COPYRIGHT OFFICE The report of the Register of Copyrights appears in full as Appendix II. The principal statistics of the business done are as follows: Domestic (50 cents) entries For assignments re- For searches $43, 219.00 $41, 906. 50 $42, 172.50 $44, 340.00 $46, 360.00 $51, 772.00 8, 360.00 8, 538.00 8,633.00 9, 299.00 10, 410. 00 9, 830.00 12, 631.00 12, 569. 50 13, 223.50 14, 423.00 14, 556.00 15, 607.00 980.00 641.00 636.00 22.00 770.00 I, 273.00 808.00 41.00 Total.. Total number of de posits received (ma 65, 206.00 63, 687.50 64, 687.00 68, 874.50 72, 629. 00 78, 058.00 It will be noted that during the past year the number of entries has reached 113,374. The fees from copyrights are covered into the Treasury, and not applied directly to the maintenance of the Copyright Office. They form a regular revenue of the Government, however, and a net revenue over the direct expenses of the office, as appears from the following comparison: RECEIPTS COPYRIGHT OF- Fees covered in during the fiscal year 1904-5, as above... $78, 058. 00 Receipts and expenses The amount expended for salaries ($74,662.46) includes the sum of $4,680 paid in salaries to certain employees who have been classifying and crediting the old deposits received prior to 1897. This expenditure is chargeable to arrears. The current expenses of the office are therefore considerably more than met by the current receipts. The above statement includes all disbursements except the cost of furniture, of printing, and of binding, but only cash reecipts. In addition to cash fees the copyright business brings each year to the Government, in the articles deposited, property to the value of many thousands of dollars. During the past fiscal year 207,424 such articles were received. The value of those drawn up into the collections of the Library far exceeded the amount of net cash earnings. The work of the Copyright Office is divided into two portions: (1) The current business, covering applications received since the reorganization of the office under the Register in 1897; (2) the arrears, the classification, crediting, and indexing of the entries and deposits prior to 1897 (i. e., from 1870, when the office was first placed under the Librarian of Congress). FICE: Current busi On the 6th day of July, 1905, when the report of the COPYRIGHT OFCopyright Office was submitted, the remittances received up to the third mail of the day had been recorded and acknowledged; the account books of the bookkeeping divi ness COPYRIGHT OF- The arrears sion were written up and posted to June 30, and the accounts rendered to the Treasury Department were settled up to and including the month of June, while earned fees to June 30, inclusive, had been paid into the Treasury. All copyright applications received up to and including June 30 had been passed upon and refunds made. The total unfinished business for the full eight years, from July I, 1897, to June 30, 1905, amounts to but $442.47, as against a total of completed business for the same period of $527,335.50. At the close of business on July 6, 1905, notwithstanding the intervening Saturday half-holiday and Sunday, the titles for record in all classes had been dated, classified, and numbered to June 30. All titles had been indexed up to June 30. The articles of all classes deposited during the year had been stamped, catalogued, and credited up to the receipts. of June 30, inclusive. The Catalogue of Title Entries had been brought forward to No. 730 of June 29, 1905. The certificate and noncertificate entries (all classes except A to June 27, and B and C to June 28) had been recorded to June 30, inclusive, and certificates and notices of entry to the same date, made, revised, and mailed. The examination and arrangement of the mass of deposits has been continued, and 51,868 credited musical compositions (previously arranged by years of entry) have been given a more exact arrangement and conveniently shelved for future reference. Credited articles to the number of 44,263 (including 6,083 pamphlets, 12,932 leaflets, 9,694 periodicals, and 14,071 musical compositions) have been properly filed away under year and number. In the work of crediting deposits, 18,494 articles were handled, and 17,722 articles (including 2,083 pamphlets and 14,208 musical compositions) were credited and properly filed away. In the case of 772 articles, identification and credit could not be made, and they were accordingly indexed and filed. Index cards (title and proprietor) for dramatic compositions to the number of 14,811 were written. At the close of business June 30, 1905, there remained uncredited in the files of the Copyright Office 174,325 articles deposited prior to July 1, 1897, as follows: During the past eight years the business done by the During the thirty-five years since the copyright work became a business of the Library of Congress, the total number of entries has been 1,631,979. Of the total number of articles deposited during that time, there are in the files of the Copyright Office 1,439,611, exclusive of those transferred to the Library proper. Revision of A revision of the copyright laws is considered later in copyright laws my report. See pages 85-94. Contents of the Library June 30, INCREASE OF THE LIBRARY Adopting the figures of the count of printed books and pamphlets in June, 1902, as being nearly accurate, the total contents of the Library, inclusive of the Law Library, at the close of the past two fiscal years were as follows: Description a The number of pieces of manuscripts in the Library June 30, 1904, was estimated in my last report as 121,266. Such an estimate, itemizing, for example, every letter in an unbound collection, but rating as but a unit a collection of letters in a bound volume, professes a particularity which it does not imply. It has been customary, but we shall for the present discontinue it. When the collection shall have become grouped into volumes we may resume the statistics upon the basis of these. |