130 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



torial assistants have perforce been assigned to desks in tlie rooms of 

 the section of illustrations on the fourth floor and distant from the 

 main office by three pairs of stairs. These rooms, moreover, are 

 crowded, and do not afford any advantatres of quiet to compensate for 

 their remoteness and inconvenience. 



Under such untoward circumstances the important editorial work 

 of the Division is done, and I earnestly desire that due credit may 

 be ii;iven to my force in that, in spite of these disadvantages, the work 

 is kept up and satisfactorily performed. 



In this connection, I desire to protest against the term "editorial 

 clerk " given to my editorial assistants. The amount and character of 

 the editing Avork done call not only for an increase in the force, but for 

 a recognition of its responsibilities and requirements by the appoint- 

 ment, not of clerks, but of associate editors and editorial assistants. 



That the salaries paid to the editorial force are inadequate to such 

 official designations is very true, but that also is a matter that urgently 

 calls for amendment, and I trust the time may not be far distant when 

 the character and responsibility of the work done by mj" assistants 

 and myself may be adequateh' recognized by suitable compensation. 



Speaking of the editorial force, I have to note with profound regret 

 the demise on the 10th day of August of Mr. Edwai'd Bailej", the 

 senior editorial clerk. Mr. Baile}" was a most faithful and competent 

 member of the force, and his loss is sincerely deploi*ed by his asso- 

 ciates as well as by his superiors. ITis place has been filled by the 

 l)romotion of the next in line, ]Mr. B. D. Stallings, the mention of 

 whose name affords me an opportunity which I gladly embrace to bear 

 testimony to this gentleman's fidelity, capacity, and modest Avorth. 

 I can not close a reference to the personnel of the force without jjre- 

 senting the urgent claims of my first assistant, Mr. Joseph A. Arnold, 

 to promotion. His arduous and unremitting labors are always cheer- 

 fullj' and capably performed, and in these few words of warm com- 

 mendation I voice not only my own appreciation, but that of all those 

 whose business brings them in contact with him. 



MULTIPLICATION OF NUMBERED SERIES. 



One of the difficulties attending the wide extension of Department 

 work and the multiplication of its various Bureaus, Divisions, and 

 Offices is occasioned by the unfortunate adoption, in 1883, of sepa- 

 rately numbered divisional series of publications. The result of this 

 has been to bring about a sort of bibliographical chaos of Department 

 l>ublications. The confusion resulting from having numerous Depart- 

 ment bulletins bearing the same number has been carried still further 

 by changes which have in some cases resulted in a "new series" and 

 an "old series" and a "technical" and a "popular" series. Libra- 

 rians have frequently' called attention to the difficulties attending this 

 multiplication of series aud numbers, and representatives of the De- 

 partment who have visited foreign libraries report the foreign libra- 

 rians as confessing their inability to keep track of oui- publications or 

 to know whether they have them all or not. 



The importance (^f proper classification and facility of i-eference in 

 all libraries where our bulletins are preserved is hardly to be ques- 

 tioned, and promises to be still more important in the future. In the 

 meantime, however, we ought to consider first of all the convenience 

 of the great constituency which it is the Department's first duty and 

 privilege to serve, aud the delays attendant in filling orders by reason 



