SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.

Previous reports of this Department have indorsed the policy of limiting the free distribution of public documents. The general adoption of such a policy would appear to be wise, and would be a potent factor in reducing to a minimum waste and extravagance in government publication work. At the present time only a few of the publications of this Department are sold-notably, Tide Tables, Coast Pilots, and Coast Charts, issued by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Heads of Families, First Census of the United States, 1790, issued by the Bureau of the Census-but there are many upon which it would be practical and expedient to place a price sufficient to cover the actual cost of production, or at least sufficient to act as a deterrent to those who lightly consider their value and who thoughtlessly multiply requests for them without properly weighing personal needs. This is true particularly of scientific and technical publications, such as are issued quite frequently by the Bureaus of Fisheries and Standards and the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and of many of the statistical publications issued by the Bureaus of Statistics, Census, and Manufactures.

Practically all European countries in this way confine the distribution of their public documents to those who have an actual need for them and at the same time not only keep their printing bills down but actually secure reimbursement for a large part of the expense to which they are put in producing the documents. In this country this policy has been pursued to only a very limited extent, but the success that has attended experiments in that line has converted many to the view that it should have a very much broader application. Congress during the past session provided that the International Commercial Directory, soon to be published by the Bureau of Manufactures of this Department, shall be supplied to those only who subscribe for it and pay the sum for which it is provided it shall be sold. This is a step toward a condition which it is hoped may be reached without much further delay, and which this Department will be pleased to see brought about.

CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY INTO DEPARTMENTAL PRINTING.

During the year the work of the Division of Publications was subjected to very close scrutiny on the part of the Congressional Printing Investigation Commission, which has for some time, by direction of Congress, been making a thorough inquiry into the operation of the laws relating to the public printing and binding and the distribution of public documents with a view to recommending a revision, consolidation, and codification of such laws. On June 25, 1910, the

Commission submitted to Congress a preliminary report (S. Doc. 652, Sixty-first Congress, second session) of the result of its inquiries, together with certain recommendations designed to remedy some of the conditions which have brought forth criticism of existing laws. Under the heading "Departmental printing and binding and distribution of public documents," the various systems in operation in the several departments for handling their printing allotments are reviewed. The organization of the Division of Publications, its costkeeping system, and the regulations adopted by this Department to govern its printing and binding are discussed, and commended. The Commission also makes several recommendations, which, if enacted into law, would but slightly affect this Department. The Commission recommends that there be created by law in each department a division of publications; that the supervision of the printing and binding and distribution of public documents in each department be centralized; that all printing for the Government be done at the Government Printing Office; and that the Public Printer be prohibited from using any paper for printing and binding except that purchased by him, due consideration being given, in the purchase of paper, to recommendations of departments. These conditions already virtually obtain so far as the Department of Commerce and Labor is concerned, and favorable action by Congress on the recommendations will cause the Department no very serious inconvenience.

BUREAU OF THE CENSUS.

While the Bureau of the Census during the past fiscal year has carried on the usual annual investigations regarding statistics of cities, of production and consumption of cotton, of births and deaths, and of forest products, the greater part of the work of the Bureau has been connected with the Thirteenth Decennial Census, which, under the law, included an enumeration of population, agriculture, and manufactures, mines, and quarries. The work of collecting these statistics was substantially finished during the fiscal year.

FIELD WORK OF CENSUS OF POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE.

The census of population and agriculture was taken as of date April 15 by a force consisting of 330 supervisors and about 71,500 enumerators, in addition to special agents and clerks employed to assist the supervisors and a few special agents who had charge of the census of Hawaii and Alaska. The enumerators in cities of 5,000 inhabitants and over were allowed fifteen days in which to take the enumeration, and those in the country districts thirty days. It was found necessary, as is the case in all censuses, to allow a considerable amount of additional time for checking up and perfecting the returns, but the schedules began to reach the Bureau early in May, and much the larger part of them had been received by the end of the fiscal year, and all have since been received.

The supervisors were appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate, and the enumerators by the supervisors with the approval of the Director of the Census. For the purpose of facilitating the selection of competent enumerators examinations of a practical character were held throughout the United States. Much the larger proportion of the enumerators who were actually employed had successfully passed this examination, although in some cases where no candidate appeared for a given district it was necessary to select enumerators without examination. The test for enumerators was similar to the one used in 1900, but the method of conducting the examination was entirely different. The candidates for the present census were assembled in convenient places, and the conduct of the examination supervised by the supervisor of the census or his assistants, or by the civil-service examining boards, or in some cases by postmasters. At the census of 1900 the examination papers were filled out by the competitors at their homes.

