new law went into effect, with the reduced fee, there has been a difference of loss on the ten or twelve thousand foreign entries of five or six thousand dollars. In other ways the fee under the new law is a reduction. In the case of photographs the law provides a registration fee of 50 cents where no certificate is desired, and in such cases there also has been a loss in the receipts from fees.

Coming to the work entailed by the new legislation, there has been a considerable increase in the work placed upon the Copyright Office under normal circumstances. It is well to remember that copyright is a statutory grant, and its validity may depend upon the completeness and accuracy with which the statutory requirements have been complied with. It therefore becomes the duty of the Copyright Office not to perfunctorily register these claims, but to very carefully examine each claim that is filed. The office should do this much to fulfill its responsibility to the claimant so far as the efficiency of the presentation of his claim to the office is concerned. Under the new law an affidavit is required, which had not been the case under the former legislation. This affidavit requires many statements, giving specifications, and it is easy to see that before the affidavit should be accepted and responsibility assumed for the validity of the claim recorded the Copyright Office should at least ascertain that the form of the affidavit is correct and good, and, so far as any deficiencies in the form of the affidavit are concerned, to bring these deficiencies, if any, to the notice of the claimant. I am making this clear in order to indicate that the service rendered under the new legislation is considerably more difficult, and it is not only proportionately more difficult for all the registrations, but it involves more difficult kinds of registration. The increase in foreign registration, for example, would involve a much more difficult kind of service. I would add just here that while many registrations are apparently of nonimportant claims, many registrations involving very large sums are made, and there is never any surety that the registration which to-day appears important may not in the course of business involve considerable sums of money and special difficulties if the matter should be brought into litigation.

Under the old legislation there had been established in the copyright office a system of indexing all the current entries, and that has been kept up; and the stress under the new law has been, first, to render the service asked for by that legislation as perfectly as possible and as promptly as possible, and then to index these current registrations so completely and perfectly that the constant questions pouring in upon the copyright office can be promptly answered and answered correctly. Now, that is a matter of no small importance. As an example, on yesterday we had two or three telegrams in regard to lists submitted for entries going back into the last century and the century before, which are to come before the court immediately, and they must be promptly reported on, and it is very essential that the answers should be correct. The copyright act of 1909 provides two classes of indexes; first, the indexing and cataloging of the current registrations. These are prepared promptly on cards, and the catalogue as prepared is printed in separate parts as promptly as possible. The act also provides in section 59 that efforts should be made to bring into proper completeness and availability indexes for the older registrations. It is in that particular service

that the copyright office has not been able to do what it has desired. The whole number of registrations are indexed fairly completely since 1898, but imperfectly back of that time, and it is a difficulty met with every day when our inquiries deal with registrations made in the interim from 1870 to 1898.

It would seem that the time has been possibly reached when Congress would be willing to give aid to meet the special needs for the catalogues provided for in section 56 of the older registration. Considerable progress has been made toward preparing the material in the case of one class very much called for; that is, dramatic registrations. Material for that is prepared, but it requires editing for printing. We can not spare from the permanent work of the copyright office without loss-at least in the promptness of the service the clerical service that we need for preparing that matter for printing, and it is upon that basis that these three places have been asked for. It would seem clear that to do the work required properly, the class of service needed would require the payment of the salaries asked. It seems that it could be obtained only for such

sums.

LIBRARY BUILDING AND GROUNDS.

STATEMENT OF MR. BERNARD R. GREEN, SUPERINTENDENT.

PAY OF LABORERS.

Mr. GREEN. I have asked in the estimates this year for a slightly higher rate of pay for the ordinary laborers. We have 14 laborers, classed as common laborers, and they receive $480 per year. Last year I asked that that might be raised to the ordinary standard of laborers' rates or to that allowed in the other departments, which is a rate of $600 per year, although many of the departments are allowed a standard rate for laborers of $660 a year.

Mr. JOHNSON. What character of work do these men perform who are receiving $480 per annum? What kind of men are they, white or colored?

