(Witness: Ashion.)

Of the Senate documents and reports, bound. To the Senate library, fifteen copies; to the Library of Congress, two copies, and fifty copies additional for foreign exchanges; to the House library, fifteen copies; to the superintendent of documents, five hundred copies, for distribution to State and Territorial libraries and designated depositories. These documents shall be bound in full sheep, and in binding documents the Public Printer shall give precedence to those that are to be distributed to libraries and to designated depositories: Provided, That any State or Territorial library or designated depository entitled to documents that may prefer to have its documents in unbound form may do so by notifying the superintendent of documents to that effect prior to the convening of each Congress.

The remainder of said documents and reports shall be reserved by the Public Printer in unstitched form, and shall be held subject to be bound in the number provided by law, upon orders from the Vice-President, Senators, Representatives, Delegates, Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House, in such binding as they shall select, except full morocco or calf; and when not called for and delivered within two years after printing shall be delivered in unbound form to the superintendent of documents for distribution. All of the "usual number" shall be printed at one time.

The CHAIRMAN. In addition to the books bound in cloth and in law sheep there is more or less binding in morocco?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir; what we call the Members' reserve. There was a law passed which gives every Member of Congress and every Senator the privilege of having one copy of every document published by the Government bound in half morocco. In the Fiftyeighth Congress there were 338 separate documents printed, and each Congressman and Senator is entitled by law to a copy of each one of those documents bound in half morocco.

The CHAIRMAN. So whether the order is given or not the law requires the printing department to take those documents and bind them in half morocco?

Mr. ASHION. No, sir; Members have to make a requisition for them.

The CHAIRMAN. Does it become operative unless he makes a requisition?

Mr. ASHION. No, sir; not unless he makes a requisition for them. The CHAIRMAN. The morocco binding authorized by law is not furnished unless required by the Members?

Mr. ASHION. Senators and Members are entitled to one volume of every document printed in the Congress they are in. Some Senators and Members only take part of the volumes, and make a requisition to have those certain volumes bound in half morocco, any shade. The CHAIRMAN. How much would the document that you have just exhibited cost bound in morocco?

Mr. ASHION. $1.25.

The CHAIRMAN. It costs $1.21 in law sheep?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And it does not cost any more in morocco?

Mr. ASHION. Four cents more.

The CHAIRMAN. Does not the material cost a great deal more?
Mr. ASHION. Not very much more.

The CHAIRMAN. There are so many more bound in morocco than in law sheep?

Mr. ASHION. No, sir. In the Fifty-eighth Congress there were 198.000 volumes bound in half morocco for Members and Senators. The CHAIRMAN. But you bound 250,000 volumes in law sheep?

(Witness: Ashion.)

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir; approximately. That takes in all the Departments of the Government.

The CHAIRMAN (interrupting). But the point is, as I understood you to say, that you bound so many more in morocco that you could bind them cheaper than in law sheep; but the fact is you bound 250,000 in law sheep and only 190,000 in morocco?

Mr. ASHION. We do not bind them cheaper. I am quoting you the scheduled price, as charged in the bindery, for binding Members' reserve in half morocco.

The CHAIRMAN. You say that you bind in so much larger quantities in morocco, and yet you have only 190,000 volumes in morocco and 250,000 in law sheep. I do not know that I understand the figures. Mr. ASHION. I am only taking the Congressional documents that we bind in law sheep.

The CHAIRMAN. Can you tell me what the difference in the cost of the raw material is that is used for binding half morocco and the law sheep?

Mr. ASHION. Morocco costs $14 per dozen; sheep, $8.45 per dozen. In law-sheep binding the books are sewed by hand, whereas the clothbound books are sewed on a sewing machine.

The CHAIRMAN. The sewing by hand is the best work?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Which is the most durable?

Mr. ASHION. Hand sewing.

The CHAIRMAN. Suppose the cloth-bound book was bound up in as good shape as the law sheep?

Mr. ASHION. They are not.

