ^^<''''»t">»« (St;if(WWo * 
 
 Vol 9 No Q ,"^ent).'*^'^°"''"^««'«"er of Inter J£,S^^^^^^^ 
 
 Vo;.-10:No:io'- ^2^^ «r«- coast and O...... . " ^^^^^"'^^ ^^P-t" 
 
 Vol.ll,No.li. 
 Vol. 12, No. 12 
 Vo|. 13, No. 13.' 
 
 Report of the Comntmli . '-'''^^^^ ( ^^^asury Depart- 
 
 Report of the Coast and r. w (Treasury Depart- 
 
 IIP siiiissr ~'^- 
 
 Vol. 20. N^o 90 T> ^ "I riie oecretaiv r,f +i, t , 
 
 Vol. 21 No' I?- iT^* "^" tl^e Wrecto .^^^^^^./"^erior, Parts 1, 2, etc 
 
 Vol. 22, No. 2i' L or of If' .'^'"^^^^ Re«oi -c^s ^f «: ««\o8:ieal ^„Cy. 
 
 VoL-'^No lo vT'l '1- *^« CiJi S-iceTon?"'^ Connnission. 
 Vol. 31 No 31 5?P°'* «^ *l^e Sn.ithson .' jnT."'!- -'""• 
 
 The Simplicity of fl . "' "^^'^-olo.y, etc. 
 
 -itli that l?ow ir/ogt t?oT ^^^ --P^---I by patting it i 
 
 Vol. 1 No 1 Pt "^"^' as follows: "^^ ^^^^^'^'"g: It lu contrast 
 
 Vol. 2,' No" l' Pf' 9' ^oi'eiffu Kelations of th^ tt -^ , 
 
 Vol. 3 No 1 pf- 9- ^^P«^t of Secretary of \vV"\*?' '^^''^tes. 
 
 Vol. 4 No ' 1 P+ o ^^P^'"* of Secretarv nf ^^r *'"' 7"1- 1- 
 
 Vol. 5 1°: ;k*-'- j?r^*«^"SeeS;?of'y.:^';°;-|'Pt-l. Engineers Pt i 
 
 Z' ?'^l:pt:2: Sr ;;;^ri^-yof^j;^°[jRj-|. En^iuSp^s; 
 
 vol. 7, No. 1, pf 9 p ' I^ ^ 'secretary of War iri ,'£*■ •^- En^^ineer^i Pf q 
 
 Vol; lo': t i' A'- f ■ ««K of S:;;;^ ;■? $;;;>■■ vo.\ ""'°^""- 
 
 vo,. ., P. , ,„. ,, , p. I. ^ _^;--^ «'■» '-.o. v„, , p, , ,„„^.^^^^_^_ 
 
 of the Executive J)iVV'''''l'' '"Nation of mo,t nf h 
 
 i>ei«,.t,„ente above show,"", V^^o ! :1"7^' '"PO'^t, 
 
 ' ^"1'1'ose, found iu tl,e 
 
SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS! 9 
 
 fact that these reports are submitted to Congress by tlie President in 
 connection with his animal message. It is, however, curious to observe 
 that to the message itself no distinct number is given, nor is it even 
 indicated, in the notation or the table of contents accompanying the 
 executive documents, where the message is found. The fact above 
 noted does not ap])ear to aflbrd any adequate reason whatever for con- 
 tinuing for a single year this cumbersome system of numbering docu- 
 ments. No advantage is gained by it. Kot one iierson in a thou- 
 sand who handles these documents understands the meaning of it. It 
 simply confuses and bewilders, and can well give way to a simpler sys- 
 tem and one more readily coniprehensible by all. 
 
 In my judgment, however, it would be still better to discontinue the 
 classification of all annual publications as executive and miscellaneous 
 documents of the Senate and House of Representatives. It in nowise 
 facilitates reference to them, nor renders their identification more easy, 
 that these pnblications are so classified. In fact, there is no evident 
 reason why one slionld be classed as a Senate and another as a House 
 document. They are all submitted to Congress and are printed by order, 
 not of the Senate or of the House, but of the Congress. There seems, 
 therefore, to be no good and satisfactory reason why these regular 
 annual reports should be designated as documents either of the Senate 
 or of the House. It would, I think, on every consideration, be preferable 
 that they should be issued as separate and distinct series, with uniform 
 title page and back title, excepting the date, so that each Dei)artment 
 or bureau series could be arranged by itself, if desired. The following 
 examples embody the above suggestion : 
 
 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE THE STATE 
 
 and of the 
 
 FOREIGN RELATIONS. FINANCES. 
 
 1891. 1891. 
 
 St ite Department. Treasury Department. 
 
 REPORT CONSULAR REPORTS. 
 
 "^' t^« ' Vol. 39. 
 
