for the use of both Houses of Congress and the Members thereof." But the statutory enactments to extend these purposes commenced as soon as the books were placed in that "suitable apartment," and have continued down to so recent a year as 1952.

In 1802 the borrowing privileges of the Library were extended by act of Congress to the President and Vice President of the United States; in 1810 to the agent of the Joint Committee on the Library; in 1812 to the Justices of the Supreme Court; in 1816 to the Attorney General and members of the diplomatic corps; in 1830 to Cabinet officers and others; and so on.

These acts widened the official uses of the Library; meanwhile, almost from its inception the public had access to the Library, and under an interpretation of the rules prescribed by the Joint Committee on the Library in 1812 the public could even secure the borrowing privilege upon payment of a deposit.

Finally, however, in an act approved on April 12, 1892, the Congress declared that "it was the original purpose of the Government * * * to promote research and the diffusion of knowledge" through the large collections "accumulated by the action of Congress *** at the National Capitol", and it made these collections including specifically those of the Library of Congress-accessible to scientific investigators and to students in institutions of higher learning in the District of Columbia; extending this authorization in 1901 to the citizens of the States and Territories. In 1902 the Library was authorized to keep open for reference use on Sundays. In that same year the all-important authorization was given which has made possible the distribution to libraries in almost every city and town of this country, with benefits in labor-saving and standardization to them and with a profit to the United States Treasury, of 543,763,014 Library of Congress catalog cards down to May 31, 1954. In 1931 the Library was made (though not at its initiative) the agent of Congress for the execution of the Act to Provide Books for the Adult Blind, and in 1952 this act was most recently broadened by the elimination of the word “adult”.

Within the present century, the Congress has twice legislated regarding the services to be rendered to itself by the Library-the first time in 1914, in an appropriation act which authorized the establishment of the Legislative Reference Service, and again in 1946 when the duties and organization of the Service were particularized in the Congressional Reorganization Act.

Mr. Chairman, if there be no objection, I request that there be inserted in the record at this point the text of these acts of Congress from 1800 to 1952 providing for the use the purposes if you will-of the Library.

But these statutory enactments are very far from being the sole indication of congressional intent with regard to the purposes of the Library. Over the period of a century and a half the Congress has by special enactments enriched the Library in a manner which clearly indicated its view of the Library as an important national resource "to promote research and the diffusion of knowledge.' Perhaps the earliest indication of this was in the purchase by Congress in 1811 of Thomas Jefferson's private library-the extraordinary collection of the outstanding American book collector of his day. But this is only one of many instances and Congress has neglected few occasions to continue the process thus begun. I can mention only a few. In 1867 the Congress purchased for $100,000 the historical library of Peter Force, which put the Library in the front rank among American libraries not only with respect to Americana but also with respect to such publications as incunabula (15th century books). Other important purchases by Congress were the Rochambeau maps (1883); the papers of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and James Monroe-all deposited in the Library by congressional authorization (1903); the Vollbehr collection of incunabula including a famous copy of the Gutenberg Bible (1930); the Pinckney papers (1939); and the HerndonWeik collection of Lincoln papers (1941).

The Congress has not only formally and by act accepted specific gifts for its library, but has taken unusual measures to encourage them in general. It formally accepted Dr. Toner's library of American history (1882), Mrs. Hubbard's print collection and her bequest to maintain it (1898, 1912); Mrs. Coolidge's gift to build a chamber music auditorium (1925); and the bequest of Joseph Pennell (1936). Less formally, but through delegated authority, the Library was made the depository of the library of Chinese classics presented by the Emperor of China to the United States in 1869, and the library of Turkish classics presented by the Sultan Abdul Hamid II, through the intermediation of Representative Abram S. Hewitt of New York in 1884. In 1925 the Congress, by the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board Act, authorized and facilitated the further acceptance of gifts and endowments. Under the authority of that act, private

individuals and organizations have given the Library money and investments totaling more than $8.5 million, while the value of books and manuscripts given in the last 10 years alone is estimated at more than $6 million.

