DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS. 325 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



It seems to me impossible to carefully peruse this cursory review of 

 the work of this Division with any appreciation of the responsibility 

 that editorial work involves, without realizing that the principal 

 assistants ilpon wliom I am bound to depend in carrying on the work 

 of the Division are iiot adefiuately remunerated, either by comparison 

 with assistants charged witli notably responsible duties in this and in 

 other Departments, or by coinparis(m with persons discluirging similar 

 duties in i>rivate bnsiness enterpi-ises. The fact that manuscript, rep- 

 resented, when printed, by over LS,000 pages of new maltci-, was all 

 carefully gone over by myself and my assistants, read and reread, 

 questions of modification or elimination discnssed willi tlie several 

 chiefs or with the authors themselves, and the entii-e nuitter carefully 

 prepared for the compositor, so as to facilitate the passage of the 

 work through the office of the Public Printer, will impress any experi- 

 enced publisher or editor with the great extent of the work done, and 

 no one should 1)e better able than the Secretary himself to appreciate 

 the responsibility of those who are charged with seeing that nothing 

 gets into print save Avliat meets liis approval. 



While so much may be said for the editorial work, it must not be 

 forgotten that the administration of the very large sum of $400,000, 

 and its equitable adjustment to the needs of all the Bui-eaus and sev- 

 eral Divisions contributing to the publication work of the Depart- 

 ment, involves considerable judgment and care. 



Finally, it may be remembered that the control of 150 persons, of 

 whom about 120 are- in the immediate charge of the assistant who has 

 charge of the document section, involves considerable responsibility, 

 calling for the exercise of both judgment and tact. Indeed, it may be 

 said for all the responsible officers of this Division that in addition to 

 more than ordinary intelligence and education, experience in publica- 

 tion work, good sense, and tact are essentially requisite. I submit 

 that for all these qualifications salaries of from $1,G00 to $2,000 are not 

 adequate. The associate editor of this Division, who is also the 

 assistant chief of the Division, should, in my opinion, receive 12,4:00 

 at least, in place of the $2,000 he is now getting. The two assistant 

 editors and the assistant in charge of the document section, who are 

 receiving $1,800 per annum each, should be promoted to $2,000, and 

 the three assistant editors now receiving $1,600 should l)e promoted 

 to $1,800. I feel satisfied that if these recommendations should meet 

 with your approval the more closely the committees having our inter- 

 ests in charge in Congress may investigate the matter the more surelj^ 

 will they be satisfied that the recommendations made are just. 



STATISTICS OF PUBLICATION WORK. 



The details of the publication work are given in the following 

 tables : 



Nuviber and 'classes of puhlications issued in the fiscal year 1902. 



Publications — 



Chargeable to regular fund 365 



Chargeable to divisional funds 39 



Chargeable to Farmers" Bulletin fund 259 



Printed as Executive documents 9 



Edited at Weather Bureau 85 



Total ---- - 757 



