ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

PUBLIC PRINTER

1926

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON

D. C.
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

Public Printer.—GEORGE H. CARTER, Iowa

Deputy Public Printer.—John Greene, Massachusetts. Production Manager.—Ellwood S. Moorhead, Pennsylvania. Assistant to Public Printer.—Miss Mary A. Tate, Tennessee. Chief Clerk.—Henry H. Wright, New York. Assistant Chief Clerk.—J. Thomas Ford, New York. 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.—William J. Cassiday, District of Columbia. Superintendent of Documents.—Alton P. Tisdel, Ohio. Assistant Superintendent of Documents.—Miss Josephine G. Adams, District of Columbix. 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. Instructor of Apprentices.—BuRR G. Williams, Iowa. Congressional Record Clerk.—William A. Smith, District of Columbia. Superintendent of Printing.—Henry W. Weber, Indiana. Assistant Superintendent of Printing.—Maurice H. Phillips, Ohio. Foreman Linotype Section,—William D. Skeen, Pennsylvania. Foreman Monotype Section.—William H. Chase, Maryland. Foreman Proof Section.—Marion E. Bullock, Maryland. Foreman Hand Section.—Hugh Reid, Wisconsin. Foreman Job Section.—Allan C. Clough, New Hampshire. Foreman Patents Section.—Charles Garrels, Illinois. Foreman Library Printing Branch.—James H. Heslet, Kansas. Chief Type Machinist.—Daniel L. Liddle, Michigan.

Superintendent of Presswork.—Bert E. Bair, Michigan. Assistant Superintendent of Presswork.—Daniel Beckwith, New Hampshire. Foreman Main Pressroom.—Daniel I. Leane, New York. Foreman Job Pressroom.—James E. Veatch, New York. Foreman Postal Card Section.—Joseph A. Fenton, Michigan. Foreman Money Order Section.—John A. Massey, Jr., Georgia. Superintendent of Binding.—Martin R. Speelman, Missouri. Assistant Superintendent of Binding.—John A. Patterson, New York. Foreman Pamphlet Binding Section.—Charles J. Orem, Maryland. Foreman Ruling and Sewing Section.—Walter H. Oliver, Maine. Foreman Library Binding Branch.—Charles F. Weston, Massachusetts. Superintendent of Platemaking.—Edward G. Whall, Massachusetts. Assistant Superintendent of Platemaking.—Edward A. Kerr, Massachusetts. Foreman Molding Section.—James H. Babcock, Jr., Rhode Island. Foreman Photo-engraving Section.—William H. Meyer, Maryland.

Night Assistant Production Manager.—Edward A. HusE, Massachusetts. Assistant Superintendent Presswork, night.—John D. Meyers, Ohio. Foreman Monotype Section, night.—William A. Morris, Missouri. Foreman Linotype Section, night.—Harry L. Murray, Pennsylvania. Foreman Proof Section, night.—Hermann B. Barnhart, Indiana. Foreman Hand Section, night.—George O. Atkinson, Massachiisetts. Superintendent of Construction and Maintenance.—Alfred E. Hanson, Massachusetts. Chief Draftsman.—Henry A. Ludwig, Maryland. Chief Carpenter.—Abraam B. Batton, Maryland. Chief Machinist.—Michael J. McInerney, New York. Chief Electrician.—Edward H. Brian, District of Columbia. Chief Engineer.—Walter A. Browne, New Hampshire. Chief Pipefitter.—Ovilup H. George, New York. Construction Foreman.—Daniel W. Bruce, District of Columbia. Foreman Sanitary Section.—Joseph L. May, Virginia. Chief of Delivery.—Walter G. Copp, District of Columbia. Captain of Guards.—Charles H. Warner, District of Columbia.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER

Go\TIRXMENT PkINTING OfFICE,

Office of the Public Printer.

Washington, D. G Decemler 31, 1926:

To the Congress of the United States:

In compliance with law I have the honor to submit the following

report of the work of the Government Printing Office for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1926, and also for the last half of the calendar

year 1926. On March 4, 1926, the Government Printing Office completed 65

years of continuous service as an independent establishment of the

Government. Therefore it seems fitting to begin this report with a brief comparison of the present establishment with the plant purchased by Congress on March 4, 1861.

The Government Printing Office was operated during the Civii

War under the direction of John D. Defrees, whom President Lincoln appointed as its first superintendent. The building acquired

at that time had 59,292 square feet of floor space, as compared with

750,175 square feet in the present buildings. The original building^

equipment, and materials cost the Government $135,000. The pres- ent buildings, equipment, and materials are valued at fully $8,000,000.

COMPARISOX WITH CIVIL WAR-TIME OFFICE

During the Civil War the Government Printing Office had 350

employees. The number has now increased to 4,100, and during the

World War there were 5,307 employees on the rolls. Wages and

salaries paid to employees in 1861 amounted to approximately

$170,000, while the pay roll for 1926 was about $7,660,000. The

average wage for Government printers in 1861 was $14 a week, while

to-day their weekly earnings are four times as much, with considerably shorter hours of work and vastly better conditions of emplo;^-

ment.

In 1861 the office had 26 printing presses, including only 3 cylinder

presses. To-day, 180 presses are in operation, and of this number

30 are web and 104 cylinder presses. Two new presses recently

installed to print the Congressional Eecord cost almost as much as was paid for the entire Government Printing Office in 1861.

All of the type was set by hand compositors during the Civil War.

while to-day 377 composing machines, including keyboards and

casters, produce nearly 7,000,000 ems of type daily to supply the

Government with printing. The bindery in 1861 was equipped with

1
2 Annual Report of the Public Printer

four minor machines, while to-day 326 machines are used in the

work of the bindery alone. Some of these machines cost more each

than the entire amount paid for all the machinery in the Government

Printing Office 65 years ago. Only one 60-horsepower boiler was required to operate and heat

the Government Printing Office in 1861, as compared with 1,500

horsepower now necessary to furnish steam heat and electric power

and light. A two-horse wagon delivered all the product of the

office in those days, and now 30 big motor trucks are kept busy

transporting the daily output.

The total expenditures of the Government Printing Office in 1861

amounted to less than half a million dollars as compared with an

expenditure of nearly $12,000,000 in 1926.

Such has been the tremendous growth of the Government Printing Office in 65 years, until to-day it has become the greatest printing

establishment in the world. Even now its capacity and equipment

are not sufficient to meet the rapidly increasing. requirements of the

United States Government. With the approval of Congress, plans

are being prepared for an addition which will increase the floor space of the main building by about 160,000 square feet and cost" approximately $1,250,000. It is hoped to complete this much-needed

structure within the next two years. CELEBRATION OF SIXTY-FIFTH ANXi\-EIlSARY

The sixty-fifth anniversary of the Government Printing Office was fittingly celebrated in Harding Hall on March 4, 1926, at which

time congratulatory addresses were delivered by Senator George H.

Moses, chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing; Senator

George Wharton Pepper, chairman of the Senate Committee on

Printing; and Representative Edward M. Beers, chairman of the

House Committee on Printing, of Congress. There were also pres- ent at the exercises, as guests of honor, Mrs. James A. Sample and

Maj. Thomas Defrees, of Washington, the daughter and the son of

Hon. John D. Defrees, who was the first superintendent of the Government Printing Office. Sharing with them the honors of the

occasion were the following employees, each of whom has had more

than fifty years of service in the Government Printing Office : John

S. Burnside, William A. Smith, Miss Amelia Moreno, and Miss

Mary E. Speisser.

President Coolidge, in a letter congratulating the Government

Printing Office on its sixty-fifth anniversary, wrote the Public

Printer as follows

:

The White House,

Washington. Fe'bruary 2S, 1926. My Dear Mr. Carter : * * * Starting in a small way in the administration of President Lincoln, your office has come to be one of the important

factors in the quick dispatch of Government business. It is said to be not only one of the largest plants of its kind in the world but also one of the most

efficient. Its personnel may well be proud to maintain that record. Please extend to them my greetings and best wishes. Most sincerely yours, Calvin Coolidge.
Annual Report of the Public Printer

EFFICIEXCT IXCREASED IX LAST SIX TEARS

In view of the tremendous growth of the Government PrintingOffice during the 65 years, it is gratifying to report that in the last six years the efficiency of employees has increased and the improvement of equipment has been greater than during any similar period

of its historv. The value of the product for the six-vear period^

1921-1926. was computed at S66.181.938.80, as compared with

$58,161,481.47 for the six years 1915-1920, the greatest production

record up to that time, including, as it did, the vast amount of extra work required during the World War. This increase of more than

$8,000,000 iu/ the product was made with an average of 340 fewer

employees than were on the rolls during the six years 1915-1920.

Further evidence of the greater efficiency of the employees during

the last six years is furnished by the notable record of the typesetting

machine operators, whose hourly production averages increased from

3,782 ems for linotype operators and 4,835 ems for monotype keyboard operators in 1921 to 4,559 and 6,265 ems, respectively, for the

fiscal year ended June 30, 1926. For the last six months of 1926 the

linotype average was 4.802 ems per hour and the monotype average

7,998 ems per hour.

Besides increasing efficiency, the office also operated with greater

economy during the last six years than ever before. Proof of this

statement is shown in the unexpended balances, amounting to

$5,344,969.31, which were left in the Treasury out of the total re- sources of $75,553,759.81 available for expenditure by the Public

Printer during the fiscal years 1921-1926. This saving of 7 per cent of the funds credited to the office was accomplished nothwithstanding

an increase of $1,680,000 in the annual wage rolls and the expenditure of large sums for improved machinery and essential alterations

which were greatly needed to modernize the plant and increase its production.

In addition to the unexpended balance of $5,344,969.31. the Public

Printer, during the fiscal years 1921-1926. has deposited in the Treasury the sum of $1,691,083.57, received from miscellaneous sources, such as surplus from the sale of public documents, waste paper, useless material, and obsolete equipment. Thus the Treasury gained

$7,036,052.88 from the savings and the receipts of the Government

Printing Office during the last six years, MEMBER OF PRESIDEXx's SAAIXGS CLUB

The administration's program of rigid economy was faithfully

followed throughout the fiscal year 1926, and the Governm.ent Printing Office again qualified for membership in the President's '* savings

club," as it also did in the preceding fiscal year. The unobligated

balances of all appropriations for 1926 totaled $486,165.14.

The reserve pledged to the Bureau of the Budget at the beginning

of the fiscal year was maintained and additional savings made in

other available appropriations. These savings have come from the more efficient operation of the plant in all its branches, the adoption

of better methods of handling the work, the installation of more
4 Annual Report of the Public Printer

improved machinery, and, above all else, the whole-hearted cooperation of the most loyal and industrious organization of employees ever maintained in the Government Printing Office. Economies for the year, amounting to approximately $230,000, are

set forth in the accompanying reports of several of the principal

officers of the Government Printing Office. Along with these savings

by the work divisions, the financial transactions of the office have

been handled in a most efficient manner by the accounts and

purchase divisions. The careful preparation of the pay rolls and

supervision of expenditures for machinery and materials enabled the

office to have its complicated accounts, totaling more than $12,000,000

annually, approved by the Comptroller General with disallov/ances

of only $24.16 for the fiscal year 1926, and $167.56 for the fiscal year

1925, which were due to minor mistakes that have since been

corrected.

This is a remarkably clear record in view of the fact that the

accounts division has to prepare more than 100,000 pay-roll accounts

with numerous rates of wages annually and that the purchase, division

has to place thousands of orders for material and machinery each

year. The accounts division also made an excellent showing in the

collection of all but about $3,000 of the $9,642,000 due the office for

repay work delivered during the year. Careful watching of purchases and prompt payment of bills netted the office $2,405.47 in dis- counts taken during the year. CHANGES IN OFFICE APPROPRIATIONS

^ In the last five years, on recommendation of the Public Printer,

Congress has made a number of vital and important changes in the

appropriations for this office and the law governing its financial

operations that have greatly simplified and made more businesslike

the handling of the funds and accounts of the Government Printing

Office. The most important of these changes was the making of

printing and binding appropriations direct to the separate departments and' establishments of the Government' and the restriction

of the Government Printing Office appropriation to a working capital available only for printing for Congress, the Government Printing Office, and Architect of the Capitol. This new plan superseded

the old system of allotments to the departments out of the Government Printing Office appropriation.

Another change in the Government Printing Office appropriations was the consolidation of the separate items for employees' leave and

holida}^ pay with the appropriation for the general expenses of the

office, thus uniting all the funds for printing and binding and ending the annoyance of annual deficiency appropriations for leave and

holiday pay when at the same time there was a surplus in the general

expense appropriations. The appropriations which had been made

separately for employees in the offices of the Public Printer and the

Deputy Public Printer have also been consolidated in one item.

To simplify further and complete the rearrangement of the appropriations in accordance with the new wage law, the Budget for 1928

proposes to make one single appropriation item for the Government
Annual Report oj the Public Printer 5

Printing Office, one for salaries and wages and one for general ex- penses under the office of the Superintendent of Documents. The

following explanation of the proposed change is quoted from the

Budget for 1928 (pp. 22 and 26) : BUDGET PROPOSES SIXGLE APPEOPRIATION

It is recommended that the appropriation " Salaries, office of the Public

Printer," be discontinued as a separate appropriation, and a portion of the sum heretofore annually appropriated under that heading be added to and

combined with the appropriation for " Public printing and binding, Government

Printing Office.'" The reasons are as follows

:

The Kiess Act to regulate and fix rates of pay for employees and officers of the Government Printing Office, approved June 7, 1924 (Stat. L. 43, p. 658),

after passing in the House was amended in the Senate so as to clearly state that the salaries and wages of all officers and employees in the Government

Printing Office were to be governed thereby, and the language of the act beyond question included the salaried employees who happened to be appropriated for under " Office of the Public Printer " and Office of the Superin- tendent of Documents." The Comptroller General, however, has held that inas- much as those two appropriations carried a reference to the classification act, said act, and not the Kiess Act, must apply.

