Is Automatic Classification a Reasonable Application of Statistical Analysis of Text?

The statistical approach to the analysis of document collections and retrieval therefrom has proceeded along two main lines, associative machine searching and automatic classification. The former approach has been favored because of the tendency of people ia the computer field to strive for new methods of dealing with the literature--methods which do not resemble those of traditional libraries. But automatic classification study also has been thriw ing; some of the reasons for this are discussed.