us copyright office: ar-1905

8/14/2019 US Copyright Office: ar-1905

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LlBRARY O F C O N G R E S S

R E P O R T

L I B R A R I A N O F C O N G R E S SA N D

R E P O R TO F T H E

SLTPERINTENDENT O F T H E I.,IRRARYBUILDING AND GROUNDS '

FO R T H E

FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1905

WASHINGTONGOVERN.MENT PP.INTING OFFICE

1905


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REPORTOF

THE LlBRARlAN OF CONGRESSL I B R A R YF CONGRESS

blrashinqton, D. ., Dcccmber q , 1905SIR: I have the l i o l i o r to submit my report as Librarian

of Coneess for th e fiscal year ellding June 30, 1905.V I N A N C E

The followirig table exhibits the appropriations and ex-penditures of tlie Library proper a l l d of th e CopyriglitOffice for th e fiscal year, and the appropriations for th eyear now current. Details are g i v e 1 1 in Appendix Ia . In -cluded also are tlie a p p r o p r i a t i o l l s for the equipnieot andcare of th e building ant1 grounds, expended by tlie Super-intendent. Tlie allotment for printing and binding (dur-ing the past year $185,000) s not included.

Ohject of appropriation- - -- - - - - --Lihrary an d Copyright Ofice: .....alaries, geueral service........alaries, speci;~l ervice .....a la ri es , S ~ ~ n d a yewice . .

Salaries, distrihutiol~ ard in-........................exeb. ....alaries. Copvright Ofice... . . . . . . . . .ncrease nf I.ihrary.

.- ........ ... -. ....... -a 111eludingbalance brought forward.b'l 'his expend iture is offset hy s~~ hsc rip tio nsovered into the Trea s~lr y ur ing

th e past year $1g,jgfi.55 ctually :~l)plietl.( :Thi s e xpe ~~di tures offset I)y fees covered illto the 'I 're;~s~ll.y u r i ~ ~ ghe pas1

ye nr $78,058.d H xc l~~s ivef $1.5a, to he ex pe ~~ de dy the marshal of the Su pren ~e ourt f r~ rI I ~ X V ooks for that hod?.e Increased from &o.cmu 1,). act of Feh n~ nry S, 1904.

LIB lW5-2 (7)

:gT


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8 h't-jot-t of the Liht-(zriatt of Co?lxopriatel for salaries, exclusive ofthe Suuday alld special services, $932.30 were Iinex-

pellded and relllaill ill the Treasu ry. Th is sutll rcpre-sen ts not a s ~ ~ r p l ~ t srovision for service, but salaries fora time ulldrawll, tllosc of enlployees temporar ily absentwitllout pay , or of 11t.w appointees who failetl to rl~ral ifyprolnl'tly aft er appoilltnlerlt.

As will I)e seen , the appropriations for thc past yearwere sul~sta~ltiallytlelltical with those for tllc precetlillg.111 th e general force the increase was merely of :i tllou-sand tlollar cnlployee. The only other increases in th eappropriations untler nly corltrol (those for the CopyrightOffice and the Card Section) were to meet the increas-ing busi~less n two divisions of our work wl ~ i c l ~re self-sustaining; aud were more thali offset by the receipts.

For the conliug pear there has 1,eerl provitled no in-crease except of $~,oooor service in one of tl ~e se wodivisions-the Card Section. I asked for none other, ex-cept the following, all ill repetition of previous requests:r stenographer and typewriter for the Periodical Division, at . . $pm

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .clerk, Copyright Office, at trnCertain increases of salary in the nature of adjustments,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .~xlouxltil~go .. 2, 500. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .cllitional for increase of the Library ro, CXK)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ndex to conlparative legislation. 28, ~ X K )I'1le.w are also the limit of my requests in the estimates

recently submitted for the fiscal year 1906-7. If I go 110further it is not because th ere is not useful work on llandant1 ill lxospect exceediilg the capacity of ou r present force,hut because I w is l~ o keep the estimates within t he dimen-sion which five years ago I stated to be necessary for areasonable progress with the work then seeu to he abso-lutely necessary. I n point of 11un11)ers he force is now asI plalllletl for the n; but th e organization is not, nor \\*illit be, until there sliall 1 e granted the increases in salary


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which are necessary to adjust fairly the salaries of certainen~ploj~eesoing equivnlerlt work without equivalent pay.