The CHAIRMAN. But suppose they were?

Mr. ASHION. It is impossible to bind a cloth-bound book in as good shape.

The CHAIRMAN. Can not you get work of as high quality?

Mr. ASHION. The binding would be different.

The CHAIRMAN. Why could it not be sewed as tight?

Mr. ASHION. It will not hold. It is bound up differently. You can examine both books and see. This book [indicating] is bound with leather and that makes it so much stronger.

The CHAIRMAN. I can not understand why you can not sew the book that is bound in cloth by hand as well as the book that is bound in law sheep..

Mr. ASHION. If you sewed it by hand it would cost so much more. The CHAIRMAN. Yes; but you would get a better quality of binding?

Mr. ASHION. A better quality of sewing.

The CHAIRMAN. Is not that an element in the binding?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir; it makes the book last longer.

The CHAIRMAN. How much more does it cost?

Mr. ASHION. The book sewed by hand costs 6 cents and the book sewed on the machine costs 2 cents.

The CHAIRMAN. It costs just about twice as much to sew by hand as by machine; it adds about 3 cents to the cost of the volume? Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any other element of cost involved in making an efficient binding outside of the sewing by hand?

(Witness: Ashion.)

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir; the method of manufacturing, the leatherbound books being done by hand.

The CHAIRMAN. Except the material, is there anything in the workmanship?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir; finishing and extra gold work.

The CHAIRMAN. That is just the ornamentation. That adds nothing to the utility of the book. These titles could be put on in aluminum on a cloth-bound book just the same as on the other and produce the same result with one impression?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, all you have to do is to set up the type and you have the same thing on the cloth-bound book as on the law-sheep bound book and it gives just exactly the same information? Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. There is nothing I can see except the cost of the hand work that increases the cost of the volume when it is bound in law sheep, except the material used.

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir. What I want to say is that all the octavosize books like this [indicating] cost from 50 cents to $1.50.

The CHAIRMAN. When you take fresh, new material that element does not enter into it?

Mr. ASHION. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The 250,000 volumes you have been speaking of are in the main fresh, new material?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. I suppose it is practically all fresh, new material? Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That covers everything, and we are obliged to you.

FEBRUARY 8, 1907.

SIR: Referring to the testimony of Mr. H. F. Ashion before the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture, on January 12 and 15, 1907, regarding the saving to the Government by having the Year Book of the Department of Agriculture lettered with aluminum instead of gold, the committee desires the estimated amount that would be saved during a fiscal year were all the bound publications of the different Departments lettered with aluminum instead of gold. Of course, it is understood that this figure can only be given approximately, and it will be appreciated if the information can be furnished at an early date.

Very respectfully,

CHARLES E. LITTLEFIELD,

Chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture. Hon. CHARLES A. STILLINGS,

Public Printer, Government Printing Office,

Washington, D. C.

OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER,
Washington, February 12, 1907.

SIR: In answer to yours of February 8, asking the approximate amount that would be saved during a fiscal year if all bound publications of the different Departments were lettered with aluminum instead of gold, I have to reply that the acting foreman of binding estimates that the approximate amount saved would be $12.000.

Very truly yours,

Hon. CHARLES E. LITTLEFIELD,

Chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the

CHAS. A. STILLINGS,

Public Printer.

Department of Agriculture, House of Representatives.

(Witness: Meyer.)

JANUARY 12, 1907.

(Part of testimony, given on above date, before Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture.)

STATEMENT OF MR. H. H. B. MEYER, AN EMPLOYEE OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

(The witness was sworn by the chairman.)

The CHAIRMAN. In what branch of the Government service are you employed?

Mr. MEYER. In the Library of Congress.

The CHAIRMAN. How long have you been there?

Mr. MEYER. Two years.

The CHAIRMAN. And have you made the question of the durability of the various kinds of bindings such as are used nowadays, such as law sheep and calf, a matter of investigation?

Mr. MEYER. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. To what extent have you investigated it?

