ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

PUBLIC PRINTER

FOR

THE FISCAL YEAR

ENDED JUNE 30, 1923

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON

1924
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

Public Printer.—George H. Carter, Iowa. Deputy Public Printer.—John Greene, Massachusetts.

Production Manager.—Capt. Ellwood S. Moorhead, Pennsylvania.

Chief Clerk.—Henry H. Wright, New York.

Secretary to Public Printer.—Miss Mary A. Tate, Tennessee.

Superintendent of Accounts and Budget Officer.—James K. Wallace, Ohio.

Assistant Superintendent of Accounts.—Frank E. Buckland, Indiana. Purchasing Agent.—Ernest E. Emerson, Maryland.

Assistant Purchasing Agent.—Thomas F. Harris, Iowa.

Superintendent of Documents.—Alton P. Tisdel, Ohio.

Asst. Supt. of Documents.—Miss Josephine G. Adams, District of Columbia.

Superintendent of Planning.—William A. Mitchell, North Carolina. Assistant Superintendent of Planning.—Robert W. Summers, New York.

Storekeeper and Traffic Manager.—William H. Kervin, New York.

Assistant Storekeeper.—George Lamb, Pennsylvania.

Medical and Sanitary Officer.—Dr. Daniel P. Bush, Nebraska.

Assistant Medical and Sanitary Officer.—Dr. John F. Atkinson, Indiana. Chief of Tests.—Edward O. Reed, District of Columbia.

Disbursing Clerk.—Edward J. Wilver, Pennsylvania.

Congressional Record Clerk.—William A. Smith, District of Columbia. Foreman of Printing.—Henry W. Weber, Indiana. Foreman Linotype Section.—John R. Berg, Nebraska.

Foreman Monotype Section.—John L. Getman, New York.

Foreman Proof Section.—Charles E. Young, Nebraska.

Foreman Job Section.—Allan C. Clough, New Hampshire.

Foreman Hand Section.—Hugh Reid, Wisconsin.

Foreman Library Printing Branch.—Sheridan C. Koons, Ohio. Foreman of Presswork.—Bert E. Bair, Michigan.

Assistant Foreman of Presswork.—Albert G. Smith, New Hampshire.

Foreman Job Press.—James E. Veatch, New York.

Foreman Main Press.—Dennis J. O'Leary, Massachusetts. Foreman Postal Card Section.—Joseph A. Fenton, Michigan. Foreman Money Order Section.—John A. Massey, jr., Georgia.

Foreman of Binding.—Martin R. Speelman, Missouri. Foreman Forwarding and Finishing Section.—John A. Patterson, New York.

Foreman Pamphlet Binding Section.—James F. Fitzpatrick, New York.

Foreman Ruling and Sewing Section.—Charles Meier, Pennsylvania.

Foreman Library Binding Branch.—Charles F. Weston, Massachusetts. Foreman of Platemaking—Edward G. Whall, Massachusetts. Foreman Finishing Section.—Edward A. Kerr, Massachusetts. Foreman Molding Section.—James H. Babcock, jr., Rhode Island. Foreman Photo-engraving Section.—George Raff, New Jersey. Night Foreman of Printing.—Marion E. Bullock, Kansas.

Assistant Night Foreman of Printing.—Edward A. Huse, Massachusetts. Foreman Monotype Section, night.—James H. Heslet, Kansas. Foreman Linotype Section, night.—Edward M. Nevils, Tennessee. Foreman Proof Section, night.—WilKam H. Cornish, New Jersey. Assistant Foreman Job Section, night.—Raymond H. Lecraw, Rhode Island. Assistant Foreman Hand Section, night.—Edward Coleman, Illinois. Assistant Foreman Presswork, night.—John D. Meyers, Ohio.

Assistant Foreman Pamphlet Binding, night.—Arthur C. Romhilt, Indiana.

Assistant Foreman Molding and Finishing, night.-—H. C. Groth, Pennsylvania,

Superintendent of Buildings.—Alfred E. Hanson, Massachusetts.

Chief Carpenter.—Abram B. Batton, Maryland.

Chief Machinist.—Michael J. Mclnerney, New York.

Chief Electrician.—Capt. Edward H. Brian, District of Columbia.

Chief Engineer.—Edgar G. Ewing, Pennsylvania.

Foreman Sanitary Section.—Joseph L. May, Virginia. Instructor of Apprentices.—Alfred D. Calvert, Pennsylvania.

Captain of Guards.—Charles H. Warner, District of Columbia.

Chief of Delivery.—Walter G. Copp, District of Columbia.

II
THE INLAND PRINTER

The Leading Business and Technical Journal of the World

in the Printing and Allied Industries HARRY HILLMAN. EDtTOR

\ oiume 72 JANUARY, 1924 Number 4

IT

WAS the editor's great privilege to pay a visit to the "biggest

printing plant in the world," the Government Printing Office at Washington, during the past month. We have always had a great

respect for that tremendous institution maintained by our good Uncle

Sam for taking care of the requirements for printed matter, enormous and varied as they are, for carrying on the work of our Govermnent.

As we walked out of the building and made our way back to the hotel,

in die meanw^hile thinking over what we had seen in the hours spent in going from section to section and watching the work in progress, our

feeling of respect grew far deeper and more profound. To see the

orderly manner Jn which the work is carried on, the systematic methods

of carrying work through from one department to another, the whole

atmosphere charged with efficiency, with none of the disorderly appear- ance so frequently accompanying heavy demands for rushing w^ork

through, we were im.pressed with and amazed at the high degree of skill required to guide the destinies of that great plant. Then as we sat for a short time in the office of the man who holds the reins, and conversed,

between telephone calls, with Public Printer George H. Carter, we

gained a little insight into the character of the m.an who is filling a big

job and filling it well. Calm and undisturbed as call after call came

in over the telephone to rush some job through, or to find out how soon some piece of work would be ready for delivery, passing out instructions

with every detail seemingly at his finger tips, and in between talking

modestly but with genuine pride of the work being done and of plans

for the future, of what he is endeavoring to accom.plish through regular

conferences with heads of departments, we were impressed with the

wisdom and foresight with which was made the selection of the man

who is carrying the responsibilities of conducting that great institution. We left with a sincere regret that an important conference called us

elsewhere and cut altogether too short a visit we should like to have

prolonged.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

Office of the Public Printer,

December 31, 1923.

To the Congress of the United States: The report of the Pubhc Printer to Congress for the fiscal year

ended June 30, 1923, is submitted herewith in compHance with law.

It is gratifying to be able to state that the constant effort to reduce

expenditures for printing and binding in the last three years, 1921-

1923, has resulted in a decrease of $4,359,775 in the cost of work

done by the Government Printing Office as compared with the pre- ceding three rears, 1918-1920. The cost of printing and binding for

the three years 1918-1920 amounted to $37,569,762.99, and for the

three years 1921-1923 it was $33,209,987.90, including $440,000

expended for wages and material on work uncompleted at the close

of 1923. This notable reduction was made notwithstanding a marked

increase in the normal business of the Goyernment as shown by the

constantly growing actiyities of the Postal Service and the Departments of Agriculture, Labor, and Commerce, all of which required

vast quantities of printed matter to meet the increasing demand of

the pubUc for their services.

As evidence that the Government Printing Office is doing its full share toward reducing the expense of Government, the records of the

Treasury Department show that for the last three years the Public

Printer has left unexpended balances in the Treasury to the amount

of $4,532,187.69 out of a total of $39,145,233.63 available for his

expenditure in the fiscal years 1921-1923. For the last three years

of the preceding administration (1918-1920) the Government Printing Office reported an unexpended balance of $2,816,362.24 out of a

total of $43,423,641.85 available funds.

COMPARISON WITH WAR-TIME EXPENDITURES.

Savings in appropriations for the last three years were $1,715,825 more than the total unexpended balances for the preceding three

years. As a matter of fact the unexpended balances for 1918-1920

were due largely to the cessation of war expenditures after the

armistice in 1918. The end of hostilities caused the cancellation

of immense orders for printing, thus leaving untouched vast sums

that Congress had appropriated for war printing. For instance,

the War Department left untouched after the war ended more than

$500,000 of its printing allotment.

The amount reverting to the Treasury from the appropriation for

war-time printing and binding in 1918 was $2,185,869, while the un- expended balance for the preceding year of the war amounted to but $323,000 and for the first fiscal year following the war period,

1
2 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

1920, only $91,050. Therefore, leaving out of consideration the year

1918, when the armistice brought an end to war expenditures five months after the immense appropriations had become available, the

unexpended balances of printing appropriations prior to 1921 were

small in comparison with the sums saved b}^ this oflSce in the last three years. The unexpended balances for the years 1918-1920 included

$176,326.01, which sum was credited to the Government Printing

Office from the sale of blanks by several departments. Similar

credit of $146,395.88 was made for the years 1921-1922. Beginning

with the fiscal year 1923, no receipts from such sources have been

turned over to the Government Printing Office, as printing appropriations are now made direct to the departments and the income

from the sale of blanks goes to the credit of the appropriation for the

respective departments instead of to the Government Printing Office. Accordingly, the Government Printing Office will hereafter lose a Treasury credit of $50,000 to $70,000 annually that had helped to swell

the unexpended balances of former years. These credits, however, were of no real benefit to the Government Printing Office, inasmuch

as they were not entered on the Treasury books until after the close

of the fiscal year, when the unexpended balances of appropriations were no longer available.

TREASURY CREDIT OF $5,447,372 IN 3 YEARS.

Besides the saving of $4,532,187.69 by not expending all available

appropriations for the last three years, the Government Printing

Office turned into the Treasury during the same period the additional

sum of $915,184.82 as miscellaneous receipts from the sales of waste

paper, useless equipment and material, and surplus Government publications. This sum was not available for expenditure by the Public

Printer, but it did go to the general credit of the Government along

with the balances of appropriations which were left unexpended by

this office. Therefore, it seems fair to state that the Public Treasury

has been benefited to the extent of at least $5^447,372.51 from Government Printing Office funds in the last three years.

It is interesting to compare some of the ways in which public funds

have been spent. For fear Congress might consider the unexpended

balances as evidence that appropriations ought to be reduced for the

next year, the common practice had been near the end of a fiscal year to ascertain the balances remaining to the credit of appropriations and then proceed to obligate as much as possible of the available funds. The Government Printing Office was no exception to

this spendthrift way of handling the people's money. This is seen in the rush of expenditures during the last two months of a fiscal year

at which time the unused appropriations had to be obHgated or returned to the General Treasury at the end of the year. During the last two months of the three fiscal years 1918-1920,

the Government Printing Office issued purchase orders totaling

$5,434,587.78, while for similar periods of the three fiscal years

1921-1923, the purchases amounted to $2,288,678.70, a reduction

of $3,145,909.08, or considerably more than half, in purchases made

at the close of the last three fiscal years. By adopting the usual

Dractice in commercial expenditures, the Government Printing
ANNUAL EEPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTEK. 3

Office has been able to fulfill all its pledges to the Bureau of the

Budget, both this year and last, at a saving in appropriations of $2,199,300.13. At the same time the office has continued to function

with ever-increasing efficiency.

Operating expenses for the fiscal year 1923 decreased $642,696.10,

the total cost of operations, including salaries, wages, paper, and

material, amounting to $9,340,829.02, which was 6 per cent less than

for 1922. The decreased operating cost for 1923 was accompanied

by a reduction of $91,615 in the overhead expenses.

This large reduction in operating cost was effected without any

let-up in the volume of work. In fact, the total production for 1923

shows an increase over 1922. Printing and binding in 1923 amounted

to $10,174,188.62, which includes approximately $440,000 expended

for labor and material on jobs not completed at the close of the

fiscal year, and consequently not billed at that time.

FORCE IS 1,428 UNDER WAR-TIME PEAK.

The increased output and decreased operating cost was accomphshed with 232 fewer employees at the close of the fiscal year 1923

than were on the rolls at the beginning of the year. The total number

of employees on the rolls June 30, 1923, was 3,879. This was a smaller number than at any time since the year 1915 and was 1,428

fewer than the war-time peak in 1918. The total decrease in number

of employees since the present Public Printer took office on April 5, 1921, is 580. Yet at no time in its history has the Government Printing Office ever produced more or better work than in the last three

years. Success marked the first year of having printing appropriations made

direct to the various departments and establishments and of providing the Government Printing Office with simply a working capital

against which the cost of printing for Congress only may be charged

to the full amount of the capital fund. This plan, as proposed by the

Public Printer, was a radical departure from the old system of making

the entire appropriation direct to the Government Printing Office

and then allotting portions of this fund to the various departments

and establishments, nearly all of which likewise had other appropriations available for the same purpose. The departments thus had!^ two means of paying for work done by this office—either out of their

allotment from the general printing appropriation or by repayments

from other available appropriations.

Under the new plan all work done by this office, except for Congress, is now on a repay basis and handled in the same manner as though the Government Printing Office were a private contractor. This is decidedly a more businesslike, more satisfactory, and simpler

method of operation. With the appropriations made direct to the

departments they undoubtedly scrutinize more closely disbursements

for printing and of their own accord effect proper economies for the

execution of their orders.

GOOD RECORD FOR COLLECTION OF ACCOUNTS.

Billings to the departments and establishments of the Government,

except Congress, for printing and binding done during the fiscal year

1923, amounted to $7,939,885.84. All of this sum was collected by
4 ANNUAL EEPOET OP THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

the Government Printing Office and deposited in the Treasury to the

credit of the working capital, with the exception of two small items, a charge of $2,592.20 against the Post Office Department and one of

$885.29 against the Treasury Department, the appropriations for which had become exhausted without the knowledge of this office. Outstanding accounts against Members of Congress on private orders

for printing of speeches amounted to $2,326.06.

The Government Printing Office did not require or receive any

deficiency appropriation in 1923 for the first time in many years, due

chiefl}^ to the fact that all special appropriations, including those for

holidays and leaves of absence, were consolidated with the working

capital as recommended in the 1922 report of the Public Printer.

in appropriating for the fiscal year 1924 Congress also made

effective in several instances the recommendation of the Public

Printer that each department be provided with only one fund for

printing and binding. By so doing printing accounts have been

greatly simplified and better supervision maintained over expenditures.

At the request of the House Committee on Appropriations the

Public Printer is keeping a definite account of each appropriation

made specifically for printing and binding during the fiscal year 1924

so as to prevent a deficiency. However, in the case of appropriations which may incidentally be used for printing and binding expenditures, the Public Printer has no means of checking up on the

amount likely to be expended with the Government Printing Office. Except in perhaps a few instances, each department and establishment should have only one appropriation available for printing and

binding; then both the department and this office could proceed with more definite information as to the amount of printing that may be

ordered during the year. DISBURSING CLERK SUBJECT TO TREASURY RULES.

Another improvement in the fiscal affairs of the Government

Printing Office, brought about with the approval of Congress, was

the relief of the Public Printer from the duties of disbursing officer through the designation of a disbursing clerk for the Government

Printing Office, subject to regulations of the Treasury Department.

This change was recommended in the 1922 report of the Public

Printer, approved by the Appropriations Committees, and promptly

adopted by Congress. The Government Printing Office is now in

the same situation as to disbm^sements as other establishments of the Government. The change has been, helpful in facilitating dis- bursements, especially the large pay rolls which under the old bond

limitation frequently required several trips to the Treasury for

sufficient money to meet the requirements of a single pay day.

Now enough funds can be had at one time for an entire pay roll, and, at the same time, the interests of the Governmenthave been better

safeguarded by putting the disbursements under closer supervision

by the Treasury Department.

With these changes the financial affairs of the Government Printing Office are thoroughly up to date and are conducted by as efficient a Division of Accounts as may be found in any industrial establishment. During the fiscal year 1923 the Division of Accounts com-
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 5

puted and collected 64,670 bills for printing and binding to the

amount of S9, 734, 188, including charges against Congress. Each

department and establishment was given a regular billing day once

a week, covering on one invoice all charges for the week.

PAY ROLLS TOTALED $6; 919,000 FOR YEAR.

The Division of Accounts also handled 11 5,000 pay-roll accounts for

the year, involving more than a million separate computations in

making up pay rolls that totaled S6, 919, 000. The pay rolls for nearly

4,000 employees are made up on newbookkeeping machines which are used also for invoicing, thereby reducing the number of employees

required for that work.

A combined invoice and voucher for printing and binding charges was designed by this office, reducing by 50 per cent the time formerly

required between billing and payment. This insures a better feeling

among Government establishments that deal with the Government

Printing Office. This saving of time is also an important item in

writing 7,000 vouchers for departmental expenditures of $7,940,000

in one year. The year shows a reduction of five employees on the work of the

Division of Accounts and a decrease of $5,646 in its pay roll. The big room occupied by the division has been rearranged so that it is one

of the most orderly and businesslike places in the entire works.

There was a continuance during the year of the determined effort to make the Government Printing Office as efficient and as productive

as any industrial plant in the United States. With this object in

view, the buildings, macliinery, and equipment have been improved,

rearranged, repaired, and brought up to modern production standards.

On completion of the additional work planned for 1924 it is believed

the Government Printing Office will meet every requirement of a modern business establishment. Production methods have been

simplffied and improved wherever possible. Unnecessary wastes

are being steadily eliminated. The efficiency of the individual

employee has been increased through a betterment of the morale in

keeping with an improvement of surrounding conditions. A fine

spirit prevails throughout the rank and file of employees who take

pride in their product and in the place where they work. All in all, the year has given much encouragement to the ambition that the

Government Printing Office shall not only be known as the largest

printing office in the world but shall be accorded even greater fame as the most efficient plant of its kind.

COMMENDATION BY THE UNITED TYPOTHET^.

It is especially gratifying, therefore, to have the privilege of

including in this report the following resolutions, unanimously

adopted by the United Typothet?e of America at its annual meeting in Washington on October 22-26, 1923, as expressive of the

high esteem in which the Government Printing Office is now held

by that great organization of the foremost employing printers of the United States and Canada:

Whereas the Public Printer, Hon. George H. Carter, has in so many ways

evidenced a sympathetic and intelligent understanding of the problems confronting the Master Printer; and
6 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

Whereas through the solution of the problems in the Government Printing

Office our problems are rendered less difficult; and

Whereas his program for the selection and development of apprentices is progressing in such a favorable manner as to provide an excellent example for us to follow; and

Whereas the Government Printing Office is a striking illustration of what

can be accomplished with less government put into business and more business put into government; and

Whereas Hon. George H. Carter, assisted by his staff and associates, has

done so much to make this convention an enjoyable and memorable one for all in attendance: Therefore be it Resolved in convention assembled, That the sincere thanks of this convention be, and are hereby, extended to Public Printer George H. Carter. A special endeavor was made throughout the year to reduce

operating expenses in every way possible and still maintain a high

standard of production by the proper functioning of an efficient force. Some of the means by which the office succeeded in reducing

its operating expenses to $642,000 less than the expenditures for

the preceding year are here noted. No economy was too small to adopt if it seemed practical and did not interfere with the efficiency

of the service.

PREVENTION OF NUMEROUS SHOP WASTES.

A committee on the prevention of shop wastes was appointed early

in the year. The first report of this committee, which is continuing

to locate and prevent unnecessary wastes, showed a saving of $19,560,

in the elimination of numerous minor wastes, ranging from the salvage

of monotype strip material to the better utilization of discarded

paper, twine, and lumber. The saving in twine alone amounts to

fully $1,000 a year. Making electrotype backing fluid from discarded

zinc plates adds $200 to the annual saving. Discontinuing the wasteful practice of using a complete signature (8 or 16 printed pages) to label each bundle stored in the bindery warehouse cuts down that

expense by $600 a year. A careful checking up on the handling of paper and printed waste

in the pressroom reduced this loss from 3 per cent to less than 2

per cent, and three-fourths of even this small waste is salvaged later

by the waste-paper room, which cuts and restores to prime stock fully

$20,000 worth of paper annually. The washing of waste rags and

their reuse for cleaning presses and machinery saves $1,169 a year. By the installation of liquid soap in wash rooms throughout the

office the annual soap bill was reduced by $1,079. Formerly 60,000

cakes of soap were required annually to supply the wash rooms, or an

average of 15 cakes per employee per year. To make 22,111 wooden

boxes for the shipment of postal cards 234,891 feet of old lumber was

reclaimed from paper cases, thereby effecting a saving of $12,244 in

the purchase of new lumber.

The spirit of saving extended throughout the entire shop, and

everywhere there is a constant effort to prevent needless waste and

to better utilize available material.

As a companion to the coromittee on prevention of wastes, the

Government Printing Office has a requisitions review board, which

seeks to prevent waste and extravagance in printing and binding.

The review board functions under the direction of the rublic Printer,

who has authority under the law to determine the forms and style
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 7

and material for the public printing and binding. The board was

also organized with the approval of the President and the Bureau of the Budget, and likewise has the cooperation of the Joint Committee

on Printing, so that its suggested economies are quite generally

observed.

SAVINGS BY REQUISITIONS REVIEW BOARD.

Economies proposed by the review board saved $28,714.68

in the cost of printing for various Government departments and

establishments for the year. Included in this saving was $4,906 due

to reducing the number of impressions in presswork through combining forms. The use of cheaper but equally as serviceable stock

added $10,534.58 to the economies recommended by the board.

With the approval of the Joint Committee on Printing, more than

$8,000 a year is being saved in the printing of congressional acts as enrolled for the approval of the President. From time immemorial

it had been the custom to reset in 14-point type, quarto, every act passed by Congress before it was submitted to the President for his

consideration. No other use was made of this special print of each

act of Congress, as the original bill was set in 14-point and the law

print in 10-point type. At the suggestion of this office, the President's

copy is now set in 10-point and the same type is also used for the

slip laws (separate prints), session laws, and the Statutes at Large.

Numerous other economies in printing and binding have been made

possible through the helpful cooperation of the Permanent Conference on Printing which, with the approval of the President and the Bureau

of the Budget, acts for all the executive branches of the Government.

An example of the assistance rendered by the conference in reducing

the cost of printing may be seen in the rapidly decreasing expense of

authors' alterations in printed proofs. The practice of many authors

to alter or rewrite their articles after the original manuscript has been

put into printed form cost the Government $240,058.30 in 1920.

With the printing conference actively asserting itself against such

gross indifference as to the cost of printing, the charge for authors'

alterations was reduced to $164,567.19 in 1923, a decrease of $75,491.11 from the 1920 cost. The 1923 cost of authors' alterations was $26,606.35 less than for 1922.

COST OF ANNUAL REPORTS GREATLY REDUCED.

Another economj^ in which members of the printing conference have

assisted materially is the greatly reduced size of annual reports. In

1921 Congress authorized department and bureau heads to discontinue or curtail the printing of their annual reports. The cost of

printing the annual reports for 1920 was $360,436.65, while the reports

as printed for 1922 cost only $207,721.26, a saving of $152,715.39.

The reports for 1921 cost $198,326.52. Taking the 1920 cost as an

average before Congress authorized the reduction or discontinuance

of annual reports, the total saving for the last two years has been

$314,825.52. The number of copies printed in 1920 was 481,708, as compared with 354,784 copies in 1921 and 370,904 in 1922. The 1920

reports contained 58,940 printed pages, as compared with 30,744 in 1921 and 27,048 in 1922.
8 ANN^UAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

In accordance with this economy, the Public Printer's reports for

the last three years haye been reduced from a yohime of 700 or 800 pages of useless statistics printed annually heretofore to mere

pamphlets. The Public Printer's reports for the three fiscal years, 1921-1923, cost $1,155.42 as compared with an expenditure of $17,404.06 for the printing of the reports for the three preceding

years, 1918-1920.

Besides the foregoing economies, much progress has been made in the standardization of printed forms and the simplification of publication sizes. The standardization of forms is being handled by the

General Accounting Office and b}^ yarious boards of the Bureau of

the Budget, in cooperation with the Permanent Conference on

Printing. Already a number of standard forms haye been printed

and stocked by the Government Printing Office as a central distributing ageacy for all branches of the service. It is hoped that this good beginning will result in a large economy in the printing and

distribution of blank forms.

SIMPLIFICATION OF PUBLICATION SIZES. As to the simplification of sizes, nearly all Goyernment publications have been brought within eight standard sizes, whereas more

than fifty-odd sizes prevailed only a few years ago. Three-fourths

of the 100,000,000 Government books and pamphlets issued annually

are printed in either octavo or quarto size. During the year nine

important periodicals, such as the Weekly Commerce Reports,

Reclamation Record, and Census bulletins, whose sizes formerly varied

from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch, have been standardized

to the size of the Congressional Record, All of these publications can now be cut from 24 by 38 inch or double sheet. This has made

possible a gratifying pressroom and bindery economy through uniform handling of the work.