But even this is not all the Congress has done to enrich the Library. In 1866 it accepted for the Library the deposit of the library of the Smithsonian Institution, with its valuable continuing scientific accretions resulting from exchange. It made the Library the beneficiary, on behalf of the United States, of the international exchanges of official publications provided for by the Brussels conventions of 1886. It has exacted, on behalf of the Library, deposits of books printed for the blind under Government subsidy. In 1903 it authorized other Government agencies to transfer to the Library the materials acquired by them but no longer needed for their immediate use a very important source of acquisition. But most important of all, by making the Library in 1870 solely responsible for the copyright business, Congress insured that its Library, alone of all the libraries of the United States, should have a substantially complete representation of the product of the publishing industries of this country.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to place in the record at this time, if you have no objection, the texts of the statutes whereby the Congress, over the years, has authorized the enrichment of the collections of the Library far beyond what would appear to be the needs of a purely legislative library.

In summary, Mr. Chairman, shortly after the middle of the last century the Library of Congress became regarded as the national library of the United States, with especial obligations, always subordinate to its continuing and primary obligation to the Congress, to be custodian of valuable collections for the benefit of the country at large. In 1882 work commenced on the Library Building across the plaza from the Capitol. For this building, no expense was spared to achieve magnificence and utility. For it, marbles were imported from Italy and Africa; for it were contrived ingenious mechanical devices to speed up its work which have since become standard equipment for libraries. Before the completion of the building in 1897, the Joint Committee on the Library held extensive hearings from November 16 to December 7, 1896, to consider the organization and functions of the Library on its new site. Many notable persons appeared to testify to what in their opinion should be the functions of the Library of Congress; the consensus-actually the assumption underlying the entire discussion was that the services of the Library as the custodian of the principal collection of American publications and of rich collections of other literatures, should be so devised as to be nationwide and nation serviceable.

It may appear extraordinary in this day when the distinctive roles of the legislative and executive branches of the Government are emphasized, but, in the recent past, Presidents of the United States have not hesitated to make recommendations to Congress regarding the Library of Congress. These recommendations no doubt reflect the contemporary public interest and faith in the national usefulness of this agency which the Congress had created and endowed. President Hayes in each of four annual messages to Congress, likewise President Arthur and President Cleveland in annual messages, urged action on the Library's new building. When the building was completed and occupied, President Theodore Roosevelt, in his first message to Congress, made an extended and eloquent statement about the Library, describing it as potentially "a chief factor in great cooperative efforts for the diffusion of knowledge and the advancemetn of learning."

Mr. Chairman, I should like to insert for the record, if there be no objection, the texts of these Presidential messages to which I have referred.

I could quote in extenso from speeches made in Congress on the national importance of the Lbirary of Congress. I shall not do so, but merely refer briefly to three. In a lengthy speech in the Senate on May 5, 1880, Senator Daniel Welsey Voorhees of Indiana exhorted his colleagues to "give this great national library our love and our care. Nothing can exceed it in importance." In the House of Representatives on December 12, 1882, Representative Thomas Brackett Reed of Maine (later Speaker Reed) recalled that "originally the Library, the building for which we are now discussing, was establsihed for the benefit of the two Houses of Congress," but he looked forward (amid app lause) to the time when "men will gather everything that is preserved in our great library and utilize it for the benefit of the American people." Again, on February 10, 1933, Senator Simeon D. Fess of Ohio, in an extended speech in the Senate, in which he referred to the Library as "generally regarded as a national library in view of the fact that is serves more than the Members of Congress," concluded that "I know of no greater contribution this Government has made to the public than the Library of Congress."

I should like, Mr. Chairman, if there be no objection, to insert for the record the texts of these three speeches which tell so much of the congressional relations and history of the Library of Congress.

This, Mr. Chairman, is the framework within which the activities of the Library of Congress have developed since 1800. The Library of Congress indeed has gone far beyond the purposes for which it was originally created in that year.

Now it is of course a fact that the costs of the Library have increased considerably in recent years. I should like to take a few minutes of your time to analyze them and to compare the situation of the Library, appropriation wise, as it was in 1939 and as it is today-a 15-year span. I take 1939 as my base because that is the year in which our annex was completed for occupancy and in which Dr. Putnam, at present the Librarian of Congress Emeritus, retired after 40 years of active service and was succeeded by Mr. Archibald MacLeish.

