In addition to disbursements by the disbursing clerk, the following expenditures in behalf of the Department were specifically made: By special disbursing agents for U. S. Employment Service.. Children's Bureau_. Immigration Bureau Claims settled by the Auditor for the State and Other Depart ments____ Total $1,017, 878. 73 13, 247. 40 41, 227. 54 178, 413. 36 1,250, 767. 03 Miscellaneous receipts.-The following receipts from miscellaneous sources have been recorded during the year: Unexpended balances.—In accordance with the act of Congress of June 20, 1874 (18 Stat. L., 110, 111), the following unexpended balances of appropriations were covered into the surplus fund of the Treasury Department June 30, 1920: Contingent expenses, Department of Labor, 1918__ Salaries and expenses, commissioners of conciliation, 1918_ National security and defense, Department of Labor___ Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau of Naturalization, 1918__. Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1917. General expenses, Children's Bureau, 1918_. Enforcement child-labor law, 1917-18 Investigation of child welfare, 1918. Increase of compensation, Department of Labor, 1918---. Total $1, 834. 27 2.50 100. 09 5, 123. 35 2,215. 71 7,675. 48 3,254.75 940. 78 18.89 520. 20 8.65 11. 42 44. 19 62.51 320.99 490. 87 40.38 22, 665. 03 Division of Publications and Supplies. Printing and binding.—The allotment to the Department of Labor for printing and binding made in the sundry civil act for 1920 amounted to $150,000. The deficiency act approved March 6, 1920, carried an additional $50,000, making a total for this fund of $200,000 for the year, which was apportioned by the Secretary as follows: Office of the Secretary-- 15283-LAB 1920 -5 $12,500 101, 000 Requisitions were made on the Public Printer for work covering the entire appropriation, on which he submitted bills for work done up to and including June 30, 1920, of $199,999.66, leaving an unexpended balance of 34 cents. Uncompleted and unbilled work remaining at the Government Printing Office on July 1, 1920, which will become a charge against the 1921 appropriation, aggregated $52,487.80. Requisitions for printing and binding to the number of 1,405 were written during the year as against 2,959 for the fiscal year 1919, a decrease of 1,554, or 53 per cent. The Monthly Labor Review.—The demand for this publication continued to increase during the year to such an extent that in order to meet it an edition of 21,000 became necessary. The great expense of printing this number, coupled with the serious shortage of paper, forced the Department to convert the Review into a subscription periodical. Arrangements were perfected with the superintendent of documents under which he will furnish the Review to subscribers at the nominal price of $1.50 a year or 15 cents a copy. The Department will maintain a small free list which will include all labor departments and bureaus, workmen's compensation commissions, and organizations exchanging publications with the Department. Children's Bureau publications.-The child-care series of Children's Bureau publications still maintains the phenomenal popularity to which attention was called last year. That bureau also is distributing a very large number of leaflets and small pamphlets dealing with various phases of the same subject. These smaller publications are in very great demand, several millions of them having been distributed during the year. Women's Bureau publications.-The Women's Bureau, created by act of Congress approved June 5, 1920, is, like the Children's Bureau, a publishing bureau. Its activities are expected to increase greatly during the coming fiscal year. There were printed during the year for the United States Housing Corporation, United States Employment Service, Bureau of Naturalization, and the various labor conferences which were held here during the year 70,900 publications, 2 volumes miscellaneous binding, 3,555,500 blank forms, 375,500 letterheads, 52,500 envelopes, 22,000 index cards, 3,000 guide cards, and 50,000 memorandum sheets, for which bills in the amount of $22,723.93 were received up to June 30, 1920, which sum was paid from appropriations other than the printing and binding allotment of the Department. Editorial work.-The editorial work of the division has been somewhat less in volume, and the high standard established during the incumbency of the former chief of the division has been maintained and in some respects still further improved. This is true, notwithstanding the fact that the force is entirely too small to handle, except by the most diligent and constant effort, the work that must be done. There were 20,036 folios of copy handled during the year, as against 30,765 the year before, a decrease of 33 per cent. Galley proofs increased from 4,870 to 5,071 (4 per cent) and page proofs from 11,586 to 13,873 (20 per cent). Proofs of miscellaneous jobs decreased from 948 to 253 (73 per cent). Books and blanks.