Considerable space is given to an account of the libraries of the General Government and of the past and present relations of the General Government to the State, territorial, and other public libraries of the country, together with a statement of the aggregate Government expenditure for libraries and sundry publications from 1800 to 1874, and an historical outline of the laws and regulations respecting the distribution and exchange of public documents, copyrights, duties on imported books, &c.
Notwithstanding the liberal provisions of the Government in respect to furnishing its publications to public libraries, it appears that there is not at present in any public depository in the United States, not even at the National Library, a complete series of Government publications. It is hoped that the specific information presented in the report respecting the method of obtaining these important publications will lead to a more systematic collection and careful preservation of them by the leading libraries of the country.
It is proper to add that in the preparation of this report the office has received the cordial co-operation of librarians, college professors, officers of historical, scientific, and other learned societies, school officials, and others interested in enhancing the usefulness of existing libraries or in establishing these important means of education and culture in communities now destitute of them.
The other special reports, including that on drawing and art education, that on colleges, on medical instruction, academies, and the growth of text-books, and that on the illiteracy of the country as reported in the several censuses, have been pushed forward as fast as means will permit.
Several foreign governments are offering to the United States the articles composing their educational exhibits at Philadelphia for a National Educational Museum. The Commissioner hopes that it may be the occasion when this great desideratum in American education can be supplied.
In view of the embarrassed condition of large sections of the country, he earnestly renews his recommendations that some way be devised by the General Government to make available for immediate educational purposes at least a portion of the income from the sale of public lands, and the devotion of the remainder to the creation of a permanent educational fund.
CENSUS OFFICE.
During the past fiscal year the work of the Census Office has been confined to answering inquiries relating to the census of 1870 and those of previous years, and to the stating and restating, in some instances, of the accounts of the United States marshals and assistant marshals connected with the taking of the census, whose accounts have hitherto been unsettled or lost. This work, together with the preservation and classification of the material collected, has been satisfactorily performed by the chief clerk of the Census Office.
