REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1915. 19 



A third principal characteristic of the Institution is found in its 



work of pubHcation. Originally ail phases of such work were 



Division of nierged in the general business of administration; 



Publications, j^ut with the growth in magnitude and in complex- 

 ity of all branches of this business it became desirable to sepa- 

 rate the functions of book-making from those of book-distribution 

 and other less technical duties of the administrative office. 

 Accordingly, a Division of Publications devoted exclusively to 

 the important requirements of editorial and press supervision 

 was formally established in 1909. Simultaneously, this differ- 

 entiation was emphasized by formal establishment of a Division 

 of Administration, although it should be said that both of them 

 had been recognized virtually some years before. 



The Division of PubHcations, like the departments of research, 

 has grown to be a highly technical and complex establishment, 

 with a considerable and always expanding series of problems 

 peculiar to its work. It has to deal with a great variety of sub- 

 jects and a greater variety of authors. Problems of economy 

 in illustration, in paper, in presswork, and in photographic repro- 

 duction, as well as of matters requisite to an exacting standard 

 of quality, are constantly before it. What degree of success in 

 the solution of these problems has been attained must be left 

 to the discriminating world to decide. The bodies and the souls 

 of books are measured adequately, in general, only by tests applied 

 long after publication. In the meantime, the books of the Insti- 

 tution are growing in number and in variety, as may be seen from 

 the statistical data furnished in a subsequent section of this 

 report. It may be remarked also that intelligent interest in these 

 books is now general and that the demand for them, especially 

 from well-conducted libraries, is steadily increasing. 



The matter of distribution of the publications of the Institu- 

 tion has presented many difficulties. These are due partly to 

 Distribution of inherited methods which are no longer suited to 

 Publications, ^^g conditious Under which a research estabhsh- 

 ment may now exist, and partly to the prevalent impression that 

 the Institution is under no economic restrictions in this as in 

 other fields of its work. The methods referred to are methods of 

 patronage. They have led to a division of owners of books into 