-Requisitions for books and blanks filled during the year numbered 8,210, fewer by 4,836 than the year before. These requisitions included 6,002 from clerks of courts for naturalization blanks and 177 from representatives of the State Department for blanks for use in issuing passports. Shipments of books and blanks numbering 89,772 and weighing a total of 513,264 pounds were made during the year; there were 8,223 shipments of supplies, weighing 408,217 pounds. To fill the 8,210 requisitions for books and blanks, 11,484 books and 19,379,390 blanks were required. Twenty-eight thousand five hundred and thirty packages of blanks, weighing 330,207 pounds, and 6,236 packages of supplies, weighing 437,381 pounds, were received, while shipments reached the number of 97,995, weighing 921,481 pounds. Envelopes.-The Department placed, during the year, 165 orders for 3,002,175 envelopes, costing $7,600.97, as compared with 470 orders for 18,552,857 envelopes costing $39,770.06 in 1919; a decrease of $32,169.09. The decrease during the year was due to the discontinuance of the war services at the end of the previous fiscal year. The envelopes remaining after the closing up of the work of the war bureaus, together with a large number secured from other discontinued war services, were overprinted and used, the number being approximately 400,000, at a saving of approximately $1,200. Printed stationery.-Requisitions for printed stationery to the number of 373 were filled during the fiscal year. Of these, 176 were from offices and bureaus of the Department in Washington, while 197 were received from services outside of Washington. Distribution of publications.-On mailing lists and franks there were issued 1,989,994 publications as compared with 3,161,456 in 1919, a decrease of 37 per cent. Of these publications 510,100 were sent on mailing lists and 1,479,894 on individual franks which numbered 131,212. Duplicating work.-Due to the abolishment of the various services organized for war activities the duplicating work was reduced something more than half as compared with the preceding year. Requisitions handled numbered 1,585; impressions taken, 2,449,549; photostatic reproductions 1,618; sheets folded, 752,536; envelopes sealed, 608,488; and envelopes addressed 387,494. Supplies. By act approved March 1, 1919, known as the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act, the sum of $50,000 was appropriated for the contingent expenses of the Department for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1920. This act further provided that a sum not in excess of $13,500 be taken from the appropriation “Expenses of regulating immigration, 1920" and added to the Department's contingent appropriation in order to enable the central purchasing agency of the Department (Division of Publications and Supplies) to provide certain supplies for the immigration field service. This made available a total of $63,500 to constitute the contingent fund of the Department. More supplies were purchased in the open market during the fiscal year than in any similar period since the creation of the Department. This was due partly to the fact that many of the contracts entered into by the General Supply Committee, being limited to specific quantities, expired before the close of the fiscal year and partly to the fact that in some instances the General Supply Committee was unable to contract at all for certain supplies. Were it not for the most rigid practice of economy the Department would not have been able to supply the needs of its several bureaus and officials from this appropriation. During the fiscal year there were filled a total of 1,596 requisitions for supplies, which necessitated the placing of 2,038 orders involving 3,292 items, at an aggregate cost of $46,770.90. There remains at the present time a balance of $3,229.10 available to offset any outstanding liabilities that may be properly chargeable to this appropriation, an amount which is deemed sufficient for that purpose. Contingent, 1921.—In the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act approved May 29, 1920, $50,000 has been provided for the contingent expenses of the Department during the fiscal year 1921. Together with the allotment of $13,500 made by the same act from the appropriation "Expenses of regulating immigration, 1921," this sum makes $63,500 available for the contingent expenses of the Department. Due to the constantly increasing cost of supplies, both those contracted for by the General Suppy Committee and those purchased in the open market, together with the increase in the cost of fuel and telephone service, it is doubtful whether the needs of the Department can be met with this sum, even though the Department's established practice of rigid economy be closely adhered to. |