The salElries paid under the office of the Public Printer are a definite and

inseparable part of printing and binding costs and are included in the charges

made to departments. The work perform-ed by the employees paid from said appropriation is closely connected "and comparable in ev6ry way with the work

of a much larger number of employees who are paid out of the appropriation

for " Public printing and binding." There seems no longer to be any good

reason for two s;^parate appropriations covering identical work in the Govern- ment Printing Office, and especially so when the total expense inider the two

appropriations is ultimately applied to one object, i. e., the cost of printing

and binding for the Government. To carry all such expense under one appropriation would be an economy and a more businesslike arrangement. It is therefore recommended that the total amount now appropriated under the two

appropriations combined be -reduced by $56,453, provided the combination

of the******* two appropriations is made.

It is recommended that the employees under the office of the Superintendent

of Documents be included under the operation of the act to regulate and fix rates of pay for employees and officers of the Government Printing Office, ap- proved June 7, 1924. for reasons stated in note under " Public printing and

binding." The close connection between production and distribution in the Government Printing Office makes it very advisable that wage adjustments

under the Superintendent of Documents be made in the same manner as those which have been made under authority of law to the personnel under " Public

printing and binding." It is estimated the necessary changes will require ap- proximately $38,000 additional over the present appropriation. This increase

is more than absorbed by the recommended reduction made in other appropriations made under the Government Printing Office. E^rPLOYEES UXDER CLASSIFICATION ACT

Only 360 of the 4.100 employees of the Government Printing Office now have their rates of pay determined according to the classifica- tion a^t of 1923. All the others are subject to the Kiess wage law of

1924. which, the Comptroller General has held, supersedes the classi- fication act except as to the comparatively few employees included in

the separate appropriation items. Therefore, in order to relieve the

present discrimination in the pay of employees under the classifica- tion act as compared with those under the Kiess Act, it is proposed to
{6 Annual Report of the Public Printer

have the pay of the entire force determined as provided by Congress

in the Kiess law of 1924, entitled "An act to regulate and fix rates of pay for employees and officers of the Government Printing Office." The Budget estimates also propose specific increases in the salary

of the Public Printer from $7,500 to $10,000 and of the Deputy

Public Printer from $5,000 to $7,000 per annum. The following

explanation of these recommendations is quoted from the Budget for

1928 (p. 22) : The present salary of the Public Printer is $7,500 and of the Deputy Public

Printer $5,000. The request for increase of $2,500 for the Public Printer and

$2,000 for the Deputy Public Printer is fully justified by comparison with the present compensation paid a large number of commissioners and heads of inde- pendent establishments, ranging from $10,000 to $12,000 a year. It is submitted

that the administration of the Government Printing OflSce requires specialized

knowledge, experience, and executive ability, and carries responsibilities fully

comparable with any of these positions. Further, there are numerous cases in the commercial field where administrative oflicers in printing and binding plants are paid from $10,000 to $25,000 a year, some receiving in addition a substantial bonus, and none of the establishments concerned do a variety or volume of busi- ness comparable with that required of the Government Printing Office. H. R.

9459, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session, carrying the proposed salaries of

$10,000 and $7,000, respectively, was favorably reported and is now on the House Calendar. LEAVE PAY RATES FOR EMPLOYEES

The attention of Congress is invited again to the recommendation

in the Public Printer's Eeport for 1925 that employees be allowed

leave pay at their rate at the time leave is granted instead of having

leave pay based on their earnings for the preceding fiscal year. This would greatly simplify the handling of leave accounts and

effect a saving of several thousand dollars annually in the bookkeeping now required by the complicated leave rates. It would also materially benefit employees whenever their wages are increased

during the year in which they are granted leave. In fact, if the

provision as proposed by the Public Printer had been in effect the

past year, employees would have received approximately $45,000 more leave pay than was allowed under the present law.

About 250 employees who have their annual salaries fixed by

the classification act are granted leave at their current rates ot pay, but all other employees must take their leave according to the law which bases the rate of leave pay on their earnings for the

preceding fiscal year. The proposed change would conform to the

practice in all other branches of the Government service granting

employees leave at their current rate of pay. There is no good

reason to continue the present discrimination against the per hour

employees of the Government Printing Office. The computed product of the office for the fiscal year 1926 reached

a total of $12,599,074.87, including labor and material for uncompleted jobs amounting to approximately $800,000. This was a gain

of $266,120 over the preceding year, which is a great achievement,

inasmuch as the production for that year had made a remarkable

record with a total of $2,253,033.29 more than for the fiscal year 1924.

The increased work in the fiscal year 1926 was done with an aver- age of 116 fewer employees than in 1925; in fact, the average of
Annual Report of the Public Printer 7

3,985 employees on the rolls during the fiscal year 1926 was the

lowest yearly average maintained for the last 10 years. The in- creased output for 1926 was accomplished with 48,225 fewer hours

of overtime, Sunday, and holiday work than in the fiscal year 1925,

reducing the extra-time expenditures for the year by $19,760.08.

CONGRESS THE LARGEST CUSTOMER

Congress has again become the largest customer of the Government

Printing Office, after having taken second place to the Post Office

Department for several years. Printing and binding charged to Congress during the fiscal year 1926 amounted to $2,157,460.06, in

addition to which Members of Congress paid the Public Printer the sum of $80,922.65 on personal orders for the printing of separate

copies of their speeches and $11,127.90 for copies of documents and

bills. The cost of printing for Congress last year increased

$303,730.90 over the charges for the preceding year. More printing and binding was done for the first session of the

Sixty-ninth Congress (December 7, 1925-July 3, 1926) than for any

prior first session of a Congress. In fact, the work for this single

session exceeded the requirements on the Government Printing

Office by many preceding entire Congresses. The daily Congressional

Record and index for the seven months of the first session of the

Sixty-ninth Congress filled 15,192 printed pages, which exceeded the

high mark previously made by the first session of the Sixty-fourth

Congress for 10 months.

The 176 issues of the daily Record for the first session of the

Sixty-ninth Congress averaged 79 printed pages each day, which was by far the largest average ever maintained by any Congress

throughout an entire session. Twenty-three issues of the daily

Record during the session consisted of more than 100 pages each,

and six of this number exceeded 130 pages each, the largest single

issue filling 160 pages. In addition to the daily copies, 14 semimonthly indexes of the daily Record were printed during the ses- sion. These indexes contained 1,261 pages, the first index alone

having 262 pages. Approximately 35,000 copies are printed of each

issue of the daily Record.

DAILY RECORD PRINTED PROMPTLY

Notwithstanding the large size of the daily Record, the unusual

quantity of tabular matter included in the proceedings, and the numerous night sessions of Congress, the Government Printing

Office failed only eight times in the seven months of ihe session to complete printing and mailing the entire edition by 8 o'clock the

next morning. Every copy for distribution in Washington was

delivered before that hour, the few delays being in mailing only the

out-of-town copies when late sessions, large Records, or press acci- dents necessitated a few extra hours of work.

This record for expeditious printing of the daily Record has never been equaled before in the history of the Government Printing Office and could not be accomplished by any other printing establishment

16710—27 2
8 Annual Report of the Public Printer

in the world. It was made possible for the first time la^t session by

the installation of two new web presses, each having a capacity of

64 pages, which, with the three old Record presses, equip the office to print a 256-page Record at any time.

The maximum capacity of all the typesetting machines, printing

presses, and bindery equipment of the Government Printing Office

has never been put to an extreme test, but a careful estimate sustains

the statement that by using all available employees and machines a complete copy of the Holy Bible, including both the Old and New

Testaments, could be set up, printed, and bound in 24 hours. The

setting of 3,431,000 ems of type required to print the Bible could be

done in six hours, the remainder of the day being used for presswork

and binding. At least 1,000 copies, sewed and bound in cloth, could

be delivered in 40 hours after the typesetting started. PAPER FOR CONGRESSIONAL PRINTING

Two million three hundred thousand pounds of paper were used in

printing the daily issues of the Record for the first session of the

Sixty-ninth Congress. From the 2,900 rolls of this paper a white

web 48 inches wide and 9,308 miles long weaved between the fast- turning cylinders of the big presses to produce the required number

of copies of the Record. If this quantity of paper were cut into a

strip the width of a Record page, it would make a band 37,232 miles

in length, or enough to encircle the earth at the Equator and lap more than half around again. To print the daily Record on the big

web presses required 21,049 stereotype plates, for which 147,343

pounds of metal were used last session.

However, printing the daily edition is only part of the job of

publishing the Congressional Record. Every page of the daily

edition has to be rearranged for the permanent bound edition,

replated, reprinted, gathered, and sewed in cloth-bound volumes after

the proceedings of each session of Congress have been completed.

The permanent Record for the first session of the Sixty-ninth Congress fills 12 volumes of approximately 1,100 pages each, and 4,830

sets of these volumes were bound for Members of Congress.

The cost of printing and binding the daily and permanent editions

of the Record for the first session of the Sixty-ninth Congress was

$715,456.79.

In addition to printing the Congressional Record for official dis- tribution, the Public Printer received orders from Members of Congress last year for 20,691,170 copies of their speeches in pamphlet

form. Members of Congress pay the cost of reprinting their

speeches out of their personal funds, but the franked envelopes in

which the speeches are mailed are charged to Congress. Congressional franked envelopes so furnished last year cost approximately

$33,000.

NUMBER OF BILLS BREAKS RECORD

More bills and resolutions were introduced in the first session of

the Sixty-ninth Congress than were submitted to any other Congress,

the number for the session being 18,885 separate bills, with a total
Annual Report of the Public Printer 9

of 99,412 printed pages, an increase of 67,387 pages over the precedinof year. These bills vary in size from a single page to many of

several hundred pages each. One bill, the new Code of Laws, made

a volume of 1,718 pages.

Numerous reprints are made of bills as they progress through

Congress—as introduced, as reported, as passed by either House, as considered in conference, and as enacted into law. From the fact

that 400 to 1,000 or more copies of a bill are printed on each change

of its status, some idea may be had of the enormous presswork in

the printing and reprinting of the 18,885 bills and resolutions pre- sented for consideration at the last session of Congress.

In the printing and reprinting of bills, resolutions, and amendments, a total of 11,561,210 copies were printed during the year at a

cost of $437,619.73.

The nearest approach to this high-water mark for bills and reso- lutions was in the first session of the Sixty-sixth Congress, when

15,244 bills and. resolutions were introduced.

An innovation was started vv-ith the Sixty-ninth Congress in the

printing of many bills in advance of the session. With the cooperation of the Clerk of the House, 2.734 bills were put in type and

printed during the week before the meeting of Congress. From

November 30 to December 22, 1925, a total of 9,276 bills were printed,

setting a new record in handling this work for Congress. One night

during that period 204 bills were sent to press. MORE LAWS THAN ANY OTHER CONGRESS

The first session of the Sixty-ninth Congress made a record also

in the number of bills which it enacted into law. During the session

896 laws were passed by Congress and became effective with the

approval of the President. Among this number were five omnibus

pension bills into which 2,717 individual pension bills had been consolidated, so that the Congress has to its credit the enactment of a

total of 3,613 out of 18,885 bills during a session of seven months.

The industry of this one session exceeds the record of any entire

Congress for the last 20 years except the Sixty-seventh ancl Sixtyeighth Congresses, and these Congresses succeeded in passing only

35 and 100 more bills, respectively, in two years than the first session

of the Sixty-ninth Congress enacted in seven mxonths.

In the consideration of these bills the committees of Congress had

56,794 pages of hearings set in type, and an average of 1,000 copies of

each hearing was printed. In all, 496 separate hearings were printed

for committees during the session. The hearings on appropriation

bills alone made 11,310 pages, of which 90,480 proofs were submitted

to the comxmittees before the completed hearings were printed. The

House committee hearings on the Northern Pacific land grants fill 5,439 printed pages, and the hearings on senatorial campaign expenses

make 3,100 pages up to date. The printing of calendars of bills pending before the committees

of each House is another heavy burden which the legislative body

places on this office. These calendars have to be revised and reprinted

in time for the committee meetings and the daily sessions of the
10 Annual Report of the Public Printer

House and tlie Senate. For the first session of the Sixty-ninth Congress 17,501 pages of calendars were sent to press. At the close of

the session there were in type 845 pages of the calendars, the House

Calendar heading the list with 160 pages.

Committees of Congress added further to the work of this office in

the printing of 2,796 reports during the session, by far the largest

number for any session in the last 10 years. One night the record

number of 55 reports was printed for delivery to Congress the next

day. The reports for the session contained a total of 13,596 pages.

In addition, there were printed for Congress during the session 630

documents varying from small pamphlets to bound books of several

hundred pages each, making in all a total of 7,684 printed pages.

Included in this record-breaking amount of work for Congress was the j)rinting of the new Code of Laws of the United States. The

entire volume of 1,718 pages was set up, proof read, revised, printed,

and bound in 17 days after the Committee on the Revision of

the Laws had ordered the code printed in its new form for consideration by Congress.

Instead of following the usual style of 14-point type for bills, the

leaded, and made up two columns to the page, which avoided reset- ting and changing the form of the code for its final printing as a law. If the code had been printed in regular bill form with the

€ustomary 14-point type, it would have made 13,720 pages of bill

size. In the new form and type, adopted on the suggestion of this

office, the code was reduced from thirteen to a single volume of 1,718

quarto-size pages. As submitted to Congress for enactment the code

cost only $16,363.05, compared with $186,584.36 which would have

been the expense of printing the code in the usual form of congressional bills. Congress also accepted the suggestion of the Public Printer to avoid useless reprints of the code bill at the various stages of its con- sideration by the Llouse and the Senate and to provide instead a special distribution of the code as finally enacted into law. These

economies added approximately $25,000 to the saving effected by

printing the code in the form adopted by the Committee on the Eevision of the Laws and made a total reduction of approximately

$200,000 in the cost of printing and binding.

In compliance with the resolution of Congress, distribution has

been made of the preliminary copies of the code without index and

ancillaries. The full number of copies of the text has been printed,

and as soon as the indexers complete their work the final edition will

be issued as part 1 of volume 44 of the Statutes at Large.