Mr. GREEN. Both; just as they happen to come. They are the cleaners, and they do the chores about the grounds. They are the general laborers-that is, they do all ordinary laborers' work. They dig, carry, clean, etc. They are like sailors on board a ship, and we have to get that kind of men whenever we can. We want men who can do all kinds of work. We want jacks-of-all-trades, as they call them on board ship. That is the kind of working people we require in keeping house, and we ought to employ and ought to have men of that kind and not men who can do but one thing. We require men who can pick up anything and do any kind of work, but who are not especially skilled in any one particular pursuit. It hap pens, however, that we frequently have skilled mechanics in that force. That, of course, depends on how you find them. The rate is one that was adopted some years ago and it has been continued. The rate that this class of working people at large receives shows that we ought to give these men practically the fair low rate of pay that is in vogue, and, as I say, $600 is little enough.

Mr. JOHNSON. Are these people under the civil service?

Mr. GREEN. No, sir; the civil service does not include the legislative side of the Government, and that is what the Library belongs to. Mr. JOHNSON. You just employ these men to do the work?

Mr. GREEN. Yes, sir.

WATCHMEN.

Mr. JOHNSON. Last year you asked us to do something for the watchmen; you have cut that out this time.

Mr. GREEN. No, sir: I have asked for one additional watchman. Mr. JOHNSON. You asked last year that the salaries be increased, but this year you do not ask it.

Mr. GREEN. I have dropped it out because I have tried to have the salaries increased several times-that is, two or three times, but without any result.

Mr. JOHNSON. Well, you know that a constant dripping will wear away the hardest stone.

Mr. GREEN. I think the rate of pay is very low. We are paying them practically on the scale of laborers' wages, which is $720, or $60 per month. They are required to furnish themselves with uniforms and to keep themselves decent looking, as they ought to be in a building like that, at the front door.

Mr. JOHNSON. Do you know what it costs them to buy uniforms per year?

Mr. GREEN. I do not know precisely, but it is simply a blue blouse and trousers and cap. I do not know what they get these uniforms for. I should think they could get a suit like that for $16 or something of that sort. Then, they have to keep themselves decent. These things are required of the watchmen at the Library. They are really the police force of the establishment and watch inside and outside of the building, and they are on duty all the time. There are only 16 of them, and I have asked to have another one added. With the contents of the building growing and multiplying so fast, the force of watchmen ought to be increased.

CHARWOMEN.

Now we have charwomen to clean the building inside. We have had 45 charwomen for many years. The force never has been increased, and last year I asked for seven more and was allowed two. I am asking for five this time. It is hard work that they do and it is done faithfully. We have a good crowd, and I think the results can be seen. It looks well. The variety or kind of work is very great and it is increasing in quantity. It is a very important force.

ELECTRICIAN.

I have asked again this year that the pay of the chief electrician be made $1,500 instead of $1,200. That was dropped down accidentally two or three years ago when the House and Senate Office Buildings were being constructed. My man over there, who had been there for many years, was a very expert electrician, and I loaned him, I might say, and allowed him to come and work for the force employed here in the construction of these buildings, to the great advantage of that

force. He got much better pay, of course. He received $2,400. In the meantime, the new power house was built, in which the apparatus for the whole mechanical service of Capitol Hill was placed. It is a very considerable position all the way around. In connection with it there was the application of the power and heating, etc., and power service generally to the Library Building, just as to the Capitol and other buildings on the hill.

Now, that work has done away with the boilers. We have no boilers in service over there now. Instead of having boilers we have electric transformers. You see the electric current is manufactured down at the power house and sent up to the Library Building, and steam is only required for heating. We do not use steam for anything else. We use it simply to warm the building in the winter time. The introduction of more electrical apparatus over there and the use of a great variety of it, including the lighting of the whole building at night nearly every night in the week, makes an important and expensive bit of electrical work, that has to be looked after and operated by a skilled man. We have a man there. The pay of some of these men ought to be increased, and that is especially true in the case of this chief electrician. He does not receive what men in similar positions in the Government service here in the city are receiving. He does not receive even as much as a man doing the same work around the Capitol-that is, a man employed in electrical work at the Capitol here and in these office buildings. Then, there is another man in the same force who is receiving not much more than a laborer's wages, because he is receiving but $900 per year. He is practically the assistant electrician. He is on duty at night and is a competent and important man. His salary ought to be $1,200. I have not put that in here, but I would like to do so, so that in place of one of the wiremen I would reduce it to one wireman, who was estimated for at $900 and who is receiving that now, and put him in as assistant electrician at $1,200.