By cooperation with the various Government boards under the

direction of the Bureau of the Budget, the size of letterheads and

various forms, such as proposals, contracts, leases, etc., has been fixed

at 8 by lOi inches. This one size is saving the Government at least $50,000 a year. With the approval of the Joint Committee on Printing, the sizes of the millions of envelopes furnished Members of Congress for mailing printed matter have been reduced from more than a dozen to only four. REDUCTION OF $614,013 IN ANNUAL PAY I16LL. The greatest economy in the operation of the Government Printing

Office has been due to a reduction of the force of employees, which was considerably larger than the work justified. As has been stated

heretofore in this report, the plant is now being operated with 1,428

fewer employees than were on the rolls during the war peak in 1918,

including a reduction of 232 during the last year. The pay roll for 1923 amounted to $6,918,825.17 as compared with $7,532,838.64

for 1922, a decrease of $614,013.47, notwithstanding the fact that

during the year the wages of about 850 employees were increased

approximately $144,000.

Of the total payment to employees in 1923, the sum of $814,852.45 was required for hohdays and the 30-day annual leave granted them
ANNUAL EEPOET OF THE PUBLIC PEINTEE. 9

by law, and S926,951.81 for the $240 bonus voted annually by Congress. This was a reduction of 182,638.05 in the holiday and leave

expenditure and S87,817.85 in the bonus, both of these decreases

being due to the smaller force. FREE DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLICATIONS.

Notwithstanding all these worth-while savings, there is yet another

inviting field for even greater economies in the public printing.

That opportunity exists in the present wasteful method of distributing many millions of Government publications. Every Member of Congress has a fixed quota of numerous documents allotted to him

annually for free distribution. In addition, nearly every department

prints thousands of copies of its own publications for free distribution. The result is a gross waste in useless and duplicated distribution. At the same time the less fortunate persons who are not the

recipients of congressional or departmental favor have to purchase

from the Superintendent of Documents copies of publications in

which they are really interested.

The reprint cost of publications (not including the Congressional

Record) allotted to Members of Congress for free distribution amounts

to approximately $950,000 annually, according to a report, based

upon an average for 11 years which the Joint Committee on Printing

submitted to Congress several years ago. The committee also ascer- tained that the publications allotted to Senators for free distribution during that period had an annual reprint value of $2,200 and

those allotted to Representatives were valued at $1,800.

It is interesting to note that during the period covered by the

joint committee's report, the House folding room had to dispose

of an accumulation of more than 1,000,000 obsolete and useless

publications which Members had failed to send to their constituents.

The Senate folding room likewise had to get rid of nearly 900,000

documents, more than 50 tons of which were sold as waste paper.

Thus in eight years at least 2,000,000 publications that had never been taken out of their wrappers in the Congressional folding rooms, nor opened by a single reader since the day they came from the

Government presses were disposed of as waste paper to make room

for the incoming millions of documents doomed to a similar fate. LOSS AMOUNTS TO $1,000,000 IN 8 YEARS.

Estimating the cost of these 2,000,000 wasted documents at 50

cents each (a very conservative figure for bound volumes), the

actual loss for eight years amounted to at least $1,000,000. Even

this large sum does not begin to cover the undoubtedl;y" greater

extravagance resulting from the distribution of many millions of other publications that were franked at Government expense to persons who had no use for or interest in such gifts from their

Congressmen.

Even now the folding rooms of the Capitol are filled with thousands

of publications that are either obsolete or worthless for public dis- tribution. In the storage vaults of the Capitol may be found annual

reports on finance dating as far back as 1876; Agricultural Yearbooks of the crop of 1879 (although new editions are printed at the
10 ANNUAL KEPOET OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

rate of 400,000 copies annually) ; reports on the Paris Exposition of

1878; 10-year-old Nautical Almanacs; prayers of the Chaplain of

the Sixty-second Congress; Army Kegulations dating back to 1895;

and thousands of obsolete Congressional Directories.

The Sixty-seventh Congress appropriated $200,000 for reprinting

two time-honored publications of the Department of Agriculture

telling how to treat diseases of the horse and diseases of cattle and

provided that one-third of the 199,000 copies of each publication

shall be distributed free by Senators and two-thirds by Members of

the House. These extensive and costly publications were ordered by

Congress for free public distribution despite the fact that there are now in storage at the Capitol 52,000 copies of the various editions

of the horse and cattle books, some of which were printed more than

25 years ago. Undoubtedly nearly all of the 52,000 copies which

Members of Congress failed to distribute will be discarded as obsolete

when the new edition comes from the press in a few weeks. As a matter of fact, there is substantially little difference in the various

editions. At a cost of 50 cents per volume the 52,000 copies of the

older editions of the horse and cattle books represent a loss of approximately $26,000 expended for publications which have never been

unwrapped since they were delivered to the Capitol, although many

of them are now more than a quarter of a century old. All of the

52,000 unused copies have been held in storage at the Capitol for more than seven years. During the last 10 years the Superintendent

of Documents has sold 8,561 copies of these publications to persons

who readily paid $1 a copy for such useful books, while at the same

time thousands of copies intended for free distribution have been

rotting away in the folding rooms of Congress.

DEPARTMENTS BROADCAST MILLIONS OF BOOKS.

But the tremendous waste in the free distribution, or rather lack

of distribution, of Government publications is not chargeable wholly

to Congress. The Superintendent of Documents had on hand in the

Government Printing Office storerooms at the close of the fiscal year

30,783,786 copies of Government publications. Of this number

27,628,432 copies were printed for free distribution on orders issued

by various departments and establishments. During the year the

Superintendent of Documents distributed on orders of the departments 45,874,068 copies of publications for v/hich the Government

received no payment whatever. Included in this number were

millions of copies of Farmers' Bulletins, four-fifths of which Members

of Congress receive for free distribution. In 1923 there were printed

of Farmers' Bulletins more than 16,000,000 copies, which were

equally apportioned among all Members of Congress, regardless of

whether they represented a tenement district in New York City or came from the open fields of Texas.

Notwithstanding the enormous free distribution of departmental

publications, the Superintendent of Documents has had to sell as waste paper 14,062,247 copies of obsolete and useless publications

in the fast 10 years, because they were not distributed by the departments while timely or did not arouse sufficient public interest to request copies even when obtainable for nothing. There will be

added to these 14,000,000 wasted copies undoubtedly half of the
ANITUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 11

present stock of 30,000,000 publications which are becoming obsolete

and of no value either for free distribution or sale to an unappreciative

pubHc.

25,000,000 COPIES WASTED IN 10 YEARS.

It seems fair to assume that the total waste in publications printed

for free distribution by the departm^ents in the last 10 years will be

fully 25,000,000 copies. Figuring the cost of these publications at 20 cents each (many of them being small pamphlets) the total loss to the Government may be placed at $5,000,000 for the 10 years. This is in addition to the estimated loss of $1,000,000 in eight years on the free publications which Congress likewise failed to distribute.

Therefore the total loss to the Government on publications printed

for free distribution by Congress and the departments may be conservatively estimated at not less than $600,000 a year. Such loss relates only to publications that have never been put into circulation, but have been kept in the storerooms of the Capitol and the

Government Printing Office until it became necessary to dispose of them as waste paper so as to provide space for millions of other

publications which likewise are destined for the trash pile. It is impossible, of course, to estimate the waste of Government

publications sent out b}^ the million every year either as " campaign

literature" or personal propaganda at the expense of the Public

Treasury. Undoubtedly the great bulk of the distributed '^free" publications are of no use to the persons on whom they have been

unloaded by overgenerous public officials. Common experience

shows how (quickly wastebaskets are filled with publications that

flood the mails without charge or solicitation. Accordingly, it appears

entirely within the facts to assert that the present free distribution

of Government publications is causing an expenditure of at least

$1,000,000 a year for books and pamphlets, most all of which are wasted.

SALE OF ALL GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS URGED.

The remedy for such extravagance in printing is to be found in the

sale of all Government pubhcations. This is no radical or untried

groposal. The Superintendent of Documents has been selling

rovernment publications for many years. In fact, his sales have more than doubled in the last three years, notwithstanding the

vast free distribution of Government publications by Congress and the

departments. During the fiscal year 1923 the Superintendent of Documents received 338,821 cash orders as compared with 162,900

in 1919. The fact that the public is willing to pay for Government

documents is well shown by the cash orders which for the year 1923

amounted to $424,795.90. It is decidedly unfair to take half a milhon doUars annually from the purses of persons v/illing to pay a

fair price for Government pubhcations which in many instances

may be obtained for the asMng from Congressmen and the departments or which are sent without soficitation to their more favored,

or perhaps more unfortunate, constituents.

The accumulation of pubhcations printed on orders of the various

departments became so great a few months ago that the Superintendent of Documents had to request the Permanent Conference on

Printing to help him dispose of a vast accumulation of useless documents. Thousands of these publications thus went almost direct
12 AliTNUAL EEPOET OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

from the pressroom to the waste-paper pile, save for a few years of dustgathering on the overcrowded shelves of our storage rooms. In an effort to avoid similar accumulations in the future the Permanent Conference on Printing adopted a regulation to restrict the

number of copies printed for free distribution by the departments.

This regulation was promptly approved by the Bureau of the Budget.

It provides that departmental mailing lists for free distribution shall be restricted largely to official requirements, libraries, educational

and scientific institutions, the press, and exchanges. The departments are required by the order of the Budget Bureau to furnish the

Government Printing Office adequate information, so as to facilitate the sale of their publications, and to turn over to the Superintendent

of Documents annually for sale all public documents not needed for

further official use by the department.

This cooperation has decreased the wasteful free distribution of

many publications and has likewise increased then- sale to the public. The report of the Superintendent of Documents shows that free distribution on departmental orders in 1923 required 2,047,026 fewer

copies than were sent out the preceding year. At the same time the

sales of publications increased 1,193,173 copies over the record for

1922.

DISTRIBUTES 56,037,433 PUBLICATIONS IN A YEAR.

The total number of publications distributed by the Superintendent of Documents during the fiscal year 1923 was 56,037,433 copies,

including the 45,874,068 sent out on free mailing lists as ordered by

departments and 6,623,069 copies sold at nominal prices as fixed

by law (cost of reprinting, including paper and presswork). The

Superintendent of Documents now hanmes 49 Government periodicals which are sold on subscription. Of the subscription periodicals

3,697,765 copies were mailed out during the year. As a further indication that people are read}^ and willing to pay a reasonable price for Government publications, the Superintendent of Documents reports that he has deposit accounts mth 987 regular

customers who thus avoid the trouble of cash remittances with each

order. Included with these patrons of the Government book store

are 651 attorneys who keep a deposit account with the Superintendent

of Documents for the United States Supreme Court Reports, which

are now being printed by the Government Printing Office and sold

at a substantial saving both to the Government and to the public.

In view, therefore, of the enormous waste involved in the free distribution of Government publications both by Congress and the

departments and the increasing success of their sale by the Superintendent of Documents, the recommendation is most earnestly made

that all free distribution, except in certain authorized and necessary

instances, be discontinued and that the sales plan be generally adopted

for substantially all Government publications. By so doing the

distribution of Government publications can be put upon the same

business basis as now obtains in their printing and a very large saving

made without curtailing any useful distribution or denying to the

public the right of ready access to the publications of the Government.

At the very outset, discontinuance of free distribution and increased

sale of Government publications ought to effect a saving of one million and a half to two million dollars a year.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 13

DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES WERE OVERWHELMED.

The profligate manner in which the Government broadcasts its Eubhcations is also shown in the case of pubHc libraries designated

y Members of Congress as depositories of Government documents.

Up to the beginning of the fiscal year 1922 the Superintendent of Documents was required to send to each depository library, whether

located in New York City or Alva, Okla., a complete set of all Government publications. Of course, only a few of the largest libraries

could provide shelf room for the enormous number of publications

printed annually for Congress and all the departments and establishments of the Government. In the last 10 years the depository

libraries have returned to the Superintendent of Documents 1,226,558

publications for which they could not provide space or were of no

interest to their readers.

The Government was thus put to the expense of not only printing more than a million useless books but also had to pay for their trans- portation to and from 421 depositories throughout the United States. Undoubtedly the 1,200,000 publications that the libraries returned

to Washington do not any^vhere near represent the total wastage by

the old plan of complete distribution to all depositories. It is estimated that as many or more publications were discarded by the

libraries rather than take the trouble to ship the useless books back

to the Government Printing Office. SELECTION PLAN RELIEF TO MANY LIBRARIES.

To prevent a continuance of this gross waste. Congress in 1922

adopted a recommendation by this ofiice that depository libraries

be required to select in advance publications they desired. When the

selection plan was put into effect it was found that 51 libraries did

not have sufiicient mterest in Government documents to submit any

selections, and accordingly, under the act of March 22, 1922, were

stricken from the list of Government depositories. Only 51 other

libraries out of 421 depositories requested that the Superintendent of Documents continue to send them all the publications issued by

this of&ce. Sixty-nine libraries asked for more than two-thirds

of the publications. On the other hand, 152 libraries requested to be

released from nearly half of the publications, and 149 others wanted

less than half of the Government list. Thus 301 out of 421 depository

libraries, or nearly three-fourths, are now taking half or less than half

of the number of Government publications that have been unloaded

on them for many years. As a result of the library-selection plan, the cost of publications

for depository distribution decreased from $119,999.12 in 1921 to

$73,753.45 in 1923, a saving of $46,245.67. Whether there can be

a further reduction in this item depends, of course, upon the number

of depository libraries over which this ofiice has no control, the

designations being made by Members of Congress. Out of a total

possible designation of 663 libraries only 421 have been named.

Perhaps, as the selection plan works out, more libraries will seek

designation as Government depositories. This may gradually bring

the cost of library distribution near the old appropriation for that

purpose. Even then the expenditure would be well spent, for the
14 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

publica^tions selected by the increased number of libraries would

undoubtedly be put to good use instead of wasted as they had been

for many years.BETTER SERVICE TO LIBRARY READERS.

With the adoption of the selection plan, the Government Printing

Office was enabled to make more prompt distribution to depository

libraries. In fact, many publications which do not require special

binding are sent out to the libraries as soon as they come from the

presses and are thus available to library readers while of timely

interest. In recognition of this improved service the National

Association of State Libraries adopted the following resolution:

Resolved, That we, the members of the National Association of State Libraries,

in annual conference assembled at Detroit, Mich., June 30, 1922, express to George H. Carter, Public Printer, Washington, D. C, and to Alton P. Tisdel,

Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C, our appreciation and thanks

for making possible and inaugurating a daily distribution of United States Govern- ment publications to all depository libraries, thus enabling these libraries to

serve the public almost immediately after their mention in the public press

and sometimes before. The Public Documents Round Table of the American Library

Association, at its session at Hot Springs, Ark., on April 27, 1923,

also adopted the following resolution, congratulating the Superintendent of Documents on the success of the selective system for

distributing documents to depository libraries

:

Whereas, in response to a general desire on the part of libraries, the selective system for the distribution of public documents has been placed in operation by

the United States Superintendent of Public Documents: Be it Resolved, That the public documents and the Federal and State relations committees of the American Library Association, in joint session, truly thank

the Superintendent of Public Documents for his interest and cooperation in obtaining this concession and also congratulate him on its great success. PATENT GAZETTE AND GEOLOGICAL LIBRARIES.

There is still another library distribution required by law which

is of little or no service to the public and yet quite costly to the

Government ; that is the special designation by Members of Congress

of libraries to be depositories of the Official Gazette of the Patent

Ofiice and publications of the United States Geological Survey.

Only 830 libraries out of a possible total of 4,264 have been designated by Members of Congress to receive the Patent Gazette. The

special library designations for geological publications number only

676 out of 2,132 possible selections.

The small number of designations indicate the lack of general

interest in these publications which can be made available to the

public through the regular depository libraries. A saving of approximately $40,000 a year could be made by abolishing the special

designation of libraries as depositories of the Patent Gazette and

geological publications. The recommendation to that effect as made in the Public Printer's report for 1922 is, therefore, renewed

and urged for adoption by the present Congress.
ANNUAL. BEPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 16

NEARLY 100 MILLION COPIES PRINTED IN 1923. The total number of copies of publications printed in the fiscal year

1923 was 98,443,042, an increase of 3,792,617 over 1922. The publications for 1923 included 1,706,487 pages of type, an increase of 107,374 pages over 1922. Of the 1923 publications, 1,384,142 copies were bound, as compared with the binding of 1,194,250 in 1922, the

increase for the year being 189,892 copies.

Increased production is also to be noted in other lines of work.

For instance, the number of blanks, notices, schedules, and cards

printed in 1923 was 2,653,024,375, an increase of 558,910,030 over

the 1922 output. These figures include the annual production of postal cards, which amoimted to 1,180,991,000 for 1923, as against

989,978,000 for 1922, an increase of 191,000,000, or 19 per cent, for

the year, with a daily average of only eight more employees.

The number of postal cards printed in 1923 was, with two exceptions, the largest of any year in the history of the ofiice. As a resmt

of this increased production, the charge for furnishing postal cards

to the Post Office Department was reduced on August 17, 1923, 4

cents a thousand.

TEN MILLION TABULATING MACHINE CARDS.

In addition to postal cards there were produced in 1923 approximately 10,000,000 cards for tabulating machines. Printed letter- heads, noteheads, and envelopes totaled 150,347,758 for 1923, an

increase of 3,095,181 over 1922. This does not include many millions

of letterheads and envelopes obtained from other sources by the

various departments. The printed penalty envelopes in particular

are furnished ahnost exclusively under contracts awarded to private concerns by the Post Office Department. The Government Printing

Office has nothing whatever to do with the printing of the so-called

"return card" envelopes sold to the public by post offices throughout the country.

Of the letterheads and envelopes printed by this office 879,085 were embossed, an increase of only 1,683 over 1922. Substantially

all embossed letterheads and envelopes are for the departments, as none are furnished free to Members or committees of Congress.

Ten years ago, just prior to the action of the Joint Committee on

Printing in prohibiting the free supply of embossed stationery to Members of Congress, more than 12,000,000 embossed letterheads were ordered annually at a cost of approximately $60,000. The

total cost of all letterheads and envelopes embossed by the Government Printing Office in 1923 was $4,805.48. This indicates a saving

of at least $35,000 annually for the last 10 years, which can properly

be credited to economies recommended and ordered by the Joint

Committee on Printing.

Blank books produced by the bindery numbered 1,532,318 in

1922 and 1,971,038 in 1923, an increase of 438,720 for the year. COST OF PRINTING CONGRESSIONAL RECORD.

The Congressional Record, the most costly publication issued by

the Government, required an expenditure of $527,897.28 for printing

83793—24 2
16 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

and binding its 25,240 pages in 1923 as compared with $713,085.79

in 1922. This was a decrease of $185,188.51 for the year, although

19,200 more volumes of the Record were bound in 1923 than in the

preceding year. The decreased cost of the Record in 1923 was due

largely to 1,816 fewer pages of type and a drop in the price of paper.

Of the daily edition of the Record approximately 33,000 copies are printed and of the permanent edition about 6,000 sets are bound at the end of each session.

Due to the vigilance of the Joint Committee on Printing, less money is spent for illustrating the Congressional Record than for any

other Government publication. The cost of illustrations inserted in

the Record during 1923 was only $26.05 as compared with $147.87

spent for the same purpose in 1922.

As a matter of fact, the entire Government is rather economical in

the use of illustrations in its publications, the total cost for 1923

being $120,927.30, a decrease of $72,175.74 from the preceding year. Congress also caused an expenditure of $121,458.58 for the printing

of its bills and resolutions in 1923, as against $142,993.44 spent for

the same purpose in 1922. The two years show the total cost of

printing bills and resolutions for the Sixty-seventh Congress to be

$264,452.02. There were 5,659 separate bills and resolutions printed

in 1923, making a total of 33,155 type pages as compared with 11,636

bills and resolutions consisting of 42,767 type pages in 1922.

The committees of Congress had hearings printed at a cost of

$65,345.53 in 1923, as compared with $122,739.82 in 1922, making

the total of $188,085.35 for the Sixty-seventh Congress.

The total cost of printing for Congress in 1923 was $1,794,821.64,

which was $290,036.06 less than for the preceding year, when the total

reached $2,084,857.70. For the two years covering the term of the

Sixty-seventh Congress the total cost of all congressional printing was $3,879,679.34. This does not include charges for printing congressional speeches for distribution by individual Members, who have

to bear that expense personally. In 1923 the Government Printing

Office received $55,330.18 from Members of Congress for printing

copies of their speeches; in 1922 they paid $69,953.20 for similar

printing. Even when Members of Congress pay for their printing

the Government Printing Office is restricted by law to the reprinting

of only such speeches as have been inserted in the Congressional

Record.

POSTAL SERVICE THE BIGGEST PATRON.

The biggest patron of the Government Printing Office in 1923 was

the Post Office Department, which topped even Congress, with an

expenditure of $1,846,507.87 for Postal Service printing. The in- crease over 1922 was $205,892. Besides the continuous task of printing and shipping more than a biUion postal cards annually for

the Post Office Department, this office produces all the money-order

forms and blanks used by the Postal Service.

The output for 1922 exceeded by 9,765,000 copies the number of money-order forms printed in any other year since the Government

Printing Office took over that work 16 years ago. This was accompHshed without night or overtime work and with but a small increase

m the force from time to time. The entire operation of printing,

binding, and shipping money-order forms is done in one section of
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 17

the office, entirely separated from the rest of the work. The books

of forms are shipped direct from the Government Printing Office to postmasters throughout the country without any rehandling by the

Post Office Department except in the ordinary course of the mails.

Printing for the Post Office Department in 1923 also included

218,000,000 apphcations for money orders, 80,000,000 registered mail

notices, 60,000,000 special dehvery shps, 30,000,000 return receipt

cards, 20,000,000 registry receipt cards, 10,000,000 change of address

orders, 10,000,000 remittance letters, and 2,000,000 postal information pamphlets.

The Treasury ranked next to the Post Office among the departments, with an expenditure of $971,167.77 for its printing in 1923.

Even this large amount was a decrease of $170,397.91 from the cost

of printing for the Treasury in the preceding year. Conspicuous

among the jobs done for the Treasur;^ Department were 86,000,000

income-tax blanks and 65,000,000 savings leaflets. The Department of Agriculture ex{)ended a total of $677,715.91

for its prmting in 1923, as compared with $704,247.03 in 1922.

Printing of patent specifications and the Official Gazette of the

Patent Office cost $639,996.95 in 1923, as against $612,448.98 in 1922.

The Department of Commerce had printing done in 1923 to the

extent of $550,510.75, which was $45,475.11 less than the preceding

year. Printing for the Navy cost $531,297.29 and for the Army $435,-

856.13, as compared with $600,522.45 and $484,356.45, respectively,

in 1922. The effect of war and peace on the cost of printing is shown

by the total expenditure of $967,153.42 for Army and Navy printing

in 1923, as compared with their expenditure of $4,535,382.95 for

Erintingdone by this office in 1918. The decrease in printing ordered

y the War Department in the last five years has been $2,923,443.92

and for the Navy $644,785.61.

INCREASE IN DEPARTMENTAL PUBLICATIONS.

Departmental publications increased 7,256,366 copies in 1923 over

the number printed the preceding year. The total for 1923 was

73,774,880 copies, as compared with 65,519,514 for 1922.

The Department of Agriculture continued far in the lead as to the

number of publications printed during the year, with a total of 33,233,-

836 copies, which includes 16,486,598 copies of Farmers' Bulletins, an increase of 865,142 over the copies of publications printed in 1922.

The Treasury Department issued 10,196,731 copies of its publications, an increase of 5,053,872 over 1922 but 4,030,709 less than in

1921. Postal publications for the year numbered 7,296,084 copies, an increase of 3,219,579 over 1922.

The War Department, which showed nearly 100 per cent increase

in 1922 with its 9,026,599 copies, cut that number in 1923 by considerably more than half with a total of 3,964,914 copies. The

Navy Department also reduced its publications from 2,382,155

copies in 1922 to 1,892,335 in 1923, a drop of nearly half a million.

PRINTING FOR THE VETERANS' BUREAU.

