DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS. 289 



composition. It is evident, therefore, that with the Limited funds 

 allotted for printing for this Department, the practice should be dis- 

 continued without delay. It is believed that each Bureau, Division, or 

 Office should be accepted as the authority in regard to the spelling and 

 capitalization of the terms of the particular investigation with which 

 it is concerned, and that its style should be followed when such terms 

 appear in publications of other offices. There is also urgent neces- 

 sity for uniformity in the spelling of words and terms in general use. 

 These and many other questions might be satisfactorily settled by 

 conferences of a board consisting of representatives from the various 

 Bureaus, Divisions, and Offices, to be held as occasion requires, thus 

 establishing in course of time a definite style for all the publications 

 of the Department. 



VARIATIONS IN SIZE OF PUBLICATIONS. 



There is a disposition on the part of certain Bureaus, Divisions, 

 and Offices to adopt the quarto or duodecimo size for their publications 

 in place of the octavo, which lias been the standard for many years. 

 While there may be occasionally instances in which the departure is 

 justifiable and necessary, it is believed that the change should never 

 be made unless it can not possibly be avoided, as in the case of exten- 

 sive and complicated tabular matter. Considerations of economy as 

 well as convenience justify the continued use of the octavo size, which 

 is particularly suitable for large editions and general distribution. 

 The quarto, if used at all, should be confined to bulletins of an 

 extremely scientific or technical character, which are usually issued 

 in very limited editions. There is another serious objection to dis- 

 crepancies in size in the publications, and that is the difficulty of 

 binding them for permanent preservation and for reference. The 

 different sizes can not be bound together, and even if bound sepa- 

 rately they can not usually be shelved together in libraries or book- 

 cases. On this account the duodecimo is as objectionable as the 

 quarto. The size known as royal octavo seems to be very generally 

 accepted as most satisfactory for scientific or technical publications. 



NEED OF ADDITIONAL OFFICE ROOM. 



I feel obliged again to refer to the inadequate quarters assigned 

 to the use of this Division for the editorial force. An additional com- 

 municating room is very much needed for the use of the employees 

 engaged in editorial work, proof reading, and indexing, all of which 

 requires freedom from interruption. In the room now occupied, which 

 also serves as the business office, nine employees are crowded, and 

 their work is unavoidably interrupted by the almost perpetual dis- 

 tractions incident to the public business of the office. Furthermore, 

 it is very necessary in the expedition of the work to have the entire 

 force of editorial assistants in one room, or at least very near together, 

 instead of being separated as they now are on different floors of the 

 main building. 



GENERAL CARD INDEX OF THE PUBLICATIONS. 



With the rapid increase in the number of publications issued there 

 is an increased necessity for the undertaking of the preparation of a 

 card index of all the bulletins and reports, so as to make readily 



AGR 1901 19 