 COMMISSIONER 
 
 Nos. 140 to 143. 
 
 ixd.anIfi-airs. may to august, 
 
 1891. 1892. 
 
 Interior Department. State Department. 
 
10 
 
 SPECIAL KEPORT RELATIVE TO PrHT T. r 
 
 '^ lO PLBLIC DOCUxMENTS 
 KEPORT 
 
 KKPORT 
 of the 
 
 ofthe 
 
 DIRECTOR 
 
 SECRETARY 
 
 of the 
 UNITED STATE8 
 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 1891— Vol. 1. 
 
 luterior Departmeut. 
 
 of 
 WAR, 
 with 
 Appendixes. 
 1891 
 
 War Department. 
 
 In contrast with these, the following shows the stvl. • 
 
 Hon«E ^^"-'^ the styie now in force 
 
 HOUSE 
 
 EXECUTIVE 
 
 DOCUxMENTS, 
 
 l«t Sess. 52d Cong-. 
 1891-'92. . 
 Vol. 1. 
 
 FOREIGN RELATIONS 
 of the 
 UNITED STATE«. 
 1891. 
 
 HOUSE 
 
 EXECUTIVE 
 
 DOCUMENTS, 
 
 Ist Se.ss. 52(1 Cong. 
 
 1891-'92. 
 
 Vol. 5. 
 
 K'Kl'ORT 
 
 of the 
 
 SECRETARY op war. 
 
 VoL 2— l,s<)i. 
 ENGINEERS-Part 3. 
 
 HOUSE 
 MISCELLANEOUS 
 DOCUMENTS, 
 
 3 St Sess. 52d Cong. 
 1891-'92. 
 Vol. 49. 
 
 CONSULAR REPORTS, 
 
 Nos. 140 to 14?. 
 
 1892. 
 
 HOUSE 
 
 EXECUTIVE 
 
 DOCUMENTS, 
 
 1st Sess. 52d Cong. 
 
 1891-'92. 
 
 Vol. 17. 
 
 RKPOPT 
 
 of the 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 1891. 
 
 GEOLOGY-Part 4. 
 
SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 11 
 
 Should these suggestions be adopted, all tlie annual rei)orts in ques- 
 tion would be excluded ironi the category of executive or miscellaneous 
 documents, leaving to be included in the sim])le classification ot Senate 
 and House documeuts only such communications as should, from time 
 to time, be submitted to either House from the Executive Dei)artments 
 or froui other sources. The number of volumes which these documents 
 would annually form would be very small. 
 
 UNBOUND DOCUMENTS. 
 
 A large and needless waste in the matter of public documents is 
 occasioned by the enormous issue of unbound copies which takes place 
 under i)reseiit regulations. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that many documents must be delivered in 
 unbound form for the immediate use of Congress in current legisla- 
 tion, but in the aggregate these form only a small portion of those 
 thus issued, chieHy reports of committees and certain of the current 
 executive and miscellaneous documents. r>ut that 000 or TOO copies 
 each of the quarto voluuies of the Eleventh Census, of liecords of the 
 Kebellion, of the Official Kegister of the United States, of the annual 
 reports of the Ikireau of Ethnology, of the Geological Survey, and of 
 other costly scientific publications of the Government, and of such 
 annual reports of Executive De])artments as form each a separate and 
 entire volume, should be issued in unbound form for such disposition 
 as usually befalls these documents seems wholly unnecessary. 
 
 The documents of the Fifty-second Congress, delivered in unbound 
 form, amounted to about 140,000 volumes. Of these, more than 100,000 
 were each separate and distinct works, comprising the most valuable 
 of Government juiblications, and which, had they been bound before 
 leaving the Printing Office, would have been serviceable for distribu- 
 tion, and so of valvie to the ])ublic. 
 
 1 am aware that not a few of these documents are selected for bind- 
 ing by members of Cungresss under the provision of law allowing each 
 Senator and Representative to have bound in special landing, at })ub- 
 lic expense, for his own use, one copy of each and every document 
 issued during his term of service. This, howe\ er, by no means exhausts 
 the supply of unbound documents, esi)ecially as each member of Con- 
 gress is sn])plied with a coj^y of each volume of Congressional docu- 
 ments, bound in full sheep or calf, for h's [)ersonal use. Some, and 
 perhai)s many, members are satisfied with this last provision for their 
 own library, and therefore make no demands upon the unbound collec- 
 tion. 
 
 Reform in this matter will consist either in largely reducing the 
 number issued unbound, carefully discriminating between those that 
 are and those that are not required for immediate use in legislation, or 
 in binding all documents which constitute each by itself an independent 
 volume before they are sent from the Printing Office, thus making them 
 available for general distribution. 
 