WTiile the Army and Navy are back on a peace basis, as indicated

by their printing, the war has caused a large increase in the printing
18 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE PUBUC PRINTER.

requirements of the Veterans' Bureau. Publications of that bureau

jumped from 315,787 copies in 1922 to 3,402,412 copies in 1923.

In addition, the Veterans' Bureau had 10,000,000 letterj&eads printed

during the year. The extent of its hospitalization program may be

seen in the printing of 2,000,000 prescription blanks for the year. The diminishing activities of the War Finance Corporation are shown by the reduction of its publications from 158,000 copies in

1922 to only 8,462 in 1923. On the other hand, the Alien Property

Custodian increased his publications from 3,012 copies in 1922 to 10,004 in 1923.

The Interior Department, which in 1922 reduced its number of

publications by 1,819,649 copies, came back with an increase of

1,027,432 in 1923, making its total for the year 3,881,763.

The Department of Commerce issued 3,008,974 copies of its publications in 1923, a decrease of 523,795 for the year. Labor had

1,931,518 copies of its publications printed, or 688,316 more than

in 1922.

The Interstate Commerce Commission ranked ahead of four of

the executive departments with 2,340,577 copies of publications in

1923, as compared with 1,869,232 in 1922.

With an increase of more than 8,000,000 copies of publications

printed in 1923, there was naturally a vastly greater number of operations required for the production of such an immense quantity of

printing. As has already been stated, the increased production was

accomplished with an average of 232 fewer employees on the rolls daily than in 1922, and decrease in operating cost of approximately

6 per cent. GAIN MADE BY PRODUCTIVE DIVISIONS.

All the productive divisions of the office were operated without

a loss excepting the document composing and the platemaking, to which latter the new photo-engraving section was added during

the year. The failure of these two divisions to show a gain was due

largely to the elimination of first charges on uncompleted jobs in

conformity with the new financial plan whereby charges are not made,

even at the end of a fiscal year, until the work has been completed

and delivered.

For the preceding fiscal year, 1922, advance charges amounted to $1,015,474, which represents about the average computation of unfinished work on hand at the end of a fiscal year. It is estimated

that the office had expended $440,000 for labor and material on jobs

uncompleted at the end of the fiscal year 1923, but this expenditure was not taken into consideration in determining the production

record for the year, as had formerly been the practice. Consequently, while the year's production record indicates a decrease of 391,078,200, or 16^ per cent, in ems of type set during 1923, the

total, 1,963,371,800 ems, represents the amount of composition

charged to jobs actually completed within the year. Undoubtedly,

between 200,000,000 and 300,000,000 additional ems were set for

uncompleted and uncharged jobs, and this did not go to the credit

of the 1923 production.

This remarkable quantity of type was set with an average of 19

fewer employees working on linotype composition and 17 fewer on monotype composition during the year. The entire book composing
ANNUAL. KEPORT OF THE PUBLIC PKINTEK. 19

division, including machine, hand, and proof rooms, had an average

of 64 fewer men working daily in 1923 than in 1922. The average

production of linotype operators increased slightly, while the aver- age for monotype keyboard operators showed only a small decrease.

PRESSWORK SHOWS GOOD INCREASE FOR YEAR.

The Presswork Division made a gain of 6 per cent in its operations

for the year, as compared with a gain of 1 per cent in 1922. The

total expenses of the division, exclusive of the postal-card and

money-order sections, decreased $49,155.30, while the computed product increased $14,275.34, with a daily average of 42 fewer employees

working. The total chargeable impressions increased 52,000,000

and actual impressions decreased 8,000,000, indicating a substantial

economy in press operation by the combination of forms. The total

chargeable nnpressions in the main pressrooms for the year was

2,151,586,004 and the actual impressions 490,311,561. The number

of forms put to press was 144,464, as compared with 161,905 in 1922

An especially good showing was made by the Binding Division, with

a gain of 17 per cent for the year, as compared with a gain of 2 per

cent in 1922. With a daily average of 154 fewer employees on the

roll, the bindery succeeded in topping its $2,000,000 production

record for 1922 oy nearly $10,000. Total operating expenses of the

bindery for 1923 decreased $246,218, or 12^ per cent less than ex- penses in 1922.

Among the items of increased production by the bindery in 1923

are signatures sewed, 91,638,047, an increase of 19,630,695; signatures

gathered by machine, 162,134,538, an increase of 33,872,301; copies

wire-stitched, 48,631,333, an increase of 2,369,795; copies papercovered, 7,032,577, an increase of 2,089,515; books cased-in, 1,352,127, an increase of 169,876.

RECORD IN OUTPUT OF AGRICULTURAL YEARBOOKS.

The bindery also performed the unusual feat of handling two

prints of the Agricultural Yearbook within one year—issues for 1921

and 1922. Both yearbooks were published during the fiscal year

1923, owing to a delay on the part of the department in furnishing

copy for the 1921 edition. The 1921 Yearbook was not O. K'd by

the department for press until September 22, 1922. The first 100,000

copies came off the presses October 1, 1922. In an effort to make up

for the lost time, the entire 100,000 copies were gathered, sewed,

bound in cloth, and delivered in 12 working-days after the last signatures were printed. Although the 1922 Yearbook contained 248

ages more than the 1921 edition, 200,000 cloth-bound copies were

elivered by June 30 without delaying other current cloth-bound

work.

The Platemaking Division produced 11,353,505 square inches of electrotype and stereotype plates during the year, a decrease of 1,356,120 from the 1922 output. In the molding and casting of

124 Congressional Record plates in 86 minutes on January 11 the

night force of seven stereotypers made a new shop record. This

division took on considerable additional work in the blocking of all cuts produced by the new photo-engraving section; also in the
20 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

renovation of the plate vault with its 3,600,000 plates, and the

indexing and storage of 40,000 cuts which formerly were turned over

to the departments after use by this office. NEW PHOTO-ENGRAVING SECTION IN OPERATION.

A complete photo-engraving plant was installed during the year, and for the first time the wond's greatest printing plant, is now

equipped and able to make its own line cuts and half tones. The

latest and best machinery has been procured for the section at a

cost of approximately $17,000. This includes three large cameras, two routing machines, two etching machines, and everything neces- sary to operate a first-class plant in an efficient manner. The photo-engraving section has an ideal location on the new

eighth floor, where it is provided with a modern gallery, dark rooms,

and well-arranged etching, printing, finishing, and proof rooms. The section began to operate in February and up to June 30 produced

10,682 square inches of half-tones and 46,178 square inches of line cuts. It is now making practically all the line cuts and half tones used by the office. One of the biggest jobs of the photo-engraving section is the production of approximately 1,150 line cuts every week for the

Gazette. The making of these cuts in a satisfactory manner

by contractors and their delivery on time has been one of the most

worrisome jobs with which the Government Printing Office has had

to contend for many years. Since the task was undertaken by the

fhoto-engraving section there has not been a single complaint or delay, n commendation of this work, the Commissioner of Patents wrote

the Public Printer on July 5, as follows:

I have examined with a great deal of interest the initial number of the Official Gazette of the Patent Office in which the cuts were made by the Government

Printing Office instead of by a private contractor. I not only note with satis- faction that the Gazette appeared on time but that there is a splendid quality

of workmanship in the cuts and that the fine details are exceptionally well reproduced.

INKS AND ROLLERS MADE BY THE OFFICE.

Inks and rollers for the 167 presses in the Government Printing

Ofiice are manufactured by the Presswork Division. During the year

101,695 pounds of ink were made at a total cost, including ingredients,

of $25,537.59. In all, 55 kinds of excellent ink were produced for

the use of this office. Among the inks made were 4,739 pounds of postal-card green at 29 cents a pound and 1,368 pounds of special

carbon ink at 17 cents a pound.

Printing-press rollers were made by the roUer section to the number

of 3,453, which required 27,163 pounds of composition. The rollers were produced in a most satisfactory manner at a cost of 31 cents a pound, as compared with a 35-cent cost the previous year. The ofiice also manufactures considerable other material required

in printing and binding, such as all the glue and paste used by the

bindery, all the type and type metal needed by the composing division, and also cuts and perforates all the special rolls of paper for

its 100 monotype keyboards. For the year 45,000 pounds of keyboard paper was perforated on the special machine designed and

built for that purpose in 1922 by the machine shop of the Government Printing Office.
ANNUAL EEPORT OF THE PUBLIC PEINTEK. 21

BRANCH PLANT AT LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

In addition to the main plant, the Government Printing Ofiice

maintains a large branch at the Library of Congress, the binding

section employing 60 persons and the printing section 25. The

Library branch is engaged almost exclusively on work for the Library

of Congress, including the printing of 11,787,000 library index cards

annually, the publication of the Weekly Catalogue of Copyright Entries, and the rebinding of thousands of library books. The Library

branch also does considerable print and map mounting and manuscript repair work.

Presswork of the Library printing branch showed an increase of 3,000,000 copies in 1923, the total number for the year being 30,409,850

copies, as compared with 27,414,000 in 1922. Jobs handled increased

1,397. The branch plant was improved wdth the installation of

another linotype machine, bringing its battery up to six, all of which

are now equipped ^vith modern metal feeders. A new plan of financing the Libraiy bindery was adopted whereby

the Library of Congress is charged the full expense of maintaining

the branch, instead of determining the cost of each job according to the main office scale of charges. This arrangement operated very

satisfactorily and has effected a considerable saving in clerical work.

Toward the close of the fiscal year the printing and binding appropriation for the Library of Congress became exhausted. It was

necessary to bring nearly the entire bindery force back to the main

office during the latter part of June and assign them to work for

other departments.

PRINTING OF U. S. SUPREME COURT REPORTS.

By direction of Congress in an act approved July 1, 1922, the

Government Printing Office has undertaken the printing and sale of

the official Reports of the United States Supreme Court. Ever

since the Supreme Court was established its reports were published

by a private concern through personal arrangement with the reporter

for the court. Although the Government Printing Office has been capable of doing

this work for many years, the Government has had to procure all the

sets of reports required for Federal courts and officers from the

private publisher, who was permitted to copyright the official reports and sell them to the public at a generous profit. The bound

reports were sold at $3 per volume and the preliminary pamphlet

prints at 50 cents each. The Government Printing Office is now

selling the bound volumes at $2.50 and the pamphlet prints at 25

cents each.

The Government price is fixed by the reporter for the Supreme

Court with the apj)roval of the Attorney General. The law requires

that the selling price shall include half of the salary and expenses

of the reporter's office. It costs approximately $1.60 a volume to print and bind the reports and about 18 cents for each pamphlet

print. The difference between the printing cost and the price charged

represents the additional expense for the reporter's office, and uiis

difference is turned into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts instead of being placed to the credit of the Government Printing Office.
22 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

It seems hardly fair to impose an extra charge for the salary and

expenses of the reporter on attorneys who have to buy these reports

from the Government. Such a charge is not made for any other

Government publication. If it were the general rule, practically the

entire expense of maintaining the Department of Agriculture would

have to be charged against its publications, thus making their selling

price almost prohibitive.

REDUCTION IN PRICE OF THE REPORTS.

If Congress were to amend the law relative to the printing of the

Supreme Court reports so as to eliminate the expenses of the reporter's

office and permit the Government Printing Office to print and bind

the reports in a practical manner, the same as other Government

publications, the public price could be reduced to $1.50 or $2 per

volume, as compared with the price of $3 made by private publishers.

The Government print of the reports began with volume 257.

Four volumes have been issued already and succeeding volumes will

be printed as rapidly as the reporter furnishes copy therefor, which

so far has been a rather slow procedure. Of the bound edition,

approximately 1,500 copies of each volume have been sold, and of the

preliminary pamphlet edition, about 700 copies each. The sales are made by the Superintendent of Documents, who will gladly open an

account with any person desiring to make a deposit with him for

copies of the reports as issued. In fact, the document office already

has 700 such accounts. Plans are now being discussed for a reprint by this office of volumes

1 to 256, inclusive, of the reports, which, of course, will be a big and

important undertaking. It is believed, however, that these reprints can be made by the Government Printing Office at a considerable

saving both to the Government and to the public.

MACHINERY IN PLANT VALUED AT |2,886,569.

Machinery to the estimated value of $2,886,569 is made use of in

the operation of the plant. The value of additional equipment is estimated at $348,484.14, which brings the total for machinerv and

equipment in the office on June 30, 1923, up to $3,235,053.54. The

Presswork Division has printing presses and other machinery valued

at $850,950. The monotype equipment is valued at $431,103 and

the linotype at $339,932. The bindery is likewise well equipped, as shown by the value of $483,573 placed upon its machinery. The

Buildings Division is charged with machinery costing $458,270, most

of which is located in the power plant.

Besides the 167 printing presses, which range from 64-page rotaries

through almost every style and size down to a lot of little jobbers,

the tremendous investment in printing machinery and equipment

includes 99 linotypes, 100 monotype keyboards and 126 monotype

casters, together with a bindery layout of 52 book-sewing machines,

35 folding machines, 33 cutting machines, 16 ruling machines, 19

wire stitchers, 3 combined headbanding, crashing, and lining machines, and 2 combined gathering, stitching, and covering machines.

All of these machines have been thoroughly overhauled and put

in excellent condition during the last two years. It has been a strenuous task for the machine shop and the type-machine section,
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 23

but those units responded in a most gratifying manner and the

plant can take pride in the fact that all its machinery and equipment

are in excellent condition. Due to the high standard of maintenance

the life of machinery in the Government Printing Office is generally

three or four times longer than in the average commercial plants.

Not only have our machinists and operators carried on the routine

work, but they have developed numerous special devices and equipment that have greatly increased or bettered the production of

many machines. For instance, an insetting machine costing $6,408,

which had been discarded soon after its installation several years

ago, was rebuilt during the year and is now in successful operation

although it had been regarded as practically worthless.

NEED FOR MORE EFFICIENT MACHINERY.

While all the old machinery has been placed in first-class condition,

the Public Printer has also had to purchase considerable new

machinery and equipment so as to insure proper efficiency of operation. On recommendation of the Public Printer, Congress increased

the authorizations for new machinery from $100,000 to $200,000 for

each of the fiscal years 1923 and 1924. The plant was in such a run- down condition, due partly to the enormous demands made on it during the war, when almost every machine was kept in operation

from 16 to 24 hours daily, that it has been absolutely necessary to replace a number of worn-out machines. However, owing to the

exorbitant prices demanded for certain machinery, only $172,986.67

has been expended or obligated to date out of the total of $600,000

made available for that purpose in the fiscal years 1921-1924.

The purchase of two 64-page web presses for the printing of the

Congressional Record and publications of similar size was the out- standing transaction of the year as to new machinery. The two

presses which were contracted for last June at a total cost of $122,350

mil not be ready for operation until some time in the fall of 1924.

The}^ are greatly needed, inasmuch as the Record is now printed on

a 64-page press, which has been in almost constant operation for

the last 21 years, supplemented by two 32-page presses that are 29

and 38 years old, respectively. Each new press will have a capacity

of at least 12,000 64-page Records an hour. The new presses will be equipped with pasters and wire stitchers, can be operated in 32-

page units, and will gather in signatures of 8 to 64 pages. The old

Record presses will be retained for the present as auxiliary equipment, but their period of usefulness is so uncertain that the office wih be fortunate indeed to get through the present session of Congress with the old presses. A special Record press room will be provided on the second floor,

where will also be located the necessary gathering machines, trimmers,

and mailing tables in close proximity to the presses and to the conveyors, which require only 10 minutes to carry sacks of mail through

a tunnel to the city post offi.ce and on to outgoing trains. Such an arrangement will greatly speed up the printing and mailing of the

Record and other periodicals that are being standardized to Record

size in order to make the new equipment available for their prompt

and economical publication.
2 t ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

BINDERY EQUIPMENT AT HIGH STANDARD.

The bindery has been brought up to a high standard of efficiency

by the installation of a number of new machines, including eight

folding machines with automatic feeders, one of which is a double 16

and another a quad 16; a continuous gumming machine capable of

producing various widths and lengths of gummed paper now much in

demand; fiye automatic feeders for Cleveland folders and two additional automatic feeders in the pamphlet bindery. Two hydraulic

book presses were added to the bindery equipment, doing away with

30 antiquated manual presses and thereby effecting a desirable

saving of hand labor and space. Four additional powerful 50-inch

cutting machines were placed in the cutting and packing section.

Sixteen more automatically-fed presses were equipped with electric and gas neutralizers to overcome static conditions and speed up

production in the pressroom. Two automatic feeders were added to other presses, making a total of 79 presses equipped with such laborsaving devices.

The Platemaking Division received a new roughing machine and

a Hacker test press and gauge rectifier. The latter equipment is aiding materially in perfecting the plates and lessening the cost of press make-ready.

As to the Printing Division, the greatest imj)rovement was in

standardizing all the 6 and 8 point monotype matrices and molds on

the .030 drive now generally used by the printing trade, instead of the . 050 drive which had to be made special for the Government

Printing Office. By adopting the standard matrices there will be

a great and constant saving hereafter in the purchase of monotype

matrices used in large quantities by this office. The recent change

required the purchase of approximately 60,000 matrices, 184 key bars,

and the reconstruction of 110 molds at a cost of $34,000.

BIG SAVING IN SURPLUS WAR MATERIAL.

With the very helpful cooperation of the Joint Committee on

Printing, the chief coordinator of the Bureau of the Budget, and other

agencies of the Government, the Government Printing Office has re- ceived a large quantity of useful machinery, equipment, and supplies,

valued at approximately $263,000. Much of this was surplus war

material which, but for its use by the Government Printing Office,

might have been wasted or disposed of at a small return to the Government.

For example, there was received from the fleet supply base at Brooklyn 13,000 reams of kraft paper that had cost the Government fully

$65,000. This paper, which apparently was going to waste, has been

put to good service, especially in the printing of millions of leaflets for the War Savings Bureau of the Treasury Department.

From the Curtis Bay general ordnance depot, in Maryland, there were obtained 2,700,000 envelopes, and from the War Department in

Washington 288,000 envelopes that had been printed by private contract during the war. These envelopes, valued at $6,600, had been

declared of no further service to the Army, but the Superintendent of Documents has used them instead of buying new envelopes for the

mailing of Government publications.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 25

The Rhode Island Arsenal contributed 128 reams of manila tag-board

paper, valued at $1,000. Five hundred reams of print-kraft paper,

valuedat$l,000,camefromCampBenning;Ga., and 53 roUsof newsprint

paper, weighing 54,920 pounds and valued at $1,650, from the Army

supply base at Brooklyn. Camp Humphreys, in Virginia, furnished

30 cases of linen-lined paper, worth $3,750, and 157 gross of lead pencils, valued at $450. The Army supply base at Boston fur- nished 18,445 yards of duck cloth, valued at $6,815, to which were added 7,089 yards of similar cloth, worth $2,986, from the Jeffersonville (Ind.) quartermaster depot, and 5,633 yards, worth $2,200,

from the quartermaster depot at Boston.

EIGHT PRESSES OBTAINED BY TRANSFERS.

As to machinery this office has likemse fared very well in the

transfer from various Government plants. Eight presses have

been added to the pressroom equipment, including 1 Miehle press, 29 by 41 inches, from the Railway Mail Service printing plant in

Washington; 1 Premier, 28 by 41 inches, from the Naval Training Station at Newport, R. 1.; 1 Miehle press, 43 by 56 inches,

from the Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, 111,; 1 Premier

press, 47 by 66 inches, with automatic feeder, and 2 Kelly presses, 17 by 22 inches, from the Marine Corps recruiting bureau in Brooklyn; 1 Premier press, 36 by 48 inches, from the Navy Shipping

Bulletin plant in New York City; 1 Premier press, 33 b}^ 45 inches,

and 1 Standard, 13 by 19 inches, from the Navy recruiting bureau

in New York City; together mth a number of smaller presses. Five much-needed typesetting machines have likewise been transferred to this office from various war activities, including 1 Model 5 linotype from Camp Humphreys, Va., 1 Model 19 linotype from the

Great Lakes Naval Training Station, 1 Model 5 linotype from the

Navy Shipping Bulletin in New York, 1 Model 4 linotype from Walter

Reed Hospital, and 1 intertype from the Seamen (jrunners' School

in Washington.

The linotype received from Camp Humphreys is a distinguished

veteran of the World War, having been used in the mobile printing

plant that accompanied General Pershing's headquarters in France

throughout the war. It is proposed to place a bronze plate on this

machine in commemoration of its war service. Instead, however, of

continuing to set General Pershing's war orders it is now devoted

to the more peaceful occupation of printing patent specifications.

The Army Engineer section at Columbus, Ohio, has provided the

Government Printing Office with surplus war supplies valued at $53,753. This includes 388,450 sheets of linen-lined paper, 29 by

37 inches in size, valued at $46,614; 1,930 pounds of potassium,

valued at $3,763; 1,458 sponges, valued at $1,166; and a quantity

of expensive laboratory supplies.

NEW ARMY TRUCKS FOR HAULING FREIGHT.

Good use is being made of all the war surplus of printing machinery

and supplies transferred to the Government Printing Office. The

acquisition of this valuable material has been of great help in the

economical operation of the plant. In addition, the office has obtained from the Army and is reconditioning for use nine Mack trucks
26 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

of 5J tons capacity each. It is planned to have these trucks do all the freight hauling for the Government Printing Office, beginning

with the next paper contract year. A saving of several thousand

dollars a year in drayage charges can be effected by the use of the

Army trucks which were rapidly becoming an almost total loss. Credit for this economy is due chiefly to our traffic manager, Mr.

W. H. Kervin, and to the chief coordinator, Col. H. C. Smither, and

his able staff, who have shown a fine spirit of cooperation with this

office in many helpful ways.

An adequate supply of paper and other materials is equally as important in the prompt production of printing and binding as is the proper maintenance of machinery and equipment. That such a supply is no small task in the Government Printing Office is shown

by the fact that the purchase of paper in 1923 amounted to 34,906,110

pounds, costing $2,851,176.26, as compared with 32,000,000 pounds,

costing $2,281,036.41, in 1922. Other materials and supplies for

printing bought in 1923 cost $762,859.73, as compared with

$728,085.94 in 1922.

HANDLE NEARLY 1,000 OARS OF PAPER A YEAR.

During the year 949 carloads of paper were received and handled

by the Stores Division, the deliveries ranging from 49 to 110 cars a month. In addition to the receipt of such an enormous quantity

of paper, the Stores Division is required to keep in stock approximately a million dollars' worth of paper and other printing materials.

The stock of paper on hand Jime 30, 1923, was valued at $669,984.60,

as compared with a stock valued at $528,145.32, on hand June

30, 1922. Other materials and supplies on hand June 30, 1923, were inventoried at $221,731.31, as compared with an inventory value

of $201,355.79 on June 30, 1922, an increase of $20,375.52. The total stores (including paper) on hand June 30, 1923, were inventoried at $912,492.29, as compared with $770,045.42 on hand June 30, 1922,

the increase for the year being $142,446.87.

The Stores Division is in the best and most orderly condition ever known in the history of the works. It is now possible to keep an

accurate check on every one of the several thousand items in stock.

The systematic arrangement and safeguarding of the big storerooms

and warehouses have saved many thousands of dollars to the Government and have speeded up production by the more prompt furnishing

of paper and supplies.

With the cooperation of the Permanent Conference on Printing an

effort was made to centralize the purchase of Government paper.

This endeavor to save money and at the same time render better

service by having all paper procured on a single schedule of uniform

specifications, inspected under similar conditions, and stored in a

central warehouse, aroused some opposition and has not been successful

as yet owing to certain obstacles.

BUY CHEAPER THAN GENERAL SUPPLY COMMITTEE.

The Government Printing Office purchases similar grades of paper

cheaper than has been possible under General Supply Committee

contracts, partly due to the fact that the Government Printing Office

annually procures approximately ten times the quantity of paper
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 27

contracted for by all other governmental agencies in Washington. A

recent comparison of the prices of paper under contracts of the Government Printing Office and the General Supply Committee shows

that of 3,049,000 pounds of paper of the same specified quality, the

Printing Office prices were $52,800 less than the awards made by the

General Supply Committee. The paper could have been cut to stationery size and wrapped by this office at a cost of approximately

$18,000, thus efl'ecting an actual net saving to the Government of at

least $34,800 on approximately 60 per cent of the paper annually

contracted for by the General Supply Committee.

