384 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



coiiiiection witli wliicli nioro than 0,800.000 Twists of F'tirmors' Bul- 

 letins also wore distributed to I'acilitate intelli<!;ent selection of bul- 

 letins needed. More than 500,000 copies of Farmers' Bulletins were 

 assi<rned to the department by Members of Congress from their indi- 

 vidual allotments. 



THE APPROPRIATION FOR PRINTING AND BINDING. 



The regular appropriation for printing and binding for the year 

 was the same as for the preceding year, namely, $600,000. On 

 account of the lai-ge carry-(ner of uncompleted work from the pre- 

 ceding year (costing $5;?,607.H8), the greater cost of })rinting, and 

 the increasing requirements of the department for printing an(l bind- 

 ing, the appropriation was exhausted in April, and the printing of 

 the department's publications was susi)ended practically for a period 

 of more than a month. In May Congress granted a deficiency appro- 

 priation of $75,000. This amount was sufficient to print only a 

 portion of the accumulated material which was still suitable for 

 distribution. Some bulletins had to be rejected because of insuffi- 

 cient funds to print them at the season when they would have been 

 useful. Other bulletins could not be undertaken or completed because 

 the deficienc}^ appropriation became available too late for the Gov- 

 ernment Printing Office to do the work, in consequence of which 

 $10,500.40 of the deficiency appropriation remained unexpended at 

 the close of the year. 



The appropriation for printing and binding for the fiscal year 

 which ends June 30, 1921, is $725,000, which is but a fraction over 

 2 per cent of the appropriation for the activities of the de- 

 partment. An appropriation of $1,000,000 for printing and bind- 

 ing would more nearly meet the requirements of the department in 

 the dissemination of the useful information it is constantly acquiring 

 for the benefit of the people. A private business concern spending 

 $31,000,000 annually in the production of something of value to the 

 people would spend double the amount allowed the department to 

 furnish its service to the public. 



PRINTING DONE OUTSIDE THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 



Under the provisions of section 11 of public act 314, approved 

 March 1, 1919, the executive departments were estopped from pro- 

 curing printing or binding outside the (rovernment Printing Office 

 except by permission of the Joint Committee on Printing. That 

 committee, by Regulations No. 4, granted authority to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture to order outside printing of an emergency char- 

 acter not to exceed $5,000 in the aggregate, to be defrayed from the 

 appropriations of the bureaus for which the printing was ordered. 

 In addition to this, specific permission was granted to secure tags, 

 certificates, etc., for the Bureau of Animal Industry for use in the 

 enforcement of the meat-inspection law, the aggregate expense of 

 which was $29,052.50. These supplies had been contracted for prior 

 to the beginning of the year, and the committee authorized comple- 

 tion of the w^ork. 



Special authority w^as obtained for printing a booklet, " The Live- 

 stock Industry of the United States," for distribution in South 

 America. Other authorized outside printing for the fiscal year 



