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ciency act of August 5, 1909) to $4,000; salary of Assistant Register of Copyrights increased from $2,500 to $3,000; and the following additional positions: i at $1,800, 2 at $1,600 each, 2 at $1,000 each, 2 at $600 each, and a messenger boy at $360.

Carrier service: Two messengers, at $40 per month each, to serve during the session of Congress and for services in connection with the House Office building.

Index to the Statutes at Large: Phraseology of the item changed to read as follows: "For continuing the preparation of an index to the Statutes at Large of the United States, $10,000, to be expended by the Librarian of Congress for the salaries of the persons whom he employs to prepare the index and for incidental expenses; the scope, classification, and style of the index to be such as the Judiciary Committees of the two Houses of Congress shall direct or approve."

Building and grounds: The appropriation for furniture, etc., reduced from $40,000 to $25,000; and the balance ($200,000) of the fund ($300,000) in the appropriations for the fiscal year 1908–9 provided for the completion of the construction, mechanical equipment, electric lighting, and roofing of the stack of shelving for bound newspapers and books in the southeast court of the Library building.

COPYRIGHT OFFICE

COPYRIGHT:
Statistics

The report of the Register of Copyrights appears in full as Appendix II. It brings to date the record of the pro

. ceedings in Congress resulting in the new general copyright act which became effective on July 1, 1909, and supersedes all of the previously existing laws. It includes also a report of the International Congress held at Berlin October 14 to November 14, 1908 (primarily of the members of the Union of Berne), but at which the United States, though a nonsignatory, was represented by the Register, together with the text of the new convention adopted November 13 embodying its agreements.

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The principal statistics of the business done are as follows:

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:

COPYRIGHT

OFFICE

RECEIPTS

Receipts and Fees covered in during the fiscal year 1908-9, as above.-- $83, 816.75 expenses

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The amount expended for salaries ($77,586.52) 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 receipts. In addition to cash fees the copyright business brings each year to the Government, in articles deposited, property to the value of many thousands of dollars. During the past fiscal year 217,869 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 parts: (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 copyright business was first placed under the Librarian of Congress).

On the oth day of July, 1909, when the report of the Copy

Current copy

right business right 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 division 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 twelve years from July 1, 1897, to June 30, 1909, amounts to but $81.66, against a total completed business for the same period of $858,422.75.

At the close of business on July 9, 1909, the titles for record had been dated, classified, and numbered to July 2 (inclusive) for books and periodicals and to July 1 for all other classes. A11 titles had been indexed up to and including 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 Copyright Entries, which since the transfer of its publication from the Treasury Department to the Library of Congress (see Appendix II) has been issued in four separate parts, had been brought forward, in the new series, to Part 1, Group 1, books, etc., Vol. 6, No. 25, June 24; Part 1, Group 2, pamphlets, leaflets, etc., Vol. 6, Nos. 22–25, June; Part 2, periodicals, Vol. 4, Nos. 22–25, June; Part 3, musical compositions, Vol. 4, Nos. 22–25, June; Part 4, engravings, cuts, and prints, etc., Vol. 4, Nos. 22–25, June.

The certificate and noncertificate entries had been recorded to June 30, inclusive, and certificates and notices of entry to the same date made, revised, and mailed.

Credited articles to the number of 21,962 had been filed away under year and number, those desired by the Library being forwarded to the shelves for use. In the case of 562 articles, identification and credit could not be made, and they were accordingly indexed and (except those desired by

the Library) filed for convenient reference. Copyright busi

Titles to the number of 106,738, being the remainder ness prior to July 1, 1897 entered prior to July 1, 1897, but heretofore filed only in

rough bundles, had been collated, arranged, and permanently filed.

During the past twelve years the business done by the Office shows the following:

Total number of entries.
Total number of articles deposited
Total amount of fees received and applied..
Total expenditure for service---
Net receipts above expenses for service-

1, 232, 529

2, 153, 919 $858, 422. 75 $729, 468.07 $128, 954. 68

During the thirty-nine years since the copyright work became a business of the Library of Congress the total number of entries has been 2,113,385.

The new copyright act will considerably increase the burdens of the Office. There may be expected a larger volume of business under it; and there is certain to be a great and difficult labor in interpreting and in making clear to the public its novel requirements. The burden can be met efficiently only by a considerable increase of the staff: On the other hand, the receipts of the Office are equally certain to increase so as fully to cover the additional expenditures for service,

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