 A GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Nothing is more imperatively demanded in connection Mitli i)ul)lic 
 documents than a thorough, exhaustive, comprehensive index. The 
 judgment of all librarians and others who have nnich to do with Gov- 
 ernment publications is voiced by the director of the Xew York State 
 library, who says: 
 
 ^mm 
 
12 SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 
 
 Ill view of the euDrmoiis ;i iioiiiit of iiioue.y spent by the General fjDveriitncnt on 
 piiblii- ])rintiiig, it seems strau'^e that proper ))r<)vision for expert iudexiii.ij; has uot 
 yet lieeii male. I should he willing to un<lertake to prove before a fair and <-om])e- 
 tent jury that it wonld be an enormous jrain in the practical v^alue of our ])uhlic 
 documents if tliey conld be satisfactorily indexed by an expert, even if the number 
 of coiJies publislii'd were reduced so as to save twenty times the c^st of the in<lex- 
 inu'. The triliing exjiense is the only conceivalih; <)l)jection to having this work 
 jtroperly done, and if the United States is too poor to ])ay for it they can make a 
 specific economy by doing the two things for which there is a constantly growing 
 demand from intelligent users: (1) Indexing the documents properly; (2) distrib- 
 uting them systematically to the libraries of the country. Half the number by this 
 method would do live times the good. 
 
 And by the librarian of the Apprentices' Library, Xew York City, 
 who, rc'ferrinj;' to this subject, uses the following language: 
 
 It is high time something was done to ])rovi<le a clew to the many valuable works 
 now buried in the literary labyriutli called "public documents." With a general 
 index to all jiubiic docuun'uts heretofore i)ublished, on some simple and easily under- 
 stood method of classiticatiou by subjects, librarians would frequently be able to put 
 these (iovcrnment publications to good use. As it is, neither the lil)rarian nor the 
 reader knows what they contain, and there is no way of finding it out. The conse- 
 ((Uence is, that, in the nuijority of cases, public documents are practically a useless 
 incumbrance to a library. Yet no librarian would do without them, for he hopes 
 that some day a ke.v will be provided which will unlock their treasures. 
 
 A comprehensive index of all public documents would remedy the 
 evils of which these gentlemen speak, and would increase immensely 
 their use. and, therefore, their value to the public. It is no wonder that 
 comi)aratively few arc willing to take the time and ti'ouble to trace the 
 discussion of any jmrticnlar subject as presented in these i)ublicatious, 
 or even to search for a single j)apcr that is known to be embraced in 
 some volnme of this lengthening series, nor that librarians are so often 
 confused and j)erplcxed when asked where such papers are to be found. 
 The very multiplicity of documents published makes such an index an 
 imi)erative necessity, if these documents are to any large extent to be 
 utilized and to subserve the purjioses for which they are printed and 
 distributed. It should be prepared after methods approved by the 
 best indcxers, and wet-k by week, as documents are published, so that 
 with the asseaibling of Congress each year the index of all documents 
 issued during the preceding tiscal year may be ready for the use of 
 Senators and Rci)resentatives, and of all others interested. 
 
 Provision should be made for extending this index backward over 
 the documents of preceding (congresses until it shall embrace all the 
 publi«'ations of the Crovcrnment from the beginning. 
 
 The index whiih I have recently prepared of documents issued dur- 
 ing the period coverc<l by the Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses, 
 and which will soon be ]>ublished, is an etfort in this direction, and 
 will. I trust, ])rove an eliicient suggestion as to the general form in 
 which an index satisfactoiT to all may be embodied. 
 
 UNDISTK IBUTED DOCX'MENTS. 
 
 It is estimated that I here now remain in the varions document store- 
 rocmis, especially those about the Capitol, not less than I.()(K).OOU vol- 
 umes of public documents, which rei)rescnt the undistributed accunui- 
 lations of many years. Some of these date back more than half a cen- 
 tury. They embrace all classes of documents, and are. of course, as 
 individual volumes, of greatly varying value. The great mass of them, 
 however, are ]>r()bably of very little worth for distribution* among the 
 public at large. Few citizens would care to receive these old publica- 
 tions, and if distributed [>romiscnously. as are many documents, they 
 
SPECIAL RVA'OhT JiKI^ATIVE TO PUHLKJ DOCUMENTS. 13 
 
 will be .sini])ly tliiouii away. ]>y far the most advantageous disposition 
 tliut can Ix' made of these dociim(Mits is to u>e them, first, to supply defi- 
 cieucies in the ])ublie, university, and collej^e libraries of the country; 
 secondly, to make them the nuclei of new public libraries in comnumi- 
 ties where no libraries now exist, and to this extent encourage the for- 
 mation of new libraries. For these purposes tliis great collection of old 
 documents is most valuable. If they are allowed to be scattered by an 
 indiscriminate distribution, no such opi)ortunity to benefit libraries, 
 and the })u])lic through tliem, is likely ever again to ooa-wv. 
 
