DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS. 305 



handling of the work at the Government Printing Office. The time 

 consumed by the bureaus in the examination of proof could be re- 

 duced very materially if the proof received immediate attention 

 and if the efforts of the issuing office were confined to j^roof read- 

 ing and not extended to making; changes which should have been 

 made in the editing of the original manuscript before it was sub- 

 mitted for publication. Freciuently the return of proof is delayed 

 by sending it to the author wdieii in the field. This practice should 

 be discouraged in so far as it is practicable. 



APPROPRIATION FOR PRINTING. 



The regular appropriation for printing and binding for the de- 

 partment for the year was S600,000, which was $50,000 less than for 

 the preceding year. On account of this reduction the publication 

 work was of necessity curtailed, and many important new bulle- 

 tins and reports were not printed, although the accmisition of the 

 information they contained was imposed by Taw upon the department. 

 In every act appropriating funds for the department new work and 

 additional investigations are authorized by Congress, the results 

 of which can become available for the use and information of the 

 people only by means of published reports. Some method of check- 

 ing up the department's requirements for printing with the ap- 

 propriation for its maintenance should be adopted. In this way 

 only can the amount needed for printing be accurately ascertained. 



Of the appropriation of $000,000 for printing, $200,000 is pro- 

 vided for Farmers' Bulletins, $47,000 for the Weather Bureau, the 

 two items totaling $247,000, leaving $353,000 for all other printing 

 for the department. Under provisions of law the department is 

 required to publish the Yearbook, its proportionate cost for the 

 latest issue being $19,958.46; the Annual Reports of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, which involved an expenditure of $1,234.25; 

 the Soil Surveys, $32,074.25 (although considerably more has been 

 spent in other years and $50,000 would scarcely be adecjuate) ; 

 the Crop Reporter and monthly schedules, $32,693.96; other 

 reports, including expenditures in the department, the special 

 report on expenditures involved in meat inspection, and certain 

 minor reports reciuired to be made, aggregating $3,500; the report 

 on work and expenditures of the agricultural experiment stations 

 and on agricultural extension work, $3,437.53. The total of these re- 

 ports which are authorized by law and required to be printed and 

 paid for from the regular appropriation was approximately $92,- 

 898.55, leaving for general printing only $260,101 .55. More than one- 

 half of this amount was required for administrative printing (orders, 

 decisions, blank forms, stationery, etc.), leaving an amount entirely 

 inadec^uate for the department's informational publications. The 

 scientific bulletins particularly should be better provided for, as 

 these are fundamentally the most important class of the depart- 

 ment's publications, setting forth the results of the studies for which 

 the department was established. 



The increase in the printing fund has not kept pace with the rapid 

 growth of the department during the last few years. If the depart- 

 ment is successfully and efficiently to perform its function of acquir- 

 ing and diffusing useful information among the people, adequate 

 funds for printing will be needed and a considerable increase should 

 be made in the appropriation for the fiscal year 1921. 



