the 43d and 44th Congresses. The Supplement to the Revised Statutes is an abridgment of Vols. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 of the Statutes at Large, comprising all the laws of a general and permanent nature passed during the 43d, 44th, 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, 49th; 50th, and 51st Congresses.

Payment is required to be made in cash, postal notes, or by bank drafts on banks in New York city or Washington, D. C., payable to the order of the "Disbursing Clerk, Department of State." Individual checks on banks located outside of New York or Washington can not be accepted. The books will be sent by mail, postage free.

Disbursing Clerk.

The laws are prepared for the printer by the

Bureau of Rolls and Library. The functions X

of this Bureau are described in the report of the Senate investigating committee:*

The rolls division is charged with the custody of the laws and treaties of the United States, the proclamations of the President, the files and records of the several International Claims Commissions, and the historical archives of the nation.

*Methods of Business in the Executive Departments, III, 19 et seq.

The library division is charged with the work usual to libraries, the care and distribution of the larger number of the publications of the Department, and the management of the publications of Congress apportioned to the Department.

As to the character of the work performed, first, in the rolls division, the first duty to which all other business gives precedence is that which relates to the promulgation and exemplification of the laws of the United States. At times of special stress, following the close of each session of Congress, when the larger number of the acts and resolutions are received, the entire force of the Bureau, so far as necessary, is employed day and night in the preparation of the records, of the copy for the printer, in the revision of the proof, and in the distribution of the printed copies.

The laws having been published in what is commonly called "slip-form," the work of preparing the matter for publication in pamphlet form is then undertaken, the Chief of the Bureau being responsible for the text only of that publication.

The ordinary business of the rolls division, which is interrupted only for a few weeks during the execution of the work in publishing the laws above referred to, is that of preparing the treaties of the United States for publication;

conducting the correspondence relative to subjects requiring searches in the historical archives and in the files of the International Claims Commissions, and the indexing of the archives.

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A list of such [books] as are thought, from time to time, to be needed is sent to the Assistant Secretary for approval, and such as meet with his approval are then ordered of the dealer by letter. When the books are received each volume is stamped with the date of its receipt, a number assigned to it, and the volume entered in a register of accessions. The full title of the work is then copied upon cards under an author, title and subject, a separate card being used for each. The size, place, and date of its publication, the publisher, number of its pages and illustrations, the date of its receipt, from whom purchased and the price paid for it, such price when in foreign money being converted into the American equivalent, are also recorded upon the cards. The volumes are then arranged in the library, each being assigned its proper alcove and shelf. * * * The cards, when made, are added to the card catalogue, strict alphabetical order being preserved in their arrangement. ***

The original invoices of the dealers are carefully preserved in the library for record, an itemized voucher for their payment being made out in the library, approved by the Assistant Secretary, sent to the dealer by letter for sig

nature and then turned over to the Bureau of Accounts for payment.

In building up the Library, the aim has been from the beginning to make it as complete a collection of publications on international law, American history, and foreign countries as possible. The law creating the Department of State prescribed that the Secretary should procure copies of the laws of the different States, and this Act has never been repealed. The Library has therefore endeavored to preserve as complete sets of the session laws of the States as possible.* The constant purchase for years of works on international law has resulted in the largest and most complete collection in this country, both historically and in the sense of current publications.

In 1887 was published the first number of a "Catalogue of the Works Relative to the Law of Nations and Diplomacy in the Library of the

*It must be admitted, however, that this object has never been fully attained. The Library does not contain complete sets of these laws, nor is it believed that they are to be found in the archives of all the States themselves.

Department of State," which was followed by "A List of Books Received at the Library of the Department of State, July 1-October 30, 1886, with References to International Treaties and Articles on Subjects Relative to the Law of Nations and Diplomacy in Magazines Received During the Same Period." The third, fourth, and fifth issues of these lists included indexes of the publications of the second session of the Forty-ninth Congress which concerned the Department of State. These publications were discontinued, owing to the insufficient clerical force at the library's disposal. A new series has, however, been recently inaugurated, the title of the first number being "A List of Books and Pamphlets Received at the Library of the Department of State, by Purchase, Exchange, and Gift, during the Period from May 27, 1892, to October 1, 1892, Supplemented by a List of Periodicals and Newspapers Now Currently Received." The first issue appeared in October, 1892.