Appendix IV 
 
 LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAUS 
 
 Letter from the Librarian of Congress Transmitting 
 Speciae Report, With Text of Proposed Biees 
 
 Library of Congress 
 
 Office of the Librarian 
 
 Washington, April 6, ign 
 
 Mr. President: The introduction, at the second session of the Sixty- 
 first Congress, of several bills looking to the establishment of a legislative 
 reference (and bill drafting) bureau at Washington indicates an in- 
 terest in the subject which will induce discussion and perhaps specific 
 action. The accompanying documents are submitted as contributing 
 preliminary information which may be of service. They are: 
 
 LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE WORK 
 
 1. Memorandum as to the functions of such a bureau. 
 
 2. New York State: Two decades of Comparative Legislation. Ex- 
 tract from an address.by Dr. Robert H. Whitten, librarian New York 
 Public Service Commission, first district, at joint session of National 
 Association of State Libraries and American Association of Law 
 Libraries, July, 1909. 
 
 3. Wisconsin: Extract from a paper by Dr. Charles McCarthy (read 
 before the Portland conference, 1905, of the American Library Associa- 
 tion) descriptive of such functions and the requirements, based par- 
 ticularly upon the experience in Wisconsin. 
 
 4. Comparison of New York and Wisconsin plans for legislative 
 reference work. Extract from an address by Mr. Johnson Brigham, 
 State librarian of Iowa, before the National Association of State 
 Libraries, May, 1907. 
 
 5. Compilation of laws establishing legislative reference bureaus in 
 various States. 
 
 6. Legislative reference bulletins published in the various States. 
 
 7. Subjects treated in the reference lists issued by the Library of 
 Congress. 
 
 INDEXES AND COMPILATIONS OF LAW 
 
 8. Extract from Librarian’s letter of estimates of October 6, 1902, 
 and a communication to the subcommittee on appropriations, De- 
 cember 3, 1902, with reference to a permanent corps for such a purpose. 
 
 9. Memorandum prepared in 1907 by Dr. George W. Scott, law 
 
 librarian of the Library of Congress, on statutory law service. [The 
 
 ioo 55 ° — 8 9 * 11 13 (183) 
 
184 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 • 
 
 work of preparing an index to the Statutes at Large, since completed 
 by the issue of the second volume in January, 1911, was then in opera- 
 tion at the law library, under appropriation by Congress. The memo- 
 randum proposed that the corps of experts organized for this purpose 
 should be continued and enlarged as a permanent corps for the prepara- 
 tion of other indexes, digests, and compilations of law.] 
 
 BILL DRAFTING 
 
 10. Extract from an address by Hon. James Bryce (British ambas- 
 sador) before the New York State Bar Association, January 24, 1908. 
 
 11. Extract from F. J. Stimson’s “Popular Law-making,” 1910, 
 entitled “The need of parliamentary draftsmen.” 
 
 12. Extract from Recommendation of a Committee of the American 
 Bar Association (headed by Judge Baldwin), “On improving methods 
 of legislation,” proposing (for each State and the United States) a 
 “joint standing committee (of the legislative body) for the revision 
 of bills,” with power to employ experts. 
 
 13. Extract from Dr. Paul S. Reinsch “American legislatures and 
 legislative methods,” 1907. 
 
 14. Statutes and rules relating to bill drafting — New York and 
 Connecticut. 
 
 15. Extracts from the messages of the governors of Connecticut; 
 1907, Gov. Woodruff; 1909, Gov. Lilley; 1911, Gov. Baldwin. 
 
 16. Bill drafting in Great Britain and the British colonies. Extracts 
 from “ Legislative methods and forms,” by Sir Courtenay Ilbert, 1901, 
 and from the Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation, volumes 
 1-2, and new series, volumes 1-2. 
 
 STATISTICS 
 
 17. Bills and joint resolutions introduced in Congress and laws 
 passed (56th to 61st Congresses, inclusive). State and Federal Legisla- 
 tion, 1906-7 and 1907-8. 
 
 BILLS INTRODUCED IN THE SIXTY-FIRST CONGRESS 
 
 18. Proposals for a national bureau: Bills introduced at the second 
 session, Sixty-first Congress, also amendment to the sundry civil bill 
 adopted in the Senate, but not included in the bill as enacted. 
 
 General considerations . — The main object is the improvement of 
 legislation. The means proposed are — 
 
 1. Improvement in substance by the assurance of adequate data. 
 
 2. Improvement in form through the employment of experts con- 
 sidering form alone. 
 
 The data. — In so far as these consist of printed literature in its regular 
 forms, they are already available to Congress in the Library of Con- 
 gress, its collections (of statutes, decisions, commentaries, and the 
 miscellaneous literature of statistic, theory, and discussion) being 
 already one of the largest in the world, and undergoing improvement 
 without stint. 
 
' 15HU 
 
 
 Legislative Reference Bureaus 185 
 
 All of the above is classified, catalogued, and made to respond to 
 any particular query, whether from Congress as a whole or any com- 
 mittee of Congress or any individual Member. Lists of references 
 i to the material (whether document, monograph, society publication, 
 or periodical) bearing upon particular topics under discussion in 
 Congress — exactly such lists as are issued by certain State legislative 
 reference bureaus — are issued by the Library of Congress (for examples 
 see Appendix No. 7). Other such lists exist in typewritten form and 
 are freely supplied upon request. A request, whether from Congress, 
 or a committee, or a Member for similar references to topics not so 
 broadly treated, is always met by the Library within its abilities. 
 The staff of the Library includes men highly expert in the preparation 
 of such lists, so far as this is within the scope of bibliography proper or 
 research work of a bibliographic nature. 
 
 A legislative reference bureau goes further. It undertakes not 
 merely to classify and to catalogue, but to draw off from a general 
 collection the literature — that is, the data — bearing upon a particular 
 legislative project. It indexes, extracts, compiles. It acquires extra 
 copies of society publications and periodicals and breaks these up 
 for the sake of the articles pertinent to a particular subject. It clips 
 from newspapers; and it classifies the extracts, the compilations, the 
 articles, and the clippings in scrapbook, or portfolio, or vertical file, 
 in such a way that all material relating to that topic is kept together 
 and can be drawn forth at a moment’s notice. To printed literature it 
 often adds written memoranda as to fact and even opinion as to merit, 
 which it secures by correspondence with experts. 
 
 The above work, which organizes and concentrates all the data 
 pertinent to a question in such form as to be readily responsive, is 
 beyond the abilities of the Library with its present organization. 
 The Library would gladly undertake it; it could undertake it without 
 additional appropriation for the material itself, so far as this is in 
 printed form; but it would require for it an enlargement of its present 
 Divisions of Law, Documents, and Bibliography, and in addition the 
 creation of a new division under the title of a Legislative or Con- 
 gressional Reference Division. 
 
 Indexes, digests, and compilations of law. As to the utility of such, 
 and the qualifications requisite, I have no reason to modify the opin- 
 ions submitted with my estimates of 1902. The ensuing experience 
 with the index to the Statutes at Large but confirms the opinion that 
 the work of indexing the statutes, even the Federal statutes of this 
 country, requires scientific treatment by a corps of experts with a sub- 
 stantial general education, legal training, and experience in this class 
 of work, and selected with regard solely to these qualifications. It 
 confirms also the expectation that where the Library was charged 
 with such a task the men would be so selected and the work would be 
 scientifically accomplished. 
 
 Such a corps once organized and experienced, the economy of con- 
 tinuing it as a permanent bureau is obvious, as, on the other hand, is 
 the extravagance of dispersing it. The corps which handled this par- 
 
1 86 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 ticular work on the Federal Statutes would not of course be sufficiently 
 large, or contain the varied accomplishments requisite for indexes, 
 digests, and compilations of the various material of concern to Congress 
 and to the Federal authorities; especially would it be lacking in 
 experts qualified to deal with the legislation of foreign countries (the 
 interest of which is of relatively small concern to State legislators, but 
 is of increasing concern to Congress). The organization suggested in 
 my estimates of 1902 might be suitable as a beginning; the salaries 
 would, however, be altogether too small. The conduct of the work in 
 particular should require a salary of $5,000. 
 
 Bill drafting . — The drafting of bills, or the revision with reference to 
 form of bills drafted and otherwise ready for enactment, certainly 
 requires experts educated to an accurate use of the English language, 
 trained in the law, competent to ascertain and compare precedent 
 legislation, and, so far as practicable, exactly familiar with this. (See 
 various appendixes, including the memorandum of our law librarian, 
 1907). The familiarity with antecedent and comparative legislation 
 gained through the indexing, digesting, and compiling of it, would 
 doubtless be a valuable auxiliary qualification in any bill drafter. 
 It can not, however, be said that for the drafting of bills the current 
 association with such other work is indispensable. The bill drafter 
 should have its results at hand; should be expert in the use of them; 
 but he need not necessarily himself have produced these results in 
 order to utilize them properly. 
 
 Assuming therefore that the work of a legislative reference bureau 
 (in addition to that part of it which is already being undertaken here), 
 should be undertaken by the Library of Congress, and that the work of 
 indexing, digesting, and compiling laws should be part of it, it does 
 not necessarily follow that the drafting or revision of the bills them- 
 selves should be associated with it. That Congress should employ a 
 corps of bill drafters is obvious; that these should be experts, and non- 
 partisan, whose purpose would be purely scientific, is equally obvious; 
 but these considerations ought not to imply that the qualifications 
 could be secured only by the selection and maintenance of a corps 
 outside of the legislative establishment. Congress might well prefer 
 otherwise; and there seems no necessary obstacle to the creation of a 
 corps of experts as part of the organization of Senate and House, pro- 
 vided Congress itself really desires that the sole considerations in the 
 selection of the men shall be those above noted. 
 
 Wherever the work is to be placed, the provision for it should be 
 ample. Its efficiency will depend not upon a large number of routine 
 workers, but upon the high qualifications of a few. No expert ade- 
 quate to such a task could be secured for less than a salary of $5,000, 
 and at least four or five experts of this grade should be requisite, aided 
 by an auxiliary corps of clerks, stenographers, etc. 
 
 Even then it is clear that the service of such experts should not be 
 dissipated needlessly. To invoke them at the initial stage of every 
 bill introduced would be extravagant, and cast upon the corps an 
 overwhelming burden (this will appear upon consideration of the num- 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 1S7 
 
 ber of bills introduced into a single Congress — during the Sixty-first, 
 for instance, some 44,000). The drafters should be at the disposal of 
 any committee considering or proposing to report a bill. Beyond this 
 they ought not to be called upon, unless in connection with some 
 projected bill of interest to a considerable group. 
 
 The organization requisite to a congressional (legislative) reference 
 bureau will therefore depend upon the functions proposed for such a 
 bureau, whether (1) merely the acquisition of the data, the organiza- 
 tion of these to respond to the legislative need, and the aid to their 
 use; or in addition to this, (2) the preparation of indexes, digests, and 
 compilations of law not having directly such ends in view; or in addi- 
 tion to both the above, (3) the drafting and revision of bills. 
 
 In any case it must be emphasized — 
 
 1. That the organization must be elaborate beyond that provided by 
 any State, since the subjects to be dealt with are far wider in scope, 
 the material more remote, more complex, and more difficult, and the 
 precedents less available. 
 
 2. That (the field being unique) the needs (in the way of organiza- 
 tion) can be ascertained only by experiment. The first appropriation 
 should be, therefore, a "lump sum.” 
 
 3. That for the work to be scientific (i. e., having only truth as its 
 object) it must be strictly nonpartisan; and that, therefore, whatever 
 the appointing or administrative authority, the selection of the experts 
 and the direction of the work should by law and in fact be assuredly 
 nonpartisan. 
 
 Respectfully submitted 
 
 Herbert Putnam 
 Librarian of Congress 
 
 The President op the Senate 
 
 legislative reference work 
 
 Exhibit i. — Functions op a Legislative Reference Bureau 
 
 The work of a legislative reference bureau may include any or all 
 of the following kinds of service, ranging from library work proper to 
 that which is purely legislative. Intermediate between these extremes 
 are certain classes of work which are special extensions of the ordinary 
 activities of a legislative library, of direct and immediate importance 
 for legislation. 
 
 1. Library Work Proper (already provided for at the Library of 
 Congress) : 
 
 (a) Acquisition of the literature . — This is being undertaken at 
 the Library of Congress to an extent probably unparal- 
 leled elsewhere, the collections of the Library (in stat- » 
 utes, reports, commentaries, and miscellaneous literature, 
 and in the published indexes, digests, and compilations 
 auxiliary to the use of these) being probably the largest 
 extant and improved by incessant effort. 
 
i 88 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 ( b ) Reference work. — Selection of suitable material from the gen- 
 
 eral collections to meet the demands of an individual leg- 
 islator, with the aid of the subject catalogue of the Library 
 and general reference works or from the reference libra- 
 rian’s personal knowledge of the subject. 
 
 (c) Bibliographic work. — Preparation of special lists of refer- 
 
 ences on subjects of current interest to the legislator, with 
 such critical and analytical notes as can readily be made, 
 involving search for titles in printed catalogues of various 
 libraries, bibliographies, indexes to periodicals, etc., and 
 acquisition of publications of importance found to be 
 wanting. 
 
 2. Indexes, Compilations, and Digests oe Laws, etc. (index to the 
 
 general laws in the Federal statutes up to 1907 completed and 
 published by the Library of Congress). 
 
 (a) Indexes. — Detailed indexing of statutes, court reports, Gov- 
 
 ernment documents, etc., of this and other countries to 
 locate exactly by volume and page the text of laws on 
 special subjects, decisions of the courts interpreting them, 
 administrative regulations, and statistical or other infor- 
 mation showing the results of their operation, to enable 
 comparison to be made between the laws of various coun- 
 tries. 
 
 An appropriation of $28,000 to enable the Library of Con- 
 gress to prepare an index of comparative legislation was 
 asked for in 1902 and succeeding years, but not granted. 
 
 (b) Compilations and digests. — Compiling (and translating when 
 
 necessary) from printed official sources, with the aid of 
 the above index, exact legal, political, and economic 
 information on subjects of current legislation, and digest- 
 ing the same in legislative reference bulletins for imme- 
 diate use in drafting bills, and to enable the legislator to 
 judge of the merits of proposed laws without elaborate 
 research. 
 
 The Wisconsin comparative legislation bulletins may be 
 cited as examples. 
 
 3. Special Collections. 
 
 (a) T estimony of experts. — Collection of the opinions of specialists 
 
 on subjects of current legislation or on a particular bill for 
 the use of the committee to which it has been referred. 
 
 ( b ) Press opinions , magazine articles , etc. — Collection of news- 
 
 paper clippings, articles in magazines, etc., to show the 
 state of public opinion in regard to projected legislation, 
 and arrangement of the material in convenient files for 
 ready reference during the discussions in the legislature. 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 189 
 
 4. Legislative Work. 
 
 (а) Bill drafting . — Utilization of all of the resources of the bu- 
 
 reau to draft bills or amendments in accordance with 
 definite instructions furnished by a committee, a group of 
 members, or, possibly, the Executive, involving a study 
 of the existing law as interpreted by the courts, legisla- 
 tion for similar purposes in other countries, and the 
 probable effect of the proposed enactment. 
 
 (б) Explanatory memoranda . — Preparation of synopses of bills 
 
 and brief notes explanatory of their provisions. 
 
 Exhibit 2. — New York State 
 
 TWO DECADES OR COMPARATIVE LEGISLATION 
 
 [Extract from address by Dr. Robert H. Whitten, librarian New York Public Service 
 Commission, first district, at joint session of National Association of State Libraries 
 and American Association of Law Libraries, July, 1909. In A. L. A. Bulletin, vol. 
 3, no. 5, p. 296-29S.] 
 
 When in 1890 Melvil Dewey initiated the legislative reference move- 
 ment by appointing a legislative librarian in the New York State 
 library, he started a movement that has been most fruitful for the 
 study of comparative legislation. In drafting a new law there is no 
 more profitable study than an investigation of the laws and experience 
 of other States and countries. Almost the first question asked in rela- 
 tion to a proposed enactment is as to whether the same law is already 
 in force in any other State. It was natural, therefore, that an index to 
 the current laws of the various States should be one of the first tasks of 
 the legislative librarian, in order that he might serve most efficiently 
 the needs of the legislature. 
 
 The comparative summary and index of State legislation, thus begun 
 in 1890, at the New York State Library, has been continued now for 
 almost 20 years. The work was first undertaken and the index started 
 by W. B. Shaw, now one of the editors of the American Monthly Re- 
 view of Reviews. It was later taken up and developed by E. Dana 
 Durand, now director of the United States Census. Following Mr. 
 Durand, I had the opportunity of continuing the work so well begun, 
 for nine years, from 1898 to 1907, and it has since been continued, as 
 you know, by Mr. Bramhall and Mr. Lester. In 1901 the scope of the 
 work was materially broadened and its usefulness greatly increased, I 
 think, by the addition of the annual review of legislation. In this 
 review competent specialists review the legislation of the year, thus 
 placing the new law in its relation to previous laws in the same or other 
 States and subjecting it to careful evaluation and criticism. 
 
 ***** 
 
 While we have the very highest conception of the legislative refer- 
 ence bureau and its work in comparative legislation, we realize that 
 there are other very important factors necessary for the production of 
 
190 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 efficient legislation. The legislative reference bureau will supply the 
 systematic collection of information. It will collect and collate much 
 of the information that will be needed in the scientific investigation of 
 legislative problems. 
 