In the table which follows I have compared the Library's appropriations for 1939 with those for 1954 listing them in the order of their growth.

TABLE I.-Growth of the Library's appropriations, 1939–54

It is apparent from line 1 of the table that the Legislative Reference Service has expanded more rapidly in the past 15 years than any other of the Library's services. This was chiefly due to the authorization provided by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, but this authorization was in turn merely a recognition of the need of Congress for the kind of expert service which the Legislative Reference Service can supply.

For the Books for the Blind activity (line 2 of the table), successive specific authorizations of funds enacted by the Congress (none of which was initiated by the Library) have resulted in increases of 264 percent over 1939. Actually, the amount currently authorized is $1,125,000, but we are not asking for the $125,000. For the Copyright Office (line 3 of the table) the appropriations have increased 260 percent over the 1939 level. Meanwhile its cash receipts have increased 170 percent, and these cash receipts (which amounted last year to 80 percent of the appropriation), combined with the value of copyright deposits taken for the Library and other Federal libraries, exceed the appropriation by approximately 40 percent.

The Distribution of Catalog Cards activity (line 4 of the table) hass been increased 247 percent over 1939. But the increases of cash receipts are 244 percent over 1939. As you know, the cash receipts reimburse the Treasury for approximately 80 percent of the appropriation (actually 84 percent in 1953 and probably 85 percent in 1954), while the remainder is in the service of the Library's own catalogs.

Meanwhile, in line 5 of the table, it can be seen that the appropriation for the central and basic operations of the Library (the operations connected with acquisition, organization, and preparation of materials, custody, and service), represented by the general appropriation "Salaries and expenses, Library of Congress," has increased only 189 percent during the period. I do not need to tell you, Mr. Chairman, that in a period when prices have risen 93 to 123 percent, a 189-percent increase does not indicate a tripling of purchasing power. Actually, there has been only a 44-percent increase in staff under this appropriation since 1939, half of which was granted prior to 1941 in order to staff the annex which was completed in 1939. As for the nonsalary items under this appropriation, including printing and especially binding, supplies, etc., these have increased only 96 percent in a period in which price averages have advanced up to 123 percent. Meanwhile we have an expanded operation-2 buildings instead of 1, more books

We are very tightly

to bind and rebind, larger requirements for supplies, etc. situated. The last item in the table, line 6, is for the book funds. Here again we are actually worse off in purchasing power in 1954 than in 1939. While appropriations have increased 68 percent, average prices of books have advanced 99.5 percent. As a result, our purchases of old or rare books or manuscripts have, except to some extent in legal works, for practical purposes been eliminated, and in addition—and much worse—we have had to forego important projects for reducing deteriorating newspaper files to microfilm, or transferring our unique collections of early motion pictures from nitrate to acetate, or engaging in microfilming projects to secure important materials abroad.

Overall, it will be seen (in line 7 of the table) that the Library's appropriations increased 218 percent over the 15-year span. I have not thought it proper, Mr. Chairman, to make comparisons in this matter of appropriations between the Library and other agencies, or between it and the Government as a whole, but I think you will find that the 15-year increase for the Library is considerably less than either for the legislative establishment as a whole over the 15-year period, or for the executive establishment, even when emergency items and national defense are omitted from the calculations.

A large share of the increased appropriations, except in the Books for the Blind and in the book funds, has of course been absorbed by increased salary costs. Let me give you one example. In 1939 the basic salary of book-stack attendants was $1,260. Today it is $2,750-an increase of 118 percent. But in addition to the basic salary costs, we now pay annual ingrade increases, as well as premium rates for night, holiday, and overtime work which were not in effect in 1939. The total effect of these increases is to raise the cost of stack operation-quite apart from other factors such as increase in demand or increase in area of bookstacks, by upward of 125 percent.

Permit me a few closing remarks.

If the reductions made by the House should stand, the total employment in the Library will be reduced 141 positions, or 9 percent. This reduction will markedly affect the service to the Congress, to the public generally, to copyright claimants, and to other libraries, including those of the Federal Government, which rely on us for various services which tend to reduce the duplication which would otherwise occur.

