DIVISION (»F I'UHLICATIONS. 129 



the work of the Division of Publications, provisifnx for which has not 

 for years been adequate to tlie services it is called upon to render, and 

 without which the other Bureaus, Divisions, and Offices of the Depart- 

 ment would be stricken dumb. 



NECESSITY FOR ENLARGED ACCOMMODATIONS. 



I beg to accompany this appeal for adequate appropriations with an 

 earnest protest against the unsuitable, inconvenient accommodations 

 assigned to the Division. 1 know that this is not the fault of the 

 head of this Dej)artment or of the Superintendent of Buildings, who 

 are both as sensible as an3'one can be, who does not actuallj^ expe- 

 rience them, of the inconveniences and disadvantages under which 

 we labor, but I desire to adduce my meed of evidence to that which 

 already exists showing the necessity for an enlargement of our build- 

 ing accommodations. No branch of the work is in such sorry i)light 

 in this resiject as is the Division of Publications. 



EDITORIAL FORCE. 



The editorial force of the Division consists, in addition to tlie Editor 

 and his first assistant, of but three editorial clerks on the statutory 

 roll and such additional editorial assistants as are carried on the roll 

 for tlie i^reparation and ])rinting of Farmers' Bulletins, and number- 

 ing usually two persons. 



A review of tlie work d(nie during the past two years, and of the 

 work Avhich should be undei-taken, as shown in the annual reports of 

 the Division, must convince anyone not onl}' that the force is over- 

 worked, but that some of the work urgently called for, such as the 

 general index to the publications of the Dej^artment, must go undone. 

 Such, indeed, is the case. The time of the Editor is almost entirely 

 taken up with editorial and administrative supervision, the strain of 

 the latter being vastly increased by the nuire or less ephemeral char- 

 acter of the help emijloyed and the sad inadecpiacy of the ajipropria- 

 tions at his command. The editorial work actually performed l)y the 

 Editor himself is done entirely outside of the usual official hours and 

 involves in the aggregate the equivalent of very many days' labor. 



The growth of the business has pi'actically converted the main office 

 of the Division into a counting room or business office I'ather than an 

 editorial room. During the year, as shown, 2,450 requisitions and 

 authorizations were issued, most of tiiem involving many visits from 

 and conferences with Division chiefs or their representatives. The 

 publication office not unnaturally has become a sort of bureau of in- 

 formation, and is seldom free from visitors, either directly interested 

 in the publication work or seeking general information. The super- 

 vision of office and administrative details, the general distribution of 

 the work, and special supervision of the illustration section, are more 

 than suiticient to take up the time of the first assistant, who j^et, under 

 such adverse conditions, manages to devote some time, snatched here 

 and there from these manifold cares, to editorial work. 



In the main office, a room conveniently adapted to the accommoda- 

 tion at the most of six persons, and in the midst of all the noise and 

 confusion incident to a busy counting room, eight persons are regulai'ly 

 emploj'ed, of whom three are engaged exclusively in editorial work, 

 proof reading, indexing, abstracting, etc. It seems impossible to 

 imagine conditions much less adapted to such work. Two of the edi- 



AGR 1900 9 