 In addition to a bureau for the collection and collation of information 
 it is desirable that each proposed bill should be drafted or revised by 
 expert draftsmen. This work in some States is being performed by 
 official draftsmen, appointed by the legislature. In other States it is 
 being taken up by the legislative reference bureaus. My own opinion 
 is that the legislative reference bureau should proceed cautiously in this 
 matter. While it is highly desirable that it should aid in the construc- 
 tive work necessary for the elaboration of an important project of law, 
 there is some danger that its time may be so taken up with the formal 
 drafting and copying of innumerable petty bills that it will have insuffi- 
 cient time for the more important constructive work. 
 
 In addition to the legislative reference bureau and the bill-drafting 
 work, it seems to me that for efficient legislation there must be in each 
 State a State bureau of statistics with skilled accountants and statis- 
 ticians continually at work collecting facts essential to intelligent legis- 
 lation. There are numerous statistical facts that should be known 
 in order to judge intelligently concerning the need of this or that pro- 
 posed legislation. There are numerous statistical facts that should 
 be currently reported and tabulated in order to judge as to what has 
 been the actual effect and value of a given regulation or expenditure. 
 It should be the business of the bureau of statistics to supply this 
 knowledge. 
 
 But in addition to the legislative reference bureau, the official drafts- 
 man, and the bureau of statistics, in order that we may have efficient 
 legislation, it is necessary that the special knowledge of the expert 
 should be freely used. For the construction of a house we employ an 
 architect, for the building of a bridge we employ an engineer, but for 
 the elaboration of an intricate and technical statute no expert knowl- 
 edge is deemed essential. This is the height of stupidity. Legisla- 
 tive committees should employ experts of all kinds — engineers, econo- 
 mists, accountants, physicians, actuaries, and in fact specialists of 
 every class who are capable of disinterested scientific investigation. 
 
 With the development of a more efficient State administration the 
 legislature will naturally look to the highly trained experts employed 
 in the various departments to make the necessary scientific investiga- 
 tions for many of the proposed laws. As the State service becomes more 
 permanent, as its importance increases with the complex duties of su- 
 pervision and regulation, the number of highly trained men in the 
 various departments increases. 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 19 1 
 
 Exhibit 3. — Wisconsin 
 
 [Extract from a paper on Wisconsin’s legislative reference department, by Dr. Charles 
 
 McCarthy. A. L. A. Papers and Proceedings, Portland Conference, 1905, pp 244-245.] 
 
 In answer to constant inquiries, I have compiled some essentials for 
 work in helping the cause of good legislation, similar to the work done 
 by our department here. 
 
 1. The first essential is a selected library convenient to the legislative 
 halls. This library should consist of well-chosen and selected material. 
 A large library is apt to fail because of its too general nature and because 
 it is liable to become cumbersome. This library should be a depository 
 for documents of all descriptions relating to any phase of legislation 
 from all States, Federal Government, and particularly from foreign 
 countries like England, Australia, France, Germany, and Canada. It 
 should be a place where one can get a law upon any subject or a case 
 upon any law very quickly. It is very convenient to have this room 
 near to a good law library. Books are generally behind the times, and 
 newspaper clippings from all over the country and magazine articles, 
 court briefs, and letters must supplement this library and compose to a 
 large extent its material. 
 
 2. A trained librarian and indexer is absolutely essential. The 
 material is largely scrappy and hard to classify. We need a person 
 with a liberal education, who is original, not stiff, who can meet an 
 emergency of all cases, and who is tactful as well. 
 
 3. The material is arranged so that it is compact and accessible. 
 Do not be afraid to tear up books, documents, pamphlets, clippings, 
 letters, manuscripts, or other material. Minutely index this material. 
 Put it under the subjects. Legislators have no time to read large books. 
 We have no time to hunt up many references in different parts of a 
 library. They should be together as far as possible upon every subject 
 of legislative importance. 
 
 4. Complete index of all bills which have not become laws in the 
 past should be kept. This saves the drawing of new bills and makes 
 the experience of the past cumulative. 
 
 5. Records of vetoes, special messages, political platforms, political 
 literature, and other handy matter should be carefully noted and 
 arranged. Our legislator often wants to get a bill through and we must 
 remember that he often relies as much upon political or unscientific 
 arguments as we do upon scientific work. He should be able to get 
 hold of his political arguments if he wants to, and the political litera- 
 ture from all parties upon all questions should be kept near at hand. 
 
 6. Digests of laws on every subject before the legislature should be 
 made and many copies kept. Leading cases on all these laws and 
 opinions of public men and experts upon the working of these laws 
 or upon the defects, technical or otherwise, should be carefully in- 
 dexed and as far as possible published in pamphlet form, with short 
 bibliographies of the subjects most before the people. 
 
 7. The department must be entirely nonpolitical and nonpartisan 
 or else it will be worse than useless. If you have the choice between 
 
192 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 establishing a political department and no department at all take the 
 latter. 
 
 8. The head of the department should be trained in economics, 
 0 political science, and social science in general, and should have also 
 
 a good knowledge of constitutional law. He should, above all, have 
 tact and knowledge of human nature. 
 
 9. There should be a trained draftsman connected with the depart- 
 ment — a man who is a good lawyer and something more than a lawyer, 
 a man who has studied legislative forms, who can draw a bill, revise a 
 statute, and amend a bill when called upon to do so. Such a man 
 working right with this department and the critical data which it con- 
 tains will be absolutely essential. 
 
 10. Methods. — (a) Go right to the legislator, make yourself acquainted 
 with him, study him, find anything he wants for him, never mind how 
 trivial, accommodate him in every way. Advertise your department. 
 Let everyone know where it is and what it does. Go to the committees 
 and tell them what you can do for them. ( b ) It is absolutely essential 
 that you get information ahead of time or else you will be of no use in 
 the rush. Send a circular letter out to your legislators and tell them 
 you will get any material which will help them in their work before 
 the session is over. The following is a sample of such a circular sent 
 out by this department : 
 
 Madison, Wis., November 20, 1904. 
 
 Dear Sir: The Wisconsin Legislature of 1901 authorized the 
 Wisconsin Free Library Commission to conduct a legislative refer- 
 ence room, and to gather and index for the use of members of the 
 legislature and the executive officers of the State such books, 
 reports, bills, documents, and other material from this and other 
 States as would aid them in their official duties. 
 
 The Legislative Reference Library was entirely destroyed by 
 the fire, but much of value to the student of State affairs has been 
 collected. We desire to make such material of the utmost use and 
 wish you to call upon us for any aid we can give in your legislative 
 duties. 
 
 If you will inform us of any subjects you wish to investigate, as 
 far as we have the material, time, and means, we will tell you. 
 
 1. What States have passed laws on any particular subject. 
 
 2. Where bills for similar laws are under discussion. 
 
 3. What bills on any subject have been recently introduced in 
 our legislature. 
 
 4. Where valuable discussions of any subject may be obtained. 
 
 As far as possible, with our limited force and means, we will 
 
 send you abstracts of useful material and answer any questions per- 
 taining to legislative matters. 
 
 It is not our province to convince members of the legislature 
 upon disputed points. We shall simply aid them to get material 
 to study subjects in which they are interested as public officials. 
 
 Make your questions definite. Our work is entirely free, non- 
 partisan, and nonpolitical, and entirely confidential. 
 
 The replies to such a circular give you an idea of what is coming. 
 Work for all you are worth on those topics, send out thousands of cir- 
 cular letters to experts on these topics, subscribe to clipping bureaus 
 if necessary to secure critical data from the public at large. Gather 
 statistics ahead. Carefully search books for significant and concise 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 193 
 
 statements; if to the point, copy out or tear them out and index them. 
 Go through the court reports and get the best opinions. ( c ) Get hold 
 of libraries or individuals or professors in other States with whom you 
 can correspond. Speed in getting things to a committee or an indi- 
 vidual is absolutely necessary. Do not fail to use the telegraph. Get 
 material, facts, data, etc., and get it quickly and get it to the point, 
 boil down, and digest. I can say again the legislator does not know 
 much about technical terms; avoid them; make things simple and clear. 
 ( d ) Employ, if you can, during the session a good statistician. He can 
 be of great service in dealing with financial bills, in estimating acci- 
 dents from machinery, or in gathering statistical data of any kind. He 
 should be a man who can work rapidly and accurately and work to 
 the point. Throughout all of this work it is absolutely necessary to 
 get all material absolutely upon the points at issue. ( e ) Make arrange- 
 ments with all libraries in your city and libraries elsewhere for the 
 loan of books or other material. You should have every sort of an 
 index in your library as well as catalogues of any of the libraries with 
 which you are corresponding. (/) A correspondent clerk and some 
 helper to paste clippings, mount letters, etc., are necessary, especially 
 during the legislative session. ( g ) Keep your place open from early 
 in the morning till late at night. Do everything in your power to 
 accommodate those for whom you work. 
 
 In Wisconsin the work is divided into three main divisions: (1) The 
 “comparative,” which included the gathering of laws and cases from 
 all over the world upon the legislative subjects; (2) the “critical,” 
 which is especially charged with the duty of gathering critical data 
 upon the working of laws; and (3) the “constructive,” for the purpose 
 of assisting in the work of drafting legislation with evidence already 
 mentioned at hand for reference. — (Wisconsin Free Library Commis- 
 sion, circular of information No. 6 (2d ed), p. 10) • 
 
 Exhibit 4. — Comparison of New York and Wisconsin Plans for ^ 
 Legislative Reference Work 
 
 [Extract from address by Mr. Johnson Brigham, State librarian of Iowa, before the 
 National Association of State Libraries, May, 1907. In A. L- A. Bulletin, vol. 1, 
 no. 4, p. 200.] 
 
 New York and Wisconsin are the acknowledged pioneers and leaders 
 in legislative reference work. While each has the same general end 
 in view, namely, assistance to legislators and legislative committees 
 and improvement in the quality and form of legislation, there is an 
 interesting line of cleavage between the one and the other which we 
 of the other States should carefully consider. 
 
 The legislative reference section of New York’s State library brings 
 to legislators and legislative committees all available information bear- 
 ing upon proposed legislation, but does not undertake to act for the 
 legislator or the legislative committee either in passing upon the rel- 
 ative value of the information given or in the drafting of bills for 
 legislative action. 
 
194 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 The legislative reference department of Wisconsin’s library com- 
 mission does not stop here. It not only collects, collates, and supplies 
 all needed information, but it also passes upon the relative value of the 
 same. It also supplies legislators and legislative committees with briefs 
 and arguments and, on request, drafts bills. The legislator has only to 
 press the button ; the reference librarian and his assistants, do the rest. 
 
 In New York every incoming legislature, through its two presiding 
 officers, appoints a joint commission of three lawyers, presumably 
 experienced in law and legislation, who supervise and, when requested, 
 prepare bills for legislators and committees, this commission availing 
 itself of all information at the command of the legislative reference 
 section of the State library. 
 
 In Wisconsin the legislative reference department serves as gatherer 
 and dispenser of information and as an expert commission in drawing 
 bills, supplying briefs, etc. Dr. McCarthy’s assistant, Miss Ono M. 
 Imhoff, writes me that at the time of drafting bills the department uses 
 as many as 30 assistants, many of whom, however, afford only steno- 
 graphic help. 
 
 In the opinion of Dr. R. H. Whitten, executive head of the Albany 
 section, the activities of his section should be confined within the 
 range of “library work,” interpreting the phrase with the utmost 
 liberality; but, in his judgment, it should not, even indirectly, under- 
 take any function of the legislator, such as the final passing upon the 
 weight of authorities, upon the relative value of testimony, upon the 
 wisdom or unwisdom of legislation in other States or countries; nor 
 should it assume the responsibility of drafting bills which, if they 
 become law, will be subject to future interpretation by the courts. 
 
 Exhibit 5. — Compilation of Laws Establishing Legislative 
 Reference Bureaus in Various States 
 
 ALABAMA 
 
 (General acts 1907, No. 255, p. 318.) 
 
 AN ACT To enlarge the duties of the department of archives and history. 
 
 Be it enacted, by the Legislature of Alabama, That in addition to the 
 duties now required by law, the department of archives and history 
 shall do and perform the following: 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 2. It shall bring together and arrange for ready consultation a ref- 
 erence collection of materials for the use of the members of the legis- 
 lature, State officers, and others on all subjects which may, from time 
 to time, be deemed of public interest and importance to the people 
 of the State. 
 
 Approved, March 5, 1907. 
 
• Legislative Reference Bureaus 
 
 195 
 
 INDIANA 
 
 (Acts 1907, ch. 147, pp. 236-237.) 
 
 A-N ACT To create a legislative reference department in the State library, and pre- 
 scribe [prescribing] its duties, providing for a legislative reference librarian and 
 assistants in such departments, and making an appropriation to carry out the pro- 
 visions of this act, and declaring an emergency. 
 
 Section i. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, 
 That there is hereby created a legislative reference department in the 
 State library. It shall be the duty of such department to collect for 
 members of the general assembly information in. regard to subjects of 
 legislation, and to organize and arrange such material so that it may 
 be most readily used. It shall obtain and furnish to members of the 
 general assembly, or other officers of the State government, any data 
 available regarding the laws of this and other States, and the working 
 and results of such laws in actual practice, together with references to 
 judicial decisions and interpretation upon such laws. It shall collect 
 and make available such current information upon legislative subjects 
 as will make all data upon subjects of present value. It shall be pre- 
 pared to furnish to members of the general assembly, and under their 
 instructions, such assistance as may be demanded in the preparation 
 and formulation of legislative bills. 
 
 Sec. 2. The State librarian, by and with the advice and approval of 
 the State library board, shall appoint a legislative reference librarian, 
 at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars per year, and such other assistants 
 as may be necessary to effectively carry on the work of such department. 
 
 Sec. 3. There is hereby appropriated for the payment of the salaries 
 of such legislative reference librarian and other assistants, and of the 
 expenses and cost of supplies and publications necessary to effectually 
 carry out the provisions of this act, the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, 
 to be available on April 1, 1907, and the sum of four thousand dollars 
 annually thereafter. 
 
 Sec. 4. Whereas an emergency exists for the immediate taking effect 
 of this act, the same shall be in force from and after its passage. 
 Approved, March 9, 1907. 
 
 MICHIGAN 
 
 (Public Acts, 1907, No. 306, pp. 405-406.) 
 
 AN ACT To provide for a legislative reference and information department in connec- 
 tion with the State library, to make an appropriation therefor, and to provide a tax 
 to meet the same. 
 
 The people of the State of Michigan enact: 
 
 Section i. There is hereby created and shall be hereafter maintained 
 in connection with the State library, a department to be known as the 
 legislative reference and information department for the use and infor- 
 mation especially of members of the senate and house of representa- 
 tives, the several State departments, and such other persons as may 
 desire to consult the same. It shall be located in the State capitol as 
 conveniently as possible for members of the senate and house of rep- 
 resentatives. 
 
196 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 Sec. 2. The State librarian, within ten days after this act snail take 
 effect, shall appoint an assistant, who shall be a person trained in polit- 
 ical economy and otherwise fitted to perform the duties of this office as 
 herein defined, who shall have charge of said department under the 
 supervision of the State librarian and perform the duties hereinafter 
 prescribed. He shall receive an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars, 
 payable in the same manner as the salaries of other assistants in the 
 State library. The State librarian shall also appoint some suitable 
 person, trained in political economy and of known capability in index- 
 ing and cataloging, as clerk, who shall receive an annual salary of ten 
 hundred dollars, payable in the same manner as the salaries of other 
 assistants in the State library are paid. 
 
 Sec. 3. The said assistant shall, as soon as possible, make available 
 for ready reference and use, suitable indexes to all such information 
 as is contained in the various public documents of this State and other 
 States, including senate and house documents and legislative journals, 
 and shall keep a complete file of all bills printed by order of either 
 house of the legislature. He shall procure and compile in suitable and 
 convenient form, for ready reference and access, information as to pro- 
 posed and pending legislation in other States, and shall also investigate 
 the operation and effect of new legislation in other States and countries 
 to the end that either house of the legislature or any committee or mem- 
 ber thereof or any citizen of the State may have the fullest information 
 thereon. He shall also give such advice and assistance to the member 
 [members] of the legislature as they may require in the preparation of 
 bills and resolutions, and shall draft bills upon such subjects as they 
 may desire. 
 
 SEC. 4. At the close of each session of the legislature the secretary 
 of the senate and the clerk of the house shall, at his request, deliver to 
 the said assistant, to be appropriately filed and preserved, such copies 
 of bills and joint resolutions which shall not have been passed and are 
 still remaining in their hands, also all important petitions and memo- 
 rials and other legislative documents. 
 
 Sec. 5. The board of State auditors shall furnish, on the requisition of 
 the State librarian, all such cases as are necessary for the cataloging, 
 indexing, and filing of the materials and information collected by said 
 department, and all other supplies of said department shall be drawn 
 by the State librarian in the manner provided by law. Such printing 
 and binding as may be necessary for said department shall be done as 
 part of the printing and binding for the State. 
 
 Sec. 6. The auditor general shall add to and incorporate into the 
 State tax the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars annually, and 
 such amount is hereby appropriated from the general funds of the State, 
 which said sum shall be included in the State taxes apportioned by the 
 auditor general on all taxable property of the State, to be levied, assessed, 
 and collected, as other State' taxes, and when so assessed and collected, 
 to be paid into the general fund to reimburse said fund for the appro- 
 priation made by this act. 
 
 This act is ordered to take immediate effect. 
 
 Approved, June 28, 1907. 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 
 
 197 
 
 NORTH DAKOTA 
 (Laws 1907, ch. 243, p. 382.) 
 
 State library commission created. 
 
 AN ACT Creating a State library commission, defining its duties, and providing an 
 appropriation for its maintenance. 
 
 Sec. 5. * * * The State library commission shall have power and 
 it shall be its duty to establish a legislative reference bureau for the 
 information and assistance of the members of the legislative assembly 
 in the work of legislation. The legislation of other States and informa- 
 tion upon legal and economic questions shall be classified and catalogued 
 in such a way as to render the same easy of access to members, thereby 
 enabling them better to prepare for their work. It shall be the duty of 
 the librarian of the State library commission to assist in every way possi- 
 ble the members of the legislative assembly in obtaining information 
 and the preparation of bills. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 Approved, March 2, 1907. 
 
 OHIO 
 
 (Laws 1910, No. 384, pp. 221-222.) 
 
 AN ACT To provide for a legislative reference and information department in connection 
 with the Ohio State library. 
 
 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio: 
 
 Section i . There is hereby created and shall be hereafter maintained 
 in connection with the State library a department to be known as the 
 legislative reference and information department, for the use and infor- 
 mation especially of the members of the general assembly, the officer 
 of the several State departments, and such other persons as may desire 
 to consult the same. It shall have an office room in or near the State 
 capitol, as conveniently located as possible for the members of the 
 general assembly. 
 
 Sec. 2. The board of library commissioners shall appoint an assistant 
 who shall be known as legislative reference librarian. He shall be a 
 person well fitted by training and experience to fill the requirements 
 of this office, shall have charge of said department under the super- 
 vision of the State librarian, and shall perform the duties hereinafter 
 prescribed. The board is authorized to appoint such other assistants as 
 the work of the department may require . 
 
 Sec. 3. The legislative reference librarian shall, as soon as possible, 
 make available for ready reference and use suitable indexes to all such 
 information as is contained in the various public documents of the State, 
 including senate and house journals and executive and legislative doc- 
 uments, and shall keep a complete file of all bills printed by order of 
 either house of the general assembly. He shall procure and compile in 
 suitable and convenient form, for ready reference and access, informa- 
 tion on current and pending legislation in other States and countries, 
 to the end that the general assembly, or any member thereof, or any 
 
198 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 citizen of the State may have the benefit of snch service. He shall also 
 furnish to members of the general assembly, under their direction, such 
 assistance as they may require in the preparation and formulation of 
 bills, and perform such other duties as the board of library commis- 
 sioners and the general assembly may prescribe. 
 
 Sec. 4. At the close of each session of the general assembly the clerk 
 of the senate and the clerk of the house, at the request of the legislative 
 reference librarian, shall deliver to him, to be appropriately filed and 
 preserved, copies of bills, joint resolutions, important petitions, memo- 
 rials, and other legislative documents for the custody of which other 
 provision is not made by law. 
 
 Sec. 5. The board of library commissioners may expend in the estab- 
 lishment and equipment of the legislative reference department a sum 
 not to exceed one thousand dollars and for its maintenance such sum 
 as the general assembly shall from time to time determine. 
 
 Approved, May 13th, 1910. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 (Laws 1909, No. 143, pp. 208-210.) 
 
 AN ACT To create a legislative reference bureau in the Pennsylvania State Library; 
 
 authorizing the appointment of a reference director and subordinate officers, defining 
 
 their duties, and fixing their compensation. 
 
 Section i. Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the first day of 
 June, Anno Domini one thousand nine hundred and nine, the trustees 
 of the Pennsylvania State Library be, and they are hereby, authorized 
 and directed to maintain a legislative reference bureau in the State 
 library, for the use and information of the members of the general assem- 
 bly, the heads of the several departments of the State government, and 
 such other citizens of the Commonwealth as may desire to consult the 
 same. 
 
 Sec. 2. The director of the said legislative reference bureau of the 
 Pennsylvania State Library shall be appointed by the governor, by and 
 with the advice and consent of the Senate, to hold office during good 
 behavior, and he shall be well qualified by experience, knowledge, and 
 ability to conduct the work of the bureau, and shall receive a salary 
 of three thousand five hundred dollars per annum, and his travelling 
 expenses, actually and necessarily incurred in the performance of his 
 official duties. He shall give bond in the sum of ten thousand dollars, 
 to be approved by the governor, for the faithful performance of his 
 duties, and he shall devote his whole time and attention to the duties 
 of his office. He shall have custody -of the law library and the publi- 
 cations therein of the various State governments and the United States 
 Government, which may be generally classed as legislative documents. 
 
 Sec. 3. The director, by and with the approval of the governor, shall 
 appoint one assistant director, learned in the law, who shall receive a 
 salary of two thousand four hundred dollars per annum, and a reference 
 division stenographer, at a salary of twelve hundred dollars per annum. 
 The State librarian may also assign any employee or employees of the 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 199 
 
 library for work in the reference division during the session of the general 
 assembly. 
 
 Sec. 4. The trustees of the State library shall provide the bureau 
 with suitable rooms in the State Library Building, situated so as to give 
 the bureau ready access to the volumes, catalogues, documents, and 
 other papers in the State library, and in a place where the bureau will 
 be convenient to the members of the general assembly, and others 
 having official business with the said bureau. The reference bureau 
 shall be kept open from nine ante meridian to four post meridian during 
 the entire year, and when the general assembly is in session, at such 
 hours, day and night, as are most convenient to its members. 
 
 Sec. 5. The director shall prepare and have available for use, check 
 lists and catalogues of all Pennsylvania laws and all the current legisla- 
 tion of Pennsylvania and other States; lists of bills and resolutions pre- 
 sented in either branch of the general assembly; check lists of the public 
 documents of the State, including all reports issued by the said depart- 
 ments, boards, and commissions; digests of such public laws of this 
 and other States as may be thus best made available for legislative use; 
 catalogued files of newspaper clippings and of such other printed matter 
 as may be proper for the purposes of the bureau. The director shall also, 
 when requested by the governor, heads of departments, or members of 
 the general assembly, promptly procure available information not on 
 file in the bureau relating to pending legislation, and investigate the 
 manner in which laws have operated in other States. He shall also, if 
 possible, establish card catalogue exchanges with other States where 
 laws similar to this are now in force or hereafter may be passed. 
 
 Sec. 6. The director and his assistants shall neither oppose nor urge 
 legislation, but shall, upon request, aid and assist the members of the 
 general assembly, the governor, and the heads of departments by advis- 
 ing as to bills and resolutions and drafting the same into proper form, 
 and by furnishing to them the fullest information upon all matters in 
 the scope of the bureau relating to their public duties. No employees 
 of the bureau shall reveal to any person outside of the bureau the con- 
 tents or nature of any matter not yet published, except with the consent 
 of the person bringing such matters before the bureau. 
 
 Sec. 7. The printing and binding necessary for the proper perform- 
 ance of the duties of said division, or the proper preservation of material 
 collected under the same, shall be done by the State printer, upon the 
 order of the superintendent of public printing and binding, upon requi- 
 sition of the legislative director, countersigned by the State librarian; 
 and the board of public grounds and buildings shall, upon the requisi- 
 tion of the said director, countersigned by the State librarian, furnish 
 the bureau with such books, stationery, supplies, furniture, et cetera, 
 as may be needed to properly conduct the affairs of the bureau. 
 
 Approved the 27th day of April, A. D. 1909. 
 
200 
 
 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 RHODE ISLAND 
 
 (General Laws, revision of 1909, ch. 38. Public Laws 1471, Apr. 23, 
 1907. Public Laws 1554* Apr. 30, 1908, pp. 193-194.) 
 ***** 
 
 Sec. 17. There shall be in the State library, under the direction of 
 the State librarian, a legislative reference bureau, which shall collect,, 
 arrange, and place on file books, pamphlets, and other material relating 
 to legislation, which shall prepare abstracts of laws in other States, and 
 which shall present such other information as may be useful and neces- 
 sary to the general assembly in the performance of its legislative duties. 
 
 Sec. 18. The State librarian shall, with approval of the secretary of 
 state, employ such assistants and incur such expenses as may be neces- 
 sary in the proper administration of the bureau, and the sum of twenty- 
 three hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby 
 annually appropriated to defray the expenses of said bureau, and the 
 state auditor is hereby authorized to draw his order or orders on the 
 general treasurer upon receipt by him of vouchers approved .by the 
 secretary of state. 
 
 SOUTH DAKOTA 
 
 (Session Laws 1907, ch. 185, pp. 395-396.) 
 
 AN ACT Entitled an act establishing a division of legislative reference in the State 
 
 library. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of South Dakota: 
 
 Section i. Duty of librarian: The State librarian is hereby 
 directed to establish in the State library a division of legislative refer- 
 ence, in which he shall provide the reports of the various officers and 
 boards of this State, and as far as may be of other States, and such other 
 material upon economic and sociological subjects as he may be able to 
 provide, and shall index and classify the same and make the informa- 
 tion therein available for the use of the State legislature, and shall, as 
 required, provide for the use of members of the legislature such infor- 
 mation and assist in drafting bills, and in every reasonable way make 
 the division useful in the preparation of legislation. 
 
 Sec. 2. The various departments, officers, and boards shall provide 
 copies of their reports and publications for the legislative division of 
 the State library, and the secretary of state is directed to supply to the 
 same a complete set of the statutes and session laws of the State and of 
 the reports of the supreme court. 
 
 Sec. 3. Repeal: All acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act are 
 hereby repealed. 
 
 Approved, February 18, 1907. 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 
 
 201 
 
 TEXAS 
 
 (General Laws 1909, ch. 70, p. 126.) 
 
 AN ACT To create the Texas Library and Historical Commission, setting forth the 
 purposes of the said Library and Historical Commission, defining its powers and 
 duties, etc. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Sec. 11. That the said Library and Historical Commission is hereby 
 authorized and directed to maintain for the use and information of the 
 members of the legislature, the heads of the several State departments, 
 and such other citizens as may desire to consult the same a section of 
 the State library for legislative reference and information. The Library 
 and Historical Commission shall appoint an assistant librarian compe- 
 tent to conduct the work of said legislative reference section. Said 
 assistant librarian shall have available for use explanatory check lists 
 and catalogues of the current legislation of this and other States, cata- 
 logues of the bills and resolutions presented in either branch of the 
 legislature, check lists of the public documents of the several States, 
 including all reports issued by the various departments, boards, and 
 commissions of this State, digests of such public laws of this and other 
 States as may best be made available for legislative use. Said assistant 
 librarian shall give the members of the legislature such aid and assist- 
 ance in the drafting of bills and resolutions as may be asked. 
 
 WISCONSIN 
 
 (Laws 1903, ch. 238, p. 384.) 
 
 AN ACT To amend chapter 168 of the laws of 1901 relating to the cataloguing and dis- 
 tribution of public documents and the maintenance of a legislative reference room 
 and small working library by the Wisconsin Free Library Commission, and increasing 
 the appropriation therefor. 
 
 Sec. 373/. To Maintain Library in Capitol: The said commission 
 is also authorized and directed to maintain in the State capitol, for the 
 use and information of the legislature, the several State departments, 
 and such other citizens as may desire to consult the same, a legislative 
 reference room, and a small working library, as complete as may be, of 
 the several public documents of this and other States, and to purchase 
 for said library standard works of use and reference. The said commis- 
 sion is also hereby authorized and directed to cooperate, during sessions 
 of the legislature, with the secretary and superintendent of the State 
 Historical Society of Wisconsin, as trustee of the State, with a view to a 
 joint arrangement by which the needs of the legislature in the matter 
 of general books of reference may be met to the fullest possible extent; 
 and said commission shall give such space within its rooms to books 
 brought to the capitol by said society for such purpose as may be jointly 
 agreed upon between them. The librarian of the State library and the 
 officers of State departments are hereby authorized to give or loan to 
 the free library commission for the use of the legislative reference room 
 such books and documents as will be useful in that room. The said 
 free library commission is also authorized to give or loan to the State 
 historical society or to the State departments any books and documents 
 except those in current use in the legislative reference room. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Approved, May 13, 1903. 
 
202 
 
 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 (Laws 1907, ch. 508, pp. 70-71.) 
 
 Sec. 373L Legislative Reference Room — Appropriation: i. For 
 the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, there shall be and 
 is hereby annually appropriated to the Wisconsin Free Library Com- 
 mission from any money in the general fund not otherwise appropriated, 
 the sum of * * * fifteen thousand dollars, and any balance not 
 
 expended in any one year may be added to the expenditure for the 
 next ensuing year. 
 
 Draughtsmen: 2. Out of the above appropriation the sum of six 
 thousand dollars shall be set aside for the period of each legislative 
 session and the period of two months just preceding each legislative 
 session for the purpose of employing draughtsmen and extra help in 
 the draughting of bills. 
 
 Indexing: 3. The remainder of the appropriation shall be used for 
 the carrying out of the provisions of this act and for indexing session 
 laws, indexing the statutes, indexing of private and special laws, index- 
 ing bills, and also for indexing documents and journals from the begin- 
 ning of the history of the State. 
 
 In California, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, 
 and Virginia the State library carries on legislative reference work 
 without specific legislation on the subject. 
 
 IOWA 
 
 A joint resolution, approved April 15, 1909, fixing the number and 
 compensation of employees of State departments, provides for the 
 State librarian’s office the following: 
 
 1 legislative and general reference assistant (who shall be under 
 the direction of assistant to librarian) $1, 000 
 
 KANSAS 
 
 (Auditor’s Seventeenth Biennial Report, 1910, pp. xvi and 147.) 
 The legislature of 1909 made appropriations as follows: 
 
 Legislative reference library 
 
 1910 
 
 1911 
 
 One expert cataloguer who shall work under the State librarian, 
 
 especially in the legislative reference department 
 
 Stenographer and clerk 
 
 Postage and office incidentals 
 
 $1,000 $ 
 
 900 
 200 
 
 1,000 
 
 900 
 
 200 
 
 2, 100 
 
 Total 
 
 2, 100 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 203 
 
 The estimate of the appropriations required for the fiscal years 1912 
 and 1913 is as follows: 
 
 
 1912 
 
 1913 
 
 Cataloguer 
 
 $1, 000 
 
 $1,000 
 
 Stenographer and clerk 
 
 900 
 
 900 
 
 Postage, office incidentals, and traveling expenses 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 Extra clerk hire 
 
 600 
 
 600 
 
 Multigraph and typewriting machines 
 
 400 
 
 100 
 
 Purchase of legislative material 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 Total for legislative reference library 
 
 4,900 
 
 4,600 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS 
 (Acts 1910, Chap. 75.) 
 
 Since 1892 the following provision is found in the annual appropria- 
 tion acts: 
 
 For preparing an index to current events and such other matters 
 contained in the newspapers of the day as may be deemed impor- 
 tant by the trustees and librarian, a sum not exceeding one thous- 
 and dollars. 
 
 In the appropriation act 1910 the contingent fund of $6,000 is made 
 available for a “Card index of comparative legislation.” 
 
 NEBRASKA 
 
 The act of 1907 appropriating $15,000 for the purposes of the State 
 Historical Society, specifies among the objects for which the money 
 may be expended: “For labor and supplies in legislative reference 
 department.” 
 
 ILLINOIS 
 
 [Governor’s recommendations, 1911 — Gov. Deneen’s message, Jan. 4, 1911, Senate 
 
 Journal, p. 27.] 
 
 A legislative reference bureau 
 
 j I would urge upon your attention also the desirability of establishing 
 a legislative reference bureau, whose work would be to collect and 
 [systematize information concerning legislation and administration in 
 I this and other States and countries. This work should be done with 
 special reference to the administrative methods and legislation of inter- 
 est to the people of Illinois and the results should be available for use of 
 the State legislature and the executive and other officers of the State. 
 
 Such a legislative reference bureau in connection with the State 
 j University would have important advantages in the active assistance 
 of the university’s resources, both in its laboratory equipment and in 
 its staff of professional experts in law, political science, economists, 
 sociology, engineering, and agriculture. The work of such a bureau 
 
204 
 
 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 would be to collect material, including statutes, judicial decisions, 
 official reports, and other public documents; to index and catalogue 
 these and other materials so as to make them available for the officers 
 of the State, government and the legislature; and to conduct investi- 
 gations into problems of public administration, such as are often under- 
 taken by special commissions for the use of the legislative committees 
 and others. 
 
 During the session of the legislature the services of this bureau should 
 be primarily at its disposal, and such part of its material as might be 
 needed should be transferred to the State capitol, where it would be at 
 the immediate service of the members of the State government. 
 
 WISCONSIN 
 
 [Gov. McGovern’s message, Jan. 12, 1911, pp. 29-30.] 
 
 Legislative reference department 
 
 The legislative reference department of the Free Library Commis- 
 sion is a Wisconsin idea of great value. It has been copied by over 20 
 other States and as many cities. Foreign countries and municipalities 
 have also adopted it. Its purpose is to bring to the legislature expert 
 help in gathering the results of experience elsewhere, without which 
 legislators would be more or less helpless because of the complexity of 
 modern problems. It also furnishes the legislature with expert drafts- 
 men, skilled in the art of embodying in satisfactory form ideas which 
 the members of the legislature, untrained as m^ny of them are in this 
 work, may desire to have enacted into law. 
 
 At present this department is not supported as liberally as its impor- 
 tance demands. In carrying on its work it has been hampered for want 
 of necessary funds. I believe an additional appropriation of at least 
 $7,000 a year for this department is necessary in order to place it upon 
 a proper basis and to equip it so as to facilitate the work of the legisla- 
 ture. This will make a total appropriation for this department of but 
 $22,000. Other States devote much larger sums to this purpose for 
 services much less efficient than those this State has been accustomed 
 to receive. In the end, such additional appropriation, I am satisfied, 
 will prove the means of a much greater saving in money, to say nothing 
 of improvement in the form of the statute law enacted at each legislative 
 session. I commend this matter to your careful consideration. 
 
 Exhibit 6. — Legislative Reference Bulletins Published in 
 Various States 
 
 California. — State library . — Legislative reference bulletins: 
 
 No. 1. Hints on drawing legislative bills. 1908. 
 
 No. 2. River improvement laws in other States and countries. 
 1908. 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 205 
 
 Indiana. — State library. — Legislative reference department bulle- 
 tins: 
 
 No. 1. Local option by election. 1908. 
 
 No. 2. Index to governors’ messages 1816-1851. 1908. 
 
 No. 4. Hints on bill drafting. 1910. 
 
 Michigan. — State library. — Legislative reference department bulle- 
 tins: 
 
 No. 1. Constitution of the State of Michigan, 1850; annotated 
 for the use of the constitutional convention. 1907. 
 
 No. 2. First State constitution — 1835. Proposed constitution of 
 1867. Proposed constitution of 1873. 1907. 
 
 No. 3. Local, special, and private legislation, municipal char- 
 ters, gubernatorial veto, initiative and referendum, as 
 provided for and regulated by the constitutions of the 
 several States. 1907. 
 
 Laws of the various States relating to vagrancy. 1910. 
 
 New York. — State library. — Bulletins. Legislation: 
 
 Nos. 1-7, 9— 11, 13, 15, 18, 21, 24, 28, 32, 36, 38. Comparative 
 summary and index of legislation, 1890-1908. 
 
 Nos. 16, 19, 22, 25, 29, 33, 39. Review of legislation, 1901-1908. 
 
 Nos. 17, 20, 23, 27, 31, 35, 37. Digest of governors messages, 
 1902-1908. 
 
 No. 8. State finance statistics, 1890 and 1895. 
 
 No. 12. Trend of legislation in the United States, 1900. 
 
 No. 14. Taxation of corporations in New York, Massachusetts, 
 Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, 1901. 
 
 No. 26. Index of New York governors messages, 1777-1901. 
 
 No. 30. Legislative reference lists, 1906. 
 
 No. 34. A summary of the compulsory attendance and child- 
 labor laws of the States and Territories of the United States, 
 1907. 
 
 (Beginning with No. 20, the three or more bulletins of each year 
 are also issued in one volume under title “The Yearbook of 
 legislation. ”) 
 
 Review of legislation, 1907-8. 
 
 Contents: Labor, by L. W. Hatch. Crimes and offenses, by D. C. Brown. Cor- 
 rections, by G. McLaughlin. Public charities, by W. B. Buck. The insane, by 
 To E. McGarr. The feeble-minded and epileptic, by J. C. Carson. The family, by 
 A. M. Eaton. Public health and safety, by C. E. A. Winslow. Eood adultera- 
 tion, by W. D. Bigelow. Agriculture, by J. I. Schulte. Experiment stations and 
 inspection, by W. H. Beal. Horticulture: Diseases and pests, by E. P. Felt. 
 Public control of waters, by R. P. Teele. Land drainage, by J. T. Stewart. For- 
 estry, by P. P. Wells. Fish and fisheries, by M. C. Marsh. Game protection, by 
 T. S. Palmer. Education, by E. C. Elliott. Vocational education, by A. D. Dean. 
 Library legislation, by W. R. Eastman. Public printing and records, by P. 
 Nelson. Publications, by T. L. Cole. Courts and the practice of law, by I. Loeb. 
 Corporations, by R. C. Harrison. Property, by E. Freund. Contracts and obli- 
 gations, by J. B. Sanborn. Public utilities, by R. PI. Whitten. Municipal gov- 
 ernment, by J. A. Fair lie. State finance, by E. W. Kemmerer. Local finance, 
 by F. R. Clow. Taxation, by E. W. Kemmerer. Insurance, by S. Huebner. 
 Banking, by W. A. Scott. Commerce and industry, by S. Litman. Transporta- 
 tion and communication, by A. A. Young. Roads: 1907, by M. O. Eldridge; 1908, 
 by L. E. Boykin. Motor vehicles, by C. T. Terry, Index. 
 
 Each chapter also issued separately. 
 
206 
 
 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 North Dakota. — Public library commission. — Legislative reference 
 department bulletins: 
 
 No. i. Permanent State tax commissions, a comparative digest 
 of State legislation. 1910. 
 
 No. 2. Good roads; an outline of State road systems. 1910. 
 Rhode Island. — State library. — Legislative reference bulletins: 
 
 No. 1. The veto power in the several States. 1907. 
 
 No. 2. Automobile laws of the New England States, New York, 
 New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. 1908. 
 
 No. 3. Summary of the general banking laws of the commercial 
 States. 1908. 
 
 Virginia. — State library. — Legislative reference lists: 
 
 1910: Bank examiners. City charters. Municipal home rule. 
 Fee system. Juvenile courts. Oyster industry. Pri- 
 maries. Liquor question. Protection of birds. Taxa- 
 tion. Tuberculosis. 
 
 Wisconsin. — Free library commission. — Legislative reference depart- 
 ment bulletins: 
 
 No. 1. Railway coemployment. 1905. 
 
 No. 2. Lobbying. 1906. 
 
 No. 3. Corrupt practices at elections. 1906. 
 
 No. 4. Exemption of wages. 1906. 
 
 No. 5. Municipal electric lighting. 1906. 
 
 No. 6. Trust-company reserves. 1906. 
 
 No. 7. Taxation of trust companies. 1906. 
 
 No. 8. Municipal gas lighting. 1906. 
 
 No. 9. Boycotting. 1906. 
 
 No. 10. Blacklisting. 1906. 
 
 No. 11. Initiative and referendum. 1907. 
 
 No. 12. The recall. 1907. 
 
 No. 13. Primary elections. 1908. 
 
 No. 14. Proportional representation. 1908. 
 
 No. 15. Juvenile courts. 1908. 
 
 No. 16. Telephones: Interchange of service. [1908.] 
 
 No. 17. Mortgage taxation. 1908. 
 
 No. 18. Municipal home-rule charters. 1908. 
 
 No. 19. Tenement-house legislation, State and local. 1909. 
 
 No. 20. Accident insurance for workingmen. 1909. 
 
 No. 21. Initiative and referendum : State legislation. 1910. 
 
 No. 22. Certified public accounts. 1910. 
 
 Exhibit 7. — Library of Congress 
 
 Select lists of references. — Political science and economics: 
 
 American occupation of the Philippines, 1898-1903. 1905. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon interests. 1903; 2d issue, 1906. 
 
 Banks and banking. 1904; 1st & 2d banks of the United States. 
 1908. 
 
 British tariff movement (Chamberlain’s plan). 1904; 2dissue, 1906. 
 Budget of foreign countries. 1904. 
 
 Cabinets of England and America. 1903. 
 
207 
 
 Legislative Reference Bureaus 
 
 Select lists of references — Political science and economics: 
 
 Child labor. 1906. 
 
 Chinese immigration. 1904. 
 
 Colonization, government of dependencies, protectorates, and re- 
 lated topics. 1900; 2d edition, 1900. 
 
 Constitution of the United States. 1903. 
 
 Consular service. 1905. 
 
 Corrupt practices in elections. 1908. 
 
 Cost of living and prices. 1910. 
 
 Currency and banking. 1908. 
 
 Debates in Federal convention on election of Senators. 1902. 
 Deep waterways from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. 1908. 
 Eight-hour working day and limitation of working hours in general. 
 1908. 
 
 Employers’ liability. 1906. 
 
 Far East. 1904. 
 
 Federal control of commerce and corporations. 1903 ; 2d issue, 1904. 
 Fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, with special reference to 
 negro suffrage. 1906. 
 
 Government ownership of railroads. 1903. 
 
 Immigration. 1904; 2d issue. 1905; 3d issue. 1907. 
 Impeachment. 1905. 
 
 Industrial arbitration. 1903. 
 
 Insurance, United States and foreign countries. 1906; 2d ed. 1908. 
 International arbitration. 1908. 
 
 Iron and steel in commerce. 1907. 
 
 Labor, particularly relating to strikes. 1903. 
 
 Mercantile marine subsidies. 1900; 2ded. 1903; 3d ed. 1906. 
 Municipal affairs, with special reference to municipal ownership. 
 1906. 
 
 Negro question. 1903; 2d issue. 1906. 
 
 Old-age and civil-service pensions. 1903. 
 
 Political parties in the United States. 1907. 
 
 Popular election of Senators. 1904. 
 
 Postal savings banks. 1908. 
 
 Primary elections, particularly direct primaries. 1905. 
 Proportional representation. 1904. 
 
 Railroads in foreign countries. Governmental regulation. 1905. 
 Railroads in their relation to the Government and the public. 
 
 1904; 2d issue. 1907. 
 
 Reciprocity. 1902; 2d ed. 1910. 
 
 Reciprocity with Canada. 1907. [2d ed. 1910] 
 
 Recognition in international law and practice. 1904. 
 
 Sugar, chiefly in its economic aspects. 1910. 
 
 Supreme Court of the United States. 1909. 
 
 Tariffs of foreign countries. 1906. 
 
 Taxation of inheritances and of incomes. 1907. 
 
 Trusts. 1900; 2d ed. 1902; 3d ed. 1907. 
 
 Valuation and capitalization of railroads. 1909. 
 
 Workingmen ’s insurance . 1 908 . 
 
208 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 INDEXES AND COMPILATIONS OF LAW 
 Exhibit 8. — Proposal for Index to Comparative Legislation 
 Estimates for 1904 
 
 Estimate . — For the preparation of an index to comparative legisla- 
 tion, including subscription to and purchase of publications and other 
 necessary material, and for traveling expenses, transportation, sta- 
 tionery, postage, and all services and incidental expenses connected 
 with the compilation of such index, $28,000. 
 
 [Extract from letter of transmittal accompanying estimates Oct. 6 , 1902.] 
 
 This proposes an entirely new undertaking for the Library. An 
 index to comparative legislation brings together a descriptive state- 
 ment of the laws that are being enacted by the various legislative 
 bodies of the civilized world. If accompanied by a reference to pre- 
 ceding statutes or by brief abstracts indicating the course of legislation, 
 it may become an instrument of the highest value not merely to the 
 theoretic investigator, but to the practical legislator. 
 
 There is at present no such index comprehensive in scope. An 
 index published by the State library at Albany covers the legislation 
 of the several States. An index that would cover promptly, intelli- 
 gently, and accurately the current legislation of the world would 
 render a great public service — a service to the legislator in Congress, 
 to the executive branch of the Government in its diplomatic relations, 
 to the scientific bureaus of the Government, and to all students of cur- 
 rent, political, and economic facts and tendencies. Published peri- 
 odically — say monthly — it can be made to broaden its service, to the 
 aid of legislators, administrators, and investigators in all parts of this 
 country and in other countries. The work should be done at Wash- 
 ington. It can only be done at the National Library, where the mate- 
 rial is to be found or by which (with the aid of the consular and diplo- 
 matic representatives’ of the United States) it can most effectively be 
 secured. It will require not merely the current statutes promptly 
 upon their enactment, but the files showing the legislation of the 
 past. It will require subscriptions to a considerable amount of mate- 
 rial which can not be secured by the library as gift. It will require a 
 systematically organized corps of special workers, besides the routine 
 service for recording, classifying, and for correspondence. 
 
 If such a work can be organized at the Library of Congress, it will do 
 more than any other expenditure of a similar amount to make useful 
 the great mass of legislative documents which are accumulating within 
 its walls, and which it has an opportunity to accumulate unequaled 
 by any other institution in the world. 
 
 I shall be prepared to submit to the Appropriations Committees a 
 more particular description of this proposal, with illustrations. 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 209 
 
 [Communication from the Librarian of Congress to the Subcommittee on Appropria- 
 tions, House of Representatives] 
 
 The Library op Congress, December 3, 1902. 
 
 Sir: In response to your suggestion at the hearing, I beg to add to 
 my statement concerning the proposed “Index to Comparative Leg- 
 islation” the following: 
 
 Scope. — The index would cover all the statute laws of all the civi- 
 lized countries having legislative assemblies whose deliberations and 
 activities are of interest to Congress, to our other legislative bodies, to our 
 executive and scientific bureaus, and to the student and investigator. 
 It would cover primarily the most recent enactments. It would from 
 time to time trace back the entire course of legislation in a particular 
 country upon the particular subject, in order to show the bearing and 
 significance of a recent act, if epoch making. 
 
 Form. — It would consist of a monthly bulletin, with at least an 
 annual summary. 
 
 The index would be not merely a list of the acts by title. This 
 would contribute little. It would indicate the subject matter of the 
 act and at times analyze it. It would therefore be a subject index, 
 in a measure a digest. 
 
 It should contain also references to articles in journals in the nature 
 of commentaries upon or expositions of particular legislation, and 
 possibly to important judicial decisions interpreting them. It would 
 avail itself of the work of the three societies (in London, Paris, and 
 Berlin) dealing with comparative legislation within particular fields. 
 
 It would be “comparative” in that it would bring under one head- 
 ing — that of the subject itself — the recent legislation of various coun- 
 tries with reference to that subject. The reference would not, as a 
 rule, go beyond the summary. Occasionally, however, it might seem 
 desirable to reprint in English the substantial part of some act of a 
 foreign government bearing upon a subject under discussion in Congress. 
 
 The occasional resume would enable the investigator to trace back 
 the course of legislation on that subject. 
 
 Cost. — The estimate submitted is $28,000. This is for but the first 
 year. The index will be of no importance unless continued and 
 maintained currently. During the first year little can probably be 
 done except to effect the organization, to gather and systematize mate- 
 rial, open communication with the legislative centers, determine 
 methods and processes, and begin the classification and digestion of 
 the material and the card indexes which must precede the published 
 bulletins. The estimate of expense for the first year may be taken 
 as a fair estimate of the annual expense. The outlay for material, 
 equipment, and transportation for the first year will be larger than 
 afterwards, but the expense of editing may be less. 
 
 ELEMENTS OP EXPENSE 
 
 1. Equipment. — The cost of this will be slight — desks, tables, filing 
 cabinets, etc. 
 
 2. Material. — The library has already a mass of statute laws, and 
 much comes to it without cost through international exchange; but 
 
210 
 
 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 for the purpose of the index and, indeed, for all inquiries into statute 
 law, a complete set of the statutes of every country is essential. In 
 many cases the sets in the library are very imperfect, and the defects 
 can now be made good only by purchase. 
 
 For the purpose of the index there must be a subscription to at least 
 two copies of all the publications which give the current legislation 
 and of the journals which deal with it. More copies may be desirable 
 for cutting and pasting. 
 
 Organization . — So far as I have been able to give consideration to 
 this the minimum requisite would be as follows: 
 
 General director in charge of the work, who must have legal 
 training, a good general education, a fair knowledge of the 
 most important foreign languages, and initiative, method, 
 
 and executive ability. Salary $3,000 
 
 4 scientific experts, each with a general education and profes- 
 sional training similar to that of the chief of the division, and 
 competent to analyze, digest, compile, and edit laws of vari- 
 ous countries having different constitutions, but not called 
 upon for the larger administrative functions: One to cover 
 
 Great Britian and her colonies; two for Continental Europe, 
 
 Africa, and the Orient, and one for South and Central Amer- 
 ica, at $2,000 (probably $2,250) each 8, 000 
 
 4 translators (there would be nearly 20 languages involved, 
 including some of the most difficult, as Russian), at $1,200 
 
 each 4, 800 
 
 1 cataloguer 1, 200 
 
 1 proof reader 1, 200 
 
 2 stenographers and typewriters, at $900 each 1, 800 
 
 Subordinate service — for classifying, copying, writing index 
 
 cards, and messenger work, etc., say 4, 000 
 
 In addition to the above, there would be the compensation of certain 
 correspondents who, in important legislative centers, would make 
 periodical reports upon legislation pending, give information as to 
 publications and aid in procuring them. Such correspondents must 
 be experts in the statute laws of their countries and competent also, 
 if required, to aid in tracing back the history and motive of legislation 
 upon a particular subject and the bearing of any particular act. Such 
 experts could, I think, be secured at a small compensation in each 
 case. It is essential that they be paid something, otherwise they 
 could not be held accountable for promptness, accuracy, and thor- 
 oughness. 
 
 The service connected with the work may therefore mean an annual 
 expenditure of over $24,ooo. 1 This leaves a very narrow margin for 
 the acquisition of material, for freight, transportation, and miscel- 
 laneous expenses, as indicated. During the first year particularly, 
 while material is being sought, communications opened, and corre- 
 
 1 By the $16,000 which I mentioned at the hearing I had in mind only the special 
 expert service comprised in the first three items above. 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 21 1 
 
 spondents secured, there would have to be a considerable expenditure 
 for transportation. 
 
 The expert service required for dealing with foreign legislation is of 
 a very different grade from that which suffices for an intelligible treat- 
 ment of American statute law. Not merely do the languages present 
 difficulties — an intelligent presentation of a statute of a foreign country 
 requires knowledge of the constitution of that country, of its history, 
 of its methods of legislative procedure, and of its executive and judicial 
 organization. 
 
 Usefulness of the work . — I have adverted to this in the letter accom- 
 panying my estimates, I may add the following suggestions: 
 
 The subjects treated in the index would include subjects that bear 
 upon the work of every legislative assembly in the United States, a 
 considerable number of subjects of interest to municipalities, a larger 
 number of interest to State legislatures, and a most important group of 
 subjects of constant interest to Congress. Among these latter I may 
 note the following: 
 
 Taxation in all branches; revenue, customs and internal, tariffs; 
 subsidies and bounties, finance, currency, banking, etc.; weights and 
 measures, commercial regulations; navigation; railroads; telegraphs; 
 postal systems, public franchises generally; corporations (regulation of); 
 public health, e. g., pure food laws, meat inspection, quarantine laws; 
 immigration and emigration, naturalization, extradition; labor legisla- 
 tion, e. g., arbitration, coal mines, factory inspection; elective franchise , 
 regulation of religious orders; tenures; irrigation; forestry; protection of 
 magistrates. 
 
 The above are only examples. They will extend, as Congress may 
 have to deal further with domestic and international questions, par- 
 ticularly as it will have to deal with the Territories, for which it 
 legislates directly, and the newly acquired dependencies, where the 
 problems to be solved are problems with which foreign countries have 
 had in some form to deal. 
 
 In the experience of the Library, inquiries from Congress touching 
 foreign legislation take the following, among other, forms (the examples 
 are actual): 
 
 (1) A request for a particular statute, e. g., the Belgium arbitration 
 act; (2) a request for all the statutes of a country relating to a particular 
 subject, e. g., old age pensions in Great Britain; (3) a request for the 
 legislation of foreign countries upon a given subject, e. g., regulations 
 of trade in foreign countries; (4) a request for any laws attempting to 
 legislate for a particular class of interests in a particular way, e. g., 
 foreign statutes encouraging by bounties the merchant marine or sugar 
 production. 
 
 A response to such inquiries, except possibly the first, can at present 
 be neither prompt, certain, brief, nor conclusive. Even if the statutes 
 are here, they must be traced down from a mass, and the time of the 
 inquirer and of the Library unnecessarily consumed both in the search 
 and in the examination of laws which, though having a bearing upon 
 the general subject, would by index or digest be shown to have no 
 
212 
 
 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 bearing upon the particular points in which the inquirer is interested. 
 With the index well under way, the material perfected and system- 
 atized, and an organization whose particular function would be to 
 answer just such inquiries, the response might have all four of these 
 requisites — promptness, certainty, brevity, and conclusiveness. 
 
 In addition to inquiries from Congress are inquiries from executive 
 departments and scientific bureaus of the Government, andfrom various 
 commissions established from time to time to investigate and report 
 to Congress. The work of the departments and scientific bureaus 
 quite often calls for an investigation of foreign legislation on a given 
 subject. (I may instance a present investigation by the Agricultural 
 Department as to foreign laws regulating the inspection of meats.) 
 The commissions created by Congress to investigate and report almost 
 invariably include in their report a summary of foreign legislation. In 
 the absence of any digest of foreign statute laws these investigations 
 have to be special and can not but be costly and, to a great extent, 
 repetitious. With the index thoroughly established, both special inves- 
 tigation and repetition would be avoided. 
 
 Beyond the uses of Congress, of other legislative bodies, and of the 
 scientific bureaus or executive commissions, there would be the use of 
 the student and investigator. The service to these is so obvious as to 
 need no explanation. There is no class of material in the Library as 
 to which individual effort on the part of the inquirer is so extravagant 
 or apt to be so futile as it is in the case of the material of documents and 
 legislation generally. There is none which is so inert unless galvanized 
 by some system of digest and exposition. 
 
 The undertaking would be one apart from the routine of the present 
 administration of the Library, but it is one which I have felt called 
 upon to recommend, because it seems to have a logical claim upon the 
 National Library from its preeminent resources, its relation of service 
 to other institutions, and its peculiar duty, not merely as a general 
 library, but as the chief legislative library of this country. 
 
 I do not recommend it, however, unless the appropriation can be 
 sufficient to insure that the work shall be comprehensive, thorough, 
 scientific, and the results authoritative. I may have underestimated 
 the cost. I am sure that I have not overestimated it. 
 
 Very respectfully 
 
 Herbert Putnam 
 Librarian of Congress 
 
 Hon. Henry H. Bingham 
 
 Chairman Subcommittee on Appropriations 
 
 House of Representatives 
 
 Exhibit 9. — Statutory Law Service 
 
 About five years ago the Librarian of Congress proposed to Congress 
 the establishment of a permanent bureau which should prepare an 
 “index to comparative legislation,” and in particular he emphasized 
 the indexing of foreign legislation. The proposal called for an annual 
 expenditure of at least $28,000. It has been recommended each year 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 213 
 
 since 1902 to the Appropriations Committee, but no action has been 
 taken by the committee. 
 
 For the fiscal year 1906-7 Congress appropriated $5,840 to establish 
 m the law library a law service which should prepare a scientific index 
 to all the statutes and treaties of the United States. For the fiscal year 
 1907-8 this sum of $5,840 was continued, together with $5 ,000 additional 
 carried in the general deficiency bill, for the purpose of hastening the 
 preparation of that portion of the index which would refer to the stat- 
 utes found in the Revised Statutes of 1873 and the sessional statutes 
 subsequently enacted. 
 
 Gradually there has been gathered for this study of the statutes a 
 small group of young lawyers. The task involves a most exacting 
 study of our existing statute law, and to insure successful results calls 
 for the finest quality of legal mind. Several lawyers, highly recom- 
 mended, have tried the work and failed, either because they lacked 
 alertness of mind, ability to differentiate between the fundamental 
 and incidental analogies of the principles involved in the statutes, 
 retentive memory for the numerous categories and the concepts given 
 to each of them, or the capacity to use precise and concise legal diction. 
 
 To prepare expeditiously a guide, in detail, to the innumerable sub- 
 jects found in the 40,000 pages of statutes and treaties it was necessary 
 that the work should be taken up cooperatively. To insure uniformity 
 and harmony in a large index prepared by several persons, it was nec- 
 essary that they should employ identical methods from day to day 
 throughout the entire work. Of the processes involved in indexing, 
 classification is probably the one most susceptible to indefinite varia- 
 tion. To eliminate such a danger and provide a means for keeping 
 together, it was necessary to prepare at the outset a tentative plan of 
 subject headings, subheadings, and cross references. As initial work, 
 this classification plan was difficult to prepare, and it is constantly 
 being modified in connection with the close study now being given the 
 statutes. The classification plan will therefore only be completed 
 when the whole index is completed. If it should meet substantial 
 approval and have the effect, which is expected, of greatly economizing 
 the time of all inquirers seeking Federal statute law, a strong reason 
 would exist for subjecting the State statutes to the same scientific 
 treatment. 
 
 The practical importance of a detailed, comparative index to the 
 constitutions and statutes of the States of the United States needs no 
 argument. Were the separate indexes to the sessional statutes, revi- 
 sions, and codes of all the States constructed in accordance with an 
 approximately uniform system of classification, a comparative index 
 to the legislation of this country would exist which would be of practical 
 use to the profession, to legislators, to scholars, and to those who under- 
 take from time to time to prepare consolidations of the sessional statutes 
 in the shape of revisions and codes. With a standard plan of classifica- 
 tion once scientifically prepared and the constitutions, statutes, and 
 codes regularly indexed by lawyers of aptitude and training for the 
 task, a handy comparative index to any subject of constitutional or 
 statute law could be readily compiled. 
 
214 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 Each of the lawyers engaged in the present undertaking has taken 
 a group of the subjects treated of in the Federal statutes and has pro- 
 ceeded to read systematically the entire body of acts, joint resolutions, 
 etc. , and to study and index such of them as deal with his particular 
 subjects. To index accurately and with fullness the detail of any sub- 
 ject, complete knowledge of it in its various phases and also of its 
 various relations to cognate subjects is required. Of course a mastery 
 of any considerable number of the numerous subjects in the statutes, 
 as they are administered by the executives and interpreted by the 
 courts, is impossible without long study. 
 
 Right here it should be noted that the parliamentary draftsmen who are 
 employed by the legislative bodies of England, France, Germany, and 
 other countries to index, consolidate, and draft statutes make no pre- 
 tension to omniscience of the subject matter of the law. They aim 
 to have a comprehensive knowledge of the law in its various relations, 
 particularly of the statute law (including its relation to executive rules 
 and regulations), and of the problems respecting its form and phrase- 
 ology. They claim, also, to know enough to consult the lawyers and 
 others who are specialists in subject matter. For the employment of 
 such specialists by the parliamentary draftsmen of England, $7,500 is 
 annually appropriated to be used or not as occasion requires. 
 
 It is frequently said that indexing of statutes calls for a “peculiar” 
 sort of mind. And so it does, but not in the sense in which the word is 
 understood by those who make the remark. Throughout this country 
 there has been no systematic study of the statutes by able lawyers who 
 were devoting themselves to it as a life work. From time to time indi- 
 viduals have been called in from other pursuits in the law, or from 
 other business, to engage temporarily in the preparation of a compilation, 
 revision, code, or index of the statutes. Indexes are generally prepared 
 by men of very ordinary ability who have little or no legal training. 
 Their slow mental processes and lack of method usually prevent them 
 from using the stenographic and other clerical assistants which relieve 
 such work of the humdrum drudgery with which it is generally regarded. 
 Where a study of the statutes is undertaken by lawyers of real legal 
 ability, well trained in history and political science, who command the 
 use of precise diction and are alive to the method and form involved in 
 philosophical law work, who have an aptitude for constructive law 
 work of a comprehensive character and an alert, practical judgment in 
 the analysis and synthesis of statutory materials, the study of the stat- 
 utes for the purpose of bringing to light the numerous correlations 
 becomes a delightful task. Such work demands a division of labor. 
 The lawyer must confine his attention to the legal problems involved 
 and be able to relegate to different clerks the doing of the different 
 processes which he devises as incidental to his purpose. The lawyer 
 who is unable to do this is absolutely unfit to index statutes or assume 
 any other responsible work connected with a statutory law service. 
 
 In the proposals and discussions hitherto in regard to indexing legis- 
 lation and, indeed, in the work which has been undertaken, the quali- 
 ties of mind and training of those who are required to perform the work 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 215 
 
 have not been appreciated. An index is a guide. Guides are made to 
 economize time and give certainty. A good index is one which leads 
 an inquirer directly to what he wants and puts him in touch with all 
 that he seeks. The insight and comprehensive knowledge which a 
 lawyer must have who presumes to foresee what other lawyers may want 
 in the body of statutes have apparently escaped the attention of those 
 who have given the subject of indexing the statutes consideration. 
 Such indexes must meet the practical needs of the lawyer because 
 sooner or later all exact and serious use of the statutes falls to men 
 trained in law. 
 
 The tremendous increase throughout the world, and particularly in 
 the United States, in legislative-made law is a matter of current com- 
 ment. Reliable indexes to this vast material should be made. Econ- 
 omy demands it. The aggregate cost of time now expended in separate 
 searches, because of the lack of such indexes, is immeasurable. But 
 this cost is a bagatelle compared with that which proceeds from the 
 unspeakable condition of the statutes themselves. For under this head 
 must be reckoned not only the cost of useless litigation and unnecessary 
 injustices, but the demoralizing effect upon society which lawless 
 statutes produce in the way of lawlessness. Therefore the cost of a 
 statutory-law service is trifling in comparison with the economies 
 which may be effected if lawyers of the right quality are permanently 
 employed to study the statutes and index them and the fruits of their 
 experience and skill are made use of by the legislators. 
 
 The practical relation of scientific indexes to better legislation has 
 not been understood in this country. It should be carefully considered. 
 By bringing to light all the law which has a bearing on the subjects of 
 proposed legislation, such indexes would undoubtedly enable our 
 legislators (particularly if they avail themselves of the assistance of the 
 statutory specialists who made the indexes) to prepare statutes which 
 are not only more harmonious and consistent in principle, precise in 
 phraseology, and clear and intelligible in form, but which are better in 
 subject matter, fewer in number, and shorter in length. If one would 
 get an idea of the pathology, or nosology of our statutory drafting, 
 he should read the books on statutory construction. They illustrate 
 Copiously the bad drafting which comes from not employing lawyers 
 who are habituated to the exact, painstaking work of indexing, drafting, 
 and consolidating the statutes. 
 
 On the Continent of Europe, where they have been preparing codes 
 and revisions for 2,000 years, and in England, a detailed subject index 
 of the statutes has generally been considered a prerequisite process of 
 the scientific method which should be employed in the preparation of 
 an accurate and orderly revision, consolidation, or codification of the 
 sessional statutes. The correlations secured by means of a scientific in- 
 dex afford, not only the only safeguard against an inadvertent omission 
 of any items in the sessional statutes, but they are absolutely essential 
 to the most logical and practical classification of the subject matter 
 of the sessional statutes. The study which is given the statutes in the 
 preparation of an index to them is cursory compared to that which may 
 i°°55 0 — 11 15 
 
2l6 
 
 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 be necessary on any particular subject in the preparation of a code or 
 consolidation of it, but the understanding of the historical and com- 
 parative relations of the statutes as a whole with their particular parts, 
 which may be gained by an able lawyer in scientifically indexing 
 them, becomes invaluable to him in the preparation of a consolidation 
 or in the drafting of supplementary legislation. 
 
 As to the indexing of foreign law, it is possible here td spend a good 
 deal of money and get very little that has practical use. Like the 
 statutory law work already discussed, it requires a legal mind of par- 
 ticular aptitude and judgment. In addition, it requires that the 
 principles, concepts, and conditions of a foreign-law system shall be 
 understood in the terms of the principles, concepts, and conditions of 
 our American law system. The absence of equivalents necessitates 
 careful study and close comparisons. The lawyers who have the 
 capacity and training to index and expound foreign legislation are few. 
 It would therefore be wise to develop this phase of our statutory law 
 work gradually, but the preparation should be begun at once. The 
 initial work is large and some of it is very difficult. Besides collecting 
 the law literature of each country which is most practically useful and 
 determining the classes of subjects which should be indexed com- 
 paratively, the preparation of a classification plan must be taken up. 
 This involves many perplexing problems, which probably could be 
 best worked out in connection with the work involved in answering the 
 inquiries which come from Congress for the foreign law on particular 
 subjects. By the use in such special investigations of carefully thought- 
 out methods, it is possible to develop gradually a system of records 
 which may become the basis for the ultimate index. 
 
 Congress, like all the American legislatures, is constantly informed 
 that such and such has been the legislative action of some foreign state. 
 At present there is absolutely no way by which our legislatures can 
 systematically verify these assertions. 
 
 Individuals are occasionally employed for a short time at high com- 
 pensation (because temporary service ordinarily costs more relatively 
 than permanent service) to report the foreign law on some very impor- 
 tant subject. Frequently these individuals are not thoroughly trained 
 in the technicalities of American law and the foreign laws which they 
 must handle. Their reports therefore lack the exactness which a 
 serious use of the material demands. Such reports, too, are frequently 
 inaccurate for another reason. To search any law subject with thor- 
 oughness one should check up his own investigations with all the best 
 treatises, digests, encyclopedias, compilations, and other lawreference 
 books to be had. The occasional investigator of foreign laws not only 
 does not know of the existence of many of these law reference books, 
 but, because such books have not been systematically gathered by any 
 law library, he is frequently unable to obtain those of which he may 
 know in time for his investigation. In every country there are law 
 books published which are inaccurate, incomplete, unindexed, or 
 poorly indexed and arranged, and there are other publications which 
 are copiously annotated, accurate, complete, and fully indexed. The 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 217 
 
 occasional investigator of foreign law can hardly be expected to have 
 the latest and fullest information about the relative, practical, and 
 scientific value of the law literature of the several countries which are 
 involved in his report on a particular subject. 
 
 It is to be assumed that American legislators are anxious to avail 
 themselves of the experience and suggestion contained in foreign 
 statutes wherever a particular legislative device, after careful investi- 
 gation of the surrounding conditions, seems susceptible of practical 
 adaptation. Very infrequently is it safe to enact, without modifica- 
 tion, the statute of another jurisdiction. The foreign statute may 
 contain a suggestion which, to be of practical use, must be wisely 
 adapted. This is a fact often overlooked by the superficial and clamor- 
 ous reformers. Every consideration of prudence and economy dictates 
 that Congress should have its own permanently employed lawyers for 
 such work, that they should be persons of special aptitude and training 
 for the unique task and thoroughly devoted to the particular law service 
 for which they are retained. 
 
 The propriety of authorizing the law library to undertake this law 
 work might be questioned because of the novelty of the proposal. The 
 reasons for it would seem to be that such a statutory-law service, in 
 order to do its work, must be diligently employed throughout the year 
 whether Congress is in session or not; that the Library of Congress is 
 the only branch of Congress which has a permanent and responsible 
 executive organization; that the supervision of such a service and the 
 furnishing it with the stationery and other supplies regularly needed 
 could be done most conveniently through the organization of the 
 Library of Congress; that from the nature of the work it will be neces- 
 sary constantly to use the law books and periodicals of the law library; 
 that such use must be made without interfering with the use of these 
 materials by readers, borrowers, and others who rely upon the law 
 library collections; that a statutory-law service should have readily 
 at hand the experts in legal bibliography whom the law library must 
 necessarily employ in order to gather its law literature ; that in general 
 the duties of procuring the law literature and of making its subject 
 matter available to the needs of Congress are so intimately connected 
 that it would be more economical and efficient to establish a statutory- 
 law service in connection with the law library; further, the fact that 
 the law library has had a place in the Capitol Building for many years, 
 and that a statutory-law service should have a location in the Capital 
 during the sessions of Congress and there enjoy the fullest access to a 
 working law library, makes it desirable that such a service should form 
 a part of the law library organization; finally, it would be generally 
 admitted by the Senators and Representatives that such a service must 
 be kept strictly out of politics if any reliance is to be placed upon its 
 assistance, and that the sole consideration in the selection of the indi- 
 vidual assistants must be their technical fitness for statute-law work. 
 
 If it should seem that the points urged in respect to the study of stat- 
 ute law by lawyers of aptitude and training have been unduly empha- 
 
2 1 8 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 sized, let some of the more obvious aspects of the problem be borne in 
 mind. 
 
 The great body of statutes are concerned with the administrative du- 
 ties and powers of the public authorities. The lawyer in general prac- 
 tice has little or no occasion to consider in a general or comprehensive 
 way the administrative system as a whole. American statutes under- 
 take to regulate legal relations in much more minute detail than is done 
 in other countries. It is therefore necessary that American legislators 
 should have a more detailed and exact knowledge of administrative law 
 than the legislators of other countries, and this necessity is again empha- 
 sized by the fact that the chief executive authorities of all other popular 
 lawmaking countries are members of the legislatures and are expected 
 to initiate legislation and stand ready in debate to explain the relation 
 of the existing administrative law to their proposed measures. 
 
 In other constitutional governments the interpretation which the 
 legislature may give the constitution is final and its enactments are 
 always law. In the United States the judiciary is given a veto on the 
 statutes which do not conform with its constitutional interpretations. 
 It is therefore most important that the legislators in this country know 
 more concerning the decisions of the courts than those in other coun- 
 tries. To retain the confidence of the public and to avoid the humilia- 
 tion of attempting to enact statutes which it is obvious can have no 
 legal force, our legislatures should have some systematic way of ascer- 
 taining the existing law which is incident to any subject of proposed 
 legislation. 
 
 The confusions, contradictions, and defects generally in the form and 
 phraseology of the American statutes are subjects of common reproach 
 by the judiciary, the legal profession and the legislators themselves. 
 In view of the condition of the statutes enacted in foreign countries, it 
 can hardly be seriously urged that faults of this character are the inevi- 
 table accompaniment of lawmaking by popularly elected lawmakers. 
 
 The function of law is to regulate the relationships of society. The 
 more complex those relationships become the more difficult they are to 
 regulate. The increasing complexity of modern society is a matter of 
 current comment, likewise the swiftness with which relations are estab- 
 lished and broken among men in our moving civilization. The legisla- 
 tive methods which are satisfactory in a rural and sparsely settled coun- 
 try can hardly be expected to succeed in a densely populated commun- 
 ity engaged in innumerable occupations. There is a strong tendency, 
 particularly in the United States, to call upon our legislatures to modify 
 and remedy existing law. To respond to such demands, the legisla- 
 tures should have their own special assistants, who are familiar with the 
 legislative point of view, to prepare for them clear, exact statements of 
 the existing law and the problems involved in particular subjects of pro- 
 posed legislation. Ours is the only great country having popular law- 
 making bodies which fail to employ specialists in statutory law to assist 
 them. The fact that this device has been developed in foreign coun- 
 tries should be no objection to it if it seems to offer, in some degree, a 
 remedy to the evils which are recognized and deprecated by all. At 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 219 
 
 least, such a device seems worthy of serious consideration at this time. 
 For it will take some years for any group of lawyers to develop the meth- 
 ods and skill which have been gradually developed abroad by the law- 
 yers who are employed to index and consolidate the statutes and to 
 assist in the drafting of new legislation. 
 
 ATTORNEYS AND ASSISTANTS NEEDED 
 
 As a next step toward the establishment of a statutory-law service in 
 the Law Library, it is recommended that the present appropriation of 
 $10,840 be increased to $20,440. It would be preferable to have this 
 appropriated as a lump sum for the payment of salaries, as follows: 
 
 Foreign-law attorney $3, 000 
 
 Foreign-law attorney (these men must be well trained in Anglo- 
 American law and between them have a thorough grasp of the 
 principles and juristic phraseology of the law of the Teutonic 
 
 and Latin countries). 2, 500 
 
 Foreign-law stenographer (he must have some training in law 
 
 and foreign languages) 1,200 
 
 The total appropriation recommended to begin the foreign statute 
 law service is $6,700. 
 
 American-law attorney $3, 000 
 
 American-law attorney 2, 500 
 
 American-law attorney 1, 800 
 
 American-law attorney 1, 500 
 
 American-law attorney and proof reader 1, 200 
 
 Law stenographer 900 
 
 Law stenographer 720 
 
 File clerk 720 
 
 Law librarian and attorney 500 
 
 The total appropriation recommended to continue the statute-law 
 service, covering statutes in the English language, is $13,740. The 
 study of the English statutes and British colonial statutes for the pur- 
 pose of a comparative index to foreign statutes would be conducted. by 
 the attorneys who are at present indexing the statutes and treaties of the 
 United States. During the period when Congress is in session they 
 would hold themselves in readiness to prepare reports for the commit- 
 tees of the Senate and House on any subject of existing law. When 
 Congress is adjourned they would continue, for the immediate present, 
 the indexing, which has been begun. They would also prepare com- 
 plete tables of the repeals and amendments to indicate the relations of 
 the statutes and resolutions in these respects. The index and tables are 
 basic to any exact work in connection with the compiling, consolidat- 
 ing, or drafting of statutes. The experience gained in this initial study 
 of the statutes will be invaluable to the doing of any further work which 
 Congress may authorize. 
 
220 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 BILL DRAFTING 
 Exhibit io 
 
 [Extract from an address by James Bryce (British ambassador), before the New York 
 State Bar Association, Jan. 24, 1908.] 
 
 To secure these merits two things are needed, viz, that a bill as 
 introduced should be skillfully drafted, and that pains should be taken 
 to see that all amendments made are also properly drafted, and that 
 the working is carefully revised at the last stage and before the bill is 
 enacted. Of these objects the former is in England pretty well secured 
 by the modem practice of having all government bills — these being 
 the most important and the large majority of those that pass — prepared 
 by the official draftsman, called the parliamentary counsel to the 
 treasury. If the form is not always satisfactory, that is due not to his 
 fault, but to parliamentary considerations, viz, the need for putting 
 measures into shape which makes it least difficult to run them through 
 Parliament. As respects amendments in committee and final revision, 
 our English procedure is not satisfactory. There ought to be some 
 means of correcting, before a measure finally passes, those inelegancies, 
 redundancies, and ambiguities which the process of amending in com- 
 mittee usually causes. But as Parliament has, so far, refused to allow 
 any authority outside itself to alter the wording in the smallest point 
 of form, all that can be done is to use the last stage of the bill to cure 
 such blemishes as can be discovered. Doubtless the same difficulties 
 arise here. I am not fully informed as to how they are dealt with, but 
 have learned with great interest of the efforts recently made in Wis- 
 consin, under the zealous initiative of Mr. McCarthy, and in this State 
 also, to supply by a bureau of legislation assistance to members of the 
 legislature in the preparation of their bills. The value of this seems 
 to have been already recognized in both States, and I hear that there 
 are now seven States in all where arrangements are made by State 
 authority for such help. — [From Columbia Law Review, vol. 8, Mar., 
 1908, pp. 160-161.] 
 
 Exhibit ii 
 
 [“The Need of Parliamentary Draftsmen,” by F. J. Stimson. Extract from his “Pop- 
 ular Law Making,” 1910, pp. 361-363.] 
 
 The most important statute of the United States is perhaps the most 
 horrible example of slovenliness, bad form, and contradiction of all. 
 The Hepburn Act is the amended interstate-commerce act, and is 
 printed by Congress in a pamphlet incorporating with it quite a differ- 
 ent act, known as the Elkins Act, besides the safety-appliance act, the 
 arbitration act, and several others. We all remember under what 
 political stress this legislation was passed, with Congress balking, the 
 Senators going one way, the Attorney-General another, the radical 
 Congressmen in front, and the President pushing them all. It is easily 
 intelligible that such a condition of things should not tend to lucid 
 legislation, particularly when an opposing minority do not desire the 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 22 1 
 
 legislation at all, and hope to leave it in such a shape as to be contra- 
 dictory, or unconstitutional — or both. (This has been intentionally 
 done more than once.) All of it a mass of contradictions or overlaying 
 amendments; the first important part of it which came under the 
 scrutiny of the Supreme Court only escaped being held unconstitu- 
 tional by being emasculated. Its other clauses have yet to face that 
 dreaded scrutiny. Its basic principle has yet to be declared consti- 
 tutional, while the only principle which has proved of any value was 
 law already. This wonderful product of compromise starts off by 
 saying “Be it enacted, etc., section 1 as amended June 29, 1906.” It 
 begins with an amendment to itself. It does not tell you how much of 
 the prior law was repealed, except upon a careful scrutiny which only 
 paid lawyers were willing to give. Upon the old interstate-commerce 
 act of 1887, after quoting it substantially in full, it adds a mass of other 
 provisions, some of which are in pari materia, some not; some contra- 
 dictory and some mere repetitions. It amends acts by later acts, and, 
 before they have gone into effect, wipes them out by substitutions. It 
 hitches on extraneous matters and it amends past legislation by mere 
 inference. Like a hornet, it stings in the end, where revolutionary 
 changes are introduced by altering or adding a word or two in sections 
 a page long, and it ends with the cheerful but too usual statement that 
 “all laws and parts of laws in conflict with provisions of this act are 
 hereby repealed.” As a result no one can honestly say he is sure he 
 understands it, any more than any serious lawyer can be certain that 
 its important provisions are any one of them constitutional. And that 
 huge statute with sections numbered 1, 2, 5, 16, 16 a, etc., with amend- 
 ments added and substituted, amended and unamended, is contained 
 in 27 closely printed pages. I venture to assert boldly that any com- 
 petent lawyer who is also a good parliamentary draftsman could put 
 those 27 pages of obscurity into 4 pages, at most, of lucidity, with two 
 days’ honest work. By how little wisdom the world is governed ! And 
 how little the representatives of the people care for the litigation or 
 trouble or expense that their own slovenliness causes the people! 
 For the necessity of political compromise is no excuse for this. 
 
 I therefore urged before the National Association of State Libraries, 
 at their annual meeting of 1909, that they should use their influence 
 with the various State governments at least (1) that all revisions be 
 authenticated, authorized, and published by the State; (2) that the 
 annual laws be separated, public from private, and be printed by num- 
 bered chapters arranged either chronologically or topically; (3) that 
 the indexes be arranged under the 40 general heads used by the New 
 York State Library in its annual digest, with such additional heads as 
 may, perhaps, prove necessary in some States, such as, for instance, 
 Louisiana, which has subjects and titles of jurisprudence not known to 
 the ordinary common-law States ; (4) that the constitutions be printed 
 with the laws; (5) that every State, under a law, employ a permanent, 
 paid parliamentary or legislative draftsman whose duty it shall be to 
 | recast, at least in matters of style and arrangement, all acts before they 
 I are passed to be engrossed. 
 
222 
 
 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 Any private member introducing a bill can, of course, avail himself 
 of the draftsman’s services before the bill is originally drawn. His 
 advice may be required by the legislature or by legislative committees 
 on the question whether the proposed legislation is necessary; that is 
 to say, whether it is not covered by laws previously existing. It shall 
 be his duty then to edit the laws, arrange them for publication, and to 
 authenticate by his signature the volumes of the annual laws. One 
 person is better than two or three for such work, but he should be paid 
 a very large salary so that he can afford to make it his life work. He 
 should be appointed for a very long term and should have ample 
 clerical assistance. It should also be his duty to correspond and 
 exchange information with similar officials in other States. 
 
 Exhibit 12 
 
 [Extract from recommendation of a committee (headed by Judge Baldwin) “on im- 
 proving methods of legislation” proposing (for each State and the United States) a 
 “joint standing committee (of the legislative body) for the revision of bills.”] 
 
 Your committee would recommend the adoption of the following 
 resolutions : 
 
 1. Resolved, That in the opinion of the American Bar Association a 
 fundamental change is necessary in the methods of enacting laws 
 throughout the United States; that both in Congress and the legisla- 
 tive bodies of the States laws are enacted without responsibility and 
 without any such safeguards and methods as will insure responsibility 
 for laws to be enacted, accuracy in their expression, their harmony 
 with existing law, or to prevent the machinery of legislation from 
 being used by sinister interests against the public weal. 
 
 2. Resolved, That in the opinion of the American Bar Association 
 such constitutional amendments should be incorporated in the funda- 
 mental laws of the various States and of the United States as will create 
 responsibility for public legislation and as will call into being some 
 revisory power over proposed legislation other than the mere veto 
 power of the President and of the governors. 
 
 3. Resolved, That the following draft act if adopted in the several 
 States would, in the judgment of the association, do much to remedy 
 the evils in question; that the local councils in each State be requested 
 to endeavor to secure its passage therein ; and that the secretary print 
 it in suitable form for legislative consideration and furnish copies to 
 each councilor, with a circular letter calling his attention to these 
 resolutions: 
 
 AN ACT To create a joint standing committee for the revision of bills. 
 
 Section i. Within the first 10 days of every stated or special ses- 
 sion of the [here insert the proper name of the legislative body], the 
 president of the senate shall appoint five senators and the speaker 
 of the [house] shall appoint five members of the [here insert house 
 of representatives, assembly or other proper designation of the other 
 house], who shall together constitute a joint standing committee 
 for the revision of bills. Said committee shall have power to 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 223 
 
 require the assistance of the attorney general and his presence at 
 their sessions, or, in case of his inability to act, to employ counsel 
 and to fix, subject to the written approval of the governor, the 
 compensation to be paid such counsel. 
 
 Sec. 2 . Every bill shall, after the same shall have passed the legis- 
 lature, and before it is signed by the presiding officer of either 
 house, be submitted to said joint committee for report thereon, and 
 said committee shall report the same back to the house in which 
 it originated. Said report shall contain such suggestions for amend- 
 ments as may by said committee be regarded as necessary to 
 make the bill express clearly the intention of the legislature, and 
 harmonize with existing statutes and constitutional provisions, or 
 shall state that in the opinion of the committee no amendments 
 are necessary. Said bill shall then be considered and acted upon 
 as to its final passage. 
 
 4. And it is further resolved, That a fundamental division should be 
 made between public and private legislation, and that the expediency 
 of passing every local or special bill should be tried as a question of 
 fact before an appropriate legislative committee, who may call in to sit 
 with them experts upon the questions to which the bills relate, and 
 may command the assistance of counsel, and that the expenses of such 
 trials should be borne wholly by the private and local interest pro- 
 moting the bill; and that no private legislation should be considered 
 except upon a petition to the legislature, previously filed for a reason- 
 able time in the office of the secretary of the state, and accompanied 
 by a bond with surety, to be filed therewith and approved by the 
 attorney general or State treasurer, to secure the payment of all ex- 
 penses and fees incident to such legislation, which expenses and fees 
 shall be such as the legislature shall by general law determine. — [From 
 American Bar Association. Report of the ninth annual meeting, Aug. 
 18, 19, and 20, 1886, pp. 284-286, Philadelphia, 1886.] 
 
 Exhibit 13 
 
 [Extracts from “American Legislatures and Legislative Methods,” 1907, by Paul S. 
 
 Reinsch, pp. 325-328.] 
 
 The defective character of the legislative product in the United States 
 has led to a serious consideration of methods of relief from this condition. 
 As early as 1882, the American Bar Association passed a resolution rec- 
 ommending “the adoption by the several States of a permanent system 
 by which the important duty of revising and maturing the acts intro- 
 duced into the legislatures shall be intrusted to competent officers, 
 either by the creation of special commissions or committees of revision, 
 or by devolving the duty upon the attorney general of the State. ” In 
 1886 there was submitted to the Bar Association a draft bill by which it 
 was provided that the legislature was to appoint a joint committee on 
 the revision of bills, to which all bills after passing both houses should 
 be referred for examination as to clearness of expression and harmony 
 with existing statutes. This method has actually been employed in 
 the Legislature of New York and in many other States. But it has noc 
 solved the difficulty. It is almost impossible to find members of the 
 
224 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 legislature who will devote their time to this work during the very part 
 of the session when their attention is most actively engaged by matters 
 before the houses. 
 
 ***** 
 
 More effective work in improving the legislative product can be done 
 by an expert counsel to whom members may go for advice and the 
 drafting of their bills and to whose scrutiny all measures are to be sub- 
 mitted before final enactment. The attorney general, aside from being 
 a political and partisan official, is too busy with the general duties of 
 his office to give effective assistance in this respect. A thoroughly 
 capable expert who, with his assistants, could give all his attention to 
 this exacting and important work would be able to improve the techni- 
 cal quality of legislation materially. A beginning has been made by the 
 appointment of legislative counsel and draftsmen in New York, South 
 Carolina, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Wisconsin, but a further devel- 
 opment of this system is highly to be desired. In the British Parlia- 
 ment no bill is introduced which has not passed through the hands of the 
 official draftsman, a highly salaried and experienced official. He gives 
 enactments the form in which they will surely accomplish the object 
 desired and which will place their provisions in harmony with the rest 
 of the law. The functions of this position require an expert knowledge 
 of the statute and the common law, as well as powers of incisive analy- 
 sis and lucid, brief, and conclusive statement. The British statutes 
 drawn under this system are indeed models of workmanship, being free 
 from the verbiage, redundancy, and obscurity which characterize so 
 many American enactments. Justice Stephen has stated the require- 
 ments of a legislative draftsman in the following language : 
 
 “It is not enough to attain to a degree of precision which a person 
 reading in good faith can understand, but it is necessary to attain, if 
 possible, to a degree of precision which a person reading in bad faith can 
 not misunderstand. It is all the better if he can not pretend to mis- 
 understand it. ” 
 
 Exhibit 14. — Statutes and Rubes Rebating to Bibb Drafting 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 (Consolidated laws 1909. Legislative law, v. 3, p. 2116.) 
 
 Sec. 24. Drafting and revision of bills . — The temporary president of 
 the senate and the speaker of the assembly shall appoint such pumber 
 of competent persons as may be needed, not exceeding three, whose 
 duty it shall be during the session of the legislature, on request of either 
 house of the legislature or of any committee, member, or officer thereof, 
 to draft bills, examine and revise proposed bills, and advise as to the 
 consistency or other effect of proposed legislation. Such persons shall 
 receive a compensation to be fixed by the temporary president of the 
 senate and the speaker of the assembly, and shall be entitled to their 
 clerical and other necessary expenses, to be approved by such officers. 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 225 
 
 CONNECTICUT 
 
 (General Statutes. Revision of 1902, title 2, the general assembly, 
 p. 90.) 
 
 i Sec. 37. Duties of clerk of bills . — The clerk of bills shall assist mem- 
 bers of the general assembly in drafting bills for public acts and resolu- 
 tions of a public nature, and prepare amendments to or substitutes 
 for bills or resolutions at the request of committees. Every bill or 
 resolution favorably acted upon by any committee of the general assem- 
 bly shall, before being reported to either branch thereof, be first sub- 
 mitted to the clerk of bills, who shall examine such bill or resolution 
 in respect to its form, for the purpose of avoiding repetitions and uncon- 
 stitutional provisions and insuring accuracy in the text and references, 
 clearness and conciseness in the phraseology, and the consistency of 
 statutes. He shall return to the committee submitting it any bill or 
 [resolution that is not in correct form, with such corrections as he may 
 propose in the form of a substitute or as amendments. He shall keep 
 a record of each petition, bill for a public act, and resolution intro- 
 duced in the house or senate, and such record shall be so kept in detail 
 that it will disclose where said petition, bill, or resolution may be found. 
 Such record shall, at all times, be open to the inspection of members of 
 the general assembly and to all executive State officials. (1901, ch. 1, 
 secs. 2, 3, 4.) 
 
 (Joint rules of the senate and house of representatives. Part of Rule X.) 
 
 It shall be the duty of the clerk of bills to prepare bills for public 
 acts and resolutions of a public nature and amendments at the request 
 of any committee or member of the general assembly, and before any 
 bill or resolution is favorably reported by the committee to which it 
 has been referred it shall be submitted to the clerk of bills, who shall 
 examine such bill or resolution and make such corrections therein as 
 may be necessary for the purpose of avoiding repetitions and uncon- 
 stitutional provisions, and of insuring accuracy in the text and refer- 
 ences, clearness and conciseness in the phraseology, and consistency 
 with existing statutes. Whenever a bill or resolution not bearing the 
 indorsement of the clerk of bills as having been so examined shall be 
 favorably reported, the clerk of the senate or house, as the case may be, 
 shall immediately transmit the same to the clerk of bills for examination 
 and indorsement. 
 
 Exhibit 15.— Recommendations of the Governors of Connecticut, 1907-1911. 
 
 [Governor Woodruff’s Message, January, 1907, pp. 5-7.] 
 
 LOOSE AND INEFFECTIVE LEGISLATION 
 
 One of the first and most important obligations of the legislature is to 
 sift clean all of the proposed measures by critical analysis, saving what 
 is necessary and throwing away what is not beneficial. The meaning 
 of every measure should be made clear before it is presented for final 
 action. 
 
 ***** 
 
 In 1883 provision was made by law for the appointment of a clerk 
 of bills to see to it that all bills for public acts were in proper form. 
 
226 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 In 1895 his duties were increased and his salary raised to $2,500. 
 these duties, as now defined by section 37 of the General Statutes, 
 are such that if properly discharged by a capable man possessing the 
 necessary skill and experience for dealing intelligently with forms of 
 legislation, the wording of every public statute would be plain and its 
 meaning clear. In fact such has not always been the result. Instances 
 have occurred in which the courts have been called on to determine 
 the intent of the legislature, because it was expressed in phrases of 
 uncertain signification, and in several instances litigation has been 
 necessary where the subject of the law and the interests involved were 
 of great importance. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 To cover all this loose legislation and for fear that there may have 
 been something passed which was not in proper form it is usual at the 
 end of the session to pass an act — a healing act — which by its beneficent 
 effects helps out the case and operates to negative a possible blunder. 
 
 But I would suggest as a remedy for such conditions that the position 
 of clerk of bills and perhaps the engrossing clerk be made a permanent 
 position, or that one or both should continue in office during good 
 behavior. I find upon investigation that this plan has been tried 
 in some other States, more especially in the State of Wisconsin, where 
 the office of legislative librarian was created with a view of securing 
 legislation in proper form. 
 
 I realize that great care should be taken in selecting a man to fill 
 such a place. He must be a man of ability and honesty. And he 
 should not be removable except for cause. Wisconsin has made herself 
 distinguished for the good form of her statute laws. That State has 
 accumulated much valuable material for the information of her legis- 
 lators, arranged in a card system so that officials in charge are able to 
 respond promptly to any inquiry for information on a subject likely 
 to come before the general assembly or the executive departments. 
 Laws of other States and countries are included in the indices, thus 
 giving a safe guide to those drawing or reporting a new statute and 
 enabling them to follow the wording of one that has stood the test of 
 time and use. 
 
 LEGISLATIVE PUBLICITY 
 
 There is too much loose, inefficient, and conflicting legislation. In 
 my opinion it would be a step in advance if provision should be made 
 so that all bills intended for presentation to the general assembly 
 should be referred first to a permanent clerk of bills, who should be 
 an able lawyer and parliamentarian. Were such a department, with 
 a capable official at its head, available for the members of the legislature 
 to consult with, he could show the member who proposes a new law 
 wherein it conflicts with existing laws; if such be the case, and he 
 could redraw the proposed bill if it contained a flaw and could also 
 refer in connection with it to bills in other States on the same subject 
 matter. 
 
 Moreover, a permanent clerk of bills would in effect constitute a 
 bureau of information that would be available not only to members 
 of the legislature but to all the people of the State. 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 227 
 
 THE DRAFTING OF STATUTES 
 
 Every statute, being the expression of an act of command by a sov- 
 ereign State, ought to be so phrased as to make its meaning clear and 
 unmistakable. 
 
 To secure this there was created in 1882 (Public Acts, p. 215) the 
 office of clerk of bills, with an annual salary of $500. In 1895 (Public 
 Acts, p. 639) his salary was raised to $2,500 for each session of the 
 assembly, and his duties are particularly and plainly specified in 
 our general statutes (sec. 37). If those duties were properly performed 
 by a competent lawyer (and only a lawyer would, in my opinion, be 
 competent to perform them), questions of statutory construction or 
 conflict could seldom arise. They have arisen often since this office 
 was created, and greatly to the inconvenience of the public. To 
 answer them is often difficult and throws a heavy burden on the courts. 
 
 The compensation of the clerk of bills is sufficient to make the place 
 attractive to a competent man. It would be still more attractive if a 
 person once appointed should hold during good behavior. I concur 
 in the recommendation made by Gov. Woodruff in his inaugural mes- 
 sage four years ago, and by Gov. Lilley in his, delivered two years 
 ago, that the term of office be thus lengthened. 
 
 I also venture to call the attention of those who may be appointed 
 upon the two joint committees, on the judiciary and on engrossed bills, 
 to the high importance of so exercising their power, under General 
 Statutes, section 122, of choosing the clerk of bills as to give to the State 
 this year the best man whom they can get to accept the position. A 
 sort of custom has grown up by which of late it has been commonly filled 
 by appointing the clerk of the preceding senate, who in turn has gen- 
 erally been the clerk of the house in a previous general assembly. The 
 qualifications to be looked for in one acting as the clerk of a legislative 
 house are of course by no means the same as those which should be pos- 
 sessed by a clerk of bills. The same man may have them in equal 
 degree, but it would be unusual. 
 
 The State has confided the election of this official and of the engross- 
 ing clerk to the same body, and has required that it be made by ballot, 
 in order to secure individual independence of action. The scheme of 
 selection has been carefully planned, and if followed in the spirit in 
 which it was conceived seems calculated to result in a wise choice. 
 
 Exhibit 16 (Part I). — Bill Drafting in Great Britain 
 
 [Extract from “Legislative Methods and Forms,” by Sir Courtenay Ilbert, 1901, pp. 
 
 84 - 95-1 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY COUNSEL’S OFFICE 
 
 ***** 
 
 The office was constituted by a treasury minute dated February 8, 
 I 1869, and issued when Mr. Gladstone was first lord of the treasury and 
 Mr. Lowe (afterwards Lord Sherbrooke) was chancellor of the ex- 
 chequer. Mr. Thring was appointed head of the office, with the title, 
 
228 
 
 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 revived for that purpose, of parliamentary counsel to the treasury, and 
 was given a permanent assistant, and a treasury allowance for office 
 expenses and for such outside legal assistance as he might require. 
 The whole of the time of the parliamentary counsel and his assistant 
 was to be given to the public, and they were not to engage in private 
 practice. The parliamentary counsel was to settle all such depart- 
 mental bills, and draw all such other Government bills '(except Scotch 
 and Irish bills) as he might be required by the treasury to settle and 
 draw. The instructions for the preparation of every bill were to be in 
 writing and sent by the heads of the departments to the parliamentary 
 counsel through the treasury, to which latter department he was to be 
 considered responsible. On the requisition of the treasury he was to 
 advise on all cases arising on bills or acts drawn by him, and to report 
 in special cases referred to him by the treasury on bills brought in by 
 private members. It was not to be part of his duty to ^rite memoranda 
 or schemes for bills, or to attend parliamentary committees, unless 
 under instructions from the treasury . 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 The staff of the parliamentary counsel’s office still remains practically 
 the same as it was when the office was first established in 1869. The 
 permanent staff consists of the parliamentary counsel and the assistant 
 parliamentary counsel, with three shorthand writers, an office keeper, 
 and an office boy, and these together run what may be called the legis- 
 lative workshop. The amount allowed for payments to members of 
 the bar, working under the direction and on the responsibility of the 
 parliamentary counsel, is usually estimated at an annual sum of £1,500; 
 but this amount is not always expended. Of the barristers employed, 
 two at present attend regularly at the office, doing such work as may 
 be required of them. But their attendance is purely voluntary; they 
 are under no permanent engagement; they are paid by fees in accord- 
 ance with the amount of work done by them, and they have their own 
 chambers and are at liberty to take, and do take, outside work. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Some time in the month of November the parliamentary clerk to the 
 treasury usually sends round a circular to the other departments, re- 
 questing them to inform the treasury what departmental bills are likely 
 to be required. All formal instructions for Government bills are sent 
 by the treasury to the parliamentary counsel, who is thus placed in the 
 position of being draftsman to the Government and not to any particu- 
 lar department. 
 
 ***** 
 
 The procedure adopted on receipt of the instructions will vary ac- 
 cording to the character and importance of the measure. There will 
 usually be a preliminary conference either with the Minister who is tc 
 take charge of the bill, or with the permanent head of his department, 
 or with both. In the case of minor departmental measures, the instruc- 
 tions first received may suffice for the immediate preparation of a drafl 
 much in the form in which it will be submitted to Parliament as a bill 
 In the case of more important and elaborate measures, the stage of ges 
 
Legislative . Reference Bureaus 
 
 229 
 
 tation is naturally longer. It is often necessary to prepare memoranda 
 stating the existing law, tracing the history of previous legislative enact- 
 ments or proposals, or raising the preliminary questions of principle 
 which have to be settled. The first draft may take the form of a rough 
 "sketch” or of "heads of a bill.” The original draft, whether in the 
 form of a bill or otherwise, is gradually elaborated after repeated con- 
 ferences with the Minister, and with those whom he takes into his 
 confidence. 
 
 A measure will often affect more than one of the Government depart- 
 ments, and in those cases the departments affected will have to be con- 
 sulted. The responsibility for seeing that this is done rests, primarily, 
 with the initiating department; but, as a matter of convenience, the 
 necessary communications are often made by the draftsman. In par- 
 ticular, the attention of the treasury ought to be directed to any legis- 
 lative proposal involving expenditure of public money, and the parlia- 
 mentary counsel, as an officer of the treasury, is charged with the re- 
 sponsibility for seeing that this duty is not overlooked. When there 
 is a conflict between the views of different departments on a subject of 
 legislation, the parliamentary counsel, from his neutral position, may 
 aften find it possible to suggest a mode of harmonizing them. And his 
 general responsibility for all Government bills enables him to guard 
 against the risk of one department bringing forward proposals incon- 
 sistent with those brought forward by another. 
 
 When the draft of a bill has been finally or approximately settled, it 
 is usually circulated to all the members of the cabinet for their infor- 
 mation before introduction into Parliament, and the parliamentary 
 tounsel supplies the executive department concerned with a sufficient 
 number of copies for this circulation. 
 
 I * * *, * * 
 
 Of course , however, the labors of the draftsman do not end at this 
 stage. The publication of a bill brings suggestions for amendment, 
 which may be forwarded by the minister or department for considera- 
 tion. After the second reading these suggestions take the form of 
 amendments on the notice paper, which will have to be daily scrutin- 
 ized. In anticipation of the committee stage, the draftsman will often 
 find it prudent to prepare, for the purpose of refreshing his own memory, 
 and for the use of the minister in charge, notes on the several clauses, 
 explaining the origin and object of the proposals which they embody, 
 referring to the precedents on which reliance can be placed and noting 
 the arguments which may be used or which may have to be met. As 
 the committee stage approaches, and when it has been reached, the 
 amendments will be the subject of discussion with the minister, and 
 alterations or consequential amendments will have to be framed. If 
 the bill goes to a committee of the whole house or to one of the grand 
 committees, the draftsman may, perhaps, be expected to attend the 
 debate and to give such assistance as he can in the way of framing or 
 modifying amendments or meeting points. 
 
 Where a bill is much amended in committee, it will require minute 
 examination after the committee stage, for the purpose of seeing 
 
230 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 whether there are any errors to be corrected, inconsistencies to be 
 removed, or consequential alterations to be made; and amendments 
 will have to be framed for insertion at a later stage. Notes will also 
 have to be written on various points; and the literature which thus 
 gathers round a bill often attains to formidable dimensions. When a 
 bill of great importance is in progress, it requires the constant and unre- 
 mitting attention of the parliamentary counsel, to the exclusion of all 
 other work. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 The minute of 1869 directed that the parliamentary counsel should 
 report in special cases referred to him by the treasury on bills brought 
 in by private members. But at present, except in the case of such 
 references, the parliamentary counsel is in no way responsible for the 
 preparation or criticism of such bills. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 The objects aimed at by Mr. Lowe when he established the parlia- 
 mentary counsel’s office in 1869 appear to have been (1) economy; 
 (2) better control over Government legislation with respect both to 
 policy and to finance; and (3) improvement of the form of statutes. 
 
 All these objects have been substantially attained. 
 
 Exhibit 16 (Part 2).— Bill Drafting in British Colonies 
 
 in 1895 a series of questions relating to statute law was, at the instance 
 of the Society of Comparative Legislation, London, sent by the British 
 colonial office to the various colonial governments. Among these ques- 
 tions was the following: 
 
 III.— METHODS OF LEGISLATION 
 
 (a) By whom are drafts of legislative measures prepared? Is there 
 any official draftsman ? If so, by whom is he appointed, to whom is he 
 responsible, and what are his staff and duties? Do his duties extend 
 to measures introduced by private or nonofficial members of the legis- 
 lative body? . . . 
 