MISCELLANEOUS FUND.

In the general appropriation for the miscellaneous fund, which is known as the appropriation for fuel, lights, and miscellaneous supplies, repairs, and such things, that appropriation for this year was only $14,000, although it was estimated at $18,000 last year. It was cut down to $14,000, and that is not enough. I estimate this year that it ought to be $20,000.

FURNITURE.

The next appropriation, and the last one, is the one called the furniture appropriation. The last estimate for furniture was $15,000, and I think the appropriation proposed by the committee was only $5,000. I called it to the attention of the committee that $5,000 would hardly be sufficient to do the repairs on the typewriters and things of that kind that have to be paid out of the furniture appropriation, and there was some other work to be done over there in the way of shelving that needed the appropriation to be brought up to $15,000. It was raised, however, before the act was passed to $10,000, and with that we have managed to squeeze along by doing very little of the shelving that was needed. This year I estimated $15,000 for

67260-12- -2

that, and that is as little as ought to be appropriated to keep up the building. For furniture repairs and under the general heading of furniture, which means everything connected with furniture proper, that appropriation is required. Of course we are pretty well provided with such things as chairs and tables, but there is always construction work required in the way of partitions and other such things of a miscellaneous sort that mount up to the cost stated in the estimate for the year. That $15,000 ought to be increased. My business over there is largely housekeeping, and I have a pretty large house and a great variety of contents, not only in things but in service. The house begins now to show the effect of time and wear and a little repairing should be done running along with the use of the building to keep it in a respectable condition, and as such a building ought to kept, without going to unnecessary elaboration and embellishment. The roof is getting old, and we have already had to do a good many little repairs. A copper roof or any kind of roof is, as you understand, bound to require repairs, and the larger the roof is the more exposed it is to the weather and the more frequently leaks will occur. It is not a large excess over last year's total sum. The fact is it is rather small we think.

WEDNESDAY, November 20, 1912.

CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION.

STATEMENTS OF GEN. JOHN C. BLACK, PRESIDENT, MR. JOHN A. MCILHENNY AND MR. WILLIAM S. WASHBURN, COMMISSIONERS, ACCOMPANIED BY MR. GEORGE R. WALES, CHIEF EXAMINER.

INCREASES IN SALARIES.

Gen. BLACK. Mr. Chairman, the commission has asked the cominittee to report for the approval of Congress and its favorable action the following appropriations [reading from the estimates]: For commissioner, acting as president of the commission, $5,000, instead of $4,500; two commissioners at $5,000 each, instead of $4,000; a chief examiner at $3,500, instead of $3,000; a secretary at $3,000, instead of $2,500, as now; an assistant chief examiner, who may act as chief of division, $2,250. The words inserted in italics are intended not to add anything at all to the cost of the office, and will not, but simply will tend to give liquidity to the service. The same way with regard to the next line. It adds nothing of cost to the appropriation, but does add in the make-up and efficiency of the office.

Mr. GILLETT. How does that add to the efficiency of the office, General?

Gen. BLACK. It adds to the efficiency of the office by enabling us to put him there under the law right in charge of a division, in case there is any need of that kind.

Mr. GILLETT. Can you not do that now?

Gen. BLACK. Not very well. His duties are pretty thoroughly defined in the law and entirely defined in the practice and rules. A chief of division at $2,100; three at $2,000 each. We have the number of the divisions in the office that call for these chiefs, and we think there should be one to each division as organized.