 To accomplish this en<l, however, tijey should all be turned over to 
 someone ofhcer of the' Government, who shall be resfjonsible for the 
 distribution of the entire number, and shall see that each State receives 
 its equitable share, and that the <locuments are most advantageously 
 placed for reaching the public at ihrge. It is because 1 believe this to 
 be by far the best use that can be made of these old documents that I 
 regret the provision in the printing bill now before Congress which 
 turns them all over pro rata to the members of the i>resent Congiess. 
 Of course, no individual Congress has any claim u]Jon them It is only 
 a question of how most advantageoush' to dispose of them, which 
 ought to be done at once, as at j>resent they serve no good jmipose, but 
 are only an incumbrance. Undoubtedly under the pro%isions of the 
 bill referred to, some, perhai^s many, of the^e volun es will find their 
 way into public libraries, but few membeis of Congress, I imagine, will 
 be able to take the time and trouble to ascertain whether the libraries 
 to which they may transmit a i>ortion of their quota are not already 
 supplied with these very documents. If the distribution proposed is 
 made, the quota of each Senator and Eejjresentative will be about 2.000 
 volumes, of which I think it is safe to say that not more than one- 
 fourth will be of any practical value, unless dep.jsited in libraries now 
 without them. Most of them are too antiquated for general distribu- 
 tion, and if so distributed will soon find their way to the juuk shop and 
 pai^er mill. 
 
 A NEW DEPAETUEE. 
 
 I take the opportunity, in this connection, of saving that, in ray judg- 
 ment, the time has come for a new and somewhat radical dey>arture in 
 the whole matter of the distribution of jmblic do<^:uments. The pjres- 
 ent system involves, of necessity, a measure of injustice and partiality, 
 and tends to buiden the Government with an ever-increasing exjjendi- 
 ture in the way of public printing. The edition of any i>articular doc- 
 ument issued, even if, as in the case of the Agricultuial Eeport, it is no 
 less than 500,000 copies, suffices for supplying the volume to only one 
 in a large number of the citizens of a State or Congressional district, 
 of whom at least many others are equally entitled to a copy. As for 
 documents issued in editions of the ordinary number, very few can 
 receive a copy. It is not [lossible. therefore, to make any equitable dis- 
 tribution of them among the population, for where only one person can 
 be supphed. a score, a hundred, or a thousand more liave, on eyery proper 
 consideration, an equally just claim to the favor. The fjroportion of those 
 who can not secure documents must also necessarily increase with the 
 increase of population, unless Congress is willing to make constantly 
 increasing appropriations for the printing of documents for gratuitous 
 distribution. 
 
 Constant discrimination must, therefore, be practiced in the granting 
 of these gratuities at the public exj>ense, and it is no unreasonable or 
 unjust reflection upon members of Congress to suppose that in many 
 
M SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC BOCLIMENT« 
 
 1^ eliieti-t;;;^;^,^^:;^,.:^^^^^^^ - ^^ ^lc ^.t place 
 
 to J )emocmts. This rtseVf U dl n I ""'/""^ "^ Democratic dist4' s 
 tributiou of Government nib^ o nr^nn^^^^^'r" T' '^^-^^^^^^ 
 t.ons are regarded a.s tl.e piv^ ill^^'^'^^'';^ "^*^f^^^ ' t^^e^e publica- 
 resentativcto be placed where i it ih?^ ""^ '''''^^ «enator and Uen- 
 g-ood, or to be u.sed i.Aany ot fer n^H r h f^ '""■''' ''f ^^ ^^'^" ^^« tl.e most 
 supposition, however, in';-o ve 'tirde al'' o?'"'^ "'^^''^^^ ^^^i« 
 
 pr ncii>le Oy which the printino- ad ?shlL ? ^''''''^ argun.ent and 
 pnbhc docun.ci.ts has hither o bee us m^^^^^ f ^T* ^-^^ense, of 
 
 of authority on tlie j.art of Con-ieVI fn o i / V^ ""^''^ ^^^ a>ssuuii,t on 
 sonal perquisites" of its inembeT-s ^'^"^ "'^lehnitely to tlie -pei^ 
 
 ^^\-^p^^^ o^'a:^^^^ consideration whether 
 
 properly and wisely be greatly rertrced 1 .','i''*''^"^''''' '"^a^ '^ot 
 
 and ni its place be substituted theiVm^H^ altogether tern.inated, 
 
 cers of the ^^ove.innent, for epos't "^ d b'^ ^""''^^ useofoffi-' 
 would suoo-est that a siificienrmm < r ,^^'^"^'''='^'f^f'^rsale. I 
 
