288 DEPARTMENTAL REPOK 



should also provide that all free distribution to individuals should be 

 stopped; that all of our publications be placed on sale at the cost of 

 preparing, presswork, and binding, with a small percentage added for 

 handling, and that only emergency circulars be given a free miscel- 

 laneous distribution. 



With the law thus amended no possible excuse could exist for the 

 restriction as to the number of copies of the publication issued, a 

 restriction which at present declares that no report, jmblication, or 

 document shall be printed in excess of 1,000 of each in any one fiscal 

 year without authorization therefor by Congress, the only exception 

 to this limitation being the annual reports of the heads of Departments 

 and publications authorized by the Secretary of Agriculture when the 

 same shall not exceed 100 octavo pages. The securing of the authori- 

 zation of Congress is difficult. Even when Congress is in session an 

 authorization is usually obtainable only by unanimous consent, and 

 during many months, when Congress is not in session, such authori- 

 zation, of course, is impossible. This restriction therefore seems 

 to seriously hamper the work of the Department, and very often 

 works great injustice to many persons, who have, at considerable 

 expenditure of time, and in some cases of money, assisted the Depart- 

 ment in securing the data for a publication. These persons do this 

 usually with the implied understanding that their efforts will be 

 recognized at least with a copy of the publication to which they thus 

 contribute. It is not right that they should be disappointed. With 

 the gratuitous distribution of public documents restricted in accord- 

 ance with the recommendations made above, there should be no need 

 for this restriction, as it is manifestly proper that certain public insti- 

 tutions should receive each a copy of every publication issued, and 

 the general public should be entitled to as many as it feels disposed 

 to purchase. 



THE YEARBOOK. 



The grave inconvenience to which the Department is subjected by 

 the small number of copies, in proportion to the total edition, of the 

 Yearbook placed at the disposal of the Secretary, makes necessary an 

 appeal to Congress for a more liberal allowance. In the days when 

 the total number issued of this publication was but 300,000, and when 

 the work of this Department was not one-fourth of what it now is, 

 30,000 copies were placed at the disposal of the head of this Depart- 

 ment, then Commissioner of Agriculture. To-day, with 500,000 

 copies issued yearly, the same number, 30,000 copies, is placed at the 

 disposal of the Secretary. It seems hardly necessary to add anything 

 to this comparison. Fifty thousand copies, at least, are needed for the 

 use of the Secretary of Agriculture. 



UNIFORMITY OF STYLE IN PUBLICATIONS. 



Some means should be adopted to secure uniformity of style in the 

 publications of the Department, so as to obviate the present confusion, 

 annoyance, and expense resulting from individual preferences as 

 regards orthography, capitalization, use of italics, compounding of 

 words, etc., in the bulletins and reports of the various Bureaus, Divi- 

 sions, and Offices. Unfortunately, the idiosyncrasies are too often 

 not indicated in the manuscripts submitted, but are insisted upon 

 after the matter is in proof, and the changes involve considerable 

 expense, frequently amounting to one-third of the original cost of 



