484 The Smithsonian Institution 



years as high as 20,000 copies, being maintained for a num- 

 ber of years at 15,500 copies, the standard edition of late 

 years being 10,000 copies. 



As time went on, and the Institution had established itself 

 in the regard of Congress and of the people, objection was 

 rarely, if ever, raised against the printing of the Smithsonian 

 Report. For the first thirty years, the volume was limited 

 to 450 pages, and it never exceeded that size and often fell 

 somewhat below it. All illustrations were furnished at the 

 expense of the Institution; but the entire cost of the type- 

 setting and press-work was borne by the government. 

 From the first Report of thirty-seven pages, published in 

 1846, these Reports have steadily increased in size; the last 

 published, 1894, consists of two parts, the first a Report of 

 the Institution containing 770 pages, and the second, that of 

 the National Museum, consisting of 1030 pages. Thus over 

 1800 pages annually published, in an edition of 10,000 copies 

 at the joint expense of the government and the Institution, 

 freely distributed to libraries and scientific men, most worthily 

 carry out the provision of the will of Smithson for the diffusion 

 of knowledge among men. 



During the civil war, owing to the expense of paper, the 

 general cost of labor, and the vast drain on the government's 

 resources, the edition of the Reports was, for a few years, re- 

 duced to five thousand copies ; but as stereotype plates had 

 been made, it was provided in 1870, by act of Congress, that 

 two thousand additional copies of the Reports for the years 

 1865, 1866, 1867, and 1868 should be printed. It was 

 through the efforts of President James A. Garfield, then a 

 representative from Ohio, that the edition of 1872 was raised 

 to twenty thousand copies. 



After the financial crisis of 1873, economy in expenditure 

 being felt necessary, a general resolution to limit the size of 