 (Government be issued to sSVo n ""^ ^^' Publications of the 
 
 tnct and two at large in ea • ^%e 't^^ "^^ '" f""^ Congressional dis 
 
 ibrariestobedesiol,te<l d^i^^;^^^^^^^^ f ^^^"^ document, these 
 
 additional number of all iiimorf.,,! o 1 ^ . 'i <loeumeuts; and that an 
 
 t le ,o».,t, or to«„, ,vl,o will l,ol, t hen f . i '""'? l""'''^' "'fi'^^ei' of 
 thus bnn.,„. thorn within the Zhfi, *''?"'"' <" "'^ <.-on,mnuitv, 
 a.» It would iu ,„u„v iustn.Vees le 5/^ ,f "'■'*"'*-''''' "''-■■'"niKin^^^^ 
 
 til. tons .listribution to iiiilivi,!,, l iibianes is mule, the "la- 
 
 ■- aheacly been appbe Vl e te •'h!;' n'm^'-^'i'?*^''- ™'^PrU,^^ 
 
 -^tr ;-^;;^™,,r ii;;:uiii£S";l^ '- - -- - "- 
 
 town ,t can not be considered a 1 Mrds fi I f ^'"^^^" ^'^'"'''y ^^^" ^^^ 
 small price at whieh it can be mr ' ''^ ' ,^ Y. ^' ^'t^'J^ned to i,ay the 
 own pei^sonal use, <.ither beca J "^ f ?^r ,? ri?" *^ ''^'^^^^^"^ '^ ^op^ ^r his 
 a vacant space in his libr.rv ease xU be . T' ''''^T:'' ^'''"''''''' '^ tills 
 citizens, and the giving. „f them I,. . •^^-■f.^'S- ot documents by our 
 cers of the (^oveimmei^, e .u ^^ ' ^, {i^yll'^'T''' ^''''''y ^^ ^^■ 
 lheretore,.for both econemi,..,! 7 .^ '^ demorali;^ing tendencv 
 
 best to discourage tC^^ir^;;X;/o.^?rf^' believe^it would l^e 
 such provision that any oiu desiH, o- distribution, and to make 
 
 •"anly way, secure theiVby purd'ai^^ '""' ^" '" "'^^^^P^-'dent and 
 
 A BUREAU OF DOCUMENTS. 
 
 ter'o'u:;]':;!^ .iii:;;,';:-;-^™; ''f -eh -«T<'i"« year iu the u.at- 
 
 conviction that the .-Melelb™' n e si:" • .r'^'ll''' *" """f,"' "^ 
 
 tNsuinai, AMiether regard be had 
 
SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 15 
 
 to ecouomy, or to the jicneral conveuienc.e, or to approved business 
 methods, is the establishment of one single bureau or office at which 
 the whole business of distributing the publications of the Government 
 issued for gratuitous distribution, shall be conducted. It is doubtful if 
 any other instance can be cited in the conduct either of important pub- 
 lic or private afiairs in which methods so illy considered, so wasteful, 
 so wanting in system, and in general so vicious, haveobtained and con- 
 tinued in force year after year, with no serious etitbrt at correction. 
 
 The business of publishing and distributing documents has grown to 
 large proportions, and every one will admit that the distributing as well 
 as the publishing should be done on sound business principles. The 
 Government has no money to squander in this direction more than in 
 the transaction of its ordinary executive business, over the expendi- 
 tures for which a most watchful supervision is exer(;ised. 
 
 The question of how most advantageously to the public, most eco- 
 nomically to the Government, most conveniently to all concerned, the 
 distribution of the vast mass of public literature which issues from the 
 Government Printing Office can be made, certainly deserves consider- 
 ation, and if better methods than now prevail can be suggested, they 
 should be adopted without delay. 
 
 The chief evil of the present method is found in the fact that of 
 nearly all public documents there are at least three, and often four, dis- 
 tinct agencies of distribution, viz., the Senate, the House of liepresen- 
 tatives, the department under whose supervision the document is pre- 
 pared, and the special bureaTi or office from which it emanates. The 
 laws authorizing the i)rinting ot documents usually run as follows: 
 So many copies for the use of the Senate. S(l many for the use of the 
 House of Kepresentatives, and so many for the use of the Department 
 or bureau b^^ which they are prepared. In addition to this, each 
 De})artment pul)lishes an edition, large or small, of its own annual 
 reports for its own use. JSTow, all these distributing agencies act for 
 the most part without any information as to, or regard for, what the 
 others are doing. One unavoidable consequence is, that duplication 
 and tri])lication of Government favors in the form of documents, often 
 costly, exist to a large degree. Anotlier conse([uence is the employ- 
 ment of an unnecessary number of officers and agents in transacting 
 the work of distribution. Under the present methods, the document 
 and folding rooms of the Senate and House must be nmintained, and 
 corresponding offices in the several Executive J)epartments and 
 bureaus, each with its equipment of officers and snboidinates, when the 
 whole business might and should be conducted under the supervision 
 of a single set of olticers, involving, almost as a matter of course, a less 
 number of subordinates and largely reduced ex[»en(litures. 
 