The new code supersedes the volume Imown as the Revised Statutes

of 1874-1878 and will also contain all the general and permanent

laws of the two supplements to the Revised Statutes and the Statutes

at Large up to and including the first session of the Sixty-ninth

Congress, thus combining in one book all the general and permanent

laws of the United States which now fill 25 big volumes. With the

addition of the index, ancillaries, and general and permanent laws

CODE or LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES

text of the code, as submitted was set in 8-point type
Annual Report of the Public Prirder II

of the first session of the Sixty-ninth Congress, the final volume of

the code will contain approximately 2,300 pages, for which more than

10,000,000 ems of type had to be set. The permanent edition numbers 28.670 copies for distribution to Members of Congress, Government officials, courts, depository libraries, and for sale to the public.

PEIXTIXG OF BUDGET A BIG JOB

Another voluminous publication recently completed for Congress was the Budget of estimated receipts and proposed expenditures of

the Government for the fiscal year 1928. The big volume is printed

annually for the Bureau of the Budget, and its 1.590 pages are filled with financial tables showing in minute detail the receipts and ex- penditures of every branch of the Government service. Less than

2,500 copies of the Budget are printed annually, but the volume is so

large, requiring nearly 10 tons of paper, and the typesetting so complicated, that even the small edition costs approximately $25,000.

The Budget is the most important and the greatest "rush'" job

handled by the Government Printing Office each year. It can not

be compiled until the Bureau of the Budget has completed its annual

consideration of the departmental estimates and must set forth in

detail the financial condition and requirements of the Government

almost up to the hour Congress convenes. So the printing of this

great volume now annually helps get the Government Printing Office

into working trim for the even harder tasks that the Capitol imposes on it as soon as Congress gets into action each session. The Budget, which has just been printed, required the setting of

16,378,000 ems of type, all but a few pages of which are tabular

matter. A plan was evolved by this office last year whereby a large

portion of the type set for printing the Budget is also utilized in the

preliminary printing of bills for the Appropriation Cormnittees.

In appreciation of the service rendered by the Government Printing Office, General Lord, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget,

wrote the Public Printer under date of December 2, 1926, as follows

:

I want to express to you my deep appreciation of the cooperation which yon

extended me in connection with the preparation of the Budget for 1928, not

alone having in mind the very efficient proof reader which you detailed temporarily to this office to help us out, but also the close cooperation between

our respective offices in the matter of handling the proof.

I also want to congratulate you on the efficiency of your plant as clearly

evidenced by the manner in which the printing of the Budget was handled. Mr. Donald MacLeod, the chief of my estimates division, has just come into my office and said

:

" I take off my hat to the Government Printing Office. It is the greatest

institution of its kind in the world and the only one, in my judgment, that

could do a job of this character within the limited time available and without

a mistake or slip of any kind."

I heartily subscribe to everything which Mr. MacLeod said. I send you my affectionate regards and best of wishes. WORK FOE THE POSTAL SERVICE

The Post Office Department was a close second to Congress as the

biggest patron of the Government Printing Office last year. Charges
12 Annual Report of the Public Printer

for work for the Postal Service during the year amounted to $2,149,-

321.94, a slight decrease from the preceding fiscal year. Of this

amount, $999,880.20 was paid for the printing of postal cards, which

again broke the record, with a total of 1,596,862,880 cards. This was

an increase of 1,485,990 over the 1925 production, which had exceeded

the 1924 output by 342,303,710 cards.

The greatly increased production for the two years was due to the installation of tiiree new postal-card presses, each of which can

print, cut, and deliver in packs of 50 counted cards at the rate of

6,400 cards per minute. With a decrease of 10 per cent in the weight

of the paper for the new presses, a saving of approximately $51,000 was made in the cost of the 9,445,595 pounds of paper required to print the annual output of postal cards.

Next to postal cards, the printing of money orders is the biggest

annual job for the Post Office Department. During the year, 220,000,000 money-order forms were printed, almost equaling the

record-breaking output of the preceding year. The number of in- ternational money orders increased 25 per cent, indicating a substantial growth of trade with foreign countries. There was also an

increase in the money orders printed for Alaska, Hawaii, Porto

Kico, Guam, the Canal Zone, and the Virgin Islands.

In 1907, when the Government Printing Office began printing

money orders for the Post Office Department, the year's output was

80,000,000 forms, as compared with nearly three times that number

last year. The average price charged by the private contractor prior

to 1907 for money-order books of 200 forms each was 31 cents per

l)Ook, as compared with the present Government Printing Office price

of 17 cents per book, a saving of 14 cents per book on the annual production of approximately 1,100,000 books. Printing by the Government instead of by private contractor has made this big saving

possible, notwithstanding the greatly increased cost of labor and

material as compared with the years prior to 1907 when the private

•contractors charged almost double the present Government price for

money-order books.

Other large jobs printed for the Post Office Department during

the year included the following: Applications for money order,

252,000,000;' registered, insured, and C. O. D. notices, 200^000,000;

notices on undeliverable publications, 50,000,000; registry dispatch

receipt cards, 40,000,000 ; return receipts, 34,000,000 ; special- delivery

slips, 23,000,000 ; change of address slips, 19,000,000.

PATENT OFFICE TAKES THIRD PLACE

The Patent Office advanced to third place in the list of customers

of the Government Printing Office with an expenditure of $1,147,-

571.55 for the year, displacing the Treasury Department, which

reduced its printing orders to $991,625.03 from the preceding year's

total of $1,014,824.79. The Patent Office increase for the year

amounted to $244,437.47.

The enlarged force of patent examiners passed for printing 25,378 more pages of patent specifications and trade-mark designs than

were issued in the preceding year, the total typed pages of specifica-
Annual Report oj the Public Printer 13

tions printed in 1926 being 175,021. The number of copies of specifications of patents and trade-marks accordingly increased 1,189,403, or 22 per cent more than for the preceding year, the total number of

copies for 1926 being 6,488,265. The average number of patents

printed per week during the year was 900, and the average number

of trade-marks and designs, 326. The Annual Index of the Patent Office was printed earlier last year

than ever before, the first delivery being made on January 30, 1926. For many years it was customary to delay printing the Annual Index

of Patents until September or October of the following year, which greatly handicapped reference to the issue of patents for

the year. Two years ago the Government Printing Office began delivering the Annual Index in January and hopes to maintain that

schedule of promptness. The Index for 1925 made 1,860 pages, an

increase of 129 pages over the preceding year. There were in all 91,609,614 copies of various publications, including annual reports and documents, printed during the year for all the branches of the Government service and Congress. The increase over the preceding year was 3,321,755 copies, or 4 per cent. Considerably more than two-thirds of the publications were of octavo size,

which shows that the standardization of sizes has been generally

adopted by the Government. The publications contained 1,643,244

pages of type. The paper and cloth bound copies totaled 1,229,066, a decrease of 523,960 from the number of copies bound in the preceding year. AGRICULTURE LEADS IN PUBLICATIONS

• The Department of Agriculture led the publication list with a

total of 27,955,223 copies, including 12,279,000 farmers' bulletins, an

increase of 1,583,322 copies in all over the fiscal year 1925. The

War Department came second with 11,550,695 copies of its publications, or 166,005 more than for the preceding year. Commerce, with

3,190,862; Labor, with 2,176,209; Navy, with 1,805,789; and the

Interstate Commerce Commission, with 1,801,726 copies, had substantially the same number of publications as last year. The Interior Department dropped from 3,350,305 to 1,965,851 copies, a decrease of 1,384,454 in its publications principally on account of the

transfer of the Patent Office to the Department of Commerce. The

growing work of the Veterans' Bureau is shown by the printing of

945,319 copies of its publications during the vear, an increase of

483,744.

The output of cards, blanks, notices, and schedules for the year

increased 281,244,603 over the production for 1925. The total for

1926 was 3,109,768,005, including the 1,596,862,880 postal cards and

the millions of blanks for the Postal Service, as heretofore noted.

In this class of printing also are 77,884,747 income-tax forms which

the Treasury Department ordered for the fiscal year; 8,000,000 slips

for the distribution of farmers' bulletins ; and 2,600,000 shipping tags

for the War Department.

There were printed 15,831,000 catalogue cards for the Library of

Congress and for sale to other libraries. This is an increase in cata-
14 Annual Report of the Public Printer

logue cards of 1,466,500 over the preceding year and is the largest

number ever printed in one year. The Library of Congress received

$164,438.30, an increase of 12 per cent, for the sale of these cards to other libraries in 1926.

Another item in the card class of printing are tabulating-machine

cards, of which 29,311,000 were printed last year. It is expected that

the printing of tabulating cards by this office will greatly increase

the coming year, as six new machines specially designed to print and

cut tabulating cards have recently been installed. The various

branches of the Government normally use about 300,000,000 tabulating cards annually, but the bulk of these cards, except for the Census

Office, the Department of Labor, and the Interstate Commerce Commission, have heretofore been purchased from the tabulating-machine

companies under contracts for the use of their machines. Cards can

be produced by the Government Printing Office at much lower prices

than have been charged by the machine companies.

VAST QUANTITIES OF LETTERHEADS

Letterheads, noteheads, and envelopes were printed for Congress

and the departments during the year to the number of 136,434,471, an

increase of 22,764,917 over 1925. This number does not include the

vast quantity of letterheads printed by the multigraphing plants

of the departments, or the 200,000,000 printed envelopes procured by

the departments under contracts awarded by the Post Office Department to envelope manufacturers; nor does the Government Printing

Office print the stamped envelopes, with return cards, for sale to the

public. All stamped envelopes are made and printed* at Dayton,

Ohio, under contracts awarded by the Post Office Department.

Under restriction by the Joint Committee on Printing, the use of

embossed letterheads, noteheads, and envelopes has greatly decreased.

In 1921 this office embossed 2,479,800 letterheads, noteheads, and envelopes at a cost of $16,490.99, as compared with 575,901 embossed

letterheads and envelopes last year, costing $5,352.51. Members of

Congress are now required to pay personally for the embossing of

their stationery if they indulge in such luxury.

Blank books made during the year totaled 2,640,080 copies, or

384,112 more than were made in the preceding year. In all of its work for the year, the Government Printing Office

produced 3,363,672,564 printed copies, an increase of more than 300,-

000,000 copies over the preceding year. The type pages required for

the year's printing totaled 1,946,966. Composition was the largest

item of cost, amounting to $3,623,152.86. Other charges included

$2,149,499.84 for bindery work, $1,257,614.13 for presswork, $234,-

209.30 for electrotyping and stereotyping, $181,768.05 for illustrations, and $3,161,843.06 for paper.

The total charges for the work of the year amounted to $11,799,-

074.87, and in addition the office expended approximately $800,000

for labor and material on jobs that were not completed during the

year and consequently are not included in the year's total of charges

for finished work.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 15

COMPOSITIOX SHOWS LARGEST GAIX

The largest gain of the year was in composition, with a total of

2,158.890.100 ems of type set by the printing division. This was an

increase of 30.495,400 ems over the preceding year, which in turn had

added 83,729,800 to the total set in 1924. The greater composition for

1926 was accomplished with 140 fewer employees on the rolls and

1,328 less hours of overtime work in the linotype and monotype sec- tions than during the year 1925. The apprentices alone set 87,416,700 ems of type during the year. However, other than the apprentice section and the small amount

of composition by the hand and job sections, machines were used

to set this enormous quantity of type. A force of 1,200 compositors

would be required to set by hand the quantity of type produced

annually by the 377 machines in the Government Printing Office. The linotype operators attained an average of 4,559 ems per hour

for the fiscal year, an increase of 388 ems per hour over their 1925

average and 854 ems per hour more than the average for the five years 1916-1920. The monotype keyboard operators increased their

average to 6.265 ems per hour for the 3'ear, a gain of 493 ems per

hour over the 1925 average and 1,419 ems per hour more than the

average for the five years 1916-1920. Undoubtedly the new wage

scale based on individual production caused the linot3"pe and monotype operators to increase their averages in the last two years, which

fully sustains the action of the Public Printer and the Joint Committee on Printing in establishing a sliding scale of pay for operators.

Since a detailed system was adopted a year ago for recording and

reporting the work of the monotype casting machines the production

of that section has increased considerabty. The units cast per hour

from November, 1925. to April, 1926. averaged 3,852, while from

July to December, 1926, the average increased to 4,320 units cast per hour. The percentage of production hours was 54 per cent, which

compares favorably with casting machines in commercial printing

plants.

PROOF READIXG COST MILLION DOLLARS

The expense of proof reading the year's output of printed book

matter was $1,019,469.45. During the year the proof room had a

daily average of 298 employees working, 23 more than in 1925. They

read and revised 1.903,973 galley proofs in the year, or 757,089 more

than in 1925. Authors' alterations of proofs added $222,768.37 to the cost of

printing for the year. This was a slight increase over the expenditure for 1925 and represents less than 7 per cent of the total composition charges.

Extra expense incurred by " rush " work on jobs handled out of the

regular order for departments caused an additional charge of $21,082.23.

During the six vears ended in 1921 the cost of " rush " work was

$616,837.58, while in the six-year period 1921-1926 it cost $173,325.93, a reduction of $443,511.65. The departments are cooperating with

the Public Printer in cutting down the number of unnecessary
16 Annual Report oj the Public Printer

"rush" jobs, and the Government Printing Office is handling routine

work much more expeditiously than in former years, thereby doing

away with the extra expense of " rush " orders.

The printing of annual reports of departments and other Government establishments during 1926 cost $198,542.91, an increase of

$4,148.18 over the previous year. The annual reports of the Public Printer which in six years ended

in 1920 cost $31,518.09, have since been reduced in size by eliminating

unnecessary tables with a total cost of $4,950 during the six-vear

period 1921-1926.

PLATEMAKING CONTINUES TO INCREASE

The platemaking division continued to increase its annual output

with a total production of 10,948,121 square inches of electrotype

and stereotype plates, which was 500,890 square inches more than

for the preceding year. This work was done with six fewer employees and 1,223 less hours of overtime than in 1925. The production of stereotype plates increased 684,641 square inches, while that

of electrotypes decreased 257,606 square inches, which indicates a substantial economy in the increasing use of the less expensive plates.

Of the stereotype plates, 411,627 square inches were nickeled and

used in place of plates which formerly were electrotyped. Two

years ago the office used only 7,184 square inches of nickeled stereo- type plates.

