Official U. S. Bulletin

The Official Bulletin was established under order of the President of the United States as a war-emergency institution, and printed daily by the Committee on' Public Information. During the war period it performed a function the importance of which is attested by the directing heads, not only of this Government, but by the leaders of all the world powers. It was a history— formal, official, without color or bias.

The fundamental object in its establishment was:

That there might be some official source to which tlie public could look for authoritative information as to the acts and proceedings vitally affecting their legal rights and obligations; that there might be put in print for all time a faithful record of the part played by the Government of the United States in the World War; and that the Government departments might be relieved of the very considerable correspondence with persons desiring the character of information which properly should be published from day to day ; and that this information should be disseminated throughout the Nation in an effective manner.

The Official Bulletin performed all of these functions to the last detail. It was an immediate means of Government communication with the business interests with which the Government has been in contractual relations; with the offices of foreign Governments here and abroad, with the consular service, and with the public desirous of information of a specific character. Its monetary value to the Government in the clerical labor and supplies it has conserved by anticipating nation-wide inquiries in its daily record of the facts represent an amount in excess of the cost of issuing the Bulletin.

The Bulletin printed all issued records to date of every casualty among our Army and Navy forces abroad and in the camps and cantonments in the United States, the name of every man taken prisoner, cited for bravery, or wounded on the field of battle, every communique issued by Gen. Pershing, every State paper, proclamation, executive order, and all statements and pronouncements and addresses by the President since the entry of this Government into the war. There has also been printed every order, pronouncement, and regulation issued by the heads of the great permanent Government departments ; the Food, Fuel, and Eailroad Administrations, the War Industries Board, War Trade Board, Alien Property Custodian, War Labor Board, the Postmaster General as Director General of the Telephone, Telegraph, and Cable Systems, and all other independent agencies of the Government. Important contracts awarded, texts of important laws, proceedings of the United States Supreme Court, daily resume of important actions of Congress, Treasury statements, etc., have been printed from day to day.

The Official U. S. Bulletin was the chain of intelligence which linked the executive branch of the Government, its departments, bureaus, and all of its war ramifications directly with their related interests, to wit : Diplomatic Corps, distant Government offices and agencies. Government contractors and industries, Red Cross and kindred organizations, and business associations.

Congress made practical use of the Official U. S. Bulletin. There were innumerable calls for complete files from members of the Senate and House. At the request of individual Members of Congress, we admitted to the free lists thousands of constituents who sought information of the character that the Bulletin printed.

The Bulletin went also to every camp library, here and abroad. Gen. Pershing received an allotment each day for the use of his general staff, and Admiral Sims likewise had available a supply for his immediate staff.

To the War and Navy Departments the Bulletin performed a remarkable service when it is understood that it would have been an almost impossible task to supply the individual requirements for information so essential to all officers of the military arms of the Government. The Secretary of War, early in the life of the Bulletin, directed the commanding officers of all military posts and stations to display the Bulletin in conspicuous places for the information of all concerned.

In the Navy the Bulletin played a conspicuous part in keeping the entire personnel advised formally and officially of every order of the Secretary and all Government bodies. Secretary Daniels directed that the Bulletin be forwarded immediately after publication each evening to every departmental bureau and ship and shore station of the Navy. All commandants and commanding officers were instructed to have it placed in a conspicuous place and to notify the officers and men under their command of its existence and purpose.

The Post Office Department, supplementing its own publication, the Postal Bulletin, which goes daily to all offices of the first and second classes, and when occasion requires, to those of the third class, but which does not go to 46,000 offices of the fourth class, availed itself of the use of the Bulletin as a Government medium through which pronouncements and orders affecting the great postal service might daily be published, thus enabling the Government, through the two publications, to keep daily in touch with postmasters and other authorized agents of the department in 54,000 post offices throughout the country.

The Food Administration had no official organ, but through the Official U. S. Bulletin every State, city, and county administrator in the United States was kept accurately and officially advised concerning every order and pronouncement emanating from the national administration. From the date of the creation of the Food Administration, every order and decree issued by Mr. Hoover appeared in the Official Bulletin.

The Fuel Administration likewise had no official organ, and it was through the Official Bulletin that the army of fuel administrators from coast to coast Were kept regularly informed as to the progress made by the Fuel Administration in handling the vast problem confronting the Nation.

The War Trade Board and the War Industries Board relied to a large extent upon the Official Bulletin to keep the commercial and industrial world promptly and officially advised of all rulings.

The Council of National Defense in a great measure also reached its thousands of cooperating agencies through the instrumentality of the Bulletin.

When the Government assumed control of the railroads of the country, the Director General of Railroads had no other official medium than the Bulletin through which to reach the nearly two million employees of the great railroad systems, copies of all orders, of course, were sent to the central railroad offices, but, as in the case of the Food and Fuel Administrations, there was no permanent printed record of such orders, except as they appeared in the Official Bulletin ; and in all railroad offices of the country this publication was preserved religiously so that it might be referred to whenever matter of importance developed.

Monthly circulation. 1917. Daily average: May 60, 000 June 67, 000 July 70,000 August 77, 500 September 82, 000 October 89, 081 November 90, 341 December 94, 912 1918. January 99, 000 February 102, 603 March 106, 233 April 109, 513

1918— Continued. Daily average — Continued.

May 111, 870 June 113, 782 July 115, 639 August lis, 008 September 113, 136 October 115, 031 November 108, 477 December 97, 074 1919. January 90, 269 February 89, 886

March 33, 454 A prohibitive subscription price of $5 a year was fixed for the general public so that the Bulletin might not be accused of competing with the private enterprise of newspaper publications. Nevertheless, the amount received from subscriptions increased from $1,644.20 in the month of May, 1917, to $3,821.10 in the month of January, 1919, as shown by the following table of receipts :

1917. May $1, 644. 20 June 1, 213. 52 July 2, 076. 00 August 1, 722. 00 September 1, 978. 05 October 2, 177. 50 November 2, 549. 65 December 3, 373. 65 1918. January 2, 591. 75 February 2, 462. 50 March . 2, 566. 15 April __i 2,898.85 1918— Continued. -May $3,739. 85 June 4, 356. 85 July ^ 5, 502. 15 August 6, 574. 50 September 7, 333. 75 October 8, 768. 99 November 10, 143. 80 December 6, 023. 43 1919. January 3, 821. 10 Febriiary 1, 863. 00 March 69. 00

The Official Bulletin ceased publication April 1, 1919. The full credit for its success and achievement is due to Mr, E. S. Rochester, its editor from the first day to the last.