 A third consequence of this multiplicity of agents of distribuiion is 
 the scarcely less than general confusion that exists, as well in the 
 minds ot members of Congress as on the part of the public at large, as 
 to where many Government publications are to be obtained, the ascer- 
 tainment of which information costs often not a little tiouble and annoy- 
 ance. Senators and llepresentatives are aware that attention to the 
 requests of their constituents in the matter of documents involves 
 re])eated visits to or corres])ondence with the several Departments of 
 the (government, which they would generally, if practicable, gladly 
 avoid. 
 
 All these and other evils could in the main be remedied by the estab- 
 lishment of a bureau of documents, under the general management of a 
 competent executive officer, at wiiich the entirebusiness of distributing 
 documents, excepting such as are required for official use, should be 
 
16 SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 
 
 conducted. This would uiake possible at ouce the introduction of 
 sound business i)iinciples and methods into the conduct of this argel 
 department of i)ublic affairs, which under existing conditions can not 
 possibly be done. It would so centralize and systematize the whole 
 work as to reduce expenses to the minimum. It would to a large extent 
 relieve the Capitol and the several Executive Departments of that which 
 is now an incumbrance in the way of nmsses of documents occupying 
 rooms which are greatly needed for other purposes. It would nuike 
 possible, by a simple system of registration, the prevention of all dupli- 
 cation in the distribution of documents of suthcient value to warrant 
 the expense ot such registration, and thus make a given number of the 
 same available for the largest service. It would subserve the conven- 
 ience of all having" to do with documents, as it would provide a single 
 source from which documents themselves or information regarding 
 them could always i)romi)t]y be secured. It would relieve members of 
 Congress of much of the trouble and annoyance which they now expe- 
 rience, as it substitutes one i)lace and agency for dealing with this 
 whole question of documents, in ])hu'e of tlie many now existing. 
 
 The building for the bureau of documents should be located in imme- 
 diate proximity to the Government Printing Office, so that from the 
 bindery all documents could be transferred to it without the employ- 
 ment of wagon trans])ortation, thus avoiding the large exjiense that 
 now attends the delivery of documents to the Cai)itol and the Executive 
 Departments. It should, however, beentirely independent of the Print- 
 ing Office, its chief officer being appointed by the I'resident and con- 
 tlrmed by the Senate. The two offices should operate as checks upon 
 each other. 
 
 A branch post-office should be established at the bureau, so that all 
 documents could bt mailed at ouce and taken directly to the postal cars 
 at the railroad station, and thus avoid all the expense of hauling them 
 to the city post-office for mailing, as well as the rehandliiig there 
 required. The necessity for a new printing office may make the erec- 
 tion of the necessary building for a bureau of documents easily practi- 
 cable, aiid it may also be found that the building can be so located that 
 railroad tracks can be readily laid to the very duors of the bureau, so 
 that documents could be mailed without any wagon transportation at 
 all. 
 
 It is probable that few persons have any adequate conception of the 
 amount of such transportation rendered necessary by the present sys- 
 tem. It is estimated that the weight, for instance, of the annual edi- 
 tions of the following publications exceeds the ligures named : 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Report of tho Secretary of Agricnlture 650 
 
 Report of tho Comiiiissioiier of Kdiu-ation 60 
 
 Report of the Smithsoiiiaii Iiistitutioii 50 
 
 Report of the Geological Survey 120 
 
 Abridgement of Message and Documents 50 
 
 That the weight of the reports of the Eleventh Census ^vill not be less than 1,300 
 tons, nor that of the entire edition of Rebellion Records less than 2.000 tons. The 
 weight of the " usual number "' edition of the documents of the Fifty-second Con- 
 gress ])rol>ably exceeds 650 tons, M'hile that of all the docunients appertaining to or 
 issued during the Fifty-second Congress can not be less than 5,000 tons, or 10,000,000 
 pounds. 
 
 Under the existing .system most of these documents, before they 
 leave the city on the way to their final destination, must be transferred 
 first from the bindery to the Congressional or departmental folding 
 rooms, then from these folding rooms to the post-office, and finally from 
 
SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 17 
 
 the post-ortice to the railway station, necessitating' tlieir being' Imndled 
 at least seven times. This is equivalent to the loading, unloading, and 
 wagon transportation from one place to another- of 15,000 tons, or 
 30,000,000 pounds, aiul to the single handling of S.JjOOO tons, or 70,000,000 
 pounds, of the public documents of a single Congress. 
 