A chromium plating apparatus was installed during the year to produce plates with a more durable printing surface. A test run of

chromium plates on the postal-card presses gave 1,379,050 impressions as compared with 600,000 impressions obtainable from nickeled

electrotypes.

The new wax ruling machine has effected a material saving over

the old process of hand ruling of forms. For example, on one job

which would have required 25 hours of a compositor's time to set the

type and rule out the form, the ruling was done in wax by the

machine in 6 hours after the compositor had taken II/2 hours to set the text type, thus saving I7I/2 hours on the entire job.

A 3,000-ton lead molding press has also been added to the excellent

equipment of the platemaking division. With this press the finest of halftone plates can be reproduced.

The photo-engraving section of the platemaking division produced

637,292 square inches of halftones and line cuts, a decrease of 27,346

square inches from its 1925 production, due to the smaller demand

for line cuts. The output of halftones increased 15,118 square inches.

The photo-engraving section has been in operation four years and

is now producing all the halftones and line cuts required for the

printing of this office. PRESSWOEK DIVISION IS KEPT BUSY

The presswork division, with a total of 160,345 forms for the year, put 15,340 more forms to press than in 1925. The number of actual

impressions printed from these forms during the year was 465,549,-
Annua'. Report oj the Public Printer 17

492. a decrease of 5.834.808 from the preceding year, due mostly to 6,278 less hours of press running time and 5,984 less hours of- over- time work.

The more general adoption of new twin chases for doubling up

the number of pages on presses also materially decreased the number

of actual impressions. In fact, the use of twin chases on 15 big

jobs alone effected a reduction of 1,067,338 impressions, thereby

saving $3,844.60 in presswork, folding, gathering, and sewing.

The chargeable impressions for the year totaled 2,056,808,214, a decrease of 72,777,292, which occurred mostly in book work.

The bindery showed a substantial gain for the year in its pamphlet work, ruling, perforating, tablet making, and several minor

operations. Pamphlet copies wire stitched totaled 47,442,436, an

increase of 1,015,547 over the preceding year. Paper-covered copies

numbered 5,367.364, an increase of 783.576 for the year; and books

cased-in (bound in cloth) totaled 1,272,999, an increase of 15,920.

The ruling machines lined out 21.657,309 sheets, or 560,461 more

than in the preceding year. The perforating machines handled

7,569,351 sheets, an increase of 986,877. Tablets to the number of

2,903,111 were made, an increase of 52,735 over the 1925 output.

With 65 fewer employees on the rolls and the failure of the Department of Agriculture to submit its Yearbook on time during the

fiscal year, there were decreases in several other principal operations

of the bindery. Machine folding of printed sheets totaled 221,-

987,941, a decrease of 13,501,485: machine gathering of printed signatures, 130,285,798, a decrease of 9,654,818; machine sewing of

signatures, 71,977,215, a decrease of 11,844,396; machine trimming

of books and pamphlets, 56,392,663. a decrease of 333,454; machine

stamping of covers, 2,573.041. a decrease of 169,450 copies.

ACTS OF EARLY CONGRESSES REBOUND

To the bindery was committed one of the most important undertakings from a historic viewpoint that the office has ever handled.

The Department of State made requisition for rebinding the original

parchment copies of the acts of Congress from the First to the

Fourteenth Congress, inclusive. These priceless documents were

written with pen and bear the signatures of Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison. They had been bound in 17

books, which long since had become useless because of decay and

neglect. The parchments, however, were in good condition.

On account of the unwieldly containers that would be required to bind them by sessions, it was decided to assemble the sheets in 33

smaller binders. A five-post, loose-leaf binder of high-grade metal

parts was especially constructed for this job, each binder having a separate lock and key. The parchments were securely sewed to heavy

guards, the guards punched and eyeleted to fit the posts of the binder

in such a way that by unlocking the binder the parchments could

be easily removed for photostating. To protect the edges from dust, a strong canvas envelope was made to fit inside the covers and inclose

the entire contents of each binder. A canvas cover finished the vol- umes in attractive and serviceable style, much to the satisfaction of
18 Annual Report of the Public Printer

the State Department officials, who approved the plans in all details. The cost of this work will be about $3,600.

The bindery also rendered the State Department valuable aid in

the preservation of its treaties and state papers by making 3,224

specially designed boxes in which to file these important papers.

The boxes were of various sizes and specially constructed with separate compartments to hold and protect the imposing seals attached

to the treaties. These boxes cost approximately $4,400.

MANY LETTERS OF APPRECIATION

In appreciation of the good work and prompt service rendered

by the Government Printing Office on numerous occasions during the

year. Cabinet officers and other prominent officials of the Government have formalljT^ expressed their thanks in writing to the Public

Printer. One of the largest customers of the Government Printing

Office is the Department of Agriculture, with its orders for nearly

$800,000 annually, and it was especially pleasing, therefore, to receive

the following commendation from Secretary of Agriculture Jardine on April 9, 1926

:

I wish to express the department's appreciation of the splendid cooperation

shown by the Government Printing OflBce in putting through so expeditiously the several jobs of the Forest Service intended for use throughout the country

during American Forest Week.

A total output of 1,290,000 pieces of printed matter on schedule time is a

fine showing for your ofiice and for our department, and I feel that a very

large part of the success of American Forest Week will be due to having this material in ample time for distribution. On December 11, 1926, Secretary Jardine again expressed his

thanks for the cooperation of this office with the Department of

Agriculture, as follows:

When it sometimes becomes necessary for the Department of Agriculture to request particular speed in connection with the issuance of some of its publications, it is gratifying to know that your organization responds with prompt

and efficient cooperation.

We recently requested special services in connection with the publication of Department Bulletins 1441, 1442, and 1443, which were urgently needed in completed form for a meeting in Chicago. I want to thank you and the members

of your staff who assisted in securing the delivery of these bulletins, which were

available in time for use at the meeting, thereby facilitating our work. Secretary of the Navy Wilbur wrote the Public Printer as follows,

under date of March 10, 1926

:

I wish to express the appreciation of the Navy Department for the expeditious manner in which the Government Printing Office completed the work

of printing the General Signal Book, jacket No. 51371, Navy. Sufficient copies

of the book were delivered to this office in time to effect the issue to the United

States Fleet. As the work of printing and assembling this book required care and attention beyond the ordinary, because of its peculiarities in composition and construction, special commendation is due the printing division and bindery division. The splendid cooperation of these divisions with the representative of the Navy Department handling the job was particularly pleasing and resulted

in complete satisfaction to this department.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 19

COMPLIMEXTED BY STATE DEPARTMENT

Assistant Secretary Olds, in writing for the Secretary of State, sent the Public Printer the following conTiminications

:

Under date of April 3, 1926—

I take this opportunity to express again the satisfaction of the department

at the spirit of hearty cooperation which the department is meeting in its dealings with the Government Printing Office in general and the office of the Superintendent of Documents in particular.

And under date of October 13, 1926—

My attention has just been called to a piece of work now being done for the department by the Government Printing Office which appears to deserve special

commendation. The current Diplomatic and Consular List for October 1, 1926, consisting of 78 pages, is being handled very expeditiously. Copy went

to the Government Printing Office October 2 ; proof was submitted October 7 and returned approved for press October 9. There has been involved in the editing and printing of the last two numbers of the Diplomatic and Consular List a complete revision and resetting of the publication, necessitating numerous corrections and rearrangements and bringing the copy into conformity with the rules of the style manual. This has been a very

exacting job for everyone and one in which the Government Printing Office has

cooperated spleud dly with the department. * * =;= j^^y be added that for some years this publication has been issued from 3 to 4 months after the first day of the quarter as compared with approximately 15 days in this instance. Among other letters from officials who have expressed appreciation of the work done by the Government Printing Office during the

year are the following

:

From Hon. Frank White, Treasurer of the United States, dated

July 6, 1926—

I have received a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury expressing his

gratification at being able to distribute the Treasury Statement for June 30, approximately 24 hours earlier than the usual time and commending this office for its splendid work in getting out the statement so promptly.

This statement, as you know, is printed at the Government Printing Office, and it affords me pleasure to inform you that our success in expediting the statement was due in a great measure to the very splendid and efficient cooperation of Captain Moorhead of your organization.

From United States Senator Roval S. Copeland. of New York,

dated April 21, 1926—

I am amazed that so few mistakes occur. Your work is wonderful and I congratulate you.LARGEST strPPLY SCHEDrLE YYHR PRINTED

From Mr. P. H. Birch, acting superintendent of supplies, General

Supply Committee, dated July 6. 1926—

The General Schedule of Supplies for the fiscal year 1927 is the largest ever

printed, comprising 605 pages, and although the last of the signatures were not

released for press until June 22 complete delivery of the bound schedules was

effected by June 30, 1926, over a thousand copies being received as early as the 26th ultimo, which gave purchasing officials of the Government an opportunity to draw necessary orders before the beginning of the new year. Inasmuch as the Government Printing Office vras crowded with work con- tingent to the closing days of Congress, the Deputy Public Printer and his assistants are to be doubly commended for their splendid cooperation in the work of the printing and binding of the publication.
20 Annual Report of the Public Printer

From Dr. Herbert Putnam. Librarian of Congress, elated February

24, 1926—

Among the multitude of publications that (theoretically at least) pass under

your scrutiny, I hope you will not fail to notice the brochure with reference

to the " Library of Congress Trust Fund Board."

It is a production which we are not ashamed to send to the most finical connoisseur ; and, in fact, it is precisely the connoisseur whom we intend it shall reach, and—entice ! And I need not assure you that the attention which your staff has given to perfecting it for this purpose is very warmly appreciated.

From Lieut. Col. V. S. Grant, 8d, director, Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks, dated December 2, 1926

:

It gives me great pleasure to express to you my appreciation of the remarkable speed with which the Government Printing - Office completed the printing of the specifications for reconstructing the roof and third story of the White

House. The manuscript was turned over to the printer on November 17 and

the finished specifications v%-ere delivered at this office on November 19. I feel sure that no other printing establishment could have approached this record,

and I am very grateful to the members of your organization whose skill and

energy made it possible.

From Mr. Charles Moore, chairman, Commission of Fine Arts,

dated November 10, 1926

:

On behalf of the Commission of Fine Arts I desire to thank you for the

care and attention given to the tenth report of the commission in the Govern- ment Printing Office, and to express to you the satisfaction of the commission

in the typographical appearance of the report. ARTISTIC TYPOGRAPHY IS PRAISED

From Maj. X. H. Price, secretary, American Battle Monuments

Commission, dated Februaiy 9, 1926

:

Receipt is acknowledged of 1.000 copies of the annual report of the American

Battle Monuments Commission. Please allow me to express our gratification at the excellent results obtained by your office in printing this report. Not

only were the photographs appearing in it reproduced remarkably well, but

the tj^pography and general make-up of the report were excellent. I desire

to express also our appreciation of the interest which members of your organi- zation took in the printing of this report and of the helpful suggestions w^hich they made to us from time to time, which so materially contributed to the fine results. From Mr. C. C. Barton, assistant chief, division of publications,

Department of Commerce, dated Januar}^ 18, 1926:

The issuance of the variety of schedules on which to list the 1925 Census, of Manufactures has constituted quite a volume of work for your office. The

delivery of these schedules for 1925 is practically completed, and in that con- nection Mr. Pierce, of the issuing bureau, has the following comment to offer:

" The bureau desires to extend the thanks of all concerned to your division and the Printing Office for the correct manner in which the schedules were

printed and the very satisfactory deliveries of proofs and completed copies."

From Mr. M. L.. Fowler, head office supply section. Fleet Corporation, dated April 6, 1926 : We herein quote a paragraph from a letter received from the director of

traffic regarding the deliveries of Schedules of Ship Sailings

:

" It affords me considerable pleasure to compliment the Government Printing

Office for the prompt printing and delivery of the April issue of ' Schedule of

Sailings,' and it will be appreciated if you will advise the Public Printer

accordingly."
Annual Report of the Public Printer 21

From Hon. Thomas E. Robertson. Commissioner of Patents, dated

January 8. 1926

:

Tlii^ office very mncli appreciates the fact that, although two holidays and a Sunday intervened in Christmas week and one holiday and a Sunday in New

Year's' week, the Official Gazette for the weeks of December 29, 1925, and

January 5, 1926, was issued on time. This is very gratifying.

From Mr. A. L. Qiiaintance. acting chief, Bureau of Entomology,

Department of Agricidture. dated July 12, 1926:

I wish to express to you my appreciation of the promptness with which the Government Printing Office approved, packed, and forwarded to Mr. A. F. Burgess. 964 Main Street. Melrose Highlands. Mass.. the 6.500 gipsy-moth and

brown-tail moth quarantine maps made for the Bureau of Entomology and the Federal Horticultural Board by the United States Geological Survey.

These maps, received from the survey on Saturday morning. July 10. were

approved the same morning and. through the efficient and energetic cooperation of Mr. Emerson and Miss Draney. of the purchasing division of the Gov- ernment Printing Office, were repacked and shipped by express on the noonday

train the same day. As these maps were urgently needed in Xew England, this cooperation has

been of great value and will undoubtedly make these maps available to the quarantine inspectors several days earlier than would otherwise have been

the case. DISTRIBUTIOX OF PITBLICATIOXS

The Government Printing Office not only prints practically all the

publications for the various branches of the Government, but it also distributes the great bulk of these publications, either by direct sale to the public or to supph' the free mailing lists furnished by the departments. The Superintendent of Documents last year distributed

60,990,405 copies of publications, an increase of 11,551.478 copies over

the preceding year. Of this number, 47.700,277 copies were sent out on the free lists maintained by the departments. 10.962.571 copies were sold, and 1,552,738 copies were distributed to the depository

libraries. These figures do not include the additional millions of

publications other than Farmers' Bulletins that are furnished an- nually to Members of Congress for free distribution to their

constituents.

