Book Description

Excerpt from Answers to Inquiries About the U. S. Bureau of Education: Its Work and History; Prepared, Under the Direction of the Commissioner The particular points to which attention is invited in connection with the present attitude of the Federal Government towards public knowledge of its own affairs are: that the present is a logical and consistent development from the past that, either now or heretofore, what the Government has done has never injured or hampered the powers and privileges of the States, their governments, or of any citizen; and that the information collected, published, and distributed by the nation has added incalculably to the growth, homogeneity, prosperity, and resources of its several constituent States as well as to the general and individual well-being of the people. Publicity is the characteristic of the American Republic's proceedings. The deliberations of Congress (excepting those of the executive sessions and a few of the earliest legislative sessions of the Senate) have always been open to the public; early provision was made for the publication of an official journal of congressional proceedings, and the distribution of these to State officers and others began in 1814 (Res. of Dec, 1813); from these the Journal, Annals, Congressional Globe and Congressional Record have developed in succession. Before the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was directed by a resolution of Congress "to obtain from the ministers and agents of the United States in foreign countries an abstract of their present state, their commerce, finances, naval and military strength, and the characters of sovereigns and ministers, and every other political information which may be useful to the United States" (Statutes at Large, Ii, 28). These reports have gradually expanded into the volumes on Diplomatic Relations and Commercial Relations published by the State Department (Statutes at Large, V, 507). The first censuses, those of 1790, 1800, and 1810, were mere enumerations of the constitutional population of the country with reference to military power and representation in Congress; the census of 1820 began the collection of statistics respecting industries and industrial products. The succeeding censuses have expanded, as increasing interest in the development of wealth, business, and population has made necessary, until the census of 1880 will be twenty times the size of the census of 1820. The Treasury reports on commerce and navigation began in 1820; agricultural reports first appeared in 1841, as a part of the report of the Patent Office. The first important exploring expedition authorized by the Government was that of Lewis and Clarke, 1803 and 1806, through the newly acquired province of "Louisiana" to the Pacific Ocean. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.