 By the establishment of a bureau of documents, as suggested, how- 
 ever, with railway tracks adjacent thereto, the labor and expense of 
 this multiplied hauling and handling of documents can be vastly 
 reduced. The documents would then be delivered by the bindery to 
 the bureau, and by the bureau to the mail car, without the intervention 
 of any wagon transportation whatever, and with the least jiossible 
 amount of handling of individual volumes. 
 
 When regarded from a business point of view, there seems to be no 
 single legitimate objection to the establishment of such a bureau of dis- 
 tribution, subserving, as it must, the general convenience, and result- 
 ing, as it may readily be made to do, in a large saving of public money. 
 It is certain that if this were the business of an individual, and not of 
 the Government — if the expenses were paid from a private purse and 
 not from the public treasury — the clumsy and costly system now in force 
 would not be tolerated a single day. 
 
 It is obje<*ted to the establishment of a buieau of documents that it 
 will, in some wiiy, interfere with the rights and prerogatives of mem- 
 bers of Congress and heads of dei»artments and bureaus, and put in 
 jeopardy certain privileges now enjoyed by them. This objection, how- 
 ever, is absolutely without foundation. What can the head of the 
 bureau of documents do in this direction that can not now be done by 
 the superintendents of the Senate and House folding rooms? What- 
 ever privileges are granted by law would continue, and it would be 
 very easy for Congress to formulate such regulations for application in 
 the daily administration of the bureau as would secure each member 
 the full enjoyment of these privileges. No document belonging to the 
 quota of any Senator or Representative would be distributed except 
 upon his order, and then not without having his "compliments" or his 
 autograph attached, or without its being accompanied by information 
 that it is sent upon his order, thus securing to him all. the credit and 
 honor attaching to the gift. 
 
 Should any Senator or Representative, as would undoubtedly some- 
 times be the case, desire to witlidraw the whole or a portion of his 
 quota of any document from the bureau for the purpose of personally 
 su])ervising its distribution, or of attaching his frank to the individ- 
 ual volumes with his own hands, this could be done as readily as under 
 the existing system. During sessions of Congress such telephonic and 
 messenger service should be provi<k'd as the convenience of members 
 requires, so that their orders could rc;ich the bureau and be executed 
 with the least possible delay. 
 
 The same remarks apj)ly to the heads of departments and offices of 
 the Government whose (piotas of documents would be held for distri- 
 bution by the bureau. Their privileges should and could be just as 
 carefully guarded in every pai'ticular, and whatever advantages are 
 sup])osed to accrue from their direct distribution of documents should 
 in all the correspondence and other acts of the bureau be secured to 
 them. All these things are mere matters of detail in the administration 
 of the bureau, and it is believed can be readily arranged to the entire 
 satisfaction of all concerned. 
 
 It is also urged as an objection to the proposed plan that probably 
 certain members of Congress would be unwilling to submit to the head 
 8880 p D 2 
 
18 SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 
 
 of the bureau lists of constituents to whom they wish their (h)caments 
 sent, lest some partisan or unfriendly use sliould be made of them. 
 In reply to this, it may be said that the bureau of documents is the 
 last place in which a partisan spirit should be tolerated, and that the 
 least attempt to make use of lists in the manner indicated should meet 
 with summary i)unishment. This can be provided for by bureau 
 regulations or by Congressional action. In the second place, the same 
 objection holds against submitting lists to the superintendents of the 
 folding rooms of the two Houses. The same perverted use can as 
 readily be made of them there as in the bureau of documents. The fact 
 is, however, that this evil is probably one of the imagination alone. 
 In the third place, if any member of Congress fears that his lists will 
 not be treated confidentially by the bureau, or if for any reason he 
 prefers that no one shaj[l know what disposition he makes of his docu- 
 ments, he will always be at liberty, as now, to withdraw his quota and 
 distribute it from his own rooms. 
 
 Objection has also been raised against a bureau of documents on the 
 alleged ground that it will increase the expense of their distribution; 
 that such a bureau, once established, will tend to grow in the matter 
 of employes altogether bej^oud the necessities of the service. What 
 has been already said is perhaps a sufficient reply to this objection. 
 The saving which might be effected in the single matter of transporta- 
 tion would suttice to i)ay a large portion of the expenses of the bureau, 
 while the centralization and consolidation of the whole business will, if 
 properly conducted, necessarily render it possible to reduce the num- 
 ber of employes required. In addition, much sjiace now occupied by 
 documents in the Departments, at the Capitol, and in rented buildings 
 will become available for other uses, and rent now being paid for equiv- 
 alent accommodations cease. In a building constructed especially for 
 the purpose, documents can be stored and handled much nu)re econom- 
 ically, both as to space and labor, thau in the ordinary document 
 rooms. Furthermore, the luimber of emx)loyes of the bureau could not, 
 at any time, exceed that which Congress deems proper, any more thau 
 is the case with the folding rooms of the Senate and House, as the 
 number must be determined by the action of Congress itself. All appre- 
 hension ol' extravagance in this direction is, in my Judgment, entirely 
 without foundation. If the plan suggested is ever tried, the condition 
 of tilings in this respect will be fouiul eminently satisfactory in com- 
 I)arison with that which now exists. 
 
