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 STATE LIBRARY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
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 The Scope of the Library". 
 
 The Board of Trustees of the State Library, in their an¬ 
 nual report for 1910, set forth their understanding of the 
 scope of the library, for the purpose for which it was estab¬ 
 lished by the General Court, as follows: — 
 
 1. Statutes and Reports. — The library should possess the 
 laws and the judicial decisions of the United States, the 
 several States and territories; the laws and the judicial de¬ 
 cisions of Great Britain and her colonies and dependencies; 
 and the statute law, at least, of all the other countries of the 
 civilized world. Digests, revisions and compilations of the 
 laws and reports naturally have their place with this collec¬ 
 tion, as also the journals and debates of the constitutional 
 conventions. The library’s collection in this line to-day is 
 unique. It should be kept strictly up to date, and gaps and 
 deficiencies supplied whenever opportunity offers. 
 
 2. Public Records. — The library should contain the con¬ 
 gressional and public documents of the United States and of 
 the several States; the parliamentary reports, i.e., the ses¬ 
 sional papers of Great Britain and selected departmental 
 reports of her colonies and dependencies. The library pos¬ 
 sesses most of these. The public records and the legislative 
 journals of the larger foreign countries also have their legit¬ 
 imate place in such a collection; the library possesses a lim¬ 
 ited number of the foreign journals. Every effort should be 
 made to perfect these public records where incomplete, and 
 they should he continued as issued. 
 
 3. New England. — The library has a large collection of 
 material relating to New England, and especially to Massa¬ 
 chusetts as colony, province and commonwealth. This ma¬ 
 terial includes history, biography, genealogy, town reports, 
 maps and newspapers. All possible additions should he made 
 
to this collection so far as items relating to Massachusetts 
 are concerned, and a careful selection of material relating 
 to the other New England States should he included as far as 
 practicable within a reasonable limit of expense. 
 
 4. Miscellaneous. — The collection under this head should 
 make provision for special limited libraries for each depart¬ 
 ment of government, executive, judicial and legislative ; not 
 every book published, of course, relating to the subjects 
 which might be of conceivable service, but a carefully made 
 selection. In addition to the statute and law reports, there 
 should be at the service of the Attorney-General’s office, as 
 well as for the General Court, a carefully chosen library of 
 the standard and universally used legal textbooks and law 
 periodicals. The executive, legislative and other State de¬ 
 partments, and the various boards, commissions and com¬ 
 mittees, should find in the library a fair selection of the 
 latest and best material relating to government, and to social 
 and political science; the standard works on finance, tax¬ 
 ation and banking; books relating to agriculture and horti¬ 
 culture; collections relating to pedagogy and education; the 
 literature of penology, charities, social reform, State indus¬ 
 tries, civic development and betterment; the standard his¬ 
 tories ; books relating to the social and political development 
 of other States and countries; publications of historical so¬ 
 cieties of national standing; political biographies; and the 
 important standard periodicals. The class of books known 
 as “ works of reference ” should be complete, including en¬ 
 cyclopaedias, dictionaries, gazetteers, atlases and the various 
 indexes and guides to the use of books in the fields of State 
 and political activity above indicated. 
 
 The fourth annual report of the trustees for the fiscal year 
 ending Nov. 30, 1913, contains a brief account of the history 
 and development of the State Library. In the appendix to 
 the same report will be found the statutory history of the 
 library. See also pages 286 and 287 of the report prepared 
 by the Commission on Economy and Efficiency, published 
 November, 1914, entitled “ Functions, organization and ad¬ 
 ministration'of the departments in the executive branch of 
 the State government.” 
 
Privileges of State Officials and Legislators in 
 other Libraries. 
 
 Massachusetts Historical Society. — Section 6 of the act 
 of Feb. 19, 1794, incorporating the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society, provides that “ either branch of the legislature shall 
 and may have free access to the library and museum of said 
 society.” 
 
 Boston Athenceum. — Section 5 of the act of Feb. 13, 
 1807, incorporating the Proprietors of the Boston Athemeum, 
 provides that “ the governor, the lieutenant-governor, the 
 members of the council, of the senate and of the house of 
 representatives, for the time being, shall have free access to 
 the library of the said corporation, and may visit and con¬ 
 sult the same at all times, under the same regulations as may 
 be provided by the by-laws of said corporation for the pro¬ 
 prietors thereof.” 
 
 Social Law Library. — Section 5 of the act of Oct. 21, 
 1814, incorporating the Proprietors of the Social Law Li¬ 
 brary, provides that “ the governor, lieutenant-governor, and 
 the members of the council of this commonwealth, at all 
 times, and the members of the senate, and house of repre¬ 
 sentatives, during any session of the general court, shall have 
 free access to, and the full and entire use and enjoyment of 
 the said library, and all the privileges and advantages 
 thereof, free of expense, under the same regulations as may 
 be provided by the by-laws of the said corporation, for the 
 proprietors thereof.” 
 
