DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS. 637 



leaving on hand July 1, 1910, 3,577,74G of this class of publications. 

 Of J'armers' Bulletins 0,449,589 were mailed under orders from 

 Members of Congress and 3,C4"2.881 copies were distributed upon re- 

 quests f)f miscellaneous applicants, being an increase in the congres- 

 sional distribution over the previous year of 2,500.000 and an in- 

 creased distribution upon miscellaneous requests of about 775,000, 

 showing a net increase over the preceding year of slightly more than 

 three and a quarter million Farmers' Bulletins, and leaving on hand 

 1,673,052 copies. A great increase in the number of miscellaneous 



Sublications is partially explained by the great number of copies of 

 otices of Judgment and the inclusion of Press Notices and Crop 

 Reports under the head of " Publications." 



To handle the publications issued by the Department involves an 

 enormous amount of work, both clerical and manual. The work of 

 storing and mailing the publications is divided principally between 

 two mailing rooms; miscellaneous publications, some of which are 

 heavy and bulky, are mailed under the direction of the foreman of the 

 miscellaneous folding room and by the men under his charge. The 

 Farmers' Bulletins are distributed by and the principal work inci- 

 dent to mailing them is under the direction and supervision of the 

 forewoman in charge of a number of women employees, who by 

 reason of long service in the Department are exceptionally skillful 

 in arranging and mailing the orders. The amount of detail in con- 

 nection with the mailing of Farmers' Bulletins, particularly those 

 ordered out on the requests of Members of Congress, is increasing, as 

 the practice adopted by many Members of Congress of distributing 

 thousands of lists, showing the Farmers' Bulletins available to 

 their constituents, with the request that the publications desired be 

 checked and returned to this office in order that the publications may 

 be mailed, necessitates a separate assembling of each particular re- 

 quest, as rarely will there be two persons who will select the same com- 

 bination of numl^ers. This assembling of the bulletins in separate 

 sets adds greatly to the work of this force, which for a number of 

 years has been pressed to the limit of its capacity. 



STENCIL MAILING LISTS. 



There are now maintained 1,180,316 stencil addresses, 111.790 being 

 added within the last fiscal year. This work has become a most im- 

 portant feature, as there are maintained at the present time the mail- 

 ing lists of nearly every Bureau, Office, and Division in the Depart- 

 ment. This work is done under a clerk in charge, and the employees, 

 principally active young men, have addressed 5,289.252 franks and 

 envelopes during the past year and cut 133,123 stencils, which were 

 corrections of and additions to the various lists maintained on the 

 stencil system. In addition, 5,499,574 publications were folded by 

 this force on the machines provided for that work. Because of the 

 removal of the branch j^rinting office from the Department, it was 

 found necessary to install a cutting machine in this room, and while 

 it has been in use only a few months there have already been 655,990 

 sheets cut and trimmed, not including 563,964 franks furnished by 

 Menil)ers of Congress. The work done by this force is commendable, 

 the operators of the folding machines frequently having to work at 

 night in order to have publications folded, ready for mailing next 