As the 91,609.614 copies of publications printed during the year

1926. not including the Congressional Record or patent publications, cost S5.217,351.82, it is fair to estimate that the free distribution of all but the sales and library copies cost the Government more

than 84,000,000 annually. Compared with this expenditure for free

distribution, the receipts from the sale of Government publications,

amounting to $544,937.51 last year, are a poor financial return on the enormous investment that the Government has made in its publishing

business.

But there is some encouragement in the fact that the sales receipts

have almost doubled in the last six years. Last year 3.191,789 more

copies of Government publications were sold than in 1925, and the

receipts increased 857.014.88. For the same year, however, the free

distribution by the departments increased 8,523,771 copies.

FILLIXG WASTEBASKETS OF XATIOX

These figures sustain the statement made by General Lord, the

Director of the Bureau of the Budget, at a recent meeting of the
22 Annual Report of the Public Printer

business organizations of the Government that "We are spending

too much of the taxpayers' money in helping fill the wastebaskets

of the Nation." General Lord urged the Government organizations

to reduce the free issue of publications to the smallest number

possible.

The waste is not only in the extravagant free distribution of

Government publications, but also in the preparation and printing

of many books and pamphlets that have little or nothing to do with

the proper functions of the Federal Government and in the duplicating or overlapping of publications issued by a number of the

departments.

All of the wastebasket material cited by General Lord does not come from the Government Printing Office, however. During and

since the war, the Government departments and establishments in

Washington have spent many thousands of dollars in equipping and

operating large multigraphing and mimeographing plants, which

are annually producing and distributing vast quantities of more or

less pretentious publications.

Last year these so-called " duplicating " plants, which are really

printing offices under another name, used approximately^ 2,200,000

pounds of paper, which, if cut into ordinary letter size, would provide 215,000,000 sheets for the year's output of multigraphed and

mimeographed publications. The cost of all this work is unknown,

because it is paid for out of various and sundry appropriations other

than for printing, but it adds to the expense of printing and dis- tributing Government publications and helps fill the wastebaskets

of the Nation.

Several years ago Congress gave the Joint Committee on Printingpower " to adopt and employ such measures as, in its discretion, may

be deemed necessary to remedy any neglect, delay, duplication, or waste in the public printing and binding and the distribution of

Government publications." The Joint Committee has done much

good work in curtailing waste of printing, but it has neither the time nor the facilities to cover the whole field and regulate all the

publications of the Government.

BUDGET COXTROL OF PERIODICALS

Congress also conferred on the Director of the Bureau of the

Budget authority to approve the use of appropriations for the printing of "journals, magazines, periodicals, and similar publications,"

and there has been a substantial restriction of that class of Government publications, which started to run wild during the war. The Public Printer has established a requisitions review board in

the Government Printing Office to apply needed economies in the

execution of departmental orders for printing and binding. The

board has faithfully endeavored to effect sa^dngs wherever possible

witliout undertaking any censorship, which is not within the power

or desire of the Public Printer.

But, as pointed out before, notwithstanding the efforts of the

Joint Committee on Printing, the Director of the Bureau of the

Budget, and the Public Printer, the wastebaskets of the Nation are

still overloaded with Government publications of various kinds.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 23

Perhaps the most effective way to prevent such waste would be

to reduce the appropriations now available for printing and for the

various devices which help fill the trash baskets of the taxpayers.

Undoubtedly the Government could function just as well with the

expendittire of one or two million dollars a year less for publications that are seldom read and are of little service to the general

public. At any rate, a curtailment by Congress and the departments

of the present extravagant system of free distribution would be a most commendable saving and would give a stimultis to the sale of

Government publications that might solve the problem. The sale of publications could be greatly increased by properly advertising the Government's vast storehouse of useful information and

extending the facilities for marketing the products of this office; but it would be a waste of funds and effort unless the free-for-afavored-few competition is discontinued and the distribution of all Government publications placed on a practical business basis. BOOKS FOK DEPOSITOEY LIBRARIES

The public also could be better served by an ecjuitable distribution

of Government publications to libraries throughout the United

States. Under an old law only one public library in a congressional

district can be made a depository of Government publications on

designation by a Member of Congress.

With the subsequent growth and shifting of the population and

the various changes in the boundaries of congressional districts, many

depository libraries are not now located so as to serve the district-s for which they were originally designated. But other depository

libraries can not be selected under the present law for the new and

larger centers of population. For example, there are two depository

libraries in a small eastern town, while the libraries of two much

larger cities in the same district are barred under the present law

from designation as depositories of Government publications.

On the other hand, many districts apparently do not desire or can

not assume the burden of having a depository "^f or Government publications. Only 468 out of the 667 available librarv designations

have been made by Members of Congress. The 199 vacant designations can not, however, be assigned to libraries in other districts. Consequently many important libraries are compelled to obtain

Government publications by haphazard importuning of Congressmen and the departments.

The selection privilege granted depository libraries a few years

ago has also disclosed the fact that many of the present designations

are either unwilling or lack the facilities to provide sufficient space

for adequate deposits of Government publications, thereby making

their designation as depositories of little service to the public.

NEW PLAN or DEPOSITORY SELECTION

Notwithstanding the defects of the present depository system, the

libraries provide the most economical and useful distribution possible for Government pubHcations. Therefore it is urgently recom- mended that Congress authorize a more equitable and adequate
24 Annual Report of the Public Printer

method for the designation of suitable libraries as public depositories for the publications of the Government.

The suggestion is submitted that the depository libraries be designated by the Librarian of Congress and the Superintendent of Documents jointly, under such regulations as shall be approved by the

Joint Committee on Printing, that not to exceed approximately

2,000 qualified libraries, including at least one for each congressional district, shall be granted the depository privilege, and that no more libraries be designated than can be properly supplied with

Government publications within the annual appropriations made

by Congress for that purpose. A bill covering these suggestions has

been introduced in Congress by Senator Johnson, of California.

To list the vast number and variety of publications issued by the

Government in the 150 years since the Declaration of Independence

requires a good-sized library of itself. In fact, IT large octavo

volumes containing a total of 24,529 pages have already been printed

to catalogue the publications of the Government from 1774 to 1919.

The publications of the Government from 1774 to 1881 are aH listed

in one volume of 1,392 pages, but 16 additional volumes containing

23,137 pages are required to catalogue the publications issued by

the Government in the 38 years from 1881 to 1919.

CATALOGUE OF WOELD WAR PIBLICATIONS

The biggest catalogue of the set is that covering the period of the

United States' participation in the World War. This volume, which

lists publications from July, 1917, to June, 1919, is entitled " The

Document Catalogue of the Sixty-fifth Congress." It was completed

and printed recently after several years had been devoted to its compilation by a number of expert cataloguers in the office of the Superintendent of Documents.

More than 60,000 cards were written in preparing the catalogue

for publication, and the lists, which are printed two columns to the

page, fill a royal octavo volume of 2,706 pages set in 6 and 8 point

type. The printing and binding of this catalogue alone cost $28,093.07.

Copies of the catalogue have been furnished to the principal

libraries throughout the country, but it is doubtful if any library,

except that of the Superintendent of Documents and the Library

of Congress, contain all the publications listed in the Government

catalogue.

This great war catalogue includes not only all the publications

issued by the Government Printing Office during the World War

but also lists practically everything printed by any agency of the

Government during that time. It records the extensive diplomatic

correspondence, the voluminous military and naval reports on the

preparation for and the conduct of the war, and the many publications of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe.

The war brought into existence many new Government agencies,

which did a vast amount of printing of their own accord. In the

rush and confusion of war-time preparations and the hurried demobilization after the armistice, it was almost impossible to obtain com-
Annual Report of the Public Printer 25

plete files of these historic publications, many of which, undoubtedly,

will be of even o-reater importance in the future than now may seem

apparent. But the Superintendent of Documents has diligently col- lected into his library all the available papers and has carefully

catalogued them for the information of future generations.

The war catalogue entries under the heading entitled "American

Expeditionar}^ Forces " alone fill 14: pages of the book. The publications of the Food Administration also make a list covering 14 pages

of double-column entries. The Food Administration publications,

as catalogued, range from display posters to war-time recipes and

even tissue-paper patterns of Hooverizecl clothes. All of these publications are listed in the catalogue according to alphabetical arrangement b}^ which it is possible to find the subject matter, the issuing

office, or the individual author of practically everything printed by

the United States Government during the World War.

3IECHAXICAL IMPE0VE3IEXTS EXTEXSnTE

The mechanical improvements in tlie Government Printing Office have of necessity kept pace with the great increase and betterment of

its production in the last fevs- 3'ears. This has been made possible

by the liberality of Congress, which increased the allowance for new

machinery and equipment from $100,000 to $200,000 annually for the

last five years, and also to the generous cooperation of the Joint Committee on Printing, which has helpfully supported the Public Printer

in ail his extensive undertakings for the rehabilitation of this great

industrial establishment.

With the changes that have been made in the last five years and

the plans that have been adopted for future improvements, the

Government Printing Office is assured of leadership not only as the

greatest printing works btit also as one of the most efficient and best

equipped manufacturing plants in the world.

The growth of the office may be seen in the addition of 84,133

square feet of floor space in the present buildings. This extra space

has been acquired by adding a stor^^ to the main building, by bridging over and filling in extensive court areas, erecting numerous

mezzanine floors, and roofing over large alleyways.

Besides there has recently been acquired through appropriation

by Congress a two-story brick structure adjoining the main building on the west, which is also providing temporary storage for considerable paper stock. For the additional property Congress, last session, appropriated $42,000, partly in settlement of an old claim

for damages in the erection of the main building of the Government Printing Office twenty-odd years ago. With these alterations and additional property the Government

Printing Office now has approximately 750,175 square feet, or over 17 acres, of floor space. PLAXS rOK EXTEXSIOX TO BUILDING

Congress has also provided further to relieve the present over- crowded condition of the office by authorizing the expenditure

of $1,250,000 for the immediate enlargement of the Governm.ent

Printing Office.
26 Annual Report of the Public Printer

A request for this additional fund was submitted by the Public

Printer to the Public Buildings Commission last spring, and its prompt approval was due to the great interest that Senator Smoot,

chairman of the commission, has always taken in the affairs of the

Government Printing Office. In fact, to him is due much credit

for the greatness of the present office, as he was the author of the

legislation in 1919 which requires that practically all Government

printing shall be done by the Government Printing Office. Prior

to that time the field services of the Government had had more than

a million dollars of printing done annually by independent or private

plants.

With the $1,250,000 building fund it is proposed to erect an eightstory addition to the main building, extending westward on G Street

about 112 feet. The new addition will replace the small building

recently acquired on G Street and the old boiler house, and will add

approximately 160,000 square feet of floor space to the printing plant.

To the new part will be moved all of the shops and offices now occu- pying the old building at the corner of North Capitol and H Streets,

thus lessening the danger of fire in that ancient structure. Although

the old building will continue to be a fire menace to the entire plant,

it may be used for less risky storage purposes until Congress feels able to replace it with an adequate fireproof building, as has been

repeatedly urged in the annual reports of the Public Printer.

In the new addition will be located the carpenter, machine, electrical, and pipe-fitting shops, the laboratories of the testing section,

and the office of the superintendent of construction and maintenance.

Considerable additional space will also be provided there for the

stores division and the Superintendent of Documents, as well as an

adequate garage for the delivery trucks.

Already $100,000 has been appropriated for the purchase of the

additional land required, and the Secretary of the Treasurj^ has

been authorized to enter into contracts for the entire estimated cost of the land and building, not exceeding $1,250,000 in all. Condemnation proceedings are under way for the necessary property,

which with the parcel already transferred will add approximate!}^

112 feet to the frontage of the Government Printing Office on G

Street and provide a total building length of 520 feet on that side. It is expected that the construction work can be completed within

the next two j^ears, which will give the Government Printing Office

by far the largest quarters of any printing w^orks in the world.

In addition to its 4,100 employees, the Government Printing Office

houses 1,325 machines, which are required to carry on the enormous work of the plant. Many of these machines have been installed or

replaced by more productive and modern equipment in the last six years. MAXY XEW PRESSES AND MACHINES

Among the more recent equipment are a score of new presses, including* the three big postal-card presses, two 64-page Congressional Record presses, two large offset presses, 48 of the latest model

of linotype machines, 50 90-em scale monotype keyboards, new

Ludlow type and rule casting machines, and numerous machines

for the bindery, platemaking, and new photo-engraving divisions.
Annual Report oj the Public Printer 27

The 128 monotype casting machines have been completely re- equipped Yrith electrically heated pots, greatly improving the conditions in that room, where the heat and the fumes of the old gas

pots had made working conditions almost unbearable. All of the

149 linotype machines have been equipped with automatic metal

feeders, likewise greatly improving their production.

The bindery has a new casemaking machine, which turns out 12,000

cloth book covers daily, as compared with 2.500 covers produced by

the old-type machines. A new perfect binding machine is just being

installed, which will also greatly speed up production of papercovered books. Several new style cutting machines have been added,

which will greatly facilitate this work. Faster folding machines are likewise doing their full share of the increased production : one new

type of a folder, in particular, doing more than double the work which

formerly kept two machines busy. A disk mling machine, equipped

for either roll or sheet stock and having an automatic cardboard inserter, has materially advanced the delivery of ruled work. Gumming and stripping machines have replaced slower hand operations

in the bindery.

In the platemaking division have been installed plate precision and

solidifying machines, a 3,000-ton lead molding press, a wax ruling

machine, more accurate plate beveling, shaving, and bending machines, as well as new stereotyping equipment.

Many automatic feeders have been added to the printing presses, with a reduction in five years of 45 in the number of persons employed at press feeding. Automatic humidifiers have been installed

to better the atmospheric condition of the pressrooms and overcome

static electricity troubles in the handling of paper.

An extensive production meter system has been connected with

many presses and bindery machines to verify their output and properly account for lost time.

All of these improvements have effected a decided increase in

production and assisted employees to earn their increased wages.

Every machine in the Government Printing Office has an individual motor drive, and many of them are also electrically heated.

Approximately 1,600 separate motors and 500 heating units are used for that purpose. This electrical equipment, including 7,500

lights for the entire plant, requires 5,000,000 kilowatt-hours of

electric energy annually.