SERVICE(Noting only chflegr.; prior to J~ l l l e0. lms)

Among tlle resignations of the past year 113s been that A ' t ~ ' g~a*~*~*of Mr. J . Christiall ]jay, of our Catalogue I)ivisiol~, well-trained specialist in certain I)ra l~c l~e sf science, particnlarlynatural history allcl 1)iology. He left us to beconle chiefclassifier of the Jol111 Crerar Library of Chicago. 111exchange, l~ou ~eve r,r. Clarence W. Perley has retunledto us from that very position. Hi s specialty is rather theapplietl sciel~ces. In these also the tlivision has h e nstrengthened by the nppoilltnle~ltof Mr. H. H. 13. Meyer,Iate of the New York I'ublic Library. Mr. Alexis 17.Babine, our specialist in Russian literatu re, resigne? lastspring to Ixconle a member of the ofice of the Associatedpress at St. Petershurg. hIiss Laura Halomond, of theCatalogue Uivisioll, accepted th e post of librariall of theGeorgia School of technology.

Another governmel~t ibrary has been supplied from ourservice, that of the Naval ltra r College at Xe ~r po rt ,o thelihraria~lshipf which Mr. Fretlerick C. Hicks, late of ourMap Division, was appointed after competitive exalnil~ation.

The Copyright Office has lost the exceedillgly efficientservices of Mr. Leonard B. Cool its chief clerk, whoresigned last March to accept a business psition ofpromise, requiring illitiative alld executive ability.

Th e co l~d uct f the Divisioll of Docurneats, from whichMr. Falkner resigned a year ago, has been assigned for thepresent to Mr. Jnllles I> . Thotnpsotl, who has heen withus for several years, rendering important service ill thecataloguing and classificatior~of scientific litera thre, andof late designated as i l l charge of the "Sciellce Sectioll"


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10 RcyurL of th e Librarian of CongressCOPYRIGHT OFFICE

Th e report of t he Register of Copyrights appears in fullTh e principal statistics of the bnsiiless done are as fol!ows:

C ~ P Y R I G I I T : -. -. - ~..-- ~ ~ ..-~.- -Slalr:


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RECEIPTS ..ees covered in (luring the fiscal year 1904-5,as above. $78,058.m h~.c.fik!s aexpensesEXPENSES

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .alaries, as stated. $7J, 662.46Statio~~erynd sundries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 967.72-- 75,630.18

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .et cash earnings 2,427.82The a~nount xpended for salaries ($74,662.46) includes

the sum of $4,680 paid in salaries to certain employees whohave been classifying and crediting the old deposits receivedprior to 1897. Thi s expenditure is chargeable to arrears.The currcnfexpenses of the office are therefore considerablymore than met by the czirrenf receipts.

Th e above statement includes all disbursen~enfsxcept thecost of furn iture , of pr inting, and of binding, but only cashrrt~cipfs.

In addition to cash fees the copyriglit business bringseach year to the Governnient, in the articles deposited,property to the value of lnally thousands of dollars. D u r i ~ ~ gth e past fiscal year 207,424 such articles were received.Th e value of those drawn up into the collections of theLibrary far exceeded the amount of net cash earnings.

Th e work of the Copyright Office is divided into twoportions: ( I ) The current business, covering applicationsreceived since the reorganization of th e office under theRegister in 1897; ( 2 ) the arrears, the classification, credit-ing, and indexing of t he entries and deposits prior to 1897(i. e., from 1870, when the office was first placed under theLibrarian of Congress).

On tile 6th day of July, 1905, when the report of th eco ~y ~1 1:~ rp-P I C ECopyright O5ce was submitted, the remittances received ( - M ~ ~ ~ ~ (

up to the third mail of t he day had been recorded andneSSacknowledged; the account books of the bookkeeping divi-


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hion were writ ten up :rlld l)ostetl to June 30, and th e accoulntsre~~deredo the Treasury Department were settled up toand inclutlirlg the 1no11t11f Jl ~~ ne ,hile earlned fees to June30, inclusive, hntl 1)ecll pait1 ir ~tohe Treasury.

.Ill copyright applications receivetl u p to and i~ncludii~gJuue 30 Inat1 b e c ~ ~)assct l ipo~n 111d refln~nclsnlntle. 'flnetotal unf~nislned )l~ sil ~es sor the frill eight years, from JulyI , 1397, to J I I I I ~0, 1 y ~ 5 ,i~n oun ts o Imt $442.47, asagainst a total of co~~~pleted~usit~essor tlne same period of8527,335.50.

~ \ tlne close of business 011 July 6, rgog, tnotwithstar~dingt l nc i ~~ t e r ve n~ i ~~gaturday half-holiday and Sunday, tlnetitles for record iin all classes had been dated, cl:lssified, andn~unberetl o June 30. All titles hat1 Iwen i~~dexedp toJli~ne30.

