FEB. 19, 1021 sosman: distribution of scientific information 91 



book is distributed philanthropically, it is much less easy to obtain. 

 Considerable correspondence may ensue to find it, unless the seeker 

 is in a hurry, in which case he engages the services of a book-dealer 

 and pays for the service. If the book has been issued free by a Federal 

 bureau, with the hope that it will reach, as many as possible who are 

 interested, it might seem that the Government would welcome such 

 assistance, especially when the consumer is willing to pay for it. Yet 

 the Haskin agency, which distributed 1.3 million government publica- 

 tions in 1918-1919 at no more than the cost of postage, was severely 

 criticized in the Senate by Senator Smoot,-° and with it the bureaus 

 who permitted themselves to be thus aided. The tendency of the 

 next few years seems likely to be toward restriction rather than en- 

 largement of free Federal distribution. 



It goes without saying that the free distribution of books to all 

 involves tremendous waste. Our Federal and State governments 

 have been the most prodigal in the world in this matter. The law 

 requires that reasonable care be exercised to prevent waste but the 

 law is difficult to administer. 



An obvious remedy is to sell the publications "at cost." But 

 what is cost^ At the end of 1919 the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 

 ington'-^ had expended on research 11.9 million dollars, and had 

 published 401 works, with an average edition of about 800, or a 

 total number of volumes of about 327,000. If we assume that half 

 the work of the Institution has been thus published, the cost per 

 volume is about $18.00. As the books could not be sold in any 

 number at this price, the price has been fixed at a figure which will 

 represent the cost of paper, printing, and binding. As a basis for 

 distribution this is admittedly unsatisfactory, for the value of a 

 book cannot be measured either by its total cost of production or 

 by the cost of printing and binding it. Some of the works were 

 sold out long ago; others move but slowly, and diminish in real value 

 the longer they remain in storage. 



Any system of distribution for books published philanthropically 

 should recognize the distinction I have endeavored to draw between 

 production and use. Producers of knowledge may well be given the 

 fullest possible access, by personal conference, free or purely nominal- 

 priced books, and every other means of distribution, to the new 

 knowledge in process of being obtained by other producers. To 



20 Congressional Record, April 2, 12, and 22, 1920. 

 2> Year Book, 1919. 