POWER PLAXT EXTIRELY REEQUIPPED

Since the dismantling of the old steam-generating plant in 1924,

all the electric power and steam has been furnished this office by

the- big Capitol power plant, from which run two 3-wire high-tension

cables and two 8-inch steam pipes through a concrete tunnel a mile

and a half in length.

At the Government Printing Office a new substation has been

completely reequipped with three synchronous converters of 1,500

kilowatts each to convert the Capitol 25-cycle alternating current to the direct current required for the machine motors, all elevators,

conveyers, lighting, nine electrically driven pumps, the entire city

post office load, and numerous other power applications. All princir
28 Annual Report of the Public Printer

pal power equipment is duplicated to proAdde amply for any

emergency.

The power plant has a connected load of more than 6,000 kilowatts, but as the present demand is about 1,500 kilowatts, including

the city post office load, the plant capacity of 4,500 is ample. Alternating current for the four air compressors, refrigerating plant, and

certain heating units, including 128 monotj^pe casters, is handled

through the transformers, thus relieving the converters of a considerable load.

The reequipment of the substation was completed during the year, and the change from the old steam-power system has effected a

definite annual saving of approximately $95,000, including the lower

electricity cost, more economical pumping of water, recirculation of

cooling water, and the use of smaller compressors during the lighter

load periods. All of these specified savings have been instituted

during the past year. A complete system of recording meters has been applied to all the

principal services maintained by the power section. These instruments give a graphic record of each service for every hour of the day

and night, providing an invaluable check on the plant's operation.

Thus the Government Printing Office is kept in operation hj one

of the finest and most dependable power stations ever provided for a manufacturing plant, and has for its support the great power sta- tions of the Capitol and the navy yard, either of which can be called

upon for electric power at a moment's notice.

As before stated, all of the steam comes from the Capitol plant,

which supplied nearly 70,000,000 pounds of steam last year for the

48 miles of heating pipes in the Government Printing Office. CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE WORK

Practically all of the great amount of construction and mainte- nance work of the Government Printing Office for the last six years

has been done by its own construction and maintenance division consisting of 287 employees. The division has well-equipped machine,

carpenter, electrical, pipe, sheet metal, and paint shops in addition

to its power and sanitary sections.

The machine shop completed 41,097 jobs during the year, including many new installations and the repair and improvement of old

machines. It showed a saving of $9,139 for the year, including the

salvage of $2,104 of old material.

The electrical section handled 29,873 jobs, and together with the

machine section kept the 24 elevators in fit and safe condition to carry more than 4,000,000 passengers during the year, the daily

average being over 13,000 passengers. All elevator cables and

equipment are regularly inspected and tested to make sure of their

capacity for carrying the heavy loads necessary in handling the

work of the eight-story plant.

The pipe and sheet metal section contributed a worth-while saving

in making it possible to heat all the buildings on a pressure of not

exceeding 1% pounds, although pressure as high as 7 pounds formerly had to be carried, including both vacuum and gravity systems.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 29

In addition to having the care of all plumbing, ammonia, air, gas, pnemnatic tube, and drainage lines, this section also kept in condition 256,000 feet of heating pipes, including coils and radiators,

with a total heating surface of 94,200 square feet. It also effected a saving of 42,000,000 gallons of water by means of a new return system

for reuse of cooling water from the typesetting machines.

The carpenter and paint shop had 13,561 jobs to its credit for the

year, including many large pieces of office furniture and equipment,

such as 37 cabinets, 21 proof desks, 28 large galley racks, and 43

worktables. The carpenter shop utilized 338,820 board feet of

limiber from old packing boxes in the making of postal card boxes

and various fixtures, the new lumber for which would have cost $21,223.

SUPPLIES MADE FOR DEPARTMENTS

In addition to its routine work of printing and bookbinding the

Government Printing Office has become a large manufacturing

plant and supply house for the furnishing of paper and various

printing materials to other branches of the Government service. This office is equipped to produce practically every material re- quired in printing and binding, with the exception of paper and

cloth. Even as to paper and book coverings the Government

Printing Office, with its own large requirements, is in position to purchase these materials for other Government establishments more

economically and satisfactorily than it is possible to have done

otherwise.

For the last three years, under authority which the Public

Printer obtained from Congress, the Government Printing Office has been supplying the departments and Government services in

Washington with blank paper and also such envelopes as are not

printed in the course of manufacture. This centralization of paper

purchases has resulted in a substantial saving, and has provided the

various branches of the Government service with better and more

uniform paper at less cost than was possible under the old system of

individual purchases and inspection.

Last year the Government Printing Office furnished the departments and other Government services 5,250,000 pounds of blank paper

at a cost of $447,468.43. The paper was bought under the annual

contracts awarded by the Joint Committee on Printing for the Government Printing Office. These contracts gave the departments the

advantage of the lower prices obtainable for the larger and more

definite quantities thus purchased through a central office. All of this paper was bought on definite and uniform specifications,

and the deliveries were tested by the experts at the Government

Printing Office, thus insuring paper of the quality required by the

contracts. The Government Printing Office was also able to store larger quantities of paper and thus meet the requirements of the

departments for more prompt^ filling their orders. Tons of blank

pajDer are bought in rolls or large sheets and cut and wrapped by the

Government Printing Office to meet the sizes and quantities desired

by the departments.
30 Annual Report of the Public Printer

The fact that the Government Printing Office itself uses approximately 40,000,000 pounds of paper annuall}'' and that it has a complete organization for the purchase, inspection, testing, and storage

of such a great stock explains why this office can handle the paper

business much better than any other branch of the Government

service. The success of this undertaking fully justifies the action of

Congress in centralizing the procurement of paper for the various

branches of the Government.

SUPPLIES AUTHOPtlZED BY CONGRESS

On the recommendation of the Public Printer, Congress has also

authorized the Government Printing Office to furnish the departments and establishments of the Government with inks, glues, and

other supplies manufactured in connection with the work of this

office. Such a suggestion was submitted in the Annual Report of

the Public Printer for 1925 and was strongly supported by the

Director of the Bureau of the Budget, to whom it appealed as a thoroughly practical business proposition. Congress accordingly

enacted into the law approved May 13, 1926 (Public Act 222, 69th

Cong.), the following provision, which the Public Printer had submitted in his appropriation estimates for the fiscal year

:

Provided, That inks, glues, and other supplies manufactured by the Govern- ment Printing Office in connection with its work may be furnished to depart- ments and other establishments of the Government upon requisition, and

payment made from appropriations available therefor. This new activity of the Government Printing Office has been in

operation only since July 1, 1926, but the marked success of the past

six months has already justified the undertaking. The supplies furnished thus far have been confined mostly to inks, which the office was able to produce immediately with the equipment available for

the manufacture of its own printing inks and with the assistance of

its industrial laboratory.

From July 1, 1926, to January 1, 1^27, the Government Printing

Office furnished the departments with 6,579 pounds of printing inks

of various kinds, mostly mimeograph inks. Besides, 1,556 quarts

of writing inks and more than a ton of paste and glue have been

made for the Government services. Most of this work has been done

since September 1, 1926, which gives some idea of the quantity of the

supplies required at the very outset. Not only are the supplies made by the Government Printing Office

of a quality fully equal to those heretofore obtained by contract, but

the lesser cost is also greatly to the benefit of the Government.

COMPARISON \VITH CONTRACT INK PRICES

The following comparison of the prices charged by the Government Printing Office and the current contract prices, Jufy 1, 1926,

of the General Supply Committee for similar supplies now furnished

by this office shows the substantial economy that has resulted from

the new procedure, the Government charges being from a half to less than a third of the prices charged by the private contractors

:
Annual Report of the Public Printer 31

Material Government Printing

Office price General Supply price, 192&-27

Mimeograph ink, in 1-pound cans... Multigi-aph ink, black, in 1-pound cans Numbering-machine ink, blue, red, or black Black addressograph ink for use on metal stencils, also suitable for sensitized check paper, in 1-pound cans. Blue multigraph ink, in 1-pound cans Standard blue-black writing ink for fountain-pen and

general office use. Red wiiting ink

$0.60 per pound

$0.30 or $0.55 per pound.

$1.25 per pound in J^-pound cans.

$1 per pound

$0.6* per pound

$0.48 per gallon, with- out bottles. $0.20 per gallon, with- out bottles.

$] .50 per pound.

$1.30 per pound.

$4.31 per pound in 1-ounce bottles. $2.73 per pound.

$2.25 per pound.

$0.87 or $1.05 per gallon

in quart bottles. $0.93 or $1.07 per gallon

in pint bottles. In line with the new plan for the technical control and testing of

all materials produced or used b}^ the Government Printing Office,

its ink plant has been placed under the supervision of the testing

laboratory section. The ink-making equipment has been much improved with the addition of a new three-roll mill and the change of

other machinery. More careful attention has been given to the

making of the inks.

During the year the mills made 118,061 pounds of inks for the use

of the presses of this office. Black ink for book and job printing

constituted the bulk of the product, but, in all, 75 different kinds of

inks were made during the year. Success was attained also in the development of several special inks

to meet the peculiar requirements of a number of services, including

indelible inks for use on Government checks, precanceling postage

stamps, and stamping passports.

An extensive investigation was made of inks for ruling machines

to determine their permanency and proper use. The report of the

chief of tests contains valuable formulae and suggestions on this

subject, which have been of much service to the office. The new ink control system has also resulted in a material reduction in waste inks returned by the pressrooms. The amount of

waste inks returned was reduced 20 per cent for the year, due to better handling and more careful cleaning out of the ink from the

cans. The production of glues and pastes, which are required in large

quantities for the bindery, has also been placed under the supervision of the testing section which has developed several excellent

formulae for this material and also devised better methods of

handling.

The report of the chief of tests furnishes some valuable details

concerning the investigational work with glues in cooperation with

the National Association of Glue Manufacturers.

Special adhesives were also developed for use on the State Department passports and for the Treasurer of the United States on signature papers. These adhesives have proved highly satisfactory.

TECHXICAL COXTROL OF TYPE METALS

Much of the time of the testing section during the year has been

occupied with the new system established for the technical control

16710—27 3
32 Annual Report of the Public Printer

of all type metals used by the Government Printing Office and the

correction of the old metal in harmony with the new standard

« formulse.

The metal room, which remelts and alloys 10 to 15 tons of plate

and type metals daily, was placed under the technical supervision of

the chief of tests. A new^ 5-ton pot was added to the metal-room

equipment. This pot is provided with mechanical agitators, thermostatic control, and devices fpr pouring the metal into water-cooled

molds. The pigs of metal from the water-cooled molds are of closer texture than those from the air-cooled molds. A pyrometer was also

installed which registers the temperature of each of the four pots in

use. Definite rules have been adopted for the treatment of all the

metals so as to insure standard and uniform quality.

Metal work for the year included the melting and conditioning

of 7,843,448 pounds of old linotype, monotype, and stereotype metaL

The linotype metal was found to contain too high a percentage of

tin; by the addition of lead, the total quantity of linotype metal was increased nearly 7 per cent at the lower cost of the lead. Both the linotype and monotype metals had acquired excessive quantities of copper and other foreign substances, which seriously impeded the production of the casting machines. The removal of these

foreign substances has greatly im^^roved the quality of the type for

plating and printing purposes. A full statement of this work is submitted in the report of the chief of tests. PAPER TESTING AND STANDARDIZATION

Paper testing continues, however, to be the principal task of the

technical laboratory. During the jqslt, 4,397 samples of paper and

paper products were tested for compliance with the standard specifications. Paper manufacturers have so carefully complied with the

Government requirements that only 171 rejections were necessary

during the year. There has also been cordial cooperation with the paper manufacturers in the work which the testing section has undertaken on

behalf of the Government and with the United Typothetse of America

in the preparation of standard specifications and grades of bond

and ledger papers. These tentative grades have already been adopted

by the Joint Committee on Printing for GoA^ernment bond and

ledger papers, and it is expected that commercial printers will soon adopt similar specifications and grades for their own use. Another forward step in the Government purchase of paper was

the adoption of the 1,000-sheet count instead of the old 480 and 500

sheet ream method of expressing the weight and quantities of paper.

The new count has been in effect during the year and has proven

entirely practical and much simpler in application to paper quantities. The United Typothetse of America and the Writing Paper

Manufacturers' Association have also recently entered into an

agreement to adopt the 1,000-sheet count, and the same count has

been established in England.

Various kinds of paper will thus soon be universally known by

the weight of 1,000 sheets instead of by the weight of the old 500-

sheet ream, which simply means doubling the formerly designated
Annual Report oj the Public Printer 33

weight; for example, a 20-poiind bond paper will be called a 40-

pound paper in the l.OOO-sheer count. This does not involve any

change in the actual substance of the paper, as old standard 20-pound

bond paper will continue to have the same substance, but will be

exj)ressed as iO-pound paper on the basis of the 1,000-sheet count,

instead of as 20-pound paper for the old 500-sheet ream. The ream

of 500 sheets is thus abolished and the weight or substance of paperdetermined by the weight of 1,000 sheets. In connection with its paper investigation, the testing section has

made an extended study of atmospheric conditions in printing plants

and paper mills, and has also inquired into the moisture content

of paper. Humidifiers have been installed in one of the large press rooms of the Govermnent Printing Office with considerable success

in eliminating static electricity which makes paper diffictilt to handle

at certain seasons of the year. However, proper humidity control

and the regulation of moisture and heat, which affect the dimensions

of paper and its registry on the press, are big problems which remain,

to be solved, but the Government Printing Office is doing its share

in an effort to find the real answer, as shown by the report of the

chief of tests submitted herein.

TRAIXIXG OF APPRENTICES A SUCCESS

It is also very gratifying to call attention again to the excellent

work that is being done by the Government Printing Office in the

training of apprentices for the various trades. This innovation has

been in progress for the last four years, and recently, for the first time in nearly 40 3^ears, the Government Printing Office was able to

fill journeymen positions with qualified apprentices of its own

training.

Twenty of the 200 apprentices have satisfactorily completed the

required four years' course of training and have been promoted to journeymen in their respective trades, 16 as printers, 2 as electrotypers. 1 as a stereotyper, and 1 as a machinist. Five of the apprentices who recently finished their training as printers are among the

best linotype operators in the office, one of them having an average

of more than 5.000 ems per hour. One is rendering satisfactory

service as an estimator and another as a computer.

