DIVISION OP PUBLICATIONS. 269 



tensively in connection with field and demonstration meetings. The 

 great majority of the fibns were also shown in connection with the 

 Government exhibit at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. 



DISTRIBUTION OF DOCUMENTS. 



On July 1, 1914, there were 5,817,510 publications on hand. 

 Adding to this number the 33,529,527 received from the Public 

 Printer, there was an aggregate of 39,347,037 available for distribu- 

 tion. Of this number 32,202,087 were distributed, leaving on hand 

 July 1, 1915, a balance of 7,144,950. In addition to the documents 

 mentioned above, 4,000,000 lists of Farmers' Bulletins were distrib- 

 uted, the greater portion of which were sent out on requisitions 

 from Members of Congress. Thus the total distribution for the year 

 ended June 30, 1915, amounted to 36,202,087, which is 301,577 more 

 than distributed during the previous fiscal year. Of the total distri- 

 bution 14,528,807 were Farmers' Bulletins, 7,402,072 of which were 

 sent out upon requisitions of Senators, Representatives, Delegates, 

 and Resident Commissioners in Congress, and 7,126,735 in response 

 to requests received from miscellaneous applicants. Therefore, 

 200,000 more Farmers' Bulletins were distributed during the fiscal 

 year under discussion than during the preceding year. 



Of the pubhcations other than Farmers' Bulletins distributed 

 through the document section, the aggregate was 17,673,280, an 

 increase of 2,773,550 over the previous year, or an increase of prac- 

 tically 17 per cent. 



During the fiscal year upwards of 50,000 letters were received from 

 Members of Congress requesting the forwarding of Farmers' Bulletins 

 to their constituents. The comphance with these requests neces- 

 sitated the issuing of 42,000 orders on the Superintendent of Docu- 

 ments. In addition to requisitions for Farmers' Bulletins, Members 

 submitted requests for 37,721 miscellaneous pubhcations. Requests 

 for documents of the department were received direct from 626,000 

 apphcants, other than those received from Members of Congress, 

 necessitating the issuing of 581,587 orders on the Superintendent 

 of Documents and the forwarding of 626,000 cards acknowledging 

 the receipt of the requests and quoting prices at which the Super- 

 intendent of Documents would furnish the pubhcations when the 

 department's supply had been exhausted. 



A card record was kept of 28,000 copies of the Yearbook that were 

 distributed, by means of which duphcation was avoided; and 65,000 

 addresses were written for the use of other offices of the department. 



A very important part of the work is the replying to requests for 

 information by typewritten letters where the department has no 

 printed matter on the subject. The press bulletin matter issued 

 through the Office of Information reaches a widely distributed 

 pubhc and frequently contains information that has not appeared in 

 bulletin form. Interested persons seeing these notices write and 

 request a publication covering the subject, making a specific letter 

 necessary. Many thousand requests for information on subjects 

 not properly coming within the scope of the Department are also 

 received. 



Notwithstanding the fact that the Superintendent of Documents 

 handles the larger part of the pubhcations distributed by the depart- 