The report of the House committee referred to transfers of funds and to gift funds available to the Library. Of course none of these funds are available for the regular, basic, or public functions of the Library. They are all earmarked either for services to be rendered to the contracting agencies (in which we believe we are performing important services, mainly in the interest of national defense) or for special purposes of the trusts, such as music.

Due to some misapprehension, it was stated during the debate on the bill in the House that the Library will not, at the then current rate of expenditure, make use of the funds available to it during the present year. The fact, sir, is quite otherwise. Indeed, our difficulty is not in expending but in avoiding too rapid expenditure.

The House report has also taken exception to our use of temporary employment. This, sir, we believe to be in the interest of efficiency, and is specifically authorized by the law (p. 19, lines 22 to 23, of the bill). It does not tend to the increase of the permanent staff.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, may I say that it is deplorable if the Library has failed as it would appear to have done in making its functions and operations understood by the members of the very establishment to which its owes-and is proud to owe-its foundation, its support and its primary service. It is an extraordinary but characteristically American achievement, Mr. Chairman, that the legislative body of the United States should have created an institution such as the Library of Congress—an institution outstanding among the institutions of its kind in the world. It should be no matter for surprise that the Library of Congress serves important functions in the activities of the Government: for the Congress itself, for the executive branch, and for the judiciary; or that the unsurpassed collections of the Library, and the operations performed on these collections, provide important sinews of national strength and security. Is there any doubt that the Library of Congress makes significant contributions: to the history of America, to music, to the arts, to scholarship, and to culture generally? There is no such doubt; on the contrary, the Library of Congress would appear to have magnificently realized the prophecy of the Presidential message to Congress in 1901 that its library would become "a chief factor in great cooperative efforts for

the diffusion of knowledge and the advancement of learning"-not only in the immediate company of learned men and of persons engaged in research, but especially in company with the many thousands of libraries throughout the country, with which the Library of Congress is linked in many efforts to improve library service and at the same time to restrain its cost-to every citizen of our country. The Library which the Congress has built, Mr. Chairman, is far from being a mere architectural monument.

HOUSE ACTION

Mr. CLAPP. All right, sir. As you know, Dr. Luther H. Evans resigned as Librarian of Congress on July 3, 1953. He has not as yet been replaced, although the President sent the name of Mr. L. Quincy Mumford, director of the Cleveland Public Library, to the Senate on April 22, 1954.

For the current fiscal year the appropriations of the Library total $9,459,293. For fiscal year 1955 we have requested an increase of $562,370, the smallest increase requested by the Library in more than a decade. The House in acting on our estimates allowed only one increase, an increase of $2,500 for "Books for the Supreme Court," and reduced our other items $496,793 below our 1954 appropriation. I respectfully request, sir, not only the restoration of the reductions made by the House, but also the major part of the increases originally requested for 1955. We base this request, sir, for various reasons under the different heads.

Senator MUNDT. I believe there is a table here.

Mr. CLAPP. Yes.

Senator MUNDT. This shows the House action?
Mr. CLAPP. Yes, sir.

Senator MUNDT. You may proceed.

SELF-REIMBURSING ACTIVITIES

Mr. CLAPP. With respect to the self-reimbursing activities, of which we have two, "Salaries and expenses, Copyright Office" and "Salaries and expenses, distribution of catalog cards," we request a restoration and an increase upon the self-evident justification, which is infrequent enough in Government, that these activities pay their way, and in one case, the case of the Copyright Office, more than its way.

LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE SERVICE

With respect to the increase for the special service to Congress in the Legislative Reference Service, we merely lay the facts before you: That there has been no increase in staff in this activity since 1950, that there has been a 32.6 percent increase in the number of requests since that time, and that we are now not only turning down important requests from members of committees, but we are also unduly delaying responses to requests and often giving inferior service, like sending books with markers in them instead of a report.

With respect to our request for the book fund ("General increase of the Library"), I point out that while our appropriation under this head has increased only 81 percent since 1939, the cost of books has risen 99.5 percent.