Not only could a worth-while economy be effected by the centralized

purchase of paper, but a single warehouse and uniform system of in- spection would also insure deliveries of the quality of paper which the

contractors agree to furnish. Under the present system, or rather

lack of system, paper bought through contracts of the General

Supply Committee may be delivered to half a hundred different

agencies of the Government and subjected to as many methods of

inspection.

Mr. F. A. Curtiss, of the Bureau of Standards, discussed the

prevalent laxity of inspection at a meeting of the Government

Purchasing Agents Association several months ago. The minutes

of that association contain the following report of his statement:

Mr. Curtiss emphasized the fact that the failure of the purchasing agents to have deliveries tested was to a considerable extent defeating the efforts of the bureau to perfect specifications. Bidders familiar with the circumstances are

in a position to underbid others not so well informed (or perhaps more scrupulous)

,

for with the knowledge that perhaps only one delivery in a thousand will be

tested it is possible to substitute cheaper products than are provided for by the

specifications.

DEPARTMENTS FAIL TO INSPECT DELIVERIES.

Confirming this opinion of the Bureau of Standards paper expert,

is a report by the chief of tests of the Government Printing Office as to paper bought and accepted by departments under contracts awarded by the General Supply Committee. Several samples of onionskin paper so purchased under definite specifications requiring

50 per cent rag stock were found to be made entirely of sulphite

wood stock of a low strength. On another specification for 100 per

cent rag paper the deliveries contained only 60 per cent of rag stock.

Still another paper, which should have had at least 50 per cent of rag stock of 35 points strength and only 3 per cent of ash, actually was made of 30 per cent rag stock with 30 points strength and had

9 per cent of clay fiUer. The departments evidently had accepted

all these deliveries v/ithout taking the trouble to ascertain whether

the contractor was complying with the standard specifications. Of

course, it is easy to underbid a competitor on some contracts with the

Government when one knows he can deliver an inferior grade of paper.

Congress by the act of June 5, 1920 (40 Stat. 1036) authorized the

Government Printing Office to furnish paper, envelopes, and blank

books to the stationery rooms of the Senate and House for sale to Members at cost. A similar privilege ought to be extended to the

various departments and establishments of the Government. Therefore, the Public Printer renews his recommendation to that effect as made in the Annual Report for 1922.
28 ANNUAL REPOKT OF THE PUBLIC PEINTER.

FAVOR CENTRALIZATION OF PAPER PURCHASES.

Supporting the proposed plan for the purchase, supply, and

centralization of paper stock at the Government Printing Office,

the Permanent Conference on Printing included the following state- ment in its annual report to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget

for 1923:

One of the very important matters with which the Permanent Conference on

Printing has dealt during the past year was that of recommending for adoption

a plan whereby all purchases of paper stock for Government use should be made

by the Government Printing Office, centralized there, and sold to the various departments of the Government according to their respective needs. The pro- posed method, if adopted, would displace the present system, whereby, under

sanction of law, the departments are provided with several methods of procuring paper supplies. At present numerous Government agencies purchase

large quantities of paper, the largest purchasers being the Government Printing

Office (through the Joint Committee on Printing), the General Supply Committee, the Post Office Department, the Quartermaster General of the Army, and

the Paymaster General of the Navy. The plan to which the Permanent Conference on Printing gave serious consideration contemplates the establishment

of one central agency to procure paper, with the exception of distinctive paper

for production of bonds, money, postage and internal-revenue stamps, etc., for use in the Government service. This would be secured by combining the pres- ent functions of the General Supply Committee and other agencies with those

of the Joint Committee on Printing, the necessary legislation being necessarily

enacted by Congress.

The advantages of such central purchasing and distributing agency are apparent, and not the least of these would be the savings on practically all items and

the shortening of time now necessary for filling the orders of the departments.

The organization necessary is already largely existent, for the Government has

at present, through the Joint Committee on Printing, the Government Printing

Office, and the committee on paper specifications, a personnel and equipment

which by proper expansion could cover the departments and bureaus in Washington. The present system has some serious drawbacks. It is fair to assume

that contractors in dealing with miscellaneous agencies understand that they

will be called upon to make numerous small shipments and individual deliveries. Their prices are based on these facts and are necessarily higher than they would

be in dealing with an agency to which large quantities could be delivered in one

shipment. In considering the various features of the proposed new method the Permanent

Conference on Printing recognized that the Government Printing Office was

peculiarly fitted for the work in mind. That office not only uses more paper

than any other Government service, but much of its supply is identical with that used by the other branches of the departmental service, and it may be reasonably

expected that the price advantages now enjoyed by the Government Printing

Office would be shared also by the other bureaus under the new plan. Under

the method contemplated the departments would simply make the necessary

requisition on the Public Printer for the supplies required and would receive them

in a few hours or days instead of waiting from one to three months, as now

happens. In very many ways important economies would be possible, and as the

office is already equipped with the apparatus necessary for testing, the depart- ments would be assured of a quality and uniformity suitable for their needs. As expressing the conclusion of the Permanent Conference on Printing the fol- lowing paragraph was adopted, with the suggestion that it be incorporated

in the legislative appropropriation bill for 1925: ''That on and after July 1, 1924, the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause the General Supply Committee to discontinue to contract for or supply to the executive departments and independent Government establishments paper stocks and

articles made of paper, described in the General Schedule of Supplies, which

are similar to items of paper stock procured by the Joint Committee on Print- ing for the use of the Government Printing Office, or items which it would be

advantageous for the Public Printer to supply to the departments: Provided,

That on and after July 1, 1924, the Public Printer is hereby authorized to fur- nish to the executive departments and independent Government establishments, on reauisition therefor, paper and articles of paper described above, with or
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 29

without printing thereon, as may be required in the conduct of the public business: Provided further, That the executive departments and independent Government estabhshments are hereby authorized to pay, from appropriations made

for printing and binding or any other appropriations available for such purchases, the cost of such paper and articles of paper so furnished by the Public

Printer, at the price paid by him for such material plus the cost to his office of ordering, handling, record keeping, and delivering: And provided further, That

stocks of paper and paper articles described herein and remaining in the cus- tody of the General Supply Committee on July 1, 1924, shall be transferred to the Public Printer and be sold by him at the replacement price of such paper

at the time of sale, with such discount for deterioration as may be equitable;

and the proceeds of such sale shall be covered into the Treasury of the United

States as miscellaneous receipts."

WORK OF THE NEW TESTING SECTION.

The new testing section, which has charge of the inspection and

technical testing of all deliveries of paper and other printing and

binding materials, made 4,831 tests in the fiscal year 1923. The in- spection covered a broad range of materials, many of which had

never before been subjected to technical tests prior to the establishment of the testing section in 1922. The inspections included 3,731

tests of paper, 543 of book cloths and other textiles, 194 of ink-making

materials, and numerous tests of book leather, metals, oils, chemicals, waxes, glues, gasoline, soap, etc. As a result of these tests 165 deliveries, exclusive of postal card

paper and illustrations, were rejected. The rejections of paper

numbered 131, and of these 60 were on account of deficiency in strength, 37 for unsatisfactory color, finish, and formation, 17 for

deficiency in stock, and 17 for ash and overweight.

Some of the outstanding tests showing the necessity and value of

technical inspection of materials purchased by the Government as reported by the chief of tests are as follows:

Ro;pe manila wrapping paper.—Delivery contained 100 per cent

chemical wood, although specifications required not less than 75

per cent manila and jute.

No. 1 hristol hoard.—Delivery rejected on account of 30 points

low in bursting strength; specification called for not less than 90

points.

Sulphite manila.—Specifications required 100 per cent sulphite

pulp. Delivery contained 25 per cent ground-wood stock.

White index hristol hoard.—Specifications required not less than 50

per cent rag. Delivery contained 30 per cent rag, and was 40 points

low in strength.

Sulphite manila.—Specifications required not less than 75 points

bursting strength. Delivery showed 48 points.

Bahhitt metal.—Purchased on definite specification requiring 89

per cent tin, 7^ per cent antimony, 3^ per cent copper, and no lead. Delivery tested 78 per cent lead, 5 per cent tin, and 17 per cent antimony. The delivered metal was worth about one-fifth that of the quality specified. The rejection of this metal not only prevented

the payment of a high price for a cheaper grade material, but also

protected the oflS.ce from the use of such unserviceable metal for

bearings on presses and other high-speed machinery

Machine steel. —Three deliveries were rejected, as technical examination showed the material offered to be common wrought iron.
30 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

Gasoline.—Several deliveries rejected on account of an excessive

amount of high boiling portions. Since gasoline is used by this office chiefly for cleaning type, acceptance of an inferior grade of slow- evaporation would have caused much trouble.

NeaVs-foot oil.—Two deliveries rejected, as they contained mostly

mineral oil. Cotton twine.—Specifications required not less than 1,000 yards per

pound. Delivery tested only 775 yards per pound, a deficiency of

approximately 25 per cent. Shade cloth.—Delivery was 50 per cent lighter in weight and 25

per cent deficient in warp and filling strength as compared with defi- nite specifications upon which bid was based.

STANDARDIZATION BY JOINT COMMITTEE.

The standardization of paper grades is not a recently discovered

idea so far as the Government Printing Ofiice is concerned. For more than 30 years all the paper used by this plant has had to con- form to standards fixed upon by the Joint Committee on Printing,

and for the last 13 years that duty has been delegated to a committee

of Government paper experts.

Every pound of paper bought by the Government Printing Office

must be made in accordance with definite specifications stating the

minimum requirements of quality acceptable to the Government as

to weight, strength, stock, ash, and other essentials. The paper is carefully sampled on delivery and subjected to laboratory tests to ascertain whether the contractor has complied with the specifications.

Grades of paper have been simplified so that no longer are the store- rooms filled with endless varieties to satisfy the whim and fancy of

every Government official. For instance, the office carries only

three grades of wnriting paper—chemical wood stock and a 50 and

a 100 per cent rag writing—in four weights. Bonds are stocked in

only two grades—50 and 100 per cent rag quality. An all-sulphite

bond will be added the coming year. All but a small quantity of

bond paper is bought in the 50 per cent rag grade of substance

No. 20. The 50 per cent rag wnriting and bond in substance No. 20

are the standard grades for all Government letterheads. Ledgers

are in two grades—75 and 100 per cent rag stock. Similar simplification has been practiced with other kinds of paper.

INSPECTION OF POSTAL-CARD PAPER.

By direction of the Joint Committee on Printing, the testing section

took over entirely the inspection of postal-card paper which has been

the subject of controversy for many years. The Post Office Department accordingly withdrew its inspection force, which had been

largely duplicating the inspection that the Public Printer is required

bylaw to make of all paper used by the Government Printing Ofiice. The single inspection force has saved the Government several

thousand dollars a year, has speeded up the production of postal

cards, and has at the same time insured to the public equally as good

postal cards as it was possible to print under the handicaps of the

former system.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 31

In the fiscal year 1923 there were delivered 7,097,846 pounds of postal-card paper, of which 142,906 pounds, or 2 -per cent, were

rejected by this office. In the previous year the rejections amounted

to 16 per cent on 9,000,000 pounds.

Another and even more important feature of the testing section is its technical research work, which is rapidly becoming of great value

not only to this office but also to the printing and binding industry

in general. It is planned to have the investigational activities of the testing section include many subjects of general concern to the

Printing and binding industry. The idea is to have the Government

'rinting Office render somewhat the same service to the printing

industry as the Department of Agriculture does to the farming

interests of the country. The Government ought to be as willing

to share its printing knowledge as it is to impart its information on

farming, banking, mining, and numerous other subjects that are constantly being studied by various branches of the Government

service.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES OP TESTING SECTION.

The following is an outline of some of the research work that has

been undertaken already by the testing section

:

An investigation of bookbinding cloths has been started and definite

specffications adopted for stock, weight, weave, and strength. These

specifications are to insure uniform quality of book cloths and to increase competition among contractors by giving all of them definite

information as to the requirements of the Government. Investigational work on book cloths is being extended to the fastness of color

and the resistance of the cloth to attack by insects. Commercial

bookbinders have already manifested a deep interest in the efforts to develop a bugproof cloth, and it is hoped that this endeavor \vill

produce something of value to the entire industry.

Deliveries of bookbinding leathers have been tested, especially as to the presence of acid, ash, and tanning materials which might be

injurious to the life of the leather. Although the Government Printing Office has had exacting specifications for leather for manyyears, lit- tle effort was made to enforce these specifications until the organization

of the testing section. It was then found almost impossible to obtain

leather conforming to the Government specifications, although the

requirements were deemed to be entirely practicable. With the aid

of the Leather and Paper Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture an effort will be made to develop workable specffications for

leather which will insure durable quality for bookbinding purposes.

Definite specifications are also being developed for aU textiles

required in the work of this office, such as cotton sheeting, ducks,

unbleached muslin, silesia, and cordage, fixing standards for stock,

weight, yardage, and strength. As it is impossible to judge the quality of a textile by general appearance, the technical specffications and

tests are highly essential to determine whether it contains cotton^

wool, jute, hemp, or flax; is of the proper construction or weave, or has the desired strength or serviceability and fastness of color. 83793—24 3
32 ANIfUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

INVESTIGATION OF BOOKBINDING TWINE.

Upon investigation of flax twine required in high-grade binding

it was found that, although the Government specifications called for

flax twine of the ''best quality," nearly all the so-called ''flax" twine

heretofore furnished this office was made either of jute or a mixture of jute and hemp and consequently entirely unsuitable for permanent bindings. Frequently such inferior twine would give way,

although the binding was ofhermse in good condition. The technical

testing of book twines now insm'es the supply of an all-flax product

with long fiber and of high quality. Definite specifications now cover purchases of flax twine and all deliveries are tested for stock, yardage,

and strength.

Dyes for ruling and the manufacture of copying and other inks

have been carefully investigated and are tested for color, strength,

fastness to light, and suitability for the special requirements of this

office. A special study has been made of the fastness of colors so as to insure, if possible, a supply of colors which will best resist fading.

Inasmuch as ink is an important material in the production of printing and binding, extensive tests have been made of the raw materials

used in its manufacture. Specifications are being prepared which

will inform bidders as to the qualit}^ of special inks required by the

Government. It is believed these specifications will materially

improve the inks and at the same time reduce their cost. Heretofore

dry colors for inks have been bought without regard to their fineness,

although the cost of making ink is chiefly in the grinding, which in

turn depends upon the fineness of the pigment,

FORMULAS FOR BETTER AND CHEAPER INKS.

The testing laboratory has developed formulas for making copying

inks of the colors required by this office. The copying inks so produced have been found fully equal, if not superior, to commercial

inks. Their use will not only insure a more uniform ink of stronger

color but will save approximately $100 a year on our annual con- sumption of 150 pounds of inks. A formula has been prepared for

stencil ink, which is required largely for addressing machines. It is produced at approximately 32 cents a pound as compared with commercial price of $2 to $3 a pound. Mimeograph ink, which is being

developed in cooperation with the Permanent Conference on Printing,

bids fair to reduce the cost of such ink to the various Government

departments $10,000 or $15,000 annually.

The ink investigations have also extended to the preparation of

safety check inks, possessing fugitive qualities in contact with bleaching agents, acids, and alkalies. An ink has been developed which

gives promise to equal that used commercially in printing check and

money-order papers. If successful, this ink will enable the Government Printing Office to sensitize all the paper required for the printing

of money orders.

Incidentally, the testing section manufactures a permanent writing

ink, which is being used by this office at a saving of 50 per cent in the

cost of a less satisfactory commercial ink. This ink is also used for

ruling where permanence and resistance to water are desired.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 33

An ink which will not require the use of gasoline for cleaning type

after taking proofs is another promising development of the testing

section. Experiments with the new ''proof" ink show that it will wipe

off with a damp rag and will not harden on the type with age. If tnis

experiment finally proves successful, it will be a great boon to all prmters.

A metallic ink is being developed with gold bronze or aluminum

bronze for use in stamping book covers in place of gold or silver

substitute leaf. From experimental work done so far, it appears

that this method of stamping will be more economical and equally

as satisfactory as leaf stamping.

SAVING IX USE OF SIMPLE SOLVENTS.

An investigation of solvents has residted in eliminating certain

trade mixtures and the adoption of simple solvents recommended

by the chief of tests. A saving of 10 per cent in a total annual

expenditure of S4,000 has been accomplished by this investigation.

One satisfactory solvent costs 11 cents a gallon as against 35 cents formerly paid for a well-known commercial brand of similar nature. Liquid soap as now used in the wash rooms throughout the shop,

instead of the insanitary cake soap, has been produced by the testing

laboratory at a less cost than a similar commercial grade. Its manufacture in quantities sufficient to supply this office may be

undertaken as soon as the necessary equipment can be obtained.

Another endeavor to the testing section is to overcome static conditions and paper curl in the pressrooms by the installation of a sys- tem of humidity control. This is one of the biggest problems in

presswork, and the result of these experiments will undoubtedly be of

great interest and value to the printing trade in general.

The technical investigations that have been made by this office show the great importance of chemistry in the printing industry

and the need of definite standards for much of the material used in

printing and binding as well as the value of laboratory tests by

experts thoroughly familiar with trade requirements along with

the technique of chemistry.

COOPERATION WITH PRINTING INDUSTRY.

At the annual meetings of the United Typothetae of America and

the Employing Bookbinders of America, which were held in Washington last October, the Government Printing Office offered to assist, as far as permissible for a Government establishment, in the solving

of technical problems that confront the printing and binding industries

of the United States. It seems particularly desirable that the Government and the commercial printer and bookbinder adopt uniform

standards for at least the more important printing papers and materials and that they share the benefit of whatever investigations may

be undertaken for the continuing progress of the ''art preservative

of all arts.'" The present Government standards and tests may be found to meet

man}' of the commercial requirements. But, at any rate, the Government Printing Office, through its testing section, has expressed a

willingness to cooperate with the printers and bookbinders of the
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

United States in working out practical specifications for all concerned.

Th6 success of such an endeavor will be one of the greatest advances

ever made in the printing industry.

This offer on the part of the Public Printer met a generous response

at the meeting of the two great national organizations, and it is believed there will in the future be a closer touch and better cooperation

between the world's greatest printing plant and the representatives of

the industrj^ which now ranks near the top of all our vast manufacturing activities. TYPOTHET^ TO HELP STANDARDIZE PAPER.

The United Typothetae of America adopted the following resolution pledging its cooperation with the Government Printing Office, and

already a joint work has been undertaken to propose standard grades

of paper for both the Government and the commercial printer:

Whereas the Public Printer of the United States has made such marked progress

in the simplification and standardization of paper sizes and grades, and has

offered his cooperation and that of his staff to the United Typothetse of America

for the correlation and promulgation of our mutual interests in this regard:

Therefore be it Resolved, That we accept with sincere appreciation this constructive offer and

instruct those in charge of our work on paper standardization to begin at once

with him the closest and most active cooperation.

ORGANIZATION OP NEW PLANNING DIVISION.

Simplification of sizes of publications and the selection of suitable

grades of paper are the functions of the new Planning Division, which was created on May 1 by uniting the old estimating and jacketwriting sections and placing them under the general supervision of the

Production Manager, a new position which it was found necessary

to create during the year. Associated with the Planning Division is the Requisitions Review Board, to which reference has been made

heretofore.

The Planning Division prepared 43,606 estimates on printing and

binding jobs during the year, an increase of 987 over the estimates

written in 1922. This increase shows that more attention is being

paid to the cost of printing and that not as much work is now being

undertaken regardless of expense as in former years. The number

of estimates increased, notwithstanding a decrease of 3,687 in jackets

(work orders) issued as compared with the preceding year. Jackets were written in 1923 for 54,166 orders, many calling for a number of

separate jobs, which indicates the vast amount of work the Government Printing Ofiice is called upon to do in the course of a year. The office has an average of 5,000 jackets in hand at all times and

finishes approximately 250 jobs every day.

The increased efficiency of the estimators is shown by the fact that

their estimates have varied on an average not more than 3 per cent from the computed charges for the finished jobs. The accuracy of

the estimators and computers is further demonstrated by the total charges, which average within 1 or 2 per cent of the total actual cost

of operation. This is a rather remarkable feat of accounting in a business amounting to more than $10,000,000 a year. The production divisions have been reorganized along lines adopted

by the most efficient and successful industrial plants in the country.
ANJ^^UAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 35

The Production Manager at the head of the divisions is held responsible

for all the productive activities of the works. The new system has

resulted in better production, more economical operation, and a

higher standard of efficiency throughout the office. All the work

is handled according to well-defined plans and progresses through

the plant in compliance with carefully arranged schedules. As a

result, the office has been able to comply with its promises and meet

requirements of the departments better than ever before.

Improvement of the service was demonstrated recently when the

Postmaster General made inquiry as to the status of the vast quantity

of work constantly undertaken for the PQst Office Department.

Much of this work is generally of an urgent character, requiring an immense organization and the most careful planning to handle with

the desired dispatch. Approximately 5,000 requisitions for printing were received from the Post Office Department during the year. These requisitions covered runs of from one hundred copies to two

hundred million copies—approximately a billion copies in all, exclusive of postal cards and money-order forms. All the orders were

executed without a complaint except as to less than 2 per cent of the,

work, and of the 2 per cent it was found that the Government Printing

Office was chargeable with unusual delay as to only a comparatively

few jobs.

LETTERS COMMENDING GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

Letters commending the work of the Government Printing Office

during the year have been received from heads of various departments and establishments of the Government. It has been the

policy of the Public Printer to convey these words of appreciation

to all of the officers and employees who aided in making such a splendid record for the plant. The following extracts from some of these

communications are included in this report so that public record also

may be made of the appreciation expressed of the services rendered

by this office

:

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator

Warren, wrote on March 9, 1923:

In my opinion a word of praise and thanks is due you and your assistants in our great printery for the prompt and efficient service rendered the Sixty-seventh

Congress. You are well aware how dependent the Appropriations Committee

is upon you and your force when rush work must be sent down late in the evening

for sure delivery on the following morning. There have actually been times

when appropriation bills might have failed if the Government Printing Office had

not been "on the job"—although I am thankful to say that such contingency

did not arise during the last session. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations I desire to thank you

and your employees, especially your night force, for the high-class service given us. The Secretary of the Treasury wrote on August 31, 1923:

As a result of the cooperation extended by the Government Printing Office, the Treasury is about to complete a printing program which includes the revision

of a number of important department circulars, as well as the preparation of Department Circular No. 300. The latter, being "Regulations with respect

to United States bonds and notes," will be particularly valuable, from the standpoint of both the public and the department, and in the course of its preparation your office in numerous instances was called upon to expedite composition

and otherwise to lend assistance.

It is gratifying in this connection to note that both the day force and the

night force of your office have at all times indicated willingness to meet the

Treasury's demands, and I am writing, therefore, to express my appreciation

of their services.
36 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

The Secretary of War wrote on February 14, 1923:

The advance copies of the Army Register for 1923 have been received and I desire to express my high appreciation for your effective cooperation and assist- ance in the very early production of this document. I trust you will accept my

most cordial thanks for your assistance, and I wish you would also say to the employees of your office how much the War Department appreciates their cooperation.

The Secretary of the Navy wrote on January 9, 1923:

I desire to express to you and to the employees of the Government Printing

Office the appreciation of the Navy Department for the expeditious printing of the Destroyer War Instructions requested by Navy Department Requisition

1286. This publication was urgently required by the naval forces afloat for use during the winter's maneuvers. The printing and binding were completed in

less than two weeks after delivery of the manuscript, although the holidays in- tervened, and delivery of the finished publications made in time to enable delivery

to the ships to be completed before their departure for southern waters The Postmaster General wrote on August 1, 1923:

I have looked over the Guide that you sent me, and in my opinion it is a masterpiece of printing and reflects credit upon j^our office. The Secretary of Commerce wrote on March 16, 1923:

I desire to express my personal appreciation of the promptness with which

your office furnished proof on two reports recently submitted.

The manuscript for "Trade Association Activities" was sent to your office on March 7, and complete proof, consisting of 148 galleys, was furnished by March 16. The second report, "Business Cycles and Unemployment," was transmitted on March 15. Complete proof—36 type pages—was furnished early the next

day.

These results are excellent, and they evidence a splendid cooperation of the

officials and employees of your office in meeting the more urgent needs of Government service. The Director of the Bureau of the Budget, General Lord, wi*ote on December 12, 1923:

The Budget for 1925 is now in the hands of Congress, and that it was completed in time for the opening session is due in a large measure not only to the

efficiency of your office but to the courtesy and cooperation of its personnel.