Mr. MEYER. I have never done any work in binding myself, but I have observed in the various libraries with which I have been connected the effect of time on the bindings, leather and cloth.

The CHAIRMAN. How long have you been connected with libraries so as to make these observations?

Mr. MEYER. Five years directly engaged in library work, and before that I was, as an engineer, very much interested in technical libraries, and made it a point to look at bindings right along.

The CHAIRMAN. And have you made a special investigation of the subject?

Mr. MEYER. I had to, last year, in connection with my work in the periodical division of the Library of Congress.

The CHAIRMAN. For what purpose?

Mr. MEYER. To see what kind of binding, as far as material is concerned, would be best for our heavy newspapers.

The CHAIRMAN. That is whether sheep would be best, or cloth, or what?

Mr. MEYER. Buckram, or duck, or various other kinds of cloth, or various kinds of leather.

The CHAIRMAN. Would you be kind enough to give the committee the result of your various investigations and of your experience as to the durability of the various kinds of binding?

Mr. MEYER. Well, in regard to leather, my observation has been that good morocco is very durable, but it is expensive and very few books are bound in that leather. By good morocco I mean real goatskin, not any of the various imitations found on the market under that name. More commonly they use calf or sheep. The oldest specimens of both these leathers are very good-say, that which was used before 1860-but the later specimens that you find in bindings are poor.

The CHAIRMAN. What of leather or sheep?

Mr. MEYER. Sheep-both sheep and calf-these are the two kinds of leather that are used for binding heavy books, law books, and newspapers.

(Witness: Meyer.)

The CHAIRMAN. Sheep is almost universally used for law books? Mr. MEYER. Sheep; yes.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you find to be the durability of sheep? Mr. MEYER. It deteriorates very rapidly; gets brittle and undergoes what they call a red decay. It takes on a redder color and loses its flexibility and crumbles and cracks down the hinges, and then the sides leave the body of the book.

The CHAIRMAN. After how long a time does that take place?

Mr. MEYER. That varies with the specimen of leather that has been used. If it is very poor it will not last over eight or ten years, but twenty-five years would generally show the character of the leather. The CHAIRMAN. What is the fact about cloth?

Mr. MEYER. We find when we use cloth, if the books are left on the shelves, there is not that same deterioration from the atmospheric conditions. The cloth does not seem to get brittle, and does not tear, and the covers, the sides, do not seem to leave the body of the book.

The CHAIRMAN. How long, according to your investigations, will a good cloth binding last, where the book remains on the shelves, and is not subjected to very great use?

Mr. MEYER. I have had some specimens of cloth bindings in my hands that go back fifty or sixty years, and they seem still to be in good condition. I had hold of a volume this morning which was bound in 1845. You can tell the original publisher's binding on it, and that was in first-class condition; and others dating all the way from that period up to the present time.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you any sheep that is in good condition after that length of time?

Mr. MEYER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. So that it depends mainly upon the quality of the original material?

Mr. MEYER. Yes; it depends largely on the quality of the original material, and it seems to be the opinion among those who use materials for binding that the recently manufactured leather is much poorer than the old leather. I believe the processes have changed. They are using more chemicals and less mechanical manipulation. and the result is that the texture of the leather is not as good, and it does not have the same resisting powers as the older leather had. There has been a very extensive investigation of this question_made on the part of a committee of the Society of Arts in England, and they report, giving that date as near as they can determine it, which I mentioned before, 1860, as about the line of demarcation between the leather manufactured so that it would be durable, and leather manufactured so that it did not have the same lasting qualities.

The CHAIRMAN. So that the depreciation in quality of the leather is not peculiar to this country, but is general?

Mr. MEYER. It is quite general all over the world, wherever leather it used for binding.

The CHAIRMAN. What has been the result of your investigations, then, as to the leather used for binding since 1860, as to its durability as compared with good cloth; which is the most durable?

Mr. MEYER. I should say that cloth was decidedly the most durable.