 Boston Public Library. — Section 1 of the act of April 22, 
 1880, in relation to the public library of the city of Boston, 
 in Copley Square, provides that “ all the citizens of the com¬ 
 monwealth shall have the perpetual right of access thereto, 
 free of charge.” 
 
 By arrangement with these libraries and the university 
 libraries in Cambridge, an interchange of loans is possible, 
 making the number of books available for the use of the State 
 officers and the Legislature of Massachusetts one of the 
 largest in the world. 
 
REPORT TO THE GOVERNOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH AND 
 THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE STATE LIBRARY OF 
 THE COMMITTEE WHICH RECENTLY VISITED MADISON, 
 WISCONSIN, TO EXAMINE THE LEGISLATIVE REFER¬ 
 ENCE BUREAU AND BILL DRAFTING DEPARTMENT. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS STATE LIBRARY. 
 
 Massachusetts Revised Laws, Chap. 10, Sec. 23, reads as follows: — 
 
 “ There shall be a state library in the state house which shall be kept open every 
 day except Sundays and legal holidays for the use of the governor, lieutenant 
 governor, council, general court and such officers of the government and other 
 persons as may be permitted to use it.” 
 
 The state library is not therefore a general public library but is a refer¬ 
 ence library, chiefly designed for the use of the executive and legislative 
 branches of the government. For this reason it is appropriately located 
 in the state house. 
 
 The people of Massachusetts are well served by the various public 
 and private libraries scattered throughout the Commonwealth. No city 
 in the nation is better served in this respect than is the City of Boston. 
 We believe therefore that the state library should confine itself to the 
 function for which it was created. It should not be permitted to develop 
 into a general public library, involving the room and expense demanded 
 by such an institution. 
 
 In the main the state library has confined itself to its proper function. 
 It is especially rich in its collections of material in the field of legislation, 
 taken in the broadest sense. This should be supplemented by the gather¬ 
 ing of the very valuable material, ephemeral in character, but containing 
 information not otherwise available. Mr. Clarence B. Lester, until 
 recently librarian of the legislative reference section of the New York 
 State Library, and now connected with the Wisconsin legislative reference 
 bureau, concurs in this opinion. 
 
 With such matter as the library already possesses, together with such 
 matter as it is its policy to collect, our state library is and will continue 
 to be well equipped to fulfill its purpose. The real problem is how to 
 make the material which it possesses readily available to legislators. 
 
 WISCONSIN. 
 
 With this problem in mind, at the request of the governor and of the 
 trustees of the library, your committee visited Madison, Wisconsin, and 
 examined the Wisconsin legislative reference bureau and bill drafting 
 department. We found there an elaborate system for collecting and 
 cataloguing material on subjects of interest to legislators, and a depart¬ 
 ment for drafting bills. 
 
LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAU. 
 
 The Wisconsin legislative reference bureau has practically no books. 
 By a system of clippings, typewritten extracts from books, and cata¬ 
 loguing, this bureau brings together, in a compact form, matter on many 
 subjects of special interest to legislators, which matter, upon request 
 can be immediately produced. The cost of the Wisconsin legislative 
 reference bureau, including the bill drafting department, is about $22,000. 
 That such a degree of success is possible as has been attained in Wisconsin 
 on this amount, Dr. McCarthy attributes in no small part to the co¬ 
 operation of the professors of the State University, to the availability of 
 student workers, and the proximity of the State Law Library and the 
 State Historical Society Library. Located elsewhere or run on a com¬ 
 mercial basis he has stated that he should want $40,000 annually. The 
 cost of the Massachusetts state library, including the legislative reference 
 room, is $27,510, of which $10,000 is spent for books and other printed 
 material. 
 
 Our state library already has a legislative reference department which 
 is freely used. With the exception of letters, newspaper clippings and 
 material of an ephemeral nature, all of the matter furnished to Wisconsin 
 legislators can be furnished by our library to Massachusetts legislators, 
 but not so quickly nor in so compact and convenient a form. On the 
 other hand, because of our rich collections of books and other printed 
 matter, much valuable material can be produced here which cannot, so 
 readily, be produced in Wisconsin. 
 
 We have come to the conclusion that what is needed in Massachusetts 
 is not the elaborate system in Wisconsin of clippings, extracts, and cata¬ 
 loguing on every conceivable subject of interest to legislators, some of 
 which matter is never called for, but rather one or two more competent 
 male reference assistants, familiar with the resources of our library whose 
 duty it shall be to assist legislators in getting what they want within a 
 reasonable time and in a convenient form. Of course, when matter on any 
 subject has once been collected for a legislator it could be so catalogued 
 and preserved that the work need not be done over if such matter were 
 again called for. Witn the present force at our library perhaps one com¬ 
 petent legislative librarian could do this work. 
 
 CARD CATALOGUE. 
 