I have in mind the assistance rendered by Mr. Greene, Captain Moorhead, Mr. Weber, Mr. Bullock, Mr. Barnhart, and Mr. Riddle. Will you kindly express

to these gentlemen my appreciation of their accommodating and constructive

assistance? The assistant to the Attorney General, Mr. A. T. Seymour, wrote on May 2, 1923:

I desire to express the thanks of the department for the splendid service rendered by the Government Printing Office in connection with the printing of the original petition and brief in the case of United States v. New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange. Not only was this work done in record time, enabling the Government to meet the emergency, but it was accurate in every detail. The

performance reflects great credit upon the Public Printer and his entire estab- lishment. The editor of the Division of Publications, Department of Agriculture, wrote on October 8, 1923:

The work of your office in printing the more than 200 abstracts in four lan- guages for the World's Dairy Congress has called out much pleasant commendation. It was necessary that complete delivery be made before September 30; had there been any failure it would have caused much embarrassment to this most important gathering. I am sure you will be interested in the following

letter which I just received from Joel G. Winkjer, acting chief of the Dairy

Division

:
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 37

^'Before leaving the office for Philadelphia and Syracuse, Doctor Larson re- quested us to extend to you and your workers his appreciation of the splendid

cooperation shown in the publication of the abstracts for the World's Dairy

Congress. "In view of the fact that the abstracts were all received so late, and then had

to be translated into .the various languages, every one was received in good

shape and was ready for the visitors the first day of the congress. "Will 3'ou please thank those of the Printing Office also who assisted in this splendid piece of work?"

The chaii'man of the United States Shipping Board, Mr. Lasker?

wrote on February 1, 1923:

My attention has been directed to the splendid delivery you gave us on the February issue of our Sailing Schedule, namely, five daj^s. This schedule is of extreme importance to us in increasing cargoes and revenues on the vessels which the Government is now operating. I want you to know

that I personalh* appreciate the dispatch you have accorded the last issue of this schedule and trust that in connection with future issues you may be able to repeat

this splendid performance.

The superintendent of the General Supply Committee wrote on

July 7, 1923:

The expeditious and businesslike manner in which the publication of the General Schedule of Supplies for the fiscal year 1924 was handled by the Govern- ment Printing Office is highly appreciated by this office. The book is the largest ever issued, containing 595 pages, as compared with

594 pages in 1923 and 492 pages in 1922. The last of the signatures were sent to the Government Printing Office June

19, one day later than intended by this office. However, delivery of 800 copies was made June 23, as promised, and delivery of the entire edition, consisting of 3,400 paper bound, 1,100 vellum bound, 100 loose leaf, and 100 copies printed one side only, was completed by the 30th ultimo. This office desires to extend thanks to you and the officials and employees of the Government Printing Office who assisted in this work for your splendid

cooperation in getting out the 1924 edition. The chairman of the Buildings Code Committee, Department of Commerce, Mr. Ira H. Woolson, wrote on March 6, 1923:

I think the report is one of the best pieces of presswork that I have seen in Government publications of its class. The paper, type, and all the general

mechanical make-up are excellent and directly reflect the careful attention which

you gave to these details. I am glad to acknowledge this efficient cooperation

and to express the sincere appreciation of the committee for same. OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS.

The volume of work done by the Office of the Superintendent of

Documents in the year 1923 was the greatest ever accomplished by

that office in all hues of its activities. In addition to the sale and

distribution of more than 50,000,000 publications annually, as has

been discussed already, the Documents Office performs an equally

important task in the cataloguing of all Government publications.

During the year the Document Catalogue covering the Sixty-fourth

Congress was completed and printed, making a large octavo book

of 2,439 pages. Good progress was made also on the Document

Catalogue of the Sixty-fifth Congress. In addition, Document Indexes were prepared for each session of the Sixty-seventh Congress and

the Monthly Document Catalogue was issued on time throughout the

year. The Monthly Catalogue is of great value to librarians throughout the country and every effort is put forth to make it a complete and

timely survey of Government publications from month to month.
38 ANNLTAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

That such an amount of work could be done by the small force of

cataloguers remaining in the Documents Office is really remarkable.

Resignations due to inadequate pay reduced the force of cataloguers

during the year to less than 50 per cent of the number provided for

by law. Several of the best cataloguers went to other departments

that are permitted to pay higher salaries to cataloguers of the ability

of those required by this office. To offset these resignations, the Civil Service Commission was

appealed to for competent cataloguers but was unable to supply them

from any register at the low salaries appropriated for this office. Even a special examination failed to relieve the situation, and the

expert cataloguers who remained faithful to the office have to devote

part of their time to training the few employees that have been

obtained from the Library Aide register. No sooner have some of these aides been trained as cataloguers than they resign to accept

higher salaries offered by other departments of the Government.

It is imperative, therefore, that adequate compensation be paid our

cataloguers, either through the classification schedule or by act of Congress; otherwise, it will be impossible to keep up the important

work of cataloguing the vast number of Government publications

issued annually. Without such catalogues the books will be almost

worthless to the libraries of the country.

DOCUMENTS OFFICE INFORMATION SERVICE.

Another helpful undertaking of the Documents Office is its research

and information service, which has developed of its own accord in

response to insistent demands from the public for authoritative

information concerning Government publications. The extent of

this service is indicated by the letters of inquiry, which numbered

165,903, in addition to cash orders, during the year. This was an

increase of 23,917 over the inquiries received during the preceding

year. In reporting on the work of the reference section of his office, the

Superintendent of Documents makes this interesting statement as to the scope of the information service rendered to the public:

While volume alone requires only a sufficient number of employees to handle

it adequately, replying to requests that necessitate research work or the compilation of bibliographies, calls for a competency not usually implied in the idea of giving information. Teachers, publicists, and scientific investigators often call upon us to furnish bibliographies on special subjects. A teacher sometimes

wishes to know all that has been published on the subject of secondary education; a publicist or bibliographer desires a list of publications on taxation; a technical man requests a list on electricity, etc. The preparation of these lists requires considerable research Work, together

with a general knowledge which can be gained onh^ through experience and a

long study of Government publications, as the subjects and substances of many

publications do not appear in the titles, and, of course, ail finding lists, indexes,

etc., deal with the titles as they appear on the title-page.

Another class of inquiries calls for knowledge of Government bureaus and their

activities. We are frequently asked to advise as to what bureaus would be likely to make investigations along certain lines and report thereon. In such cases a

correct answer often depends upon a thorough knowledge of special activities of bureaus whose work, to the casual observer, seems to overlap that of other

bureaus. This service to the public and various departments of the Government would not be possible if the Superintendent of Documents did
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 39

not possess the largest and most complete library of Government

publications in existence. There are 350,000 Government books,

pamphlets, and maps in the library, to which 20,000 additions were made in the last year. Unfortunately this priceless library, which

could never be replaced, has to be stored in a fire-trap building where

it is in constant danger of total destruction. Even in such an unsafe

place the shelves of the main library are so crowded that countless

publications are more or less injured by their continuous use for the

rapidly increasing reference work. Furthermore, the warehouse,

where the Hbrary overflow has been stored, is like^vise packed full and practically inaccessible. Not only does the Documents Office

stand in great need of additional space for its library, but it also has

immediate need for more room for its tremendous book stock which

numbers more than 30,000,000 publications.

HEAT, LIGHT, AND POWER FROM CAPITOL PLANT,

The outstanding work of the Buildings Division during the year was the re-equipment of the power plant and the construction of a concrete tunnel for steam pipes and an electric conduit so as to obtain

all the heat, light, and power for the buildings of the Government

Printing Office and the city post office from the Capitol Power Plant.

This is said to be the most extensive central heating and power

project ever undertaken in the city of Washington. The work was

authorized by Congress in the appropriation act approved July 1, 1922. Contracts were let, after competitive bidding, for the neces- sary machinery and such parts of the work as could not be handled

by the Buildings Division itself. The Public Printer broke ground for the tunnel on September 29,

1922. The work has progressed steadily, so that it was possible to turn on steam from the Capitol Power Plant to heat the Government

Printing Office and the city post office October 1, 1923. The first rotary converter was started on October 17, 1923, for the furnishing

of electric light and power from the Capitol plant to the Government Printing Office. Since that time the boiler room of the Printing

Office plant has been operated only in cases of emergency. It is planned to entirely dismantle the boiler and generating equipment of

the old plant as soon as the new system is finly completed and operating with entire satisfaction,

STEAM TUNNEL ONE AND ONE-HALF MILES LONG.

The total length of the tunnel, steam piping, and electric conduit

from the Printing Office to the Capitol Power Plant is approximately

1^ miles, which is estimated to be the longest distance that steam is carried in this part of the country for the purpose of furnishing heat

to a manufacturing plant of anywhere near the size of the Government Printing Office. To connect the Printing Office with the existing tunnel, which leads

from the Senate Office Building to the Capitol Power Plant, threefourths of a mile of the tunnel was constructed under contracts awarded by the Public Printer. The new portion of the tunnel is 5 feet wide and 7 feet high inside the reinforced concrete walls. The tunnel contains two 8-inch steam-pipe lines, one of which is
40 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

connected with a line already existing between the Senate Office

Building and the Capitol plant and the other is an entirely new pipe

line duplicating the one running from the Government Printing

Office through to the Capitol plant.

The tunnel is of sufficient size for the installation of a conveyor

whenever it may be deemed necessary to speed up means of communication and delivery between the Capitol, Government Printing

Office, city post office, and the Senate and House Office Buildings.

To reduce the loss of heat to a minimum, a special steam-pipe cover- ing was installed, and the tests up to date show but little loss in the

temperature of the steam, while the drop in pressure averages less than 10 pounds, notwithstanding the mile and a half of piping.

Two lines of three-conductor electric cable have been installed in

the conduits adjacent to the steam tunnel and lead from the Government Printing Office to the Capitol Power Plant.

To electrify the power plant of the Government Printing Office

in harmony with the Capitol plant, which produces alternating current, while all the motors of the Government Printing Office are of

the direct-current type, there will be installed three synchronous

converters of 1,500-2,250 kilowatts capacity each. One converter is already in operation and the others are awaiting the removal of old

machinery and construction of new foundations. These converters

will be sufficient to take care of the needs of the Government Printing

Office for many years to come, as well as provide ample reserve for

breakdown.

With this changeover it was necessary to install two electricallydriven air compressors, nine electric pumps, and three steam-driven

vacuum pumps. All but three of the old boilers have been removed

from the plant and sold and the remaining boilers will be taken out

as soon as the new system is in full operation. Other machinery

disposed of to make way for the new equipment included three

generators which had been in operation for many years. A fourth

will be disposed of when the changeover has been completed.

COST OF NEW EQUIPMENT FOR POWER PLANT.

The new power and heating equipment cost the Government

Printing Office approximately $330,000. From this is to be deducted

the sum of $8,000, received from the sale of the old generators,

boilers, compressors, and pumps, and the expenditure of at least $157,000 which would have been necessary at once for the purchase

of new boilers. Several of the old boilers had been condemned by

Government inspectors and as a matter of safety should have been

replaced immediately if the Capitol Power Plant had not been

authorized to take over the supply of steam for the Government

Printing Office and the cit}^ post office. The consolidation of the two power plants will save from $35,000

to $40,000 a year to the Government Printing Office in a reduction in

its power-plant force and a discontinuance of the hauling of 15,000 tons of coal a year from the Government fuel yards. It will also make available for other purposes 6,784 square feet of floor space in the boiler and coal rooms. As the Capitol plant obtains all its water for powder purposes direct

from the Potomac River, there will be a saving of a million gallons a
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 41

day of filtered water that the Printing Office power plant had to draw from the District water system.

An additional advantage of the connection is that in the event of a breakdo^Ti at the Capitol Power Plant it can at once connect this

office with the Navy Yard plant, thus insuring a sufficient supply of

electric current at all times.

The total cost of operating the electric power plant of the Government Printing Office dming the fiscal year 1923, the last full year of

its maintenance independent of the Capitol plant, was $206,597.06, as compared with $203,270.07 for 1922, an increase of $3,326.99. Of this amount, $52,592.20 is chargeable against the city post office for heat,

light, and power, a decrease of $4,711.88 chargeable to the post office for 1922. The net charge against the Government Printing Office,

therefore, was $154,004.86, an increase of $8,039.95 over the preceding

year, due largely to more extensive repairs and increasing use of

power. The average cost per kilowatt hour was $0.01656, a decrease

of $0.0001 from the previous year. Electric output for the year totaled 4,809,291 kilowatt hours, an increase of 81,129 kilowatt hours over 1922. Of this output, the

Government Printing Office required 3,287,732 kilowatt hours, or

•153,772 more than the preceding year. The city post office used

1,521,558 kilowatt hours, a decrease of 72,643 for the year. The

city post office also used 42,770,812 pounds of steam, or 2,099,226

pounds less than in 1922.

EXPENDITURES OF THE BUILDINGS DIVISION.

A decrease of $9,124.64 was made in the expenditures for wages,

salaries, leave and holiday pay of the Buildings Division, the total

for 1923 being $503,655.19 as against $512,779.83 for the preceding

year. The expense of the guard force is not included in these totals

for either year. The expenditure for the machine shop increased

$19,605.39 on account of a larger force of machinists required by

the extensive program of reconditioning machinery throughout the

plant. The carpenter and paint shop also showed an increase of

$14,378.34 with a larger force to carry on necessaiy repairs and

improvements. The engineer section operated with a decrease of

$14,989.09 in its expenditures for the 3^ear. Except for the power plant, the Buildings Division was not engaged on such large operations as marked the preceding 3'ear, when the

eighth-floor improvements were under way. However, there was a

large number of minor jobs that kept the carpenter, paint, machine,

electrical, and pipefitting sections busy throughout the year. One of the larger tasks was the reconstruction of an old vault,

little used for more than 20 years, into an up-to-date fireproof room for the files of the Public Printer, chief clerk, and purchasing

agent. Specially constructed steel filing drawers were purchased

for this vault at $2,732.69 less than had been demanded by a General

Supply Committee contractor for office filing cabinets which were

entirely unsuited for permanent vault use. REARRANGEMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES.

A rearrangement of several of the executive offices was undertaken

near the close of the fiscal year and completed early in the fall. By
42 AXXITAL REPORT OF THl-] PUBLIC PRINTER.

this change the Deputy Pubhc Printer's office was moved to the third

floor so as to be in closer touch with the Production Manager, Planning Division, Requisitions Review Board, and the Board of Inspection. The chief clerk's office was transferred to the space vacated

by the Deputy Public Printer on the second floor and the Public

Printer moved into the chief clerk's old quarters.

The room formerly occupied by the Public Printer was converted

into a conference, library, and reception room, with direct access to the offices of both the Public Printer and the chief clerk. This room

is also used for shop conferences, which the Public Printer holds weekly

with all the foremen and supervising officials, and for the sessions of

the Permanent Conference on Printing of which the Public Printer

is chairman.

Another change in the executive offices was the transfer of the dis- bursing clerk's force to a new room adjoining the Division of Accounts

where it is more conveniently located. The rooms of the Accounts

and Planning Divisions have been rearranged and enlarged in accord- ance with modern business practices and now have a thoroughly

up-to-date appearance with well arranged sanitary desks and other

office equipment of suitable design. All of these changes have been

in the interest of a better and more efficient transaction of the public

business and will undoubtedly show good returns for the expenses

incurred.

FLOOR SPACE INCPvEASED BY IMPROVEMENTS.

The building improvements of the last two years have added a total

of 54,651 square feet to the floor area of the Government Printing

Office, as well as making available several thousand additional square

feet that had been practically useless for many years. Besides the

additional floor space, 6,588 square feet were made available for

recreational purposes on the roof of the new building. Much of the

extra floor space, except for the new eighth floor, was secured by

building and bridging over the court of the new building and the west

driveway and by erecting mezzanine galleries for locker and ffiing

spaces on several floors, including the first, second, third, and sixth.

The passageways on all the floors are now utilized to the fullest extent

as well as the center hall space at the front of the building. For the

first time in its history, every square foot of the floor space in the new

building is in use. The buildings of the Government Printing Office have a total of 710,339 square feet, or about 16 acres of floor space. The total value

of the buildings under the jurisdiction of the Public Printer is approximately $4,000,000. Their upkeep in 1923 (including repairs, etc.) was $78,508.45 for labor and material, an increase of $21,533,27 over the preceding year. This represents an expenditure of 11.05

cents per square foot. Adding the cost of operating the sanitary

force at $69,702.10, and the power plant at $154,004.86, the total maintenance cost for the year was $302,215.41, or 42.54 cents per

square foot of floor space. In comparing this cost with the maintenance expense for Government office buildings, consideration should be given to the fact that

the Government Printing Office is in reality a manufacturing plant and

not simply an office building. The cost stated includes the entire

expenditure for steam and electric current, fully 50 per cent of which
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 43

is used for manufacturing purposes. If proper deduction is made

on that account, the cost per square foot of maintenance as an office building only would be 31.70 cents, which is considered a reasonable

office building charge. This cost also includes the heating, hghting,

and operation of the buildings at night when most office buildings

are not in use. CARPENTER AND PAINT SHOP WORK.

The carpenter and paint shop completed 692 new jobs or alterations

during the year, ranging from boxes, tables, trucks, and cabinets to important construction work. Repair work averaged 24 jobs a day,

or 7,512 for the year. Carpenter work called for the purchase of 222,211 feet of new lumber. As has been stated before, the carpenter

shop also made 22,111 boxes, mostly for postal-card shipments, out

of 234,891 feet of old lumber obtained from paper cases. The chief machinist reports an average of 80 repair jobs done daily

by the machine shop, making a total of 25,040 for the year. In addition, the shop worked on 502 alteration jobs. During the year the

machine and blacksmith shops used approximately 3,500 pounds of

discarded material, such as machine steel, iron, brass, bronze, lag and

machine screws, bolts and nuts, on jobs for which new material

otherwise would have been required.

Although comparatively a minor task, the machine shop has taken

over the stripping of discarded zinc and copper etchings from their

wooden block bases. Two laborers, with the aid of a machine, strip

off enough plates in three days to fill a barrel, whereas it formerly

took from two to three months to do the same amount of work by

hand.

The electrical section completed 18,170 jobs during the year and

in addition had general supervision over the installation of the new

electrical equipment of the power plant. This new equipment will add greatly to the work of the electrical section when the power

improvements under way are fuUy completed.

The engineer section, including the plumbers, steam fitters, and

sheet-metal workers, handled 11,185 jobs, with an average of 35

repairs daily throughout the year. LAUNDERED 904,723 TOWELS IN A YEAR.

The sanitary section, which has charge of the cleaning of the buildings, also operates the shop laundry. During the year the laundry

washed 904,723 hand towels, so as to provide each employee with a

clean towel every working day. It is estimated that this laundry

work saved the Government $3,618.89 as compared with the commercial charge for the same amount of work. In addition, the laundry

washed 12,990 pounds of cleaning rags, which would otherwise have

been thrown away, thereby saving $1,169.10 in the expenditure

for new rags. Due to the increased activity of the sanitary section, the buildings

are kept cleaner than ever before, the office receiving many compliments on its neat and orderly condition. Since the eating of lunches

in the workrooms has been discontinued and the delivery of filthy

waste paper and refuse from the departments has ceased, the sanitary
44 ANNUAI^ REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

condition of the entire plant is greatly improved. This, of course, has been especially beneficial to the health of employees who now

work in as wholesome an atmosphere as can be found in any industrial

plant in the world.

The cafeteria, which is operated by a voluntary association of employees, is well patronized byfrom 2,100to2,600 persons daily with a total of approximately 780,000 customers for the year. In addition,

approximately 500 emplo^^ees carry their own lunches to the cafeteria,

where they are welcome to enjoy all its privileges, the same as those

who purchase their food at the serving counters. Including the four

bowling alleys and other recreational activities, the association re- ported gross receipts of approximately $200,000 for the year. Out

of its receipts the association paid for a number of improvements

and replacements to equipment and had a small surplus left at the

end of the year. ENTERTAINMENTS HELD IN HARDING HALL.

Harding Hail, which is on the same floor with the cafeteria, was

the scene of numerous enjoyable entertainments given by the employees. This diversion has added much to their interest in the

office, thereby greatly improving the morale of the entire establishment. One of the most delightful affairs of the year was the Christmas

entertainment provided by the association for the children of employees. More than 1,500 children, with their parents, enjoyed this rare treat. Another event of the year in Harding Hall was the

reception tendered Members of Congress, which was attended by

more than 100 vSenators and Representatives, who enjoyed the hospitality of the cafeteria association. Harding Hall was the scene

also of a brilliant entertainment given in honor of the United Typothetse of America and the Employing Bookbinders of America,

who, with their ladies and friends, came 1,600 strong to participate

in the pleasures of the hall and the cafeteria.

An excellent orchestra, composed entirely of employees, adds much

to the happiness that comes from entertainments in Harding Hall.

This orchestra also plays for employees during the lunch periods every

Friday, thereby adding pleasure to both the day and night forces,

who go back to their tasks after these informal concerts with a smile

and a cheer that are readily reflected in the increased efficiency of a happy and contented lot of employees.

SHOP HOSPITAL HELPFUL TO EMPLOYEES.

The good care that the Government Printing Office takes of its employees is shown also in the humanitarian work of its emergency

hospital. Immediate medical and surgical attention is provided

for all employees who may be injured or taken sick while on duty.

Under a new procedure, every person receiving an appointment is required to pass satisfactorily a physical examination before assignment to duty. Employees requesting an extension of time beyond

their regular retirement period must likewise pass a physical examination before extension can be considered. These examinations are not

only a protection to the Government against physically incompetent

employees but also render a real service to the employee himself by
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 45

preventing his assignment to a duty which he may not be physically fit or able to perform. During the year the medical staff of two physicians and three nurses examined 343 persons applying

for appointment and 123 employees who were eligible for retirement.

In addition, 61 employees of the cafeteria were regularly examined

as to their fitness to handle foodstuffs served to the employees of the

office. Treatments were given to 6,786 sick and injured persons during the

fiscal year 1923, an increase of 2,205 over the preceding year. Of

these treatments, 2,586 were surgical, requiring 2,809 re-treatments,

and 4,260 were medical cases. The surgical cases included 641

lacerations, 406 contusions, 234 incised wounds, 112 punctured

wounds, 154 burns, 223 infections, 377 removals of foreign bodies

such as particles of lead and iron—177 sprains or strains, and 5 fractures; 56 cases were reported to the United States Employees' Compensation Commission; 14 employees were sent to the United States

Public Health Dispensary for additional treatment, mostly X-ray

examinations, and 2 to the Veterans' Bureau.

Thirty-two contagious cases were reported, but, due to the care and

promptness with which they were handled by our medical and sanitary officers, no disease spread among employees from these cases. Two deaths occurred in the office, one from acute dilatation of the

heart and the other from cerebral hemorrhage.

ABSENTEEISM PwEDUCED BY HOSPITAL REPORTS.

A new regulation was put into eft'ect by which an employee absent

for three or more days on account of illness is requu-ed to report to the hospital for examination or investigation before he is permitted

to return to duty. The employee is thus safeguarded in that he is not allowed to resume work until found physically able to do so. His fellow employees are also protected against contagion or infection that might otherwise be brought into the workrooms by a

careless employee.

These examinations by the medical officers have materially reduced

absenteeism. Although the employees of the Government Printing

Office do not have any sick leave such as is granted by law to emploj^ees of the executive departments, the number reporting '^sick"

is a serious problem in the proper organization and planning of the

daily work. The record of absentees from November 19, 1922, when

the hospital report plan was put into eft'ect, to June 30, 1923, ^ows

that 5,251 reports of personal illness, injury, and illness in family were made by employees of the Government Printing Office. Of

these reports 816 were made in person, 3,405 by telephone, 87 by

letter, and 943 by messenger.

As a part of our cooperative program, the hospital has undertaken the treatment of employees of the neighboring city post office who may be injured or taken ill at times when the post office emer- gency room is closed or unable to handle the case. Since these

treatments were started on November 1, 1922, our physicians handled

114 post-office cases up to June 30, 1923.