In addition to assuring the Government Printing Office a steady

supply of well-trained craftsmen, the apprentice section is helping

materially in the production work of the office. During the year

the 174 printer apprentices set up 87.416.700 ems of live matter, including the composition and making-up for 2,825 pages of various

Government publications, a large portion being scientific and technical papers. The printer apprentices were also accredited during:

the year with 194,448 hours of productive labor, such as copyholding,,

imposing, proof reading, assembling, and correcting proof-read

matter. Recently 16 apprentices detailed to the patents section assembled

the Annual Index of Patents, consisting of 1,922 pages, in 10 days^

which was 1 day less than required by the same number of apprentices to handle 62 pages less of the index the preceding year..
34 Annual Report of the Public Printer

Two years ago 16 journeymen printers took 11 days to handle the

patent index, which was 192 pages less than the index for the present

year. The apprentice section likewise has in training 10 young men as bookbinders, 6 as electrotypers, 3 as stereotypers, 3 as photo-engravers,

and several others as pressmen and machinists. During the year

these apprentices rendered 45,825 hours of productive labor while

under instruction.

The training of apprentices by the Government Printing Office

has been accepted by the Civil Service Commission and the trade

unions as properly qualifying those w^ho have completed the course

for designation as full-fledged journeymen. On completion of their

training, apprentices are given certificates by the Government Printing Office that they are qualified for their respective trades and

entitled to work as journeymen in the Government Printing Office

without further civil-service examination.

Among the apprentices are several World War veterans, who are given adequate training in their chosen trades, thereby qualifying

them as skilled craftsmen better than any other vocational school

has been able to do. In fact, from experience with vocational

trainees, the Government Printing Office has given the war veterans

the only adequate training that has been provided for them in the

printing trades. The Public Printer does not hesitate to assert that

the Government Printing Office is now the best place in the United

States for a young man to receive proper training in any of the

printing trades under ideal environments and with excellent prospects for permanent employment at fair wages and reasonable hours

of service.

RETIREMENT OF PROOF READERS AND OPERATIVES

When the Annual Eeport of the Public Printer for 1925 was

submitted to Congress under date of December 31, 1925, there was

pending before the Secretary of the Interior an appeal by the Public

Printer from the decision of the Civil Service Commission holding

that proof readers, copyholders, and bindery operatives employed in

the Government Printing Office are not mechanics and therefore not

subject to retirement at 65 years of age under the provisions of the

civil service retirement act of 1920.

The details of the controversy with the Civil Service Commission

and the appeal to the Secretary of the Interior were fully discussed

in the Public Printer's report for 1925 and need not now be further

reviewed, especially in view of the fact that Congress subsequently

settled the matter to the entire satisfaction of the Public Printer by

enacting legislation which superseded the decisions of the Civil

Service Commission and the Department of the Interior and sus- tained the opinion of the Public Printer.

To complete the record it should be stated, however, that Assistant

Secretary of the Interior Edwards, under date of February 27, 1926,

handed down a decision denying the petition of the Public Printer

and upholding the ruling of the Civil Service Commission that proof

readers and copyholders are not mechanics and are therefore retir-
Annual Report of the Public Printer 35

able at the age of TO. the same as Government clerks. As to the

status of bindery operatives, the Edwards' decision apparently sus- tained the views of the Public Printer by holding that practically

all operatives, except' those engaged in handwork, are retirable as mechanics at the age of 65. The Civil Service Commission continued, however, to question the Public Printer's classification of all bindery operatives as mechanics. The commission discriminated

against those who did not happen to be using tools or machinery at the time tKey reached the age of 65. Therefore, the Public Printer,

in accordance with the statement in his appeal to the Secretary of

the Interior, promptly recommended to Congress that the retirement

law be amended so as'^to correct the injustice done the proof readers,

copyholders, and bindery operatives of the Government Printing

Office by the decisions of the Civil Service Commission and the

Department of the Interior.

COXGEESS ADOPTS PUBLIC PRINTER'S PROPOSAL

Fortunately. Congress was considering a new retirement bill at the time, and the Public Printer and a committee of employees rep- resenting the trades affected were accorded a hearing by the House

Committee on the Civil Service. That committee included in the

pending retirement bill the following provision as proposed on behalf of the Government Printing Office

:

Provided further, Tliot the term ••mechanics" ns used in this act shall include all employees in the Government Printing Office whose duties are to

supervise, perform, or assist in apprentice, helper, or journeyman work of a

recognized trade or craft, as determined by the Public Printer. A similar provision was inserted by the Senate committee in its retirement bill. The bill, with the Government Printing Office provision, was passed by the House, but the Senate, due to a misunderstanding of the proposition, struck out the provision when the bill was

considered by that body. However, the provision was restored to the bill in conference, due to the interest of Chairman Lehlbach and

Representative Addison T. Smith of the House committee, and Senator Stanfield of the Senate committee, to whom the Government

Printing Office feels especially grateful. The provision thus became

law in the new retirement act approved July 3, 1926. Accordingly, the Public Printer notified the Civil Service Commission of his decision to designate the following classes of employees as mechanics for the purpose of making them eligible to

retire at the age of 65

:

All employees heretofore designated as mechanics within the retirement act of May 22, 1920. Proof readers and copyholders.

All bindery operatives. All other employees who supervise, perform, or assist in apprentice, helper, or journeyman work of a recognized trade or craft in the Government

Printing Office. Thus were opportunely overcome the decisions of the Civil Service

Commission, which had done a grave injustice to more than 760

proof readers and bindery operatives in the Government Printing

Office and had for many months seriously disturbed their morale.
36 Annual Report of the Public Printer

The action of Congress definitely restores tlie Government Printing

Office to its real status as a manufacturing plant,' and entitles it to considerations different from the ordinary rules that apply to the

clerical establishments of the Government.

EMPLOYEES GRANTED INCREASED WAGES

In accordance with the Kiess Act of 1924, by which Congress

granted the trades employed in the Government Printing* Office the

right to propose readjustments of their wages not oftener than once a year, committees representing various groups of employees submitted requests for further increases after the expiration of the year

of the first settlement under the collective bargaining act. Their

claims for more pay were based upon the higher cost of living, the

general advance of wages elsewhere in the printing trades, and the

increased efficiency of the employees of the Government Printing

Office, which, it was argued, had more than offset the wage increase

of approximately $900,000 granted in 1924.

After conferences extending over several months, during which

time a thorough investigation was made of every phase of the wage

question and consideration was given to the special advantages of

Government employment, the Public Printer came to the conclusion

that most of the employees of the Government Printing Office were

justly entitled to increases of pay, but not to the extent originally

requested by their committees.

The new wage scales proposed by the Public Printer were thereupon agreed to by all the respective committees of the trades affected,

and these agreements were promptly approved by the Joint Committee on Printing. Accordingly, the Ptiblic Printer, in order to be

fair and just to all alike, macle proportionate readjustments in the

pay of many other employees and officers whose compensation is not

subject to negotiation or to the classification act. The recent increases will add approximately $542,000 to the annual

.pay roll and bring the total yearly labor cost, not including the

documents office, up to approximately. $8,000,000, which is about twothirds of the entire expenditures of the Government Printing Office for a year. The increase affects approximately 3,700 employees and

adds nearly 7% per cent to their annual earnings.

The higher wages have increased the total cost of printing and

binding by about 4 per cent, but it is expected that the greater production and new economies will absorb fully half of the increased

labor cost. Therefore, an advance of only 2 per cent on an average

has been made in the charges for printing and binding for the current

year. Some items, such as composition charges, have had to be in- creased more, but the general average is only 2 per cent higher than

for the preceding year. In fact, notwithstanding the increases have

added to the pay rolls of six years ago approximately $2,500,000,

including the transfer by Congress of the $900,000 annual bonus to

a. wage charge, the present scale of prices for printing and binding

averages only 6 per cent more than the cost in 1921.

The growing costs have been held within these moderate bounds

by the better equipment and more efficient operation of the plant
Annual Report of the Public Printer 37

in all its various divisions. The Government, as well as the employees, has been benefited by the better production of the better-paid

personnel.

WAGES BASED OX EMPLOYEES' WORK

The new wage agreements established more definitely the principle

of pay based on ability and production, rather than on fiat rates. The agreements sustain the Public Printer's contention for this

change as first adopted in the negotiations of 1924. Employees have

generally come to appreciate the personal advantage of being per- mitted to earn according to their ability instead of being paid a flat rate regardless of their individual efforts. The earnings of a large number of employees have been increased

b}' many thousands of dollars, and the work of the office has been

expedited by the increased production. This is notably true in the

case of linotype and monotype operators, whose production averages

increased about 1,000 and 2,000 ems an hour per operator, respectively, since the sliding scale of pay was adopted. At present 38 out

of 169 regular linotype operators and 51 out of 80 regular monotype

operators are earning the top rate. The printers' new wage scale provides three rates for composing

machine operators, based on production, quality, and other efficiency

factors; and also separate rates for hand compositors and proof

readers.

The pressmen voluntarily^ negotiated their wages in separate

groups, and different rates were agreed upon for web, cylinder, and

j)laten pressmen. Press feeders were placed in two groups, cylinder and platen, at different rates. Two rates of pay were accepted by the bookbinders for handmen

and machine operators, and 10 grades were established for bindery

operatives not skilled as bookbinders.

Stereotypers, electrotype molders, and electrotype finishers are

classed separately, but incidentally receive the same rate of pay in

the present agreement.

RATES or PAY OF PRINCIPAL GROUPS

The following table shows the rates of pay for the principal

groups employed in the Government Printing Office for the vears

1921, 1924, and 1926, the wages for 1924 and 1926 having been fixed

by negotiation with the trades affected according to the provisions of

the Kiess collective bargaining act

:

1921 1924 1924 1026 Occupation (includes (Kiess (Public (Public bonus) Act) Printer) Printer)

Compositor $0. 85 $0. 90 $0. 95 $1. 00-$l. 05 Copy editor. _ ... .. . .85 .90 1.05 1.10 Linotype operator .85 .90 1. 00-1. 05 1. 05-1. 10-1. 15 Maker-up

.

. .85 .90 1.00 1. 10 Monotype keyboard operator. . . .- .85 .90

.90 1. 00-1. 05 1. 05-1. 10-1. 15 Press reviser. .95 1.05 1.10 Imposer .85 .90 1. 00 1. 10 Proofreader .85 .90 1.00 1.10 Referee .90 .90 1.05 1. 10
38 Annual Report of the Public Printer

1921 1924 1924 1926 Occupation (includes (Kiess (Public (Public bonus) Act) Printer) Printer)

Caster helper. $0. 60 $0.60 $0. 65 $0.70 Bookbinder... .85 .90 .95 1.00 Bookbinder machine operator .85 .90 1.00 1.05 Marbler... . . .85 .90 1.00 1.05 Folding machine operator . .70 .85 . 95-1. 00 . 95-1. 00 Bindery operator (supervisor) .65 .65 .65 .75 Type machinist .90 .90 1.05 1. 10 Pressman, platen. . .. .85 .90 .95 1. 00 Pressman, cylinder .. .85 .90 1. 00 1.05 Head pressman . . .90 .95 1.05 1. 10-1. 15 Roller maker .90 .95 1. 05 1.15 Ink maker.. .. .90 .95 1. 05 1. 15 Press feeder, platen .55 .55 .60 .65 Press feeder, cylinder .55 .60 .65 .70 Postal-card bander... .55 .60 .65 .70 Electrotype finisher .90 1.00 1. 05 1. 10 Electrotype molder .90 1.00 1.05 1. 10 Stereotyper .90 1.00 1.05 1.10 Photo-engraver 1.05 1. 10 1. 15 1.20 Metal mixer in charge . .. .90 .90 1.00 1.05 Carpenter .85 .95 1.05 1. 10 Blacksmith. . . . .80 .90 .95 1.00 Electrician ..... . . . . . .. .90 .90 1. 05 1.10 Machinist .90 .90 1. 05 1. 10 Knife grinder .80 .80 .90 .95 Painter... .85 .90 1.05 1. 10 Pipefitter .85 .90 1. 05 1. 10 Sheet-metalworker . .85 . 90 1. 05 1. 10 Saw filer .90 .95 1.05 1. 10 Skilled laborers . .45 .45 .50 .55 Messenger boy. . .30 .30 .30 .30 Elevator conductor.. ^ .50 . 50-. 55 . 50-. 55 . 55-. 60

1 1923. In acidition to the above wages, the special rates of 15 per cent extra for night work, 50 per cent extra for overtime and Sunday

work, and double time and a half for holiday work have been

continued. The wage agreements with all the trades except the

stereotypers, electrotypers, and photo-engravers run for two years

from the date signed in 1926. The excepted trades agreed upon a

scale for not less than one year. Negotiations with the printers required more time than any other

trade, inasmuch as they are the largest group in the office, numbering

about 1,000 journeymen, of whom more than 95 per cent are members of the typographical union.

The various printing sections in the office elected a committee of

13 employees to confer with the Public Printer. After several

meetings with the committee the rates proposed by the Public

Printer were unanimously agreed to, although somewhat less in

total than the scale requested by the committee.

EXPLANATION OF PRINTERS' WAGE INCREASE

In submitting the printers' wage scale to the Joint Committee

on Printing for its approval, the Public Printer filed the following

statement under date of June 23, 1926:

In accordance with the provisions of "An act to regulate and fix rates of pay for employees and oflacers of the Government Printing Office" (Stat. L.

43, p. 658), I have the honor to report that the Public Printer and the committee representing journeymen printers employed in the day and night hand,

monotype, linotype, patents, proof, job, and library sections of the Government
Annual Report of the Public Printer 39

Printing OflBce have agreed upon the following rates of pay and compensation

to be paid the trades affected in the Government Printing Office and respectfully recommend that the same be approved by the Joint Committee on

Printing

:

Per hour Hand compositors $1. 05 Provided that emergency, probational, and reinstated compositors

shall be paid $1 per hour until such time as the Public Printer may decide that they are entitled to $1.05 per hour, and regular

compositors whose ratings are below the standard required by

the Public Printer shall be paid $1 per hour as long as their services are needed. Imposers and makers-up 1. 10 Proof readers and copy editors 1. 10 Emergency, probationary, and reinstated linotype operators and monotype-keyboard operators 1. 05 Provided that the pay of such operators may be adjusted to the pay

hereinafter provided for regular operators whenever their ratings, as determined by the Public Printer, shall justify.

