At the end of the fiscal year 1929 the southern district of California with 1,639 cases pending on its docket, stood fourteenth among the other judicial districts in the number of pending cases. Approximately 50 per cent of the cases commenced and terminated are criminal cases, while of the cases pending, only 29 per cent are pending criminal cases and 71 per cent are pending civil and private cases, showing that the civil business and the private litigation are appar ently delayed because of the congestion existing from the disposition of criminal cases.

Circuit Judge Dietrich, of the circuit court of appeals of the circuit in which the State of California belongs, in answer to a telegram from the Attorney General on April 7, stated as follows:

Not fully advised, but am of the impression that an additional judge is needed in the southern district of California.

It is believed that an additional judge is badly needed in the southern district of California.

This bill is recommended by the judicial conference, provided for under the act of September 14, 1922 (42 Stat. 837) which last sat in October, 1929. (See Attorney General's Report, 1929, p. 3.)

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ADDITIONAL DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

JUNE 4, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. BACHMANN, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

REPORT

To accompany H. R. 11623]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill H. R. 11623, after consideration reports the same favorably and recommends that the bill do pass.

The State of Texas has 4 Federal judicial districts, with 3 judges in the northern district, 2 judges in the western district, 1 judge in eastern district, and 1 judge in the southern district. The business of the Federal courts in the State of Texas is on the increase, and because of this increase of business in the southern district an additional judge should be provided.

During the 4-year period, beginning with the fiscal year 1926 and ending with the fiscal year 1929, there were commenced in the southern district of Texas 894 civil cases, in which the Government was a party; 575 private cases, in which private litigants were involved; and 3,864 criminal cases, making a total of 5,333, or an average of about 1,334 cases per year.

During the same period there were terminated in the southern district, 898 civil cases, 636 private cases, and 3,948 criminal cases, or a total of 5,482.

At the end of the fiscal year 1926 there were pending on the court dockets 470 cases, while at the end of the fiscal year 1929 there were pending 473 cases, showing that during the 4-year period the judge in the southern district was unable to handle all of the new business which was commenced in the court and make any considerable progress in disposing of the number of cases pending.

There are 85 judicial districts in the United States, and the southern district of Texas, with 5,333 cases commenced during the period beginning with the fiscal year 1926 and ending with the fiscal year 1929, stands twenty-eighth in the number of cases commenced during the

period. Of all the judicial districts the southern district of Texas stands twenty-eighth in the amount of business terminated during the 4-year period.

At the end of the fiscal year 1929 the southern district of Texas, with 473 cases pending, stood forty-second among the other judicial districts in the number of pending cases. Approximately 72 per cent of the cases commenced and terminated are criminal cases, while of the cases pending only 40 per cent are pending criminal cases, and 60 per cent are pending civil and private cases, showing that the civil business and the private litigation is apparently delayed because of the congestion existing from the disposition of criminal cases.

Circuit Judge Waker, of the circuit court of appeals of the circuit in which the State of Texas belongs, in answer to a telegram from the Attorney General on April 3, stated as follows:

Think additional judge needed in the southern district of Texas.

It is believed that an additional judge is badly needed in the southern district of Texas.

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2d Session

No. 1769

VOLLBEHR COLLECTION OF INCUNABULA

JUNE 4, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. LUCE, from the Committee on the Library, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 12696]

Dr. Otto Vollbehr, of Berlin, Germany, now in this country, will sell to the Library of Congress his collection of 3,000 incunabula, in、cluding a Gutenberg Bible, for $1,500,000. It is understood that if his offer is not accepted before the adjournment of this session of Congress, the collection will be dispersed by sale at auction. Widespread interest has been aroused by this opportunity to secure for the Library a noteworthy collection, and there is genuine apprehension lest we let it slip through our fingers. The considerations should be weighed and decision promptly reached.

Between 1450 and 1455 Johann Gutenberg produced what is held to be the first book printed from movable metal type-a Bible in Latin. Only three perfect copies of it, printed on vellum, are known to have survived. The British Museum and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris each has a copy in two volumes. The third, in three volumes, is offered by Doctor Vollbehr.

"Incunabula" are books or other printed things that were produced before 1500. More than nine-tenths of those here in question are bound volumes. Typographically and taken as a whole the books of the first half century of printing have never been surpassed. They had to compete with the illuminated manuscripts of the period that brought forth the great artists of the Renaissance. This gives them value of no small importance to the students who would improve the printing art of to-day, the art that more than any other affects our daily lives. Also of practical consideration is the wide range of subjects. As was to be expected, those religious in nature prevail, but there are also the first printed copies of the classics and many volumes treating of the sciences, the professions, the occupations, even the amusements of the time, thus insuring broad historical worth.

HR-71-2-VOL 4-32

It is, however, not to be questioned that the chief element in the value that is measured by dollars, is the element of rarity. This is the element that by itself determines the price of such things at the auction sales. In this respect the collection is well worth the price asked. Expert opinion places the value of the Gutenberg Bible alone at $600,000. A conservative estimate of the value of the incunabula places it at $1,000,000. This would make the market figure of the total at least $1,600,000. By reason of the competition of wealthy collectors the prices for such rarities, already astonishingly high, are steadily rising. If having acquired this collection we should ever have occasion to sell it, which is of course now inconceivable, it would probably bring several times the price paid. Purely as an investment it would be above question.

The bargain feature of the opportunity, however, would be justly held by many as not to be worthily taken into account. They would rather stress in general the cultural value of this collection and in particular the benefit to American scholarship by such a contribution to facilities for study. Development in this direction bids fair within no long time to make Washington the center of national culture, perhaps even of world culture. In and around our library are gathering forces both individual and organized, that foretell the leadership of trained thought. Whatever will help, is worth any cost within

reason.

Then, too, something is to be said for the influence of what we here do, upon the hundreds of thousands of our people who every year come to observe, to admire, to learn. The Gutenberg Bible would take its place alongside the originals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, to arouse that patriotism which springs from pride in community of ownership, as well as to inspire greater respect for the things of the spirit. No visitor having a scintilla of sympathy with the ties that bind us to the past, or of interest in the proofs of human progress, could, for example, fail to be moved by the sight of the only copy that has come down to us of a little thing printed by William Caxton, the first English printer.

That memorabilia should now be more highly esteemed than ever before, is gratifying. Their preservation adds to culture, and if collections of them are made easy of access and exposed to public view, so much the better. The sense of possession can delight a nation as well as an individual.

It is argued, also, that this acquisition would bring gifts of perhaps equal value. To encourage such recognition of the possibilities the Library presents for broader usefulness is an end that may well be taken into account.

These are the reasons that prompt every member of your committee to hope that this collection will become the property of the Nation. Yet they conceive it to be their duty to lay before you the considerations that militate against its purchase with public funds. No matter how widespread and enthusiastic the approval, we must remember that it comes from those who have given thought only to the advantages. If not a dissenting voice has been raised, it is more than ever our obligation to bear in mind that there are two sides to every question, and that it is the duty of a legislative body to develop both for the sake of wise decision.