The physicians in charge of the hospital are also sanitary officers and devote considerable time to the important duty of seeing that the

plant is kept clean and sanitary from cellar to roof (there is no
46 ANNUAL BBPORT OF THE PUBLIC PBINTER.

attic, for that formerly bug and rat infested place has been turned

into the sunshine cafeteria and airy recreation hall). The cafeteria

and its kitchens are daily inspected by the medical and sanitary

officer who makes certain that only wholesome food is served to the employees in a clean and suitable manner. BETTER VENTILATION THROUGHOUT PLANT.

In the interest of health and physical comfort an extensive ventilating system was constructed for the basements and plate vaults

underneath the sidewalks and better lighting facilities provided in those heretofore dark and dingy places, as well as elsewhere throughout the works. Special attention is given to ventilation, and every

effort made to keep the workrooms supplied at all times with fresh

air of a proper temperature. Better and increased toilet facilities have been installed.

All the washrooms have been equipped with liquid-soap systems,

having outlet valves for the individual washstands. This has done

away with the insanitary cakes of soap and at the same time has

insured an adequate supply at all times of good soap in washrooms,

where cakes of soap had been disappearing at a rapid rate. Construction of several large balconies or mezzanine floors for

lockers provided cleaner and more secure places for the hats and

wraps of employees. Many old, insanitary lockers have been

replaced or repaired and before long it is planned to have clean steel lockers for the use of all employees.

As promptly as possible dilapidated and tiresome chairs, desks, and

tables are being replaced with more suitable equipment, so that

employees may work under better conditions and with less physical

strain. In so doing the Government will be amply repaid for the

kindly interest in the welfare of its employees through their increased

ability to render a fair day's work without unnecessary fatigue.

THE APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM RESTORED.

With the growing shortage of competent craftsmen, it was vitally

important that the Government take prompt steps to train some of

its own employees so that the work of this office might be carried on in a proper manner by adequately trained journeymen. Therefore

the present Public Printer decided to restore the apprenticeship

system which had been abandoned by the Government Printing

Office more than 30 years ago. During that long period not a single

apprentice was appointed by the Government Printing Office, which

had to obtain all its skilled craftsmen from commercial plants, where

they were trained at private expense.

It would serve no good purpose to discuss the selfish and shortsighted reasons why the Government Printing Office was not per- mitted to train its own workmen, but the fact is that the law of 1895,

which permitted the employment of 25 apprentices, was not taken

advantage of by any Public Printer until the past year. After having an adequate course of training prepared for the various branches

of the printing and allied trades, the maximum number of apprentices was appointed through civil-service examination and the school

began a work which it is hoped the Government will never discontinue again.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 47

One hundred and sixty-two boys from various parts of the United

States took the first apprenticeship examination, and of that number

118 qualified for appointment, including 20 messenger boys in the

Government Printing Office. Encouraged by the widespread interest in the school and its successful beginning, the Public Printer decided to make every effort to have Congress remove the limitation on the number of apprentices

that may be employed in the Government Printing Office. By

the act oi February 20, 1923, Congress approved the Pubhc Printer's

recommendation to remove the almost prohibitive restriction on the

employment of apprentices in the Government Printing Office and

authorized the training of 200 young persons for the skilled trades.

The former restriction of 25 apprentices was grossly unfair to the

Government Printing Office, which, if it had been a private establishment, would have been entitled under customary trade rules to at

least 200 apprentices.

BOYS ANXIOUS TO LEARN WORTH-WHILE TRADES^

The second examination for apprentices was held on July 11, 1923,

and 104 boys entered the competition. Of this number 84 qualified

for apprenticeship either as printers, pressmen, bookbinders, electro- typers, stereotypers, photo-engravers, or machinists. From the second

list of eligibles 58 additional appointments have been made, bringing

the total number of apprentices in the office up to 82, of whom 68

have elected to learn the trade of printer, while the others have been

assigned as follows: Electrotypers, 6; stereotypers, 2; pressman, 1; photo-engravers, 3; bookbinder, 1; and machinist, 1. It is proposed

to increase the number gradually until approximately 200 apprentices

are in training.

All appointments of apprentices are made through open competitive examinations held by the Civil Service Commission and are based upon the ratings obtained in such tests. The subjects for

examinations include spelling, penmanship, copying, letter writing,

arithmetic, physical ability, education, training, and experience.

Credit is given for education above the eighth grade and for any

previous training which would tend to qualify for the position sought.

The education of the apprentice is not permitted to stop, however,

with the school knowledge he may have acquired before appointment.

The apprentice is required to attend night school in addition to his

daily work in the Government Printing Office. Arrangements have

been made with the Washington school authorities to give each

apprentice instruction in the educational subjects he especially

needs. It is a matter of great pride to the office that in three debates

held by the McKinley Manual Training School last year the winning

teams were recruited largely from our apprentices.

APPRENTICES MUST BE PHYSICALLY FIT. The physical as well as the mental attainments of the apprentices

are carefully supervised. Each applicant must be physically sound,

of good health, and have excellent eyesight, as determined by competent medical examination both at the time of his application and

83793—24 4
48 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

immediately upon his entry on duty. The medical officer also

examines each apprentice at regular intervals to make sure that

he is keeping physically fit throughout his course of training.

That the bo^s are keeping active and fit thus far is shown by the

fact that the junior baseball team, composed largely of apprentices,

won the junior interdepartmental championship for the second year

in succession, losing only one game throughout the entire season. In order to impress the apprentices with the seriousness of their

undertaking, a formal indenture is signed by each boy and his parent

or guardian and by the Public Printer. By the indenture, the apprentice agrees faithfully to complete four years at his trade. He

also subscribes to these agreements:

That he will not absent himself from his place without previous permission

unless compelled by sickness or other unavoidable reason. That he will be prompt and regular at his work, and will strive to perform, to the best of his ability, the work required of him.

That he will neither waste the goods, nor needlessly injure or destroy an}-- machinery, tools, or other property that may be put in his hands or under his control. That he will use his best efforts to complete such work as may be given to him

to the satisfaction of said Government Printing Office. That he will faithfully observe the courses of study, and endeavor to learn therefrom to the best of his ability, with a view to preparing himself for examination from time to time; the satisfactory passing of the various examinations

being understood to be one of the conditions of his advancement.

A careful record is kept of the progress of each apprentice, and a

certificate of proficiency must be obtained from his instructor for each

six months' period before the boy is entitled to promotion to the next

grade. The ratings for this certificate are based upon punctuality,

industry, intelligence in work, effort, studiousness, and general

conduct.

SCHOOL ROOM FOR PRINTER APPRENTICES.

A special school room has been provided for the apprentices and

suitably equipped with cases of type, each boy having his own frame.

The apprentice room has also been provided with imposing stones,

proof presses, Gordon press, and a full complement of job type. The

section is in charge of competent instructors, under whom the printer

apprentices receive their first training. As the boys progress they

are detailed in turn to the job room, proof room, press room, machine

composing rooms, and the Planning Division, where they receive

training as part of the regular working forces under the direction of the heads of the various branches and the general supervision of their

permanent instructors.

The apprentices to other trades, such as bookbinding, presswork,

photo-engraving, electrotyping, and stereotyping, receive all their

vocational instruction in their respective divisions. In addition,

these boys also have the same general instruction as the printer

apprentices.

The prepared courses of instruction provide for four years of in- tensive training in each trade. In the printer's course, for instance,

bookwork has been allowed 15 months, divided into 6 periods. The

first month's time is given to learning the lay of the case. To make

certain that the boy thoroughly understands the case, he is required

to draw from memory the correct layout of the upper and lower

cases before he is allowed to set type. For patriotic motives the
AXXUAL EEPORT OF THE PUBLIC PEI^sTER. 49

boy's first copy consists of Washington's Farewell Address, Jeffer- son's Eulogy of Washington, Lincoln's Gettysburg and Inaugural

Addresses, and the Star Spangled Banner. These are interspersed

with copy designed to instruct the boy ia the art of spaciug, capitalization, punctuation, and justification. In the interest of office disciphne each apprentice is also required to set up his own copy of

the shop rules. As the apprentice progresses, he is given live

copy," begumiag with straight matter and foUowed by intricate

work and tabular matter. PRODUCTIVE WORK BENEFITS OFFICE.

While the office will always consider its fii'st duty to the apprentices to be that of making them competent craftsmen, nevertheless,

Uncle Sam has some compensation at the same time. From July 5, 1922, to September 1, 1923, the 25 printer apprentices then at work

set 1,430 galleys of chargeable type and devoted 2,200 hours to break-

.

ing up pages and 278 hours to breaking up forms. In addition these

boys served three weeks in the proof room and two weeks in the press room doing practical work. The result is they are thoroughly versed

in plain and tabular type work, proof marks, making-up, distribution, and in the care of cuts and the setting of legends for same. Evidence of the work performed by the printer apprentices during

their fii'^t 15 months of training may be found in a number of technical Smithsonian publications.

The first class of printer apprentices is receiving the next period of training, which consists of 12 months of job work. Du'-ing this

period they are taught the use of display type and spacing. On

completion of the job work course, a period of seven months will be

given exclusively to imposition or stone work. This ^vill include the

imposing of type and patent blocks for press beds.

The apprentices will be taken to the Platemaking, Presswork, and

Bindery Divisions in due coiKse to acquaint themselves with the

sequence of operations necessary to the finished product. This wiU

complete 34 months of training. Six months mil then be used for

instructing the printer apprentices as to the operation of either

linotype or monotype machines. Each boy wiU be assigned a month

on each machine and \vill then be given four months' additional

training on either the linotype or monotype keyboard, as he may

prefer. The coiu-se concludes with three months of proof reading

and re^^sing. three montlis of estimating and jacket wTiting, and two

months of press revising.

NOTED PRINTERS ADDRESS THE CLASSES.

In addition to the regular course of instruction, addresses and

lectures on subjects of special interest to aU the apprentices are ^iven whenever the opportunity and speakers are available. For

instance, Mr. Xorman T. A. Munder, the noted master printer of Baltimore, has given several highly instructive and greatly appreciated talks to the boys. Mr. Charles Francis, one of the iPoremost

printers of Xew York City, also addressed the apprentices recently.

Mr. Frederic W. Goudy, the famous designer of types, has visited the

office and manifested generous interest in the school. Included in
50 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

the regular course of lectures will be talks by the chief of tests on

paper making for the purpose of teaching apprentices how to distinguish different kinds and grades of paper and determine their

suitability for various styles of printing.

Aside from the unexcelled opportunity to render a real service to disabled war veterans who may desire vocational training in the various

trades of the Government Printing Office, the greatest pleasure that

has come to the Public Printer from the apprentice school is the

bright prospect it opens up to a group of Government employees for

whom the future heretofore had offered little or no encouragement.

This came about through the Civil Service Commission authorizing

the Public Printer to promote messenger boys to be apprentices on

passing a noncompetitive examination. In other words, due to the

fact that the boys are already in the service of the Government

Printing Office, they may be given preference for appointment as apprentices. This is especially helpful in that it makes available for

training a desirable lot of boys who already have had considerable

experience in various parts of the big shop and have a somewhat

definite idea of the trade they desire to follow.

WAY OPEN TO ALL FOR ADVANCEMENT.

The Civil Service Commission has also approved the recommendation that an apprentice, on completing satisfactorily his four years

of training in the Government Printing Office, may be promoted to journeyman in the trade for which he has qualified without further

civil-service examination. The way is thus open for an ambitious

boy in the Government Printing Office to advance from the lowest

grade of messenger to that of Deputy Public Printer.

It is to be hoped that some day the position of Public Printer

will not be regarded as a political appointment and that politics will be barred forever from a strictly business institution like the Government Printing Office. It will then be possible for a boy in the Government service to look forward to the time when he may, through

meritorious promotions, become the head of the greatest printing

plant in all the world.

To aid war veterans, the Civil Service Commission, upon the rec- ommendation of the Public Printer, waived the 20-year age limit for

apprentice applicants who are entitled to preference because of military or naval service. Every war veteran who has qualified for

appointment as an apprentice has been placed in training, and 10

are taking the regular apprenticeship courses. VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR VETERANS.

In addition to the regular apprentices, the Government Printing

Office is also training a number of disabled veterans placed by the

Veterans' Bureau for vocational instruction. This is a phase of the

work in which the Public Printer is especially interested, as the

Government Printing Office affords the best opportunity in the

world for a war veteran to learn a worth-while trade.

The Government Printing Office is ready and willing to give the

American veteran all the instruction and experience necessary to make him a really skilled craftsman. Unfortunately, and no doubt
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 51

imayoidably at first, many veterans were given vocational training

elsewhere which was inadequate and in no way fitted them to earn

suitable liveliliood. However, the Veterans' Bureau has recognized

the excellent facilities offered by the Government Printing Office to the heroic men who deserve fully as much success in peace as they

had in war. Vocational training has been given to 11 disabled veterans since this work was undertaken and two of this number have

qualified for permanent appointments in the office. There are now 6

trainees of the Veterans' Bureau under instruction in the plant.

Besides these trainees, there are 418 war veterans regularly employed

throughout the office, 2 being veterans of the Civil War, 107 of the

Spanish-American War, and 309 of the World War, 3 of the latter being women.

In coromendation of the vocational training that the Government

Printing Office has made available to disabled veterans, the manager

of the Washington district of the Rehabilitation Division wrote the

Public Printer as follows, under date of September 10, 1923:

The Veterans' Bureau wishes again to thank the Government Printing Office

for its cooperation and universal courtesy toward the bureau and its representatives, and hopes that if the occasion arises again that you will be willing to take

other men in training. The Veterans' Bureau believes the Government Printing

Office is giving our men good training and cooperation in every manner. TRAINING SCHOOL FOR MACHINE OPERATORS.

Still another feature of the Government's program for the training

of skilled workmen is to be found in the school for linotype operators,

which is open to compositors who desire to qualify as machine operators. These men are permitted to practice on their own time, especially at night, when there usually are a number of idle machines

available. During the year 20 men have attended the practice school,

and of this number 10 have qualified as operators.

The linotype school has been of especial advantage in the training

of competent operators, of whom there is a serious shortage, owing to the rapid increase in the use of typesetting machines throughout the

country.

The school has given an opportunity also for change of occupation

to a number of men who otherwise would have had little prospect for

advancement in their chosen grade. Some of these men had become

tired of doing the only routine work for which they were qualified

before the operators' school opened up a new field of activity.

Notwithstanding all these efforts to train properly its own crafts- men, the Government Printing Office is in need at this time of additional competent workmen, especially in the printing trades. This

condition is likely to continue for several years, at least until the

apprentices and veteran trainees begin to qualify as journeymen.

DIFFICULT TO RETAIN SKILLED CRAFTSMEN.

With the present wage scale as fixed by law it has been impossible

to retain some of the best workers or to attract enough other properly

skilled men to fill their places. During the year 269 printers, including 108 linotype operators, 64 compositors, 32 monotype keyboard

operators, and 44 proof readers left the service of the Government
52 A>s^NUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

Printing Office, some of them going reluctantly to accept higher

wages offered elsewhere. Of the printers who left the service during

the year, 65 were retired on account of age or disability. Since the

retirement law became effective on August 20, 1920, 167 printers

have been retired to date. There are still 48 printers past the retire- ment age in the office, their requests for extensions having been

granted by the Public Printer on account of the needs of the service.

The net loss of printers during the year was only 145, inasmuch as 124 new appointments were made, consisting of 76 linot3'pe operators,

33 monotype keyboard operators, and 15 compositors. A number of these appointees, however, were below the standard of efficiency that

should be maintained in the Government Printing Office. It was

necessary, nevertheless, to employ some less efficient printers and to retain others likewise not up to the standard in order to keep the

work of the office progressing in a satisfactory manner. In compli- ance with the law, the Public Printer reported to the Bureau of the

Budget on September 28, 1923, that the number of employees below

a fair standard of efficiency included 25 compositors, 10 linotype

operators, 35 monotype keyboard operators, and 32 proof readers, some of whom may have to be retained, however, until they can be

replaced by more capable workmen.

With an adequate scale of wages the office can be manned with

the most efficient workmen in the country. Aside from the present

wage as fixed by law, working conditions in the Government Printing

Office are regarded as superior to any other industrial plant wherever

located.

CREDIT TO LOYAL AND INDUSTRIOUS EMPLOYEES.

That the Government Printing Office had made the fine record as

set forth in this report for the year 1923 is due to the splendid loyalty

and industry of most of the men and women of all trades who have

stuck by the guns," even at a serious financial sacrifice to themselves and their families. I am glad to give those faithful employees

every credit for their fine spirit of cooperation and service to the

Government. It is earnestly hoped that Congress will early in this

session show its appreciation of such devotion to duty by providing a means for the prompt readjustment of the wages of all skiUed and

unskilled workers in the Government Printing Office. It is unfair to ask why employees do not go elsewhere and take

advantage of higher wages that may be offered them in commercial

offices. Many of these good people have homes in Washington and

children to educate. Like most persons working for comparatively

small salaries they have had to buy homes on the installment plan

and pay excessive prices if they would on the other hand escape the

outrageously high rentals exacted by the local real estate combine.

Many employees of this office can not leave Washington except at a heavy financial loss and a serious disturbance in their family life. So they have remained here, hoping that the Government would be

at least as fair to its employees as the private emplo5'er is with his

workmen.

WAGES INCREASED FOR MANY EMPLOYEES.

As far as it is within the power of the Public Printer, an effort has

been made to readjust wages in the Government Printing Office to
AI?^XUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 53

meet present conditions. In fact, during the last two years the compensation of 1,399 employees has been increased by $269,417 per annum. The rate of pay for approximately 35 per cent of the employees—that is, pressmen, bookbinders, and printers—is definitely

fixed by law and can not be changed except by act of Congress.

In accordance with the recommendation made by the Public

Printer in his annual report for 1922, a collective bargaining wage

bill was reported favorably to the House by the Committee on Printing at the last session of the Sixty-seventh Congress. The bill, unfortunately, failed of consideration in the closing duties of Congress,

and a large number of employees were thus denied an opportunity to have their wages increased.

For consideration by the Sixty-eighth Congress an employees

wage bill was drafted at the conference between the Public Printer

and a joint committee of nine members, three each being selected for

that purpose by the pressmen, printers, and bookbinders employed in

the Government Printing Office. The employees bill is similar to the biU reported by the House Committee on Printing in the last Congress except that the new measure contains more specific provisions as to the right of employees to be represented by a committee

of their own selection in wage conferences with the Public Printer

and the privilege granted either party of appealing to the Joint Committee on Printing for final decision.

The new biU was agreed to unanimously by the committee repre- senting the pressmen, printers, and bookbinders, and also received

the approval of the Public Printer. This action received the unani- mous indorsement of Printing Pressmen's Union No. 1 at its regular

meeting on November 26, and the two local unions, Nos. 4 and 42,

of the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, at their meetings on November 14 and 19, respectively. The printer members of the

committee that conferred with the Public Printer sent the biU to a vote of their feUow craftsmen in the office, the result being 386

votes in favor of the biU and 506 against it. BILL INDORSED BY MAJORITY OF EMPLOYEES.

Inasmuch as the proposed bill affects not only the three principal

printing trades, but also all the skilled and unskilled workers in the

office, other employees were invited to express their opinion as to the

coUective bargaining plan for the readjustment of their wages and

compensation from time to time. The voluntary responses were prompt and decisive. Among the groups of employees that have

formally indorsed the bill are the Electrotype Molders and Finishers

Union No. 17. Pressfeeders' Union No. 1, stereotypers, machinists,

type machinists, electricians, plumbers, steamfitters, sheet-metal

workers, blacksmiths, carpenters, painters, bindery workers, foldingmachine operators, helpers, and various other grades of skilled and

unskilled workers.

The bill, therefore, has received the approval of a very large

majority of the employees in the Government Printing Office who

are affected by its provisions. In fact, the printers are the only

group in the entire shop to vote against the plan of collective bargaining as proposed by the bill. The printers constitute less than a fourth of the total number of employees and a considerable part of
54 ANNUAL EEPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

even that minority expressed themselves in favor of the bill as agreed to by their committee, the referendum vote against the measure

having only 120 majority out of a total of 892 votes recorded.

Accordingly, the employees wage bill was submitted by the Public

Printer to the chairman of the House Committee on Printing, Mr.

Kiess, who accepted its provisions and introduced the bill (H. R.

506) on December 5. The House Committee on Printing, having held

hearings on the same subject only a few months ago and realizing

that a prompt readjustment of wages was highly essential to the

efficient operation of this office especially during the present session

of Congress, gave the bill immediate consideration and has already

submitted a favorable report thereon. As a matter of fact, the bill was the first one to be reported to the House in the Sixty-eighth

Congress.

COMMITTEE REPORT FAVORING WAGE BILL. House Report No. 1 so well sets forth the argument in favor of the

employees bill that liberty is here taken to quote from it in part as follows

:

The Committee on Printing, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 506) to authorize the Public Printer to fix rates of wages for employees of the Govern- ment Printing Office, having had the same under consideration, report it back

favorabh^ with the recommendation that the bill do pass. A similar bill, after due hearing, was reported favorably to the House near the close of the last Congress, but did not receive further consideration owing to the pressure of other legislative business at that time. The bill is as follows: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Public Printer may employ, at such

rates of wages, including compensation for night and overtime work, as he may

deem for the interest of the Government and just to the persons employed, such

journeymen, apprentices, laborers, and other persons as may be necessary for the work of the Government Printing Office; but he shall not, at any time, employ more persons than the necessities of the public work may require: Provided, That

the rates of wages, including compensation for night and overtime work, for more

than ten employees of the same occupation shall be determined by a conference between the Public Printer and a committee of employees selected by the skilled trades affected, and the rates and compensation so agreed upon shall become

effective upon approval by the Joint Committee on Printing and shall not be

subject to change oftener than once a year thereafter; if the Public Printer and

the committee representing any skilled trade fail to agree as to wages and compensation either party is hereby granted the right of appeal to the Joint Committee on Printing, and the decision of said committee shall be final. "Sec. 2. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed."

The wages of all printers, proof readers, pressmen, and bookbinders employed

in the Government Printing Office are now fixed by the act approved August 2, 1919 (41 Stat. 272), and the pay of all the other mechanics and laborers is de- termined by the Public Printer under authority of section 49 of the printing act approved January 12, 1895 (28 Stat. 608), Thus the compensation of 35 per cent

of the employees of the Government Printing Office is definitely fixed by law

and that of 65 per cent is determined by the Public Printer, In other words,

Congress fixes the wage of the printer who sets the type, but the Public Printer determines the pay of the stereotyper who makes a plate of the type form; Congress fixes the pay of the pressman who prints from this plate, but the Public

Printer determines the pay of the machinist who keeps the press in repair; Congress fixes the pay of the bookbinder who operates a machine, but the Public

Printer determines the pay of the skilled laborer who also operates a bindery

machine.

The committee is of the opinion that this is an unbusinesslike procedure and

that in fairness both to the Government and the employees the wages of all journey- men, apprentices, and laborers emplo3^ed in the Government Printing Office
AX:s'UAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 55

should be determined in the same manner and not fixed parth* by Congress and

partly by the Public Printer. It would be a difficult task for Congress to fix by

law from time to time such wages as would be just to the score or more of trades and the numerous groups of each trade employed in the Government Printing

Office. Therefore the committee has decided to recommend that the wages of

all the work forces in the Government Printing Office be determined by the

Public Printer, as he now does for almost two-thirds of the employees in that

great estabhshment.