Special efforts were made to secure a complete and accurate census. An extensive campaign of publicity was conducted for the purpose of acquainting the people with the fact that the census was to be taken, removing prejudice against furnishing information, and familiarizing the people with the questions to be asked. A proclamation by the President, printed in 23 languages, was circulated through the press and widely posted. The newspapers of the country very generally published numerous articles concerning the census, and circulars of information were distributed through the public schools and otherwise.

As another means of preparing the public for the census and of securing more accurate returns, advance schedules of population were distributed in large cities and advance schedules of agriculture in rural districts. There is no provision of law in this country, as there is in foreign countries, requiring the heads of families themselves to fill out the schedules. They were, however, requested to do so before the arrival of the enumerator. These advance schedules were not the official schedules, but every enumerator was required to make a complete enumeration on separate schedules carried in his own portfolio. As was to be expected, a large proportion of families failed to fill out the schedules, but the general opinion of the enumerators and supervisors is that the advance schedule of population served a very useful purpose in preparing the people for the enumeration and familiarizing them with the questions. Even where the schedules were not filled out, they saved time for the enumerators and increased the accuracy of the returns. Many of the more intelligent people carefully and fully prepared these schedules in advance. Where this was done, the work of the enumerators was greatly facilitated. Moreover, the advance schedule, when filled out, was likely in many cases to contain more accurate information than the enumerator could otherwise have obtained.

It is impossible as yet to determine with certainty whether the advance schedule of agriculture was an advantage or otherwise. While in many cases it served a useful purpose, it appears that in some cases the schedules, which had been filled out in a careless manner by the farmers, were, despite instructions to the contrary, copied by the enumerators on their official schedules without careful checking up. It is possible that in such cases the results were less accurate than would have been secured had the questions been asked orally by the enumerator in the first instance. It is the intention of the Director of the Census to make a careful investigation in due time as to the advantages or disadvantages of the use of the advance schedules.

The supervisors in large cities, where the work of the enumeration is much more difficult than in the country districts, were furnished

with a considerable number of special agents to assist in instructing the enumerators, in watching the conduct of their work, and in checking over the results to make sure of their completeness.

While in general the work of enumeration was performed with great care, and while it is believed that the present census is more accurate than any before taken, it has developed that the population was overcounted in a considerable number of cities and towns, partly through deliberate fraud and partly through unduly broad interpretation of the instructions with reference to the enumeration of floating population. The investigation of cases of "padding" the census had only begun at the close of the fiscal year and has not yet been completed, so that a definite statement on this subject can not be made at the present time.

The cost of the field work of the enumeration of population and agriculture, exclusive of printing schedules and instructions, will reach approximately $5,735,000, consisting of about $4,650,000 for enumerators, approximately $585,000 for supervisors, and about $500,000 for clerks and special agents to assist supervisors and for the travel and other miscellaneous expenses of the supervisors.

The greater part of the enumerators were paid on a piece-price basis at rates ranging from 2 to 4 cents per name for the population census, and from 20 to 30 cents per farm for the agricultural census. In the Western States, where the population is sparse, and in a few districts elsewhere for the same or other peculiar reasons, enumerators were paid at per diem rates ranging from $3 to $6. In nearly all cases enumerators were required to bear their expenses out of their compensation, but in a few districts of peculiar difficulty, mainly in the State of Nevada, a small additional allowance was made for traveling expenses. A limited number of enumerators were also paid at mixed rates; that is, a fixed sum per day plus a specified sum for names and farms.

Of the 69,023 enumeration districts in continental United States (a number somewhat smaller than the number of enumerators, because in some cases two enumerators were employed in one district) 60,412 were paid at piece-price rates, 7,637 at per diem rates, and 974 at mixed rates. Although the compilation has not yet been worked out, it is estimated that the enumerators on piece-price and mixed rates earned on an average between $3.50 and $4 per day actually employed.

Considerable difficulty was encountered in securing enumerators who were willing to work at these rates. The rates were little higher than in 1900, whereas there has been in many sections of the country considerable increase in the cost of living and in prevailing rates of wages. In view of the estimates laid before Congress by his prede