December 20, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



963 



points of the statistician's monthly report 

 has been adopted. These cards are mailed 

 promptly after the publication of the tele- 

 graphic summary to postmasters through- 

 out the country with the request that they 

 be promptly displayed in their offices. The 

 Secretary recommends the enlargement of 

 the Division under Bureau organization. 



PUBLIC ROADS. 



In establishing an Office of Public Eoad 

 Inquiries, the object was to promote the 

 improvement of public roads throughout 

 the country. Efforts were first directed to 

 ascertain the condition of the roads, the 

 state of public opinion in regard to their 

 improvement, the obstacles in the way, 

 and the best methods to be employed in 

 securing better roads — such has been the 

 work of this office up to the present. For 

 spreading information and awakening in- 

 terest, nothing has been found so effectual 

 as the ' object-lesson,' or sample roads, 

 which, during the past year, have been 

 built in nine States under the advice and 

 supervision of the office. In building these 

 sample roads, machines have been loaned 

 by manufacturers and carried free by the 

 railroad companies, while the local com- 

 munity furnishes material and labor. Dur- 

 ing the year, for the better carrying out of 

 the work of the office, the United States 

 was divided into four divisions, the eastern, 

 middle, western and southern, each under 

 a special agent. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



In the performance of its duty to diffuse 

 the information acquired through its several 

 Bureaus, Divisions and Offices, the main 

 dependency is upon the issue and distribu- 

 tion of publications. This work, therefore, 

 affords a fair reflex of the intelligence and 

 activity of the investigating branches of 

 the Department. The Secretary deplores 

 the fact that this condition has not been 

 as fully recognized in the appropriations as 



it should be, and the work of publication 

 has, therefore, not kept pace with the won- 

 derful growth and development of the De- 

 partment. He deplores particularly the 

 unavoidable suspension toward the close of 

 the year of the work of both printing and 

 distribution, and that no less than thirty- 

 five worthy employees had to suffer distress 

 by being furloughed through no fault of their 

 own. Notwithstanding these restrictions, 

 there were issued during the year 606 sepa- 

 rate publications, aggregating nearly 8,000,- 

 000 copies. Nearly 3,500,000 copies were 

 Farmers' Bulletins, of which two thirds 

 in round numbers were distributed under 

 Congressional orders. With the increased 

 appropriation and the accumulated copies, 

 this year's supply of these bulletins will, 

 under the present law, which assigns four- 

 fifths, instead of two-thirds, to the use of 

 Congressmen, make the allowance of each 

 Senator, Representative and Delegate 15,- 

 000 copies. A special building has been 

 rented to be devoted exclusively to the 

 storage and shipment of Farmers' Bulle- 

 tins, of which not less than 7,000,000 will 

 have to be printed this year. The amount 

 provided, however, for material and labor 

 in their distribution is quite inadequate and 

 must be supplemented by a special appro- 

 priation, if the demands of Congressmen 

 are to be met. Referring to the great de- 

 mand for the Year-book and the growth of 

 the Department, the Secretary points out 

 the inadequacy of the quota assigned the 

 Department. When the edition of this 

 work was 300,000 copies, 30,000 were 

 placed at the disposal of the Department, 

 the same as now, notwithstanding that the 

 edition to-day is half a million copies. 

 The demand for the publications of the 

 Department continues to be greatly in ex- 

 cess of its ability to supply. Many of 

 these — over 24,000 copies last year — were 

 sold by the Superintendent of Documents. 

 This is almost three times as many as the 