The articles of all clasws tlcposited tltnri~ng he year hadbee11 stamped, cataloguecl, and credited up to the receiptsof June 30, illcln~sive.

Th e Catalogue of Tit le Ent ri es had bee11 hrouglnt for-w:lrtl to No. 730 of J un e 29, rgog.

Tlne certificate and nolncertificate entries call classes ex-cept X to June 27, and S and C to June 23) had beenrecortletl t o June 30, ilnclusivc, and certificates and ~ ~ o t i c e sof entry to the saune (late, ~n ad e, evised, and mailed.

CopVRrGHT OF- Tlne exal~nitnatior~nd ar rangement of the Inlass of de-VICEe posits Inn.; k e n co~ntil ~uet l,nd 51,868 credited r~~usical

co~nnpositio~lspreviol~sly rranged by years of en tr y) hal-ebee11 given a more exact arr :l~~gennentnd convenie~~tlyshelved for future reference.

Credited articles to tlne 11u111i)erof 44,263 (including6,083 1>:11u1)11lets, 2,932 leaflets, 9,694 l)eric)dical?, :~nd14.071 11111sica1 o~~~positio~~s)nave heen properly filedaway l ~ ~ ~ d c rear ant1 11uln1)er. I11 the work of creditingdeposits, I 8,494 articles were hantlletl, and I 7,722 articles


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I I ~ y o r t f t h t ~ i b r a r ia n o f C o n gr r s s 13(including 2. 083 pamphlets and 14.208 musical composi-tions) \\?ere credited a l ~ d roperly filed away . In the caseof 77 2 articles. identificatioil and credit co111d not he inade.and they were accordingly indexed and filed .

Inde x cards (title a nd proprietor) for dra matic composi-tions to the number of 1 4 8 1 were written .

At th e close of business Jun e 30. 1905. there remaineduncredited in the files of the Copyright Office 174.325articles deposited prior to July I . 1897. as follows:Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . k9Pamphlets and leaflets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.76Periodical contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 138I'eriodicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.8go

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .usical compositions 64.7491)ralnatic conipositions:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ypewritten 386Pril~ted . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 2i9Nanuscripts. etc... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 ;- 652Maps: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .heetmaps 1. 605Insurancenlaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. 31.5Roll maps and charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Atlases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ngravings. cuts. and prints II. 018Dress prints . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chromos and lithographs . . . .Posters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Photographs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stereographs . . . . . . . . . . .Kinetographs . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .ine art photographs

Miscellany:Games ..................Other miscellany . . . . . . . .


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During the past eight years the b~isiness lone by theOffice shows the following:Total l~umlxrf e ~ ~ t r i e s . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751, 123Total number of articles c1ep)sitrrl.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . r , 276, 143Total :ul~ou~ltf f c rs received ntld appl ie~ l . .. . . . . . . . . $527,33550Total c.xpe~itliture or service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $427,555.22Net receipts ;~t>ove xpenses for servi ce.. . . . . . . . . . . . . $99,747. 2 8

T h i n g the thirty-five years since the copyright ~v or kI)cu.a~ne basi~lcssof the T4it)r:~ryof Co~ ~g res s,he totalnumber o f entries has k e n r ,631 ,979 Of the total i~ um -her of articles deposited tlurilig that t h e , there are in thefiles of the Copyriglit Office r,439,61 , excl~~sivef thosetral~sfer red o the 1,ibmry proper.

J ! / A revisiorl of the copyright laws is col~sidered ater in


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R E P O R TOF

TH E LIBRARIAN O F CONGR ESS

REVISION O F C O P Y R I G H T L A W STh e existing copyright laws of the Iinited States are

atllllittetll~r illlperfect and coiifusetl, difficult for the cour tsto inte rpre t, niitl iinpossible lor the Copyright Office toadininister to the satisfaction of its clients. A sirnilar,tho ugh less flagrant col~ditioti of the laws relating totrade-illarks led to the appointment by Coligress of aComl~iis~iono revise and codify them. Similar action hasbeen urged to (leal with copyright . Th e experielice of thecoiniiii ttees of Collgress coliceriiecl with these subjects let1them to Ixlieve, however, that as effective results wouldbe achieved more promptly, and at less cost, by conferenceand agreement anlong the various interests particularlysuffering froni defects in the present laws and likely tobenefit in a direct and practical way by the correctioli oftliern.

In April last the following circular was issued from myoffice: .4przY ro , 1905" SIR: t is generally adiiiitted by those most tlirectly

concerned that th e copyrigli t laws of the United State sneed revision. Since the enactmelit o f the Revised


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us copyright office: ar-1905

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