 It is somewhat singular that a practice which is approved and adopted 
 in the interest of economy in the transaction of almost every other 
 large business should be questioned and refused application in this, as 
 though the unitication and consolidation of this whole work would 
 result in larger expenditures. On the contrary, it is altogether proba- 
 ble that the amount saved by discontinuing the present system and 
 establishing a single bureau of documents would suttice to pay nearly 
 all, if not the entire, expenses of its administration. 
 
 It is not believed that any possible arguments can be urged against 
 the pro[)osition here submitted which can justify continuing the cum- 
 bersome and extravagant system now in vogue, or the force of which 
 would not be quickly dissipated by the practical operations of the 
 bureau of documents, which, under the strictly impartial, upright, and 
 responsible administration of its att'airs that alone should be tolerated, 
 would soon vindicate the wisdom of its establishment by introducing 
 convenience, order, unity, and economy into this by no means unim- 
 portant dei>artment of the public service. 
 
 To recapitulate, the reforms above suggested are: 
 
SPECIAL REPORT RELATIVE TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 
 
 19 
 
 First. A cbauge iii the binding of documents, so that they shall pre- 
 sent a more attractive appearance. 
 
 Second. The discontinuance of the practice of issuing the same doc- 
 ument in several editions with differing" titles. 
 
 Third. A modihcation of the classification of documents in the inter- 
 est of simplicity and general convenience. 
 
 Fourth. The stopping the issue, in unbound form, of documents not 
 required for immediate use. 
 
 Fifth. The preparation of a general comprehensive index of all pub- 
 lic documents. 
 
 Sixth. The utilization of documents more largely in the interest of 
 public libraries, and through them of the public at large. 
 
 Seventh. The restriction of the gratuitous distribution of documents, 
 and more satisfactory provision for their sale. 
 
 Eighth. The establishment of a bureau of documents by which the 
 whole business of distributing documents shall be conducted. 
 
 I am glad to call attention to the fact that i^rovisions for effecting" 
 some of these reforuis are embraced in the printing bill which has been 
 under consideration by the ])resent Congress and is now in conference. 
 
 This bill provides more liberally than do existing laws for public 
 libraries, especially those which are designated as depositories of doc- 
 uments, but its provisions for the many other libraries of the country 
 are inadequate. It also provides in a very satisfactory way for cata- 
 logui-ng and indexing all future publications of the Government, but 
 makes no provision of this character for those already issued. This 
 need is, however, partially met by a separate bill now under consider- 
 ation by Congress. 
 
 The i^rinting bill also favorably modifies the classification of docu- 
 ments, and aims to prevent hereafter the accumulations of undistrib- 
 uted documents, such as now encumber certain folding rooms of the 
 Government. As a whole, the bill is the most comprehensive and the 
 best relating" to this subject that has ever been presented to Congress, 
 and with certain modifications which can yet be made, not in the least 
 affecting its integrity, its enactment into a law, which it is hof>ed may 
 be speedily accomplished, will, without question, subserve the conve- 
 nience and interests of all concerned. 
 
 That other changes in existing" methods of dealing with the subject 
 of public documents in the interest of economy and of the public con- 
 venience are not pi-ovided for, and especially that the generally faulty, 
 extravagant, heterogeneous, and unbusinesslike system of distributing 
 documents hitherto prevailing is still to be left in force, is much to be 
 regretted. 
 
 It is, perhaps, not too much to hope that other measures necessary 
 to accomplish all these reforms may soon receive the attention and 
 approval of Congress, and, in })articu]ar, that when the new printing 
 office, the erection of which is urged alike by the demands of the pub- 
 lic service and of humanity, shall be provided for, the plan may embrace 
 within its scope the erection also of an adjacent buildiug, in which shall 
 be centralized and conducted, in accordance with approved business 
 methods, the whole work of distributing the publications of the Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 John G. Ames, 
 Superintendent of Documents. 
 
 Hon. Hoke Smith, 
 
 Seeretari/ of the Interior. 
 
U C BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 fiili 
 
Gayiamount 
 
 Pamphlet 
 
 Binder 
 
 Gaylord Bros.. Inc. 
 
 ij Stockton, Calif. 
 
 <) T. M. Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. 
 
 f5i72797 
 
 7^32. 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
I