The Printing Office is the only industrial establishment of the Government

that has the wages of even a part of its working forces specifically fixed by law. In the Bureau of Engraving and Printing the wages of all its mechanics and skilled laborers are determined by the director with the approval of the Secretary of the

Treasury. The wages of all navy-yard employees are adjusted by a wage board

with the approval of the Secretary of the Navj'. To secure an adequate number

of efficient workmen at all times, it is as necessary for the Government as it is for the

private employer to be able to meet changing conditions with corresponding

readjustments of wage scales. It is just as unfair to obligate the Government by

law to pay an excessive wage in times of business depression and lower costs of living as it is impossible at other times to obtain enough efficient workmen to operate successfully a manufacturing plant like the Government Printing Office at wages much less than they can command elsewhere. Accordingly, the Public

Printer, or some other agency, should have the authority to readjust wages for the Government Printing Office from time to time, the same as can now be

done for every other industrial plant either under Government or private control The committee does not beheve, however, that such a large power over public

expenditures should be vested in any one officer without some suitable restriction or supervision. Accordingly, the bill provides that all rates of wages and compensation fixed upon by the Public Printer, except for groups of less than 10 em.ployees of the same occupation, shall not be effective until approved by the

Jo^nt Committee on Printing, and gives the right of appeal to and hearing before the committee. This restriction applies, not only to the additional employees

whose wages the bill proposes shall hereafter be determined by the Public Printer,

but also includes the greater number of employees whose wages may now be

fixed by the Public Printer without the advice or consent of any other agency of the Government. The bill, therefore, provides a far better safeguard as to the expenditure of public funds than is possible under the present practice whereby

the Public Printer is not required to obtain the approval of anyone else in deciding

whether to increase or decrease a pay roll already amounting to approximately

$6,000,000 a year, nearly two-thirds of which is expended for wages fixed b}' the Public Printer. The committee has with some reluctance proposed that the authority to approve

the wages of employees of the Government Printing Office be vested in the

Joint Committee on Printing, inasmuch as the members of the House Committee

on Printing are also members of the joint committee, which was created by act

of Congress. Congress has conferred on the joint committee broad powers as to

its supervision over the Government Printing Office. Ever since the establish- ment of the Government Printing Office the Joint Committee on Printing has, by

authority of law, fixed upon standards and awarded the contracts for all the paper

purchased by the Public Printer. This alone involves an expenditure of approximately $4,000,000 annually. In fact, the Joint Committee on Printing in this and numerous other matters really acts as a board of directors for the Govern- ment Printing Office. It seems fitting and proper, therefore, that the joint

committee should also have the same supervision over the expenditures of the

Public Printer for wages as it has over the purchases of paper and other materials required in the public printing and binding. So as not to hamper the Public Printer in emergencies and also not to burden

the committee with minor details, the bill provides that the compensation of groups of 10 or fewer employees of the same occupation may be fixed by the Public

Printer without the approval of the committee. This is to provide for the employment from time to time of small numbers of mechanics and laborers, such

as carpenters, plasterers, bricklayers, pipe fitters, electricians, firemen, etc. It would not be worth while for the committee to pass upon the wages of such small

groups, and these details can as well be left to the judgment of the Public Printer

as at present. Provision is made in the bill that the Public Printer and the Joint Committee

on Printing in determining wages may also fix upon the additional compensation

to be paid for overtime and night work. The law (sec. 39, act of 1895; 28 Stat.
56 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

607) provides that the night rate for employees of the Government Printing

Office shall be 20 per cent in addition to the day rate of pay. This may or may

not be a fair and reasonable compensation for nightwork, depending as it must

upon whatever rate of pay is allowed for daywork. The committee is of the opinion that in determining wages the Public Printer ought to have the same

opportimity to fix rates for both day, night, and overtime work as has the private

employer and other establishments of the Government, like the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the navy yards. Accordingly, the whole subject of da}^ night, and overtime rates should be considered whenever wage readjustments

are to be made.

To insure stability of wages and to provide time for Congress to act, in case it so desires, before any further change could be effected after a wage readjustment

has been made as authorized by the bill, the Public Printer and the employees

are restricted from proposing a new wage scale oftener than once a year. Aside from the changes indicated above, the bill is a substantial rewriting of section 49 of the printing act approved January 12, 1895 (28 Stats. 608), which

reads as follows: "The Public Printer may employ, at such rates of wages as he may deem for the interest of the Government and just to the persons employed, such proof

readers, laborers, and other hands as may be necessary for the execution of the

orders for public printing and binding authorized by law; but he shall not, at any time, employ in the office more hands than the absolute necessities for the

public work may require."

By authority of the foregoing law the Public Printer now determines the wages

of all mechanics and laborers employed in the Government Printing Ofiice, with

the exception of the three principal printing trades, whose wages are fixed bv the

act of August 2, 1919 (41 Stat. 272), as follows: "That on and after the passage of this act the pay of all printers, printer-linotype operators, printer monotype-keyboard operators, makers-up, copy editors,

proof readers, bookbinders, bookbinder-machine operators, and pressmen employed in the Government Printing Office shall be at the rate of 75 cents per hour

for the time actually employed."

The committee at the last session of Congress had under consideration numerous bills proposing large increases in wages for printers, pressmen, and bookbinders employed in the Government Printing Ofiice. Hearings were held on

these bills and the statements submitted were given careful consideration. A

compilation of the wages asked by the employees shows that the enactment of the specific wage bills would mean a total increase of approximately $980,000 a year for 1,500 out of the 4,000 employees of the Government Printing Office. In addition thereto the Public Printer would undoubtedly have to readjust the wages of other employees to correspond with whatever increase might be granted

by Congress. This would mean a further enlargement of the Government

Printing Office pay roll by several hundred thousand dollars a year. In view of the large increases requested, the committee and the Public Printer came to the conclusion that they did not have sufficient information to make any

definite wage recommendation for the consideration of Congress. It is also evi- dent that Congress likewise will not have the time or means at its disposal to consider the real merits of any specific or detailed wage bill. Consequently the committee most urgently recommends the prompt consideration of this bill so as to insure all the working forces of the Government

Printing Office an opportunit}- to have their rates of pay properly readjusted

whenever occasion demands.

PUBLIC PRINTER S LETTER TO TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION.

The views of the Pubhc Printer in support of the principle of col- lective bargaining as against the arbitrary method of fixing a workman's compensation by law are stated in the following communication which he addressed to the secretary-treasurer of the International Typographical Union on October 2, 1923:

This office is in receipt of, your letter of September 8, transmitting copy of resolutions relating to wages of printers in the Government Printing Office as adopted by Columbia Typographical Union No. 101 on July 15, and approved

by the Atlanta Convention of the International Typographical Union on August

15, 1923.
ANXUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRIlsTER. 57

I observe that the resolutions pledge the full support of the International to Columbia Union in its effort to have Congress enact into law a bill which arbitrarily prescribes the wages of printers employed in the Government Printing

Office. Without discussing at this time the question of a wage increase, I desire to say that I am opposed to fixing the compensation of any skilled trade by legis- lative enactment, whether by the Congress of the United States, a State legis- lature, or a municipal council. I wonder whether the locals who may have

indorsed the resolutions proposed by Columbia Union would prefer to have

their own wage scales determined by a State legislature or town council instead

of by direct negotiation with their employers?

It may be of interest that in the last 30 years barely half a dozen increases have been granted by Congress to printers employed in the Government Printing

Office, and that, together with pressmen and bookbinders, whose wages are also

fixed by law, they are receiving the lowest pay of any skilled trade in this office. The wages of all other skilled trades, including stereotypers, electrotypers,

photo-engravers, machinists, electricians, carpenters, and metal workers are determined by the Public Printer in accordance with changing conditions. Thus it is that these groups have enjoyed substantial increases in recent years, while the compensation of printers has stood still since 1919, the last time that Congress granted them an advance. Therefore, in fairness to the men and in conformity to the general practice of the trade, I do not feel that the fixing of wages by law is the proper way to settle a matter of such vital importance to the life and welfare of every workman.

I am, however, heartily in favor of a bill providing that the wages of all work- men in the Government Printing Office shall be under the jurisdiction of the

Public Printer. At present printers, pressmen, and bookbinders, whose wages

are fixed by law, comprise approximately 35 per cent of the skilled trades employed in this office, while those whose wages are determined by the Public

Printer constitute 65 per cent of the working force. To insure an equitable

adjustment of the wages of all employees, their compensation should be regulated in the same manner; that is, either specified by act of Congress or adjusted

by the Public Printer in conformity with trade conditions. As I have already

stated, I favor the latter method for the reason that it is the more practical and more just to all concerned.

If it shall develop that Congress desires to restrict the Government Printing

Office to a statutory wage, I believe that to insure equal consideration the rates

for all our skilled trades should be included in such a bill. Accordingly, the

opinion of all who may be affected by the proposed legislation ought to be ascer- tained as to whether they want their wages specified by law or determined l)y the Public Printer after due and timely negotiation. Certainly in a matter of such great importance to every craftsman in the Government Printing Office

it ought not to be left to one or two trades to impress their own views on Congress,

I am hopeful, therefore, that a full and free expression on this subject may be had from all of the trades in the Government Printing Office. While the wages of printers, pressmen, and bookbinders as fixed by law have

remained stationary for the last four 3^ears, the pay of other employees whose

basic compensation could be adjusted by the Public Printer has been increased $244,183 a year since I became Public Printer on April 5, 1921. Included in this amount are higher wages granted to stereotypers, electrotypers, photoengravers, imposers, carpenters, painters, skilled bindery workers, engineers,

and other employees, benefiting in all 1,299 out of 3,939 employees on the rolls of the Government Printing Office.

I notice that the resolutions as proposed by Columbia Union not only relate to wages but also indorse its efforts to bring about "better working conditions"

in the Government Printing Office. Although reluctant to call attention to the accomplishments of the present administration of this office, I feel compelled to

assert that "working conditions" here have been improved fully 100 per cent

in the last two years. As to the correctness of such a statement, I will be glad

to accept the opinion of the international presidents of the printing and binding

trades, all of whom have visited the Government Printing Office during that

period.

It has been my aim to make the Government Printing Office an ideal place

in which to work and enjoy life. For a record of what has been done to accomplish this ambition, I would respectfully refer to articles published in the American

Labor World, the American Pressman, the International Bookbinder, the Inter- national Stereotypers' and Electrotypers' Journal, and the Monthly Labor
58 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

Review. I regret, for reasons well known to you, I can not include the Typographical Journal in this list of labor publications that have so kindly recognized

my constant efforts to better working conditions in the Government Printing

Office.

If a successful appeal is to be made Congress for a wage increase in this office

it must, of course, be based upon a fair and honest statement of facts. In

addition to the uncalled for and wholly unjust reflection upon working conditions

in the Government Printing Office, the resolutions do serious injustice to this

office and the Government in several other respects. I invite your attention to the charge that the failure of Congress to increase the wages of less than half of the employees of this office "has tended largely to destroy their morale" and

"militates against the efficient and economical operation of the greatest printing

office in the world."

I deny absolutely and in toto that the morale of the employees of the Govern- ment Printing Office has been destroyed and that anything has been done by

Congress or anyone else to prevent an efficient and economical operation of the

greatest printing plant in the world. The fact is, the morale of the office is better than it ever has been, and the plant is being operated more efficiently and with

greater economy than ever before in its history. In proof of this statement, I need only to present the fact that the office actually did more work during the

fiscal year ended June 30, 1923, than was done the year before, and made this creditable showing with an expenditure of $642,696 less and with 232 fewer employees than the preceding year. The resolutions also urge a Saturday half holiday the year round for employees

of the Government Printing Office. They are now allowed Saturday afternoon

off with pay for the full day during the three summer months every year. In addition, employees of the Government Printing Office enjoy 30 days' annual leave on full pay, besides all legal and Executive order holidays. Thirty days' annual

leave and the summer half holidays on full pay make 10^ days more than the

holiday time that would come from a 44-hour week the year round. In view of this situation and the desire of the printing trade for a 44-hour

week, I recommended to Congress last year that the Public Printer be authorized to grant Saturday half holidays the year round with two weeks' annual leave on full pay. This would increase the holiday time with pay each year by three and one-half days more than the present allowance of 30 days' annual leave and

Saturday half holidays each summer. The proposition was rejected, however,

by Columbia Union. Nevertheless, I wonder how many of your members

throughout the United States would have turned down a similar proposal from

their employers for a 44-hour week with pay for 48 hours, together with two

weeks' annual leave on full pay and all regular and special holidays?

The resolutions further state that the employees of the Government Printing

Office receive * iio extra compensation above straight time" for overtime work.

While it is true that there is no authority of law for extra pay for overtime, our employees receive 20 per cent extra for all night work between the hours of 5

p. m. and 8 a. m. This is in effect an overtime pay inasmuch as the regular

daj^ ends at 4.30 p. ni. Sunday work is compensated at the rate of time and a

half, and holiday work (including Saturday half days in summer) at double

time. Although I am in favor of a proper overtime rate, it does not appear

to me that the employees of this office are even now so badly discriminated

against in the matter of compensation for extra work. How many printing

plants are there in the country that pay 20 per cent extra for all night work

in addition to the day rate? There are other special benefits and privileges enjoj'ed by emploj^ees of the Government Printing Office, and the printers in particular, that do not obtain

in commercial plants. For instance, printers who retire from the Government

Printing Office on reaching the age of 65 years receive a special pension from the Government in addition to whatever pension may be coming to them from membership in the International Typographical Union. The maximum Government

pension is $720 a year for employees 65 years old who have had 30 years' service. The pension decreases proportionately to 15 years' service. Since the Government retirement law went into effect on August 20, 1920, the

total retirement of printers up to October 1 numbered 176. Of this number

109 were either voluntary or disability retirements, many of whom are drawing

the maximum pensions from both the Government and the union. The office now has 87 printers on its rolls who have passed the optional retirement age but

who were granted extensions on their own request. Employees of the Government Printing Office also have the benefit of a workmen's compensation law and the services of a free emergency hospital which have
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 59

proven of great help to those who have unfortunately been injured or become

sick in line of duty.

Therefore, except for the statutory wage of 75 cents an hour which, plus the annual bonus of $240, makes approximately 85 cents an hour for day work and

$1 an hour for night work, I am of the opinion that the working conditions in the Government Printing Office are equal, if not better, than those obtaining in any commercial plant throughout the world. To remedy the wage situation, I believe it is to the best interest of the employees that their compensation shall be open to readjustment from time to time

as changing conditions may require. Accordingly, I shall again recommend the

bill authorizing the Public Printer to pay ''such rates of wages, including compensation for night and overtime work, as he may deem for the best interest

of the Government and just to the persons employed. " Such a bill was reported

favorably by the House Committee on Printing in the last Congress and would

undoubtedly have been enacted into law had it not been opposed by a certain

clique in Columbia Union who, to serve their own political interests, prevented

a readjustment of the wages of Government printers, pressmen, and bookbinders until such time as Congress may take action. For these reasons I can not support a specific wage bill as proposed by the

resolutions of Columbia Union.

CLASSIFICATION UNJUST TO SHOP LABORERS.

Inasmuch as the classification act of 1923 does not apply to apprentices, helpers, and journeymen of a recognized trade or craft, nor to certain skilled and semiskilled laborers, the compensations of

those employees were not submitted to the Personnel Classification

Board for readjustment. The act provides, however, that its classi- fication schedule shall include a so-called clerical-mechanical service," covering positions not in a recognized trade or craft the duties

of which are to perform or direct manual and machine operations

requiring special skill or experience or to perform or direct the counting, examining, sorting, and other verification of the product of

manual or machine operations in the Government Printing Office

and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

As a matter of fact this provision, especially as to counters and

verifiers, was drafted especially for the Bureau of Engraving and

Printing and really has but little if any practical application to the

Government Printing Office. But the personnel board has held that

employees in this office who have been designated as counters" and

"examiners" come within the clerical-mechanicar service and as such

are subject to its wage schedules.

The injustice of this situation is shown by the fact that a large

number of employees in the bindery are at times engaged in counting

or examining work and at other times are required to do folding,

gathering, and other related tasks of a bindery worker. The constant shifting and fluctuation of the work as it progresses through

the office makes it absolutely necessary that employees be assigned

alternately to counting and examining, which jobs are subject to the

classification rate of pay, or to folding and gathering, which are exempt from the classification rates as coming within the skilled

trade groups. These assignments may last for a week or may continue throughout an entire session of Congress. Such varying conditions make it extremely inadvisable to classify employees who have

to go from ratable to nonratable work, depending upon the requirements of the office. The personnel board has been requested, therefore, to exempt these

employees from the operation of the classification act.
60 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

ALL MECHANICAL FORCES SHOUT.D BE EXEMPT.

In order to insure equal justice to all the employees of the Government Printing Office and a proper relationship between their wages,

all the workers of the mechanical divisions should be exempt from

the operations of the classification act. It is entirely impracticable

to place on annual salaries, as provided by the classification act, employees who are now paid by the hour. A gross injustice will be

perpetuated by restricting these employees to annual salaries when

the skilled traclesmen who work along with them are allowed pay for

overtime and extra compensation for Sunday and holiday work.

Longer hours of service frequentl)'^ must be required of employees

in an industrial plant like the Government Printing Office, which

is subject to all sorts of emergency calls from Congress and the

executive departments, to comply with which employees must at times continue on duty regardless of the hours or day of service.

When the mechanical divisions have to work overtime or on a Sunday

or holiday, it is just as necessary to employ a sufficient number of

laborers, elevator operators, firemen, janitors, messengers, truck

drivers, mechanics, and the like as it is to have a sufficient force of

skilled tradesmen to handle properly the emergency work. Yet, by

including unskilled workers in the classification schedules, they are placed on annual salaries and will receive no additional pay for extra work.

This discrimination against the unskilled workers is contrary

to all fairness and ought to be corrected by Congress before the classi- fication act becomes effective. Unless such injustice is promptly

prevented it will seriously affect the morale and efficiency of a

class of employees who deserve far better treatment from the Government but who, owing to their rather modest position in life, are unable

to assert their rights as do the more powerful labor organizations.

They now receive pay for additional hours of service, the same as

all per hour and per diem employees in this office, but if placed on

annual salaries, as the classification act provides, extra compensation can not be granted them, no matter what hours or upon what

days they may be required to work.

I bespeak simple justice for them that no man or woman may say

that the Government has been unfair or partial in the treatment of

its employees. That the matter is of no small consequence may be

seen from the fact that employees of the Government Printing Office were required to perform 204,087 hours of overtime, Sunday, and

holiday work in 1923, for which they received additional compensation to the amount of $143,903.

USUAL LABOR TURNOVER EXCEPT PRINTERS.

The labor turnover during the year was about as usual, except for a greater number of separations among the printers, who either sought

higher wages paid elsewhere or resigned to take advantage of the

retirement annuity. The total number of separations for the year was 681, a decrease of 35 from the separations for 1922. The appointments, including temporaries and emergencies, numbered 449, or 10 more than for the preceding year. Of the permanent force there were 564 separations, 327 being due to resignation, 19 to reductions

of force, 36 to death, and 29 to removal for cause. The permanent
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 61

appointments numbered 349, of which 242 were original, 63 reinstatements, and 44 transfers from other departments.

Next to linotype operators, laborers showed the biggest change

in personnel, there being 61 appointments and 103 separations of

skilled and unskilled laborers. Messengers came next with 56

appointments and 58 separations, due largely to school duties. No

appointments of pressmen, electricians, plumbers, or ruling-machine

operators were made during the year. Only one bookbinder was

added to the roll, with 12 separations. Of machinists there were 18

appointments and three separations; of carpenters there were 12

appointments and 9 separations. In the Platemaking Division there were four appointments and seven separations of electrotype finishers,

two appointments and two separations of electrotype molders, and

eight appointments and six separations of stereotypers. The clerical force had 35 appointments and 36 separations. The guard force

broke even with 15 appointments and 15 separations.

The retirements for the year numbered 135, of which 93 were

subject to the 65-year limit for skilled trades and 25 to the 70-yeai'

limit for clerical positions. Seventeen retirements were due to

disability. The Public Printer granted 99 employees a two-year

extension beyond their regular retirement period on account of special qualifications and physical fitness for continued services.

Since the retirement law went into effect on August 20, 1920, there

have been 437 retirements from the Government Printing Office, of which 64 were for disability.

RETIREMENT ANNUITY GROSSLY INADEQUATE.

The maximum annuity received by any retired employee is $720

a year after 30 years' service at an average compensation of $1,200

per annum. At the present and prospective cost of living this is an inadequate sum for an aged employee to maintain himself and

his family imless he has some other source of income. The average

retirement annuity is about $510 a year. Such a pittance as compared with the large retirement allowances to Army and Navy

officers in time of peace is an unjust discrimination against the

civilian employees who have, in many instances, rendered equally

as faithful service to their Government. The retirement pension

for civilian employees should be increased so that their old age also may be spent in the comfort and love of a generous country.

The present retirement law is also working an injustice through

its minimum age periods. The law discourages young persons from

entering the employ of the Government, as they are required to work until 65 or 70 years of age, regardless of the number of years

of service, before they are eligible for retirement. The law should

be amended so as to provide for optional retirement after 30 years

of service, whether the employee has reached the minimum age

required or not. Such a provision will encourage young men and

women to accept Government employment. At present a person

entering the service at 50 years of age may retire on an annuity in 15 years, while more capable men and women of 25 years of age

must serve 40 or 45 years before they are eligible for retirement.

The result is that the present retirement law offers little inducement to younger persons capable of rendering the best service to the

Government.
62 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

OLD BUILDINGS ARE SERIOUS FIRE RISKS.

In the annual report of the Public Printer for 1922 the attention

of Congress was invited to the serious fire risk existing in the old

buildings adjoining the newer part of the Government Printing

Office. During the year two fires were discovered in the old buildings just in time to check the rapidly spreading flames. One fire caused a loss of $7,500, including nearly 50,000 publications with a

sales value of $6,500. The other fire was gaining headway in a room

full of books when it was discovered by an employee who happened

to be near by. Both fires are believed to have been of incendiary

origin. Fortunately, they were started early in the morning when

employees were passing through the buildings on their way to and

from work. Had either fire been set at a time when few employees were about, it undoubtedly would have caused a serious loss, if not

endangered the entire plant.

With these nerve-racking reminders of the fire trap which consti- tutes part of the world's greatest printing plant, I feel compelled to renew most earnestly the recommendation for a new building to replace the old structures now partially useless even for storage rooms.

Therefore the following statement from the annual report of 1922 is resubmitted to the present Congress

:

Attention of Congress is again most earnestly invited to the serious fire risk which exists in the old building of the Printing Office. A considerable portion

of this building was erected prior to the Civil War and all of it was completed more than 50 years ago. Except for its brick outer walls, practically the entire building is of wooden construction, even to the columns supporting its four

floors. Man}^ of the wooden columns and girders are twisted; the floors are badly worn, needing constant attention to keep them even reasonably safe; wooden window sills are rotted, and the roof boards are in such condition that

extensive repairs will be necessary within the next year to keep them in any

semblance of a safe condition. Of necessity, the old building has to be used as a warehouse for paper and

other inflammable materials for which there is no room in the new building.

The carpenter, paint, machine, blacksmith, and electrical shops have had to be

located in the old building, likewise adding greatly to an already perilous situation. If a fire once got under headway in this structure it is believed by every- one who has studied the matter that nothing could stop the flames until they

had wiped out not only the old building but also the new building and the documents office as well. The destruction of the Government Printing Office would cause many of the

essential activities of the Government which are dependent upon such printing

as only this office is equipped and qualified to do to stand still for many months

until a new plant could be erected over the ashes of the old. Congress would

have nowhere else to go for the timely printing of the Congressional Record and

the bills, reports, and other papers required in the course of legislation. Such

a disaster should not be possible, yet it constantly threatens as long as the old building is permitted to stand in its present condition. Therefore, I can not allow this opportunity to pass without again warning

Congress of this peril to the lives of more than 4,000 employees in a fire that would quickly destroy the world's greatest printing plant. Modern fire-fighting

apparatus has been installed in various parts of the builidng, numerous fire alarms and escapes provided, and suitable fire drills arranged, but even with

these precautions it is doubtful if all the employees could escape from the flames that would sweep through the old building like a tinder box. Secondary only to the importance of tearing down the old fire trap is the

necessity for an adequate and safe warehouse for the vast quantity of equipment,

materials, and supplies which this office has to keep constantly on hand for the prompt execution of the public printing and binding. The paper and envelopes on hand June 30, 1922, cost the Government $568,689.63, and the cost of other

materials and supplies also in the old warehouse on that date was $201,355.79.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 63

Thus a stock costing the Government more than three-fourths of a million dollars, and ofttimes exceeding a million dollars in value, is constantly exposed to

total loss by fire, without a cent of insurance. As a matter of fact, the warehouse stock needed to operate this plant without

loss of time should frequently be twice as large as it is now possible or safe to carry in the old building. Some years ago Army Engineers, after a thorough

examination of the building, placed a restriction on the loading of its old wooden

floors to not exceed a third of its normal capacity. Consequently the old build- ing is not only a serious fire risk but it is also for the larger part a useless and

unsafe structure.