Regular linotype operators and monotype-keyboard operators 1. 10 Provided that individual operators whose ratings are below or above

the standard required by the Public Printer shall be paid $1.05 or $1.15 per hour, respectively.

The rates of pay for journeymen printers not included in the foregoing scale

shall be determined by the Public Printer, but shall not in any instance be less than the rate provided for hand compositors.

The existing rates of pay and regulations for night, Sunday, holiday, and

overtime work and the rules for up-and-down rating for temporary changes

shall continue. The foregoing rates of pay, if agreed to and approved by the Joint Committee on Printing, shall become effective on July 1, 1926, and shall continue in

full force and effect for not Ic ss than two years thereafter and until other rates

of pay may be approved by the Joint Committee on Printing as provided by law. Nothing in this agreement shall prevent the Public Printer from discharging

any employee on account of necessary reduction of the force or for other causes, as provided by the civil service rules and regulations. Promotions, demotions,

transfers, and temporary assignments may be made as heretofore. The Public Printer reserves the right to determine the standards of efficiency

and the ratings of employees affected by this agreement and to adopt such

regulations as he may deem necessary to apply to same. AGEEEMEXT SIGXED BY ENTIRE COMMITTEE

A copy of the foregoing agreement signed by the Public Printer and every member of the committee representing the printer employees of the Government

Printing Office is inclosed herewith. The agreement was reached after numerous conferences and exchanges of counterproposals between the Public Printer and the committee of printer

employees. The wage negotiation was opened by the committee of printer employees, who under date of February 8, 1926, submitted the following request

for a new wage scale with a brief in support of their proposal, a copy of which

is inclosed herewith

:

" That all printers, linotype operators, monotype operators, makers-up, proof

readers, imposers, job and hand compositor's (the producing trades) employed

in the Government Printing Office be paid at the rate of $1.10 per hour, besides

restoring the 20 per cent additional for night work, a custom which had pre- vailed for many years in the office." The proposal as first submitted by the committee would, if adopted, have

required an annual wage increase for printers alone of approximately $300,000

;

and if the same rate of increase (IOV2 per cent) was to be accorded all other employees, it would add approximately $776,000 to the annual wage expenditure of this office. Such an increase would seriously embarrass the printing

appropriations for Congress and the departments for the fiscal year 1927. The

increase as finally agreed upon with the committee is approximately 9 per cent

for printer employees and, if approved, will add about $210,000 to the annual

16710—27 4
40 Annual Report oj the Public Printer

wages of 935 printer employees, a reduction of about $90,000 from the amount

originally requested by the committee. The agreement proposes an increase of 10 cents an hour for 730 printer employees and an increase of 5 cents an hour

for 225. The following table shows the present wage and the proposed wage for the

printer employees effected by this agreement

:

Hand compositors.. Imposers and makers-up

Proof readers Copy editors Emergency, probational, and reinstated linotype and monotype keyboard

operators Regular linotype and monotype keyboard operators

SLIDING SCALE FOR MACHINE OPERATORS

Attention is invited to the fact that the proposed wage agreement continues

the present sliding scale for the compensation of typesetting machine operators

according to their efficiency and production averages. This complies with the

policy heretofore adopted by the Joint Committee on Printing. It may be of

interest to the Joint Committee on Printing to know that the several rates of pay for operators, as adopted in 1924, have resulted in a material increase in machine composition. The average for linotype operators for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1924 (shortly before the adoption of the sliding scale), was

3,715 ems per hour. The average for linotype operators for the fiscal year

1925 was increased to 4,171 ems per hour, and for the 10 months of the fiscal year 1926 to 4,503 ems per hour, with an average of 4,723 ems per hour for the month of April, 1926. The average of monotype keyboard operators for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1924, was 5,048 ems per hour. For the fiscal year 1925, the monotype operators increased their average to 5,772 ems per

hour. Their average for the 10 months of the fiscal year 1926 was 6,324 ems

per hour, with an average of 6,130 for the month of April, 1926. In arriving at this agreement, careful consideration was given to the rates paid in commercial offices, both newspaper and book and job offices, in cities comparable with Washington. I am of the opinion that the rates proposed

are fully justified by the pay of printers elsewhere and are necessary to attract and retain mechanics of the high grade required for Government printing. The

rates proposed for the Government Printing Office range from $48 to $55.20 per week for printers employed on day work, and from $55.20 to $63.36 per week for printers employed on night work. Only a comparatively small number of printers will earn the maximum rates. For comparison with the proposed rates for the Government Printing Office, I cite the following minimum day scales for book and job offices in several

cities : San Francisco, hand and machine men, $51 : Chicago, hand men, $51,

machine men, $52.40 ; Detroit, hand men, $48.40, machine men, $50.60 ; Jersey

City,^ hand and machine men, $53 ; Newark, hand and machine men, $56 ; New

York City, hand and machine men, $54; and Cincinnati, hand and machine

men, $50. In Chicago, a new wage agreement is under consideration, and the employing printers have offered a scale ranging from S54 to $56 per week for day work, and $58 to $60 per week for night work. COMPARISON WITH COMMERCIAL OFFICES Although the Government Printing Office can not be compared to a news- paper office, being devoted largely to book and job work, it is proper to give some consideration to the scale paid by Washington newspaper offices, inas- much as the Government office comes directly into competition with the local newspaper offices for the supply of printers, especially linotype machine operators. Therefore I invite attention to the recent material increase in the scale

Present

rate per hour

Proposed

rate per hour

$0. 95 1.00 1.00

1.05

/$1. 00

t 1.05 1.10 1.10

1. 10 /LOO

11.05 1.05

}

1.05

fl.05 n.io

[1. 15
Annual Report of the Public Printer 41

of pay for printers employed on Washington newspapers, who were granted a

rate of 854 per week for day work and §60 per week for night work on the

basis of a seven-hour day. The local newspaper rate is accordingly $1.28 Vr

per hour for day work and S1.42V7 per hour for night work.

The increase previously granted the printer employees of the Government

Printing Office with the approval of the Joint Committee on Printing, under

date of October 27. 1924. has been reflected in a material increase in the pro- duction of this office, which I believe has fully compensated the Government for

the increased wage expenditure. I am also of the opinion that the further

increase proposed at this time will likewise bring about even better production

and that The best interest of the Government has been regarded in this agree- ment, which likewise does full justice to the employees. I therefore recom- mend that the agreement be approved by the Joint Committee on Printing.

Yotir attention is especially invited to the provision that the wage agreement

shall continue in effect for at least two years from and after July 1, 1926,

The proposed agreement continues in effect the night rate of 15 per cent

instead of the 20 per cent rate which had obtained for many years prior to the agreement of 1924 and which the committee of employees had requested should

be restored. The proposed agreement also continues the present rate of 50

per cent extra for Sunday, holiday, and overtime work.

EEGULATIOXS GOVERXIXG RATES OF PAY

The agreement with the printers was approved by the Joint Committee on Printing on June 28, 1926. and became effective July

1. 1926. for a period of not less than two years. In accordance with

the agreement the Public Printer issued the following regulations

governing the rates of pay for hand compositors and typesettingmachine operators in the Government Printing Office

:

TYPESETTING-MACHINE OPEKATORS

1. Operators' quantify ratings.—These ratings will be based on the number

of ems of measurable composition set per hour, under the rules for type measurement stated in paragraph 8. Ems set on time will not enter into quantity

rating. These ratings will be as follows

:

Quantity rating Linotype Monotype

69 or under ... ' Ems per hour

Less than 3,700 Evis per hour

Less than 4,900. 4,900 to 5,600. 5,600 to 7.000. 7,000 and over.

70 to 74, inclusive 3,700 to 4,000

75 to 94, inclusive. . . . ... ... 4,000 to 5,000 95 and over o.OGO and over

2. Operators' efficiency ratings.—To determine the efficiency of operators and

fix their rates of pay, there shall be deducted from quantity ratings any debits which may be charged for a poor quality of work as shown by proofs of measurable composition or by any other efficiency factor. Proper credits may be

allowed for special ciuality and kind of composition.

3. Rates of pay for operators.—(a) Operators with an efficiency rating of

69 or under (compiled as described in paragraphs 2 and 8j shall be deemed

inefficient and will be dropped or assigned to other work if available.

(&,» Operators with efficiency ratings of 70 to 74, inclusive, will be retained on machines as long as their services may be needed or there are prospects for improvement, and paid .S1.05 per hour.

(c) Operators with efficiency ratings of 75 to 94, inclusive, will be paid $1.10- per hour.

i d ) Operators with efficiency ratings of 95 or over will be paid $1.15 per hour,

4. All records of averages and ratings shall be compiled monthly and semi- annually (January 1 and July 1). and compensation will be adjusted only at

the beginning of first turn-in for each semiannual period, excepting that emergency, probationary, and reinstated operators shall be eligible for a change

in rate as soon as they demonstrate the required ability.
42 Annual Report of the Public Printer

5. Quantity ratings of regular operators will be based on not less than six months' measurable machine composition, and will be made up of monthly totals only, and include the last working day of the period. If an operator's measurable composition time does not approximate 500 hours in six months, one or more preceding months will be added to attain at least that number of hours

for rating purposes. If an operator has not sufficient machine time or measurable composition work to his credit for a proper rating, his pay will continue

unchanged until a rating is possible under these regulations.

5a. An emergency, probationary, or reinstated operator may be increased to $1.10 per hour after three months and not less than 250 hours on measurable

machine composition if his accumulated production average for such period is 4,000 or more ems per hour on the linotype, or 5,600 or more ems per hour on the monotype, and his efficiency rating meets requirement. Such operator may

be increased to $1.15 per hour after not less than 500 hours if his accumulated

production average is 5,000 ems or more per hour on linotype, or 7,000 ems or more per hour on monotype, and his efficiency rating meets requirement.

5b. Averages shall include the full calendar month in which the required

number of hours may be completed, and rates of pay will be adjusted at the beginning of the next turn-in and continue until otherwise readjusted as pro- vided in these regulations.

6. Copy which in fairness to the operator and to the office should not enter

into an operator's average will be set on time. Time-work will be assigned

to operators having an efficiency rating of 75 or over, and will be rated principally for quality, but due consideration will also be given for quantity, accord- ing to the nature of copy.

7. Any operator going from time-work to measurable composition work, or

vice versa, will be paid the rate received by him at time of change until close of current rating period, at which time his semiannual efficiency rating wall determine the rate of pay.

8. In order to equalize ratings of operators engaged on various classes of composition, the following rule will apply to measurement of output : Add 10 per cent to face measurement of patent specifications ; deduct 20 per cent from

face measurement of Patent Gazette ; add 50 per cent to face measurement of matter classed by the Public Printer as technical or slow ; add 100 per cent

to face measurement of tabular matter. The basis for measurement (single, one and one-half, or double) will be stamped on all folios of copy except

patent specifications, Patent Gazette, and ordinary straight matter. The

Public Printer reserves the right to make other adjustments in the basis for ratings whenever the work justifies.

9. Cumulated quantity averages and efficiency ratings of all operators, in- cluding the ratings of those engaged on time-work, will be posted at the close of each semiannual period for the information of those concerned.

10. If an operator is deemed inefficient or not up to the required standard,

nothing in these regulations shall be construed as conferring a right to six months" trial for the purpose of obtaining a rating.

11. If an operator is separated from the service during the first turn-in of a

rating period, and his rate per hour for that period has not been posted, his

pay-roll account will be computed at his rate for the previous six-month period.

HAND COMPOSITORS

12. Emergency, probationary, and reinstated hand compositors shall be paid

$1 per hour until such time as the Public Printer may decide they are entitled

to $1.05 per hour.

13. All hand compositors will be rated on their general efficiency and accord- ing to the class of work performed. The rates of pay will be as follows

:

(a) Hand compositors with efficiency ratings of 69 or less will be dropped.

( b ) Hand compositors with efficiency ratings of 70 to 74, inclusive, will be paid $1 per hour and be retained as long as their services may be required or there is prospect for improvement.

(c) Hand compositors with efficiency ratings of 75 or over will be paid $1.05 per hour. All hand compositors, except those included in paragraph 12, will be paid $1.05 per nour until such time as their individual ratings shall require otherwise.

14. These regulations are subject to revision from time to time as the interest of the service may demand.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 43

TOTAL IXCKEASE FOK PKIXTIXG DIVISION The new scale has increased the wages of the entire printing division approximately $254,000 annually. As the increase in 1924

amounted to $430,000, the total added to the annual pay roll of the

printing division since the Kiess Act became effective is approximately $684,000.

The average yearly earnings of Government printers under the

1926 Avage scale is $2,820 for day workers and $3,225 for night

workers. Compared with the average of $2,325.41, as reported by

the International Typographical Union for its members in 1926, the

printers of the Government Printing Office have fared very well in

their negotiations with the Public Printer.

In submitting their request for an increase of wages, the committee representing the printer employees expressed their appreciation of conditions in the Government Printing Office by the following statement to the Public Printer : The committee is not unmindful of the fact that under your administration

there has been inaugurated and brought about many helpful improvements in the working conditions of the olBce, which is surpassed by few, if any, in the

country. Appreciating all those improvements which are for the bettennent

of the workers, yet unless the "wage"' is attractive "good and healthful"

surroundings will not attract the best workers, which we believe the Public

Printer is desirous of employing.

COMMITTEE THAXKS THE PUBLIC PRINTER

On the conclusion of the negotiations and the approval of the new

wage scale, the committee representing the printer employees by a unanimous vote presented the following signed resolution of thanks

to the Public Printer

:

Whereas the fair-minded and friendly attitude displayed by Public Printer

George H. Carter during the recent wage negotiations with a committee representing the printