Historical Association. Such an association besides furthering the general science of government, could do much to stimulate and promote work in comparative legislation. It could outline the work of indexing, digesting and classifying neces sary for the proper organization of record material of compara tive legislation and administration, and actively promote the undertaking of such work by the various state and national departments and institutions.

Document indexes. An index of all reports issued by bureaus of labor statistics in the United States prior to Mar. 1, 1902, has recently been issued by the United States Department of Labor. In a book of 287 pages an exceedingly useful index is given to this important source of information. Com'r Carroll D. Wright in the introduction to the volume writes:

There are in the United States at the present time, including that of the federal government, 33 offices popularly known as bureaus or departments of labor. Up to the date of this index, Mar. 1, 1902, these various offices had issued more than 450 reports and bulletins relating to social, economic and industrial matters. Although there is a constant demand for data covered by these reports, the lack of an index to the same renders tedious and difficult the combination of such information as is there given. The department, in order to meet its own needs in this direction, published in 1892 as its third special report an analytical abstract and index of the contents of the reports of each state. This abstract and index was of great value in enabling the department to make immediate reference to the various subjects treated and the volume in which such treatment was contained. Many additional reports have been published since the date of the above mentioned report, nearly 10 years ago, and a repetition of the difficulties referred to has resulted in the present report, which consists entirely of an index of the subjects covered by the various reports which have been issued up to the present time (Mar. 1, 1902), the analytical abstract having been dispensed with.

The members of this committee are: Prof. Jeremiah W. Jenks, Cornell University, chairman; Judge Simeon E. Baldwin, New Haven Ct.; Dr Edward Dana Durand, Census office, Washington; Prof. John H. Finley, Princeton University; Judge William Wert Howe, New Orleans La.; Prof. Harry Pratt Judson University of Chicago; Martin A. Knapp, chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission; Pres, C. W. Needham, Columbian University; Prof. Paul S. Reinsch, University of Wisconsin; Prof. Leo S. Rowe, University of Pennsylvania; Frederick J. Stimson. Boston Mass.; Rev. Josiah Strong, president American Institute for Social Service, NewYork city; Dr Max West, Richmond Hill N. Y.; Robert H. Whitten, Sociology librarian, New York State Library; Prof. W. W. Willoughby, Johns Hopkins University.

It is to be hoped that the example set by the Department of Labor will be followed by other national and state departments and that we will have before long similar indexes to state and national reports on finance and taxation, railroads, banking, insurance, agriculture, charities, education, etc. In our state reports we have a vast mass of information that is practically inaccessible and for most purposes useless without a compre hensive index.

· Document digests. Another aid greatly needed is an annual topical digest of the reports of the various states. The New York State Library has made a beginning with its annual Digest of Governors Messages. If other state and national de partments would publish similar digests of finance, education, railroad and other reports the comparative study of state gov ernment would be immensely facilitated.

Uniformity in preparation of session laws. At the 12th annual conference of State Boards of Commissioners for Promoting Uniformity of Legislation in the United States the following recommendations submitted by the National Association of State Librarians were approved:

Public acts should be numbered consecutively, and citations should give number and section rather than page, title or date.

2 Arabic numerals should be used for chapter numbers in place of the antiquated and obscure roman numerals.

3 For rapid reference, act or chapter number should appear as part of each page heading, and each section should have a side head or a marginal summary.

4 Session law indexes of all states should be based on a uni form system of subject entries.

5 Each volume of session laws should contain a tabulation of all changes in statutes since the last edition of revised statutes.

6 For citations, dates and amounts, arabic numerals should as a rule be used.

Acts should be published separately as soon as signed, distributed to regular exchanges, and sold at a nominal price to individuals.

8 Session laws should be well bound, printed on good, dur able paper, exchanged freely for other publications and sold at a moderate price.

9 All bills should be drafted or revised as to form by a permanent, specially trained official.

10 A uniform statutory construction law should be prepared for adoption by all the states.

The committee1 of the State Librarians Association has distributed quite widely a circular explaining these recommendations, showing in just what each state is deficient and urging action at the 1903 legislative sessions. With our 45 state Legislatures uniformity in form as distinct from substance becomes a most important consideration to the student of comparative legislation. Below is a table of existing methods in each state.

1 The members of this committee are: R. II. Whitten, sociology librarian New York State Library, C. B. Galbreath, Ohio state librarian, and Johnson Brigham, Iowa state librarian.