It is urgently recommended, therefore, that Congress at once authorize the

erection of a new building that will be adequate and suitable not only for warehouse and shop purposes but will also provide much-needed space for the activities that are crowding the so-called new building, now more than 20 years old. The Superintendent of Documents is also in dire need for room in which to con- duct the distribution and sale of Government publications that are increasing at a tremendous rate. As has been stated heretofore in this report, the Superintendent of Documents could easily build up a sales business amounting to more

than $1,000,000 a year if he had adequate room in which to handle such a growth

in his work. The activities of the Documents Office have, however, about

reached their maximum in the present building, and unless additional space is soon provided distribution for the departments as well as the sale of Govern- ment publications will have to halt, as there is absolutely no more space avail- able in the present buildings for additional storage of Government publications

or room in which to handle the rapidly growing sales. Adoption of the suggestion made in this report for the purchase and storage

by the Public Printer of paper and envelopes required by all branches of the Government service would sooner or later necessitate an enlargement of the Government Printing Office warehouse, which is not adequate for even the stocks

of paper and envelopes now handled by this office. With a new building the proposed centralization of paper and envelope purchases could be effected in

this office to the great improvement of the service and also with a substantial saving made possible by the procurement of larger and more definite quantities

at lower prices.

Therefore, the urgent need of a warehouse in which to store properly and

safely the vast stock of paper and envelopes which the Government has to have

on hand at all times, nine-tenths of the paper being used by this office for printing purposes, would amply justify the erection of a suitable building for that pur- pose alone, if no other considerations were involved. Space could also be provided in the new building for the folding rooms of the House and the Senate, thus putting an end to the hauling of hundreds of thou- sands of public documents for congressional distribution to and from the Capitol.

The basements and sub-basements of the Capitol, the House and Senate Office Buildings, and one or two rented warehouses are choked with thousands upon

thousands of Government publications awaiting distribution by Members of Congress. This vast amount of inflammable material constitutes a constant and serious menace to the Capitol Building and its wealth of historic objects

and works of art which no amount of money could ever replace.

The danger could be readily avoided by providing space for the storage of congressional publications in the warehouse of the Government Printing Office, where the folding-room distribution might still be under the supervision of congressional officers and yet be carried on with the utmost safety and convenience. By storing the congressional supply of documents in proximity to the city

post office and the Union Station, their distribution could be greatly expedited

and carried on at much less expense than under the present method of trucking an endless quantity of books and pamphlets from the Government Printing

Office to the Capitol and then back again to the city post office. Access could be had in the Government Printing Office to the conveyor which carries the vast

quantities of publications sent out daily by the Superintendent of Documents

over an endless belt and through a tunnel direct to the city post office, where

the thousands of mail sacks from this office are sped along to outgoing trains

in less than eight minutes from the time they are tied up in the office of the Superintendent of Documents. Such a convenience and saving of time and

space at the Capitol would alone be well worth much of the expenditure here proposed for a new warehouse.

All of the old buildings facing on H Street, from North Capitol Street to and

including the office of the Superintendent of Documents, should be replaced by

83793—24 5
64 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

a modern seven or eight story fireproof structure of the best factory type. A

building of this size, with a frontage of 384 feet on H Street and i75 feet on North Capitol Street, would cost approximately $3,500,000.

It would be impracticable to undertake the entire building operations at one

time on account of the necessity for storage space and room for the continued

operation of the Documents Office and the various shops now located in the old

building. Therefore, it is proposed to construct the new building in sections, thus permitting the use of a considerable portion of the old building until such

time as part of the new structure may be ready for occupancy. Informal plans

have been prepared showing that it would be possible to erect the building in three or four sections which, when completed, would form a structure ample

and suitable for the public printing and binding and the distribution of Govern- ment publications for many years to come. No additional land is required for

this purpose, as the Government already owns all the space needed for the erection

of a new building.

The building project could be financed by authorizing that a specified sum be

expended therefor, under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing, out of the available balances and miscellaneous receipts, amounting to more

than $4,700,000, which this office has left untouched in the Treasury during the

last two years. It is therefore recommended that the matter be given earnest and favorable consideration by Congress while there is yet time to save this great establishment from destruction by fire which seems inevitable sooner or

later, unless the present source of danger is eliminated by the building of a

thoroughly fireproof structure. Under authority of the act approved February 20, 1923, the

PubHc Printer has discontinued tne printing of such other and

additional reports for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1923, as have

usually been submitted to Congress concerning the business of the

Government Printing Office. The original copy of such reports will

be kept on file in the office of the Pubfic Printer for pubfic inspection, as provided for in said act. Appended hereto are several statistical and financial tables setting

forth in more detail the transactions of the Government Printing

Office for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1923.

Respectfully submitted.
STATISTICAL TABLES.

Table No. 1.Summary of financial transactions for year ended June SO, t9tS.

EESOUECES,

Appropriation for salaries, Govermnent Printing Office $130, 880. 00 Deposit, per readjustment of account 68. 25 $130,948.25 Appropriation for working capital, allotted to Congress for print- ing and binding 2,000,000.00 Deposit, per readjustment of account 23. 80 Transfers and payments for printing and binding for depart- ments and bureaus and payments from various sources, to June 30 7,371,237.70 Due, July 1, from departments and bureaus for printing and

binding 572, 567. 09

9, 943, 828. 59 Appropriation for night messenger service , 3, 200. 00 Appropriation for salaries, office of Superintendent of Documents 218, 993. 20 Appropriation for general expenses, office of Superintendent of Documents.. 165,000.00 Appropriation for Congressional Record index 9,100.00 Appropriation for increase of compensation ($240 bonus) $957, 260. 00 Deposit, per readjustment of account 23. 33 957,283.33 Total resources available for work of fiscal year 1923 $11,428,353.37 LIABIUTIES.

Salaries, Government Printing Office: Disbursed to June 30 -S103, 563. 47 Outstanding obligations July 1 4, 719. 45 Total disbursed and outstanding obligations S108, 282. 92 Working capital and repayments for printing and binding: Disbursed to June 30 8,438,934.03 Outstanding obligations July l 1, 135, 095. 82 Total disbursed and outstanding obligations 9, 574, 029. 85

Salaries, office of Superintendent of Documents:

Disbursed to June 30 197, 544. 03 Outstanding obligations Julv l 8, 804. 23 Total disbursed and outstanding obligations 206, 348. 26 General expenses, office Superintendent of Documents:

Disbursed to June 30 137, 568. 18 Outstanding obligations July 1 22, 431. 82 Total disbursed and outstanding obligations 160, 000. 00 Congressional Record index: Disbursed to June 30 8, 341. 66 Outstanding obligations July 1 758. 34 Total disbursed and outstanding obligations 9, 100. 00 Increase of compensation ($240 bonus): Disbursed to Jime 30 905, 787. 15 Outstanding obUgations July 1 25, 000. 00 Total disbursed and outstanding obligations 930, 787. 15 Total disbursed to June 30 : 9, 791, 738. 52 Total outstanding obligations Julv 1 1, 196, 809. 66 Total disbursed and outstanding obligations 10, 988, 548. 18 Unobligated balance (subject to 10 per cent over or under on outstanding orders) 439,805. 19

II, 428, 353. .37 65
66 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

Table No. 2.

Financial transactions in fiscal year ended June 30, 1923, covering

appropriations for fiscal years 1921, 1922, and 1923. APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1921.

Resources.

Public printing and binding: Unexpended balance July 1, 1922 $2,309, 729 60 Amount transferred by auditor's settlements, on books in Treasury, from various appropriations, for printing and

binding for departments and bureaus Deposited to credit of appropriation for printing and

binding for departments and bureaus and individuals and for sale of miscellaneous documents

Disbursed for lithographing and engraving Disbursed for material and supplies

Total. Leaves of absence, Government Printing Office: Unexpended balance Jiily 1, 1922 Disbursed during fiscal year

2, 309, 880. 89

2, 713. 75

Total.

Salaries, office of the Public Printer: Unexpended balance July 1, 1922 Payment for holidays. Government Printing Office: Unexpended balance July 1, 1922 . .

.

Salaries, office of Superintendent of Documents: Unexpended balance July 1, 1922 General expenses, office of Superintendent of Documents: Unexpended balance July 1, 1922 Increase of compensation ($240 bonus): Unexpended balance July 1, 1922 Grand total, 1921 appropriation Unobligated balance of 1921 appropriation on June 30, 1923.

2, 713. 75

11, 459. 53

3,912. 21

13, 676. 99

7,529. 31 324.64

2,349, 497. 32

Disburse- ments.

$7,075. 00

9, 446. 52 16,521.52

,24

88. 24

Unexpended

balance July 1, 1923.

$2,293,359.37

2,625. 51

11, 459. 53

3,912. 21

13, 676. 99

7,529.31 324.64

16,609.76 2,332,887.56

2,332,887. 56 APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1922. Public printing and binding:

Bv^ deiciencv for Smithsonian Institution ($41,702.70) and

Agricultural Department ($125,000), act of June 16, 1921 (available for 1921 and 1922) -

Unexpended balance July 1, 1922 Unexpended balance July 1, 1922, in 1922 appropriation By deiiciencv for Suoreme Court of the United States

($8,000) and Patent Office ($27,453.03), act of July 1, 1922 Amount transferred by auditor's settlements, on books in Treasury, from various appropriations, for printing and

binding for departments and bureaus

Daposited to credit of appropriation for printing and binding for departments and bureaus and mdividuals and for sale of miscellaneous documents

Transferred from appropriation for general expenses, office of Superintendent of Documents

Disallowances deposited

Transferred to appropriation for leaves of absence Disbursed for labor Disbursed for lithographing and engraving

Disbursed for paper

Disbursed for material and supplies Disbursed for payment to Joseph L. Pearson for printing done for the United States Supreme Court

$166, 702. 70

2, 429,291.78

35, 453. 03

107,901.50

57,383.99

45, 219. 84

9. 50

Total 2,841,962.34 Leaves of absence, Government Printing Office: Unexpended balance July 1, 1922 Disallowances deposited Transferred from appropriation for public printing and

binding, 1922 Disbursed

9,639.49

1.20

300. 00

Total. 9,940. Salaries, office of the Public Printer: Unexpended balance, July 1, 1922. Disbursed

.

Total.

30,475. 21

30,475. 21

$300. 00

96, 693. 62

48,995. 36

494, 529. 79

258,438. 52

9,294. 05 ,251.34

J. 75

9, 869. 75

7, 234. 21

7, 234. 21

$1,933,711.00

23,241.00
AKKUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 67

Table No. 2.

Financial transactions in fiscal year ended June 30, 1923, covering

appropriations for fiscal years 1921, 1922, and 1923—Continued.

APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1922—Continued.

Resources. Disburse- ments. Unexpendedbalance July 1, 1923. Payment for holidays. Government Printing Office: Unexpended balance July 1, 1922 $16,346.39 Disbursed " $4, 718. 98 Total 16, 346. 39 4,718.98 $11,627.41

Salaries, office of Superintendent of Documents:

13,869. 61 Disbursed ' 8, 308.11 Total 13, 869. 61 8,308.11 .5,561.50 General expenses, office of Superintendent of Documents: Unexpended balance Julv 1, 1922 Transferred to appropriation for public printing and

binding, 1922 45,219.84 Disbursed 1,652.82 Total 56 789. 15 46 872.66 9, 916. 49 Increase of compensation ($240 bonus): Unexpended balance July 1, 1922 1,162.23 Drawn from Treasury 20, 010. 00 Disbursed 21 164.66 Total 21,172.23 21,164.66 7.57

Salaries and expenses, Congressional Record index:

758. 34 758.34 Total 758. 34 758.34 Grand total, 1922 appropriations 2,991,313.96 1,007,178.05 1,984, 135.91 224,640.97 Unobligated balance of 1922 appropriation on June 30, 1923 11,759,494.94

1 APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1923.

Public printing and binding: Appropriation, act of Mar. 20, 1922 Act of Mar. 5, 1923 (night messengers) Amount transferred by auditor's settlements, on books in Treasury, from various appropriations, for printing and

binding for departments and bureaus

Credited to appropriation per payments by Government

establishments and private individuals for printing and

binding executed and by funds from miscellaneous

sources Transferred from appropriation for general expenses, office of Superintendent of Documents

Disallowances deposited Transferred to Interior civil ledger (retirement fund) Disbursed for labor Disbursed for paper

Disbursed for lithographing and engraving Disbursed for material and supplies Disbursed for night messenger service ,

$2, 000, 000. 00

3. 200. 00

37, 733. 73

7, 259, 943. 87

73, 560. 10

23. 80

Total ! 9,374,461.50

Salaries, office of the Public Printer: Appropriation, act of Mar. 20, 1922 Deposited (readjustment)

Transferred to Interior civil ledger (retirement fund). Disbursed

130, 880. 00

68. 25

Total I 130,948.25

$122,338. 60

5,429,214.35

2,246,022. 33 94,362.79

543,795.96

3, 200. 00

438, 934. 03 I $935,527.47

2,115. 00

101.448.47

103. 563. 47

1 By authority of acts approved July 1, 1922, $97,717.22 of above unobligated

tion was transferred on the books of the Treasury as follows: To credit of the and to credit of the Interior Department, $56,818.76.

balance of the 1922 appropria- Navy Department , $40,898.46
68 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

Table No. 2.Financial transactions in fiscal year ended June 30, 1923, covering

appropriations for fiscal years 1921, 1922, and 1923—Continued.

APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1923—Continued.

Salaries, office of Superintendent of Documents:

Appropriation, act of Mar. 20, 1922 Transferred to Interior civil ledger (retirement fund). Disbursed

Total. General expenses, office of Superintendent of Documents:

Appropriation, act of Mar. 20, 1922 Transferred to appropriation for public printing and binding, 1923 Disbursed

Total.

Salaries and expenses, Congressional Record index

ippropnation, Disbursed

Total

act of Mar. 20, 1922.

Increase of compensation ($240 bonus):

Appropriation, act of Jime 29, 1922. Deposited (readjustment)

.

Disbursed

Total

Total, 1923 appropriations Add the payments due Government Printing Office for print- ing and binding Grand total, 1923 appropriations. Deduct for outstanding obligations Unobligated balance of 1923 appropriation on June 30, 1923

Resources.

$218,993.20

Disburse- ments.

$4, 546. 40 192,997.63 218.993.20 I 197,544.03

165, 000. 00

73, 560. 10 64,008.08

165,000.00 1 1.37,568.18

9, 100. 00

9. 100. 00

957,260.00

23. 33

957,283. 33

10, 855, 786. 28

572,567.09

11,428,353. 37

,341.

, 341. 66

905,787. 15

905, 787. 15 9,791,738.52

791,738.52

Unexpended

balance

July 1, 1923.

$21, 449. 17

27,431.82

758. 34

51,4%. 18

1, 064, 047. 76

572, 567. 09 1,636,614.85

1, 196,809.66

439, 805. 19

Total unobligated balances (subject to change by 10 per cent over or under on outstanding

obligations):

1921 $2,332,887.56

1922 1,759,494.94

1923 439,805.19 Total 4,532,187.69 RECAPITULATION—ALL APPROPRIATIONS.

Total paid for printing for United States Supreme Court $9, 294. 05 Total paid for labor during fiscal year > 5, 648, 246. 57 Total paid for material and supplies 811, 681. 00 Total paid for lithographing and engraving 150, 433. 15 Total paid for paper 2, 740, 552, 12 Total paid for night messenger service 3,200.00 Transferred to leaves of absence 300. 00 Transferred to Navy ledger, act of July 1, 1922 40, 898. 46 Transferred to Interior ledger, act of July 1, 1922 56, 818. 76 Total paid for printing and binding 9, 461, 424. 11 Total paid for salaries during fiscal year 2 110, 797. 68 Total paid for leaves of absence during fiscal year 9, 957. 99 Total paid for holidays during fiscal year 4, 718. 98 Total paid for salaries, office of Superintendent of Documents 3 205, 852. 14 Total paid for general expenses, office of Superintendent of Documents 184, 440. 84 Total paid for salaries and expenses. Congressional Record index 9, 100. 00 Total paid for increase of compensation ($240 bonus) 926, 951. 81 Grand total 10,913,243.55

1 Includes amount paid to retirement fund $122, 338. 60

2 Includes amount paid to retirement fund 2, 115. 00

3 Includes amount paid to retirement fund 4, 546. 40 Total paid to retirement fund 129. 000. 00
ANI^^TJAL EEPOET OF THE PUBLIC PKINTEE. 69

Table No. 3.

Moneys received during fiscal year 1923, the source, and Treasury

deposit.

1921. Deposited to the credit of appropriation for public printing and binding: Amount transferred on books of Treasury for printing for departments and

bureaus S72. 41 Deposited by disbursing ofl5cers and individuals for printing done 78. 88

1922. Slol.29 Deposited to the credit of appropriation for public printing and binding: Amount transferred on books of Treasury for printing for departments and

bureaus $153,121.34 Deposited by disbvu-sing officers and individuals for printing done 54, 648. 90 Expenses incurred in making sales of waste paper, condemned material, etc. 2, 730. 14 Auditor's disallowances 9. 50 Refunds—Howell Coal Co 4. 95

210,514.83 Deposited to the credit of appropriation for leaves of absence, auditor's disallowance 1. 20

1923. Deposited to the credit of appropriation for public printing and binding: Amount transferred on books of Treasury for printing for departments and

bureaus $111,293.83 Deposited for miscellaneous printing 298, 744. 11 Deposited for printing for departments and bureaus 6,953,356.94 Expenses incurred in making sales of waste paper, condemned material, etc. 7, 732. 09 Auditor's disallowance 23. 80 Refunds—

Hygrade Lamp Co 91. 73 United Lead Co 1.00 George R. Swart & Co. (Inc.) 18. GO Deposited to the credit of miscellaneous receipts: ^

Sales of documents 125, 000. 00

Sales of extra documents 294. 88 Sale of condemned material, machinery, etc 10, 818. 63 Sale of waste metal 4, 704. 61 Sale of waste wood 1, 816. 39

Sale of waste paper 73, 251. 40 Sale of leather scraps 4. 61

215, 890. 52 Total 7,797^819.34 Table No. 4.

Production of principal items entering into printing and binding in

fiscal years 1921, 1922, and 1923.

Item. Main office and branch offices: Total production printing and binding

Jackets written Estimates written

Bills computed Main office: Total number of ems set Tabular matter in total ems per cent.

.

Hours of time-work in composing sections Electrotype and stereotype square inches.. Postal cards printed Money-order books shipped Forms sent to press Actual impressions in main pressroom

Chargeable impressions in main pressroom

Sheets folded by machine

Signatures gathered by machine

Tips made by machine

Copies wire-stitched Copies paper covered Books and pamphlets trimmed

Sheets cut Books rounded and backed Books marbled and edged Stamping impressions Books cased in Indexes cut

Sheets passed through ruling machines

Signatures sewed

Copies punched or drilled Sheets or lines perforated Tablets made

1921

$12,876,362.86

56,521 49,687

69, 215

2, 221,615, 200

37

301, 228

11,906, 034

1, 272, 345, 782

858,583

167,635 539,006,372 2,317,644,449

193,327,985

109,646, 295

3, 471, 786 45,880,416

5,591,499 63,286,309

382,201,101

1,264,088

233,261 2,268,401

1,377,314 208,540 38,877,279

75,537,845

97,656,073

14, 159,392 4,121,102

1922

2$10,159,436. 42

57,853

42,619

67, 334 2,354,450,500

37

279,992

12, 709,625

989, 978,000

794,006

161,905 498,655,383

2, 099, 473, 275 208,668,219

128,262, 237

4,943, 200 46,261,538

4,943,062 63,384,459

321,637,500

1,149,363

194,096 2,382,939 i 1,182,251 I 113,349

26,931,901 I 72,007,352 I 93,681,368 I 9,366,138 ! 3,003,727

1923

3 $10, 174, 188.62

54, 166 43,606 64,670

1,963,371,800

34

269, 572

11, 353, 505

1,180, 991,000

907,406

144, 464

490, 311, 561

2, 151, 586, 004

209, 299, 225

162, 134, 538

5, 560,534

48,631,333

7,032,577 62,701,960

1,283,636

149,514 2,425,567

1,352, 127 105,257 27,983,644

91,638,047

79,532,374 7,907,635

2,796,833

I Does not include charges for labor and material expended on uncompleted jobs.

' Includes $1,015,474.92 in charges for labor and material expended on imcompleted jobs.

* Includes $440,000 estimated as value of labor and material expended on uncompleted jobs. Under i finance scheme this is not billed until work is completed, while in previou.^ years all uncompleted work

actually billed on- June 30.
70 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

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ANNUAL EEPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER. 75

Table No. 8.

Inventory of quantity and cost of paper, envelopes, material, and

machinery on hand June 30, 1923.

Description. Reams. Pounds. Cost.

Paper and envelopes: Printing 1.958, 159 $131, 362. 85

109, 285. 56

12, 739. 49

3, 420. 63

2, 561. 14

184,070. 93

16,722. 73

65, 538. 52

49,000. 09

10, 353. 56

13, 063. 26 11,896.08

yoo. zo

1,644. 93

2 075. 85

14' 703! 04

6, 026. 62 14,737.07

602. 51

19, 221. 49

20, 776. 38

Do 27, 6.39 Coated book 1,077 U. S. M. 0. writing 19, 373 Safety writing 34S Writing .... 41, 426 Do . . 216, 167 Map and bond 14, 960

3,409

2,010

2,104

Ledger

Cover . . . Manila Do 222, 451 Manila board 90 Do... . . 19, 579

110 804 Do 102, 146 Miscellaneous . . . 1,100 Do 7, 672 Binder's board . ... 503, 432 Envelopes

Total, paper and envelopes . . 690, 760. 98 Material and supplies: Miscellaneous supplies 185, 012.88

14,898. 52

fi 29Q fi*; 13,049. 87 Book cloth i Leather

Total material and supplies 221, 731. 31 Machinery and equipment:

Machinery 2,886,569.40

348.4841 14 3,235,053.54 3,799,061.69
76 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

Table No. 9.Publications, including annual reports and documents, printed

upon requisition during fiscal years ended June SO, 1922 and 192S, for depart- ments and Government establishments (Congress not included).

Department.

State Treasury

War , Navy

Interior Justice , Post Office.. Agriculture. Commerce.. Labor

Smithsonian Institution Library of Congress Executive Office Pan American Union . Supreme Court, District of Columbia Supreme Court, United States Court of Claims Bureau of Efficiency Federal Power Commission.

United States Court of Customs Appeals

Interstate Commerce Commission

Civil Service Commission , United States Geographic Board

General Accounting Office , Public Printer. - , Alien Property Custodian

Commissioners, District of Colmnbia

Employees' Compensation Commission

Veterans' Bureau

Federal Board for Vocational Education

Federal Reserve Board

Federal Trade Commission

National Advisory Commission for Aeronautics

.

Panama Canal

Railroad Administration Shipping Board

Tariff Commission

Inter American High Conunission

Railroad Labor Board

Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Board

National Forest Reservation Commission War Finance Corporation Commission of Fine Arts Court of Appeals, District of Columbia

International Joint Commission

Federal Fuel Distributor United States Coal Commission

Public Buildings Commission

Lincoln Memorial Commission

Miscellaneous

1922, copies.

282,015

5, 142, 859

9,026, 599

2,382, 155 2,854,331 21,384 4,076,505

32,368,694 3,532,769

1,243,202

187,902 153,360

38,283

195. 800 1,100 3,240

14,032 8,545

100 1,869,232 601,607 2,800

18,883 1,000 3,012

17,397

1,042

315, 787 143,833 487,168

159,540

16,663 3,759 20,650

24,345 36,065

3,900

79,935

7,801 1,000 158,000

1,703 1,055 200

1923, copies.

250 10,012

Total 165,519,514

385,688

10, 196, 731 3,964,914

1,892,335

3, 881,763 19,000 7,296,084

33,233, 836 3,008,974

1, 931,518

113,854

122,410 53,360

230,041

165 30,309

2,726

12,861 6,978

100 2,340,577

479,563

5,800

8,761 10,004 16,667 22,017

3,402,412 95,357

487,404

131,470 21,304

2,312

18,927

214,671

37, 361 3,301 27,503

4,000

9,000

8,462

1,500 960 2,900

15,000

16,650

7,350

73, 774,880

'Misprinted in 1922 annual report as 66,518,514. Table No. 10.

Condemned machinery, materials, etc., sold in fiscal year ended June 30, 1923. Condenmed machinery and material $12,020.69

Sales of leather scraps 5. 12 Sales of refuse wood 2, 018. 21 Sales of waste paper 81,786.51

Sales of waste metal 5,227. 34 O

I