 The replies received were published in the journal of the Society ol 
 Comparative Legislation, volumes 1-2, and new series, volumes 1-2. 
 Those received in answer to this particular question from the self- 
 governing colonies are as follows: 
 
 BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 
 
 Dominion of Canada .- For each house of the Canadian Parliamen 
 there is a law clerk, an officer whose duties include those of a parlia 
 mentary counsel as well as those of a legislative draftsman. The lav 
 clerk of the senate is appointed by that body. The law clerk of t < 
 lower house, in which the great majority of measures are introduce! 
 (10 out of 1 2 of the ministers usually belonging to that house), is also lav 
 clerk of the Government, and formerly (before confederation) held 
 separate appointment as such from the Government. He is appointed 
 
231 
 
 Legislative Reference Bureaus 
 
 by Mr. Speaker, and has one assistant. The preparation of measures 
 for private members is not part of the law clerk’s duties. 
 
 Newfoundland . — There is an official draftsman called the law clerk of 
 the legislature, appointed by and responsible to the governor in council. 
 His duties are to draft all bills introduced into both branches, including 
 [those introduced by private members; but in practice measures are 
 frequently drafted by private members, with or without the assistance 
 of the law clerk. He has no staff or assistants. The minister of justice 
 has a general supervision of all legislation, and particularly of Govern- 
 ment measures. 
 
 AUSTRALIA 
 
 New South Wales. — i. Drafts of legislative measures are prepared by 
 the members of Parliament introducing them, or by some persons acting 
 under their authority or by their direction. 
 
 2. There are two official draftsmen named “Parliamentary drafts 
 men.” 
 
 ; 3 . They are appointed by the governor with the advice of the execu- 
 tive council. 
 
 4. They are in the department of the attorney general, and are respon- 
 sible to him. 
 
 5. The staff are the two draftsmen and an assistant. 
 
 6. The duties of the draftsmen are (1) the preparation of bills for the 
 ministers of the Crown; (2) the preparation of bills for private members 
 m the request of the attorney general; (3) reporting to ministers on the 
 introduction of any bill by a private member and on its passage from 
 the legislative assembly to the legislative council; (4) reporting to the 
 ittomey general at his request on all by-laws and regulations of public 
 bodies submitted to him for his opinion or approval; (5) reporting on 
 my special matter submitted by any minister to the parliamentary 
 draftsman. 
 
 7. The duties of parliamentary draftsmen extend, as above men- 
 tioned, to measures introduced by nonofficial members of Parliament. 
 
 Queensland . — Drafts of legislative measures are prepared, in the case 
 }f Government measures, under the direction of the department con- 
 cerned, and usually by a member of the bar, under the supervision, if 
 desired, of the Crown law office. Measures introduced by private 
 members are usually prepared under their own direction, aid being 
 riven occasionally from the Crown law office. There is no permanent 
 parliamentary draftsman. 
 
 South Australia . — Drafts of legislative measures are prepared (1) by 
 the attorney general; (2) by some member of the legal profession 
 specially selected for a particular bill ; (3) by some competent official, 
 though not a member of the legal profession, who has special knowledge, 
 c. g., the clerk of the parliaments, the principal returning officer of the 
 Province, the military commandant; and bills of supply and appropria- 
 tion by the clerk of assembly; (4) public bills introduced by private 
 members are drafted by themselves or by whom they appoint. 
 
 There is no official draftsman. 
 
 1 005 5 °— 11 16 
 
232 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 Victoria. — Measures for submission to Parliament are prepared by the 
 parliamentary draftsman under the direction of ministers. The parlia- 
 mentary draftsman is an officer of the public service, appointed by the 
 governor in council, and attached to the department of the attorney 
 general, to whom he is directly responsible. His duties are to prepare 
 all Government bills and draft amendments therein. He also; when 
 desired, drafts bills for private members, and as a general rule of all 
 such bills, by whomsoever drafted, are examined by him, and, when 
 necessary, specially submitted to the attorney general or the premier 
 for his consideration. 
 
 Western Australia. — By various persons, viz, the attorney general, a 
 minister, or by a private member. There is now an official draftsman, 
 appointed by the governor in council, on the recommendation of the 
 attorney general, to whom he is responsible. He has no staff, and his 
 duties are indeterminate. They do not extend to measures introduced 
 by private members. 
 
 STATISTICS 
 Exhibit 17 
 
 Statistics of bills and joint resolutions introduced in Congress 
 
 
 Fifty- 
 
 sixth 
 
 Congress 
 
 Fifty- 
 
 seventh 
 
 Congress 
 
 Fifty- 
 
 eighth 
 
 Congress 
 
 Fifty- 
 
 ninth 
 
 Congress 
 
 Sixtieth 
 
 Congress 
 
 Sixty- 
 
 first 
 
 Congress 
 
 Senate bills 
 
 6,070 
 
 7)447 
 
 7>295 
 
 8,627 
 
 9 )S 4 i 
 
 10, 906 
 
 Senate joint resolutions. 
 
 166 
 
 170 
 
 116 
 
 98 
 
 140 
 
 147 
 
 House bills 
 
 14)339 
 
 17 ) 560 
 
 19, 209 
 
 25)897 
 
 28,440 
 
 33,015 
 
 House joint resolutions . . 
 
 318 
 
 283 
 
 231 
 
 257 
 
 267 
 
 295 
 
 Total 
 
 20, 893 
 
 25,460 
 
 26, 851 
 
 34)879 
 
 1 38,388 
 
 1 44)363 
 
 1 In addition to the above, the simple and concurrent resolutions introduced in the 
 Senate and House of Representatives numbered in the Sixtieth Congress 1,117 and in 
 the Sixty-first Congress 1,504. 
 
 Statistics of laws passed by Congress 
 
 
 Fifty- 
 
 sixth 
 
 Congress 
 
 Fifty- 
 
 seventh 
 
 Congress 
 
 Fifty- 
 
 eighth 
 
 Congress 
 
 Fifty- 
 
 ninth 
 
 Congress 
 
 Sixtieth 
 
 Congress 
 
 Sixty- 
 
 first 
 
 Congress 
 
 Public acts 
 
 383 
 
 423 
 
 502 
 
 692 
 
 350 
 
 525 
 
 Public resolutions 
 
 60 
 
 57 
 
 72 
 
 83 
 
 61 
 
 69 
 
 Total public 
 
 443 
 
 480 
 
 574 
 
 775 
 
 41 1 
 
 594 
 
 Private acts 
 
 1,504 
 
 2,309 
 
 2,799 
 
 6, 248 
 
 234 
 
 285 
 
 Private resolutions 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 Total 
 
 1,948 
 
 2,790 
 
 3.374 
 
 7,024 
 
 646 
 
 882 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 233 
 
 Statistics of legislation, 1906-7 and 1907-8, giving number of laws and 
 resolutions passed 
 
 
 1906-7 
 
 1907-8 
 
 
 766 
 
 92 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 496 
 
 
 
 659 
 
 13 
 
 
 266 
 
 
 782 
 
 
 
 288 
 
 
 
 298 
 
 290 
 
 
 
 293 
 
 
 197 
 
 
 
 270 
 
 59 
 
 
 300 
 
 7 
 
 
 296 
 
 5 
 
 
 444 
 
 87 
 
 
 78 
 
 
 
 344 
 
 
 693 
 
 
 70 ^ 
 
 
 726 
 
 805 
 
 
 790 
 
 II 
 
 
 483 
 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 296 
 
 Missouri 
 
 285 
 
 Montana 
 
 269 
 
 
 Nebraska 
 
 206 
 
 
 Nevada 
 
 299 
 
 27 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 292 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 298 
 
 333 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 118 
 
 New York 
 
 772 
 
 527 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 I, 572 
 
 215 
 
 North Dakota 
 
 282 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 
 318 
 
 Oklahoma . . . 
 
 
 235 
 
 Oregon 
 
 294 
 
 19 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 74 1 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 227 
 
 287 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 230 
 
 713 
 
 South Dakota 
 
 25 1 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 667 
 
 
 Texas 
 
 250 
 
 103 
 
 Utah. 
 
 177 
 
 
 Vermont 
 
 516 
 
 
 Virginia 
 
 404 
 
 W ashington 
 
 267 
 
 West Virginia 
 
 119 
 
 49 
 
 Wisconsin . . . 
 
 724 
 
 
 Wyoming 
 
 109 
 
 
 United States Congress: 
 
 
 Public 
 
 30 5 
 
 209 
 
 Private 
 
 2,676 
 
 61 
 
 
 
234 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 BILLS INTRODUCED IN THE SIXTY-FIRST CONGRESS 
 Exhibit 18 
 
 A BILL To establish a department in the Congressional Library for the purpose of 
 gathering and indexing statute-law material and legal material of a comparative 
 nature and to provide for draftsmen for congressional measures and to otherwise 
 assist and aid Members of Congress and public officials. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
 States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby created 
 a separate department of the Congressional Library to be known as 
 the Legislative Division of the Congressional Library. It shall have 
 offices in the Library of Congress. 
 
 Sec. 2. That the Librarian of the Library of Congress shall appoint 
 a responsible chief of the Legislative Division of the Congressional 
 Library. The chief shall have a thorough training and a practical 
 education in the principles of government and experience in the 
 general field of political science and in the drafting of statute law. 
 He shall have a knowledge of comparative law and governmental 
 institutions and such other experience and training as to fit him 
 thoroughly for the duties of said office. He shall be appointed with- 
 out reference to party affiliations and shall be exempt from civil- 
 service examination or classification, and shall hold office during good 
 behavior. His salary shall be fixed by the Librarian of Congress, 
 with the advice aiid consent of the President. 
 
 Sec. 3. That the chief shall have authority to appoint such other 
 secretaries, technical assistants, and investigators and draftsmen as 
 may be necessary. He shall have authority, undeT the conditions 
 hereinafter specified, to employ special technical assistants outside 
 the classified service from time to time as emergency arises. He 
 shall gather technical material bearing upon legislation in such a 
 manner that the President and the different departments of the Gov- 
 ernment and Congress will have ready and available such material, 
 and to this end he is authorized to translate, gather, and index foreign 
 data and matter relating to legislation. Other departments of the 
 Government at Washington and elsewhere shall render all reasonable 
 assistance to the Legislative Division of the Congressional Library in 
 any matters of research connected with duties of said department, and 
 public records shall be open at all times to said department. 
 
 Sec. 4. That no bill shall be drafted for Members of either House by 
 said department save only through written instructions accompanied by 
 a rough draft or rough notes of the provisions desired in such bill, 
 signed by fifteen Members of the House of Representatives or by five 
 Members of the Senate. All such rough drafts and instructions shall 
 be kept in the permanent file of the department for future reference. 
 No rough drafts shall be made public save upon direction from the 
 Members requesting said drafts until the bill shall have been printed 
 by Congress, but until that time all such data shall be considered con- 
 fidential. The department shall not draft private, local, or special 
 bills, or bills for private persons. Bills for public officials shall be 
 drafted only on written directions from the President. 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 
 
 235 
 
 Sec. 5. That special research may be made on direction of the 
 President or on the direction of either House of Congress. Such 
 special research may be made through the regular office force or by 
 special technical workers employed from time to time in such manner 
 as may be deemed necessary and as emergency arises. 
 
 Sec. 6. That the Legislative Division of the Congressional Library, 
 in the research carried on and in furnishing assistance in the formula- 
 tion of bills, shall not furnish arguments for or against any line of 
 policy or bill or resolution, but shall confine itself to furnishing tech- 
 nical, documentary, or bibliographic material or information, and to 
 drafting bills according to the directions submitted. 
 
 Sec. 7. That said department is authorized, in addition to the powers 
 now conferred upon the Congressional Library, to make indexes and 
 summaries of laws, cases, and legislative matter of this country and of 
 the States thereof and of foreign countries and to publish the same. 
 
 Sec. 8. That there is hereby appropriated to the Library of Congress 
 for the establishment and maintenance of the Legislative Division of 
 the Congressional Library the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars annually: Provided, That in case of emergency or in case of 
 research into matters of legislation or administration undertaken upon 
 the order of the President or of Congress an additional sum sufficient to 
 carry out the purposes of this act is hereby appropriated. 
 
 ' [Extract from the Daily Congressional Record, Mar. 3, 1911, p. 4284.] 
 
 A BIDE To create a United States Legislative Reference Bureau, and for other purposes. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
 States of America in Congress assembled, That a bureau is hereby 
 created, to be known as the United States Legislative Reference 
 Bureau, to be administered by a chief appointed by the President of 
 the United States. 
 
 Sec. 2. That it shall be the business of this bureau to locate, cata- 
 logue, and index all material in various Government departments in 
 the shape of bills, laws, debates, departmental research, findings of 
 commissions, consular reports, treatises in legal brief and scholarly 
 periodical, and so forth, touching upon problems of current legisla- 
 tion; to gather, catalogue, and index such further material pertaining 
 to legislative experience at home and abroad as shall seem expedient; 
 to present to Congress at its direction a statement of the material in 
 hand on the subject designated and a compilation of the legislative 
 and administrative experience in such case; to provide Members of 
 Congress, at their request, with such information as the bureau pos- 
 sesses and a bibliography of material on any subject desired; to aid in 
 every possible way by the collection of information and the service of 
 expert advice in making exact more careful legislation. 
 
 Mr. Owen. I offer the amendment which I send to the desk. 
 
 The Vice President. The amendment proposed by the Senator 
 from Oklahoma will be stated. 
 
236 Report of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 The Secretary. On page 225, after line 2, it is proposed to insert: 
 “ To provide a legislative reference bureau as a part of the Congressional 
 Library, under the direction of the Librarian of Congress, $10,000.” 
 The amendment was agreed to. 
 
 A BILL To establish a bureau for the drafting of bills. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
 States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby created a 
 bureau to draft bills as hereinafter provided. 
 
 Sec. 2. That the said bureau shall be under the direction of a chief 
 draftsman, who shall be appointed by [? the "President of the United 
 States,” (or) the "Chief Justice of the United States,” (or) the "Presi- 
 dent of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives 
 jointly ”], without reference to party affiliation and solely on the ground 
 of fitness, by training and experience, to perform the duties of the 
 office. He shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum. 
 
 Sec. 3. That there shall be in said bureau such legal and clerical 
 assistants as may from time to time be necessary. They shall be 
 appointed by the chief draftsman, who shall consider in their selection 
 solely fitness for the work to be done and shall fix the compensation 
 to be paid to each. 
 
 Sec. 4. Public bills, or amendments to public bills, shall be drafted 
 by the bureau, under the direction of its chief, whenever any com- 
 mittee of either House of Congress or five Members of the Senate or ten 
 Members of the House of Representatives or the President of the United 
 States shall make request and shall furnish to the chief draftsman 
 written instructions setting forth the provisions desired. And in all 
 cases such instructions shall be considered confidential until the bill 
 shall have been presented to Congress. 
 
 Sec. 5. The bureau shall not draft private or local bills or bills for 
 private persons. 
 
 Sec. 6. Estimates of the appropriations necessary for the maintenance 
 of the bureau shall be submitted annually by the chief draftsman in 
 connection with the bill making appropriations for the legislative, 
 judicial, and executive expenses of the Government. 
 
 Sec. 7. The chief draftsman shall make to Congress at the beginning 
 of each regular session a report for the preceding fiscal year as to the 
 affairs of the bureau, and said report shall also include a detailed state- 
 ment of appropriations and expenditures. 
 
 Sec. 8. In furtherance of the work of the bureau and otherwise to 
 promote exact legislation the Librarian of Congress is authorized to 
 employ competent persons to prepare indexes of comparative legisla- 
 tion, digests and compilations of law, and legislative reference bulletins 
 on special subjects, and to provide in his annual estimates for the 
 Library for the compensation of such persons, for the acquisition of 
 material required for their work, and for other expenses incidental 
 thereto. 
 
Legislative Reference Bureaus 237 
 
 [Provision proposed for the regular legislative appropriation, etc., act, in accordance 
 with the foregoing.] 
 
 To enable the Librarian of Congress to employ competent persons to 
 prepare indexes of comparative legislation, digests and compilations of 
 law, and such legislative reference bulletins on special subjects as may 
 further the work of the bill-drafting division created by the act approved 
 
 and otherwise promote exact legislation by the acquisition and 
 
 supply of useful data, including subscription to and purchase of publi- 
 cations and other necessary material, and for traveling expenses, 
 transportation, stationery, postage, and incidentals, dollars. 
 
 A BILL To establish a division in the Library of Congress for the drafting of bills. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
 States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby created a 
 division of the Library of Congress to draft bills as hereinafter provided. 
 
 Sec. 2. That the said division shall be under the direction of a chief 
 draftsman, who shall be appointed by the Librarian of Congress without 
 reference to party affiliation and solely on the ground of fitness, by 
 training and experience, to perform the duties of the office. He shall 
 receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum. 
 
 Sec. 3. That there shall be in said division such legal and clerical 
 assistants as may from time to time be necessary. They shall be 
 appointed by the Librarian of Congress, who shall fix the compensation 
 to be paid to each. 
 
 Sec. 4. Public bills, or amendments to public bills, shall be drafted 
 by the division, under the direction of its chief, whenever any com- 
 mittee of either House of Congress or five Members of the Senate or ten 
 Members of the House of Representatives or the President of the United 
 States shall make request and shall furnish to the chief of the division 
 written instructions setting forth the provisions desired.. And in all 
 cases such instructions shall be considered confidential until the bill 
 shall have been presented to Congress. 
 
 Sec. 5. The division shall not draft private or local bills or bills for 
 private persons. 
 
 Sec. 6. Estimates of the appropriations necessary for the main- 
 tenance of the division, and for any additional work in the Library 
 auxiliary thereto, shall be included in the estimates for the Library 
 annually submitted by the Librarian of Congress.