in the output of paper of all classes is 14.4%. The actual amount of book paper produced last year was 1,343,310 tons (book paper includes all paper for printing purposes except newsprint). If, as was indicated in war time (the only occasion when the Government made any attempt to study the use of book paper in its different subdivisions), approximately 6% of this poundage of book paper was used for book production, there would be, roughly, 161,000,000 pounds of paper used for book production to produce 191,000,000 bound books. In 1914, which is often used for the comparable year in studies of American industrial growth, the classification of books as to subject was divided into 21 different headings. When the biennial census was begun in 1919, these 21 headings were changed to 8, including "Education,” “Fiction," "History," "Juveniles," "Law," "Poetry and Drama," "Religion and Theology," and "All Others." After careful study of the problem of classification, the National Association of Book Publishers suggested that an attempt be made to gather the statistics in 15 different classifications, which are printed in the first table below. These two changes in method naturally make it difficult to make comparisons, added to the fact that this year's totals do not include pamphlets and that pamphlets are not subdivided, except in the case of textbooks and juveniles. An attempt to make comparisons with earlier censuses to such extent as may be at all interesting is given in the second. Table I Books and Pamphlets Published, 1925. Data for 1923 not comparable for individual items. The total number of copies of books and pamphlets reported as published during the calendar year of 1925 was 359,391,018. table, but many of the variations in figures cannot be easily explained. It will be realized that some publishers probably did not have subdivided figures of their publications and therefore have, in sending in their figures, lumped certain subjects under "Miscellaneous" which, if the facts were all available, would have fallen into some of the other groups. In the second table, for instance, it will be hard to explain the new figures on children's books, which mounted from 1914 to 1923 by 200% and then in 1925 fell off almost to the 1914 figures. With the reverse effect the figures of poetry and drama have, in the last two years, taken an unexpected jump and have risen by about 200%. History has a decrease as unexpected as the decrease in juveniles. These variations have undoubtedly to do with the change in method, and it is to be expected that, now that the new method has been adopted, future comparisons will be more important and helpful in indicating where lies the large market for books and in what direction it is growing. The general increase of 17% in the grand total is probably a fairly accurate indication of the growth that has been going on in book publishing, especially as it is so close to the figure with the 14.4% increase in the value of these books and pamphlets, which has grown from $135,278,737 in 1923 to $154,991,493 in 1925. Table II Books and Pamphlets by Character of Publication. Some comparisons with the totals of former years. On account of the changing method of classification some of these comparisons cannot be taken at face value. See text above. Paper and Wood Pulp Production of 1925 Biennial Census Shows Output Has Increased 14% and the Value Has Increased 7% in Two Years (a) Not including salaried employees. (b) This classification of book paper includes all printing paper except newsprint. Periodicals and job printing use the larger part. TABLE 2 PRODUCTS, BY CLASS, QUANTITY, AND VALUE, FOR THE UNITED STATES: |