 A prerequisite for this work, and in fact a necessity in every well 
 equipped library, is a thoroughly scientific, modern public card catalogue. 
 Money spent in piling up material without such a catalogue is largely 
 wasted. 
 
 BILL DRAFTING DEPARTMENT. 
 
 In her bill drafting department Wisconsin employs, while the legislature 
 is in session, three or four competent and experienced lawyers, with stenog¬ 
 raphers and proofreaders, to assist legislators in preparing bills. These 
 
men are supposed not to furnish ideas but merely to put matter for legisla¬ 
 tion in proper form, with special reference to existing law and to the 
 constitution. 
 
 This department is under criticism in Wisconsin. It is called the “bill 
 factory.’' Its opponents claim that it so facilitates the production of 
 bills that it multiplies the matters submitted to the legislature. This 
 objection did not impress us when we learned that only about 1,700 
 matters are presented to the legislature of Wisconsin once in two years, 
 while here in Massachusetts, where no such elaborate department exists, 
 over 3,000 matters are presented every year. 
 
 Another more serious criticism is that the bill drafting department, 
 acting in conjunction with university professors, interferes with legisla¬ 
 tion and takes the initiative in suggesting legislation. Although in the 
 past this may have been true to some degree, still we found that the depart¬ 
 ment disclaimed any interference in matters of legislation and that its 
 rules distinct^ .forbid the furnishing of ideas to legislators or any other 
 form of initiative. The purpose of the bill drafting department is merely 
 to assist such legislators, as may seek its assistance, in drafting bills to 
 incorporate their own ideas. 
 
 In Massachusetts we already have two lawyers engaged at public 
 expense in such work, namely, the clerks of the Senate and House Com¬ 
 mittees on Rules. These men assist legislators in the preparation of bills 
 and assist also the committees on bills in the Third Reading of the House 
 and Senate respectively. 
 
 We believe that this work is useful and important. If it is to be properly 
 done in Massachusetts, a room should be furnished adjoining the legisla¬ 
 tive reference room. The legal assistants now engaged in this work should 
 occupy such room and should be furnished with clerical assistants. There 
 should be close co-operation between the bill drafting department and 
 the legislative reference bureau, but we believe that these departments 
 should be entirely distinct. The reference room should be under the 
 control of the state librarian, and the bill drafting department under the 
 control of the legislature. 
 
 It should be the function of the bill drafting department to assist legis¬ 
 lators in drafting bills, as at present, but more especially this department 
 should be charged with the duty of examining every bill which is to be 
 reported favorably by a legislative committee, before it is submitted to 
 the legislature. It should also, as at present, assist the committees on 
 bills in the Third Reading. 
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 We make the following recommendations: 
 
 First: That the work now in progress on the state library card cata¬ 
 logue be pushed as fast as practicable and that ample appropriation for 
 this purpose be made. 
 
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 Second: That the board of trustees of the state library be authorized 
 to employ a competent legislative reference librarian to act as assistant 
 to the state librarian. 
 
 Third: That a bill drafting department be established under the direct 
 control of the legislature and that for this department a room be fur¬ 
 nished adjoining the legislative reference room. 
 
 These recommendations suggest nothing new in Massachusetts and 
 involve no great expense. The purpose is simply to organize work already 
 done, systematize it and thus render it more efficient and useful. 
 
 JOSEPH WALKER. 
 
 HENRY G. WELLS. 
 
 CHARLES F. D. BELDEN. 
 
 March 5th, 1915. 
 
 ENDORSEMENTS. 
 
 James Bryce, after examining the Wisconsin bill drafting department, 
 endorsed it without reservation, adding that “those who were ultra-con¬ 
 servative would not favor a department for scientific drafting of legisla¬ 
 tion and have never done so.” This seems to have been the experience 
 of Wisconsin. 
 
 A resolution passed by the American Bar Association in 1913 put the 
 matter tersely — “Resolved, that in the opinion of the Association, an 
 official legislative drafting and reference service, when properly organized 
 and directed, forms an efficient agency tending to prevent the enactment 
 of unconstitutional, obscure and otherwise defective statutes and to 
 secure the utmost brevity and simplicity, consistent with accuracy, in 
 the language of statutes, and we hereby recommend the establishment 
 and generous support of such service at Washington and in those states 
 not now having such service.” 
 
 The Montana Bar Association recently pointed out that — “the time 
 of the court is consumed in hearing discussions upon statutory enactments 
 and determining what law is in force and what has been repealed.” 
 
 In 1913, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States favored the 
 establishment of a bill drafting department by a referendum vote of 
 625 to 16. 
 
 President Wilson says: — “I can only say that it seems to me highly 
 important that a legislative reference department should be established 
 in the Congressional Library. The experience of several of our states in 
 this matter is conclusive as to the great usefulness of such a department. 
 Indeed, I think if once established, everyone who had any knowledge of 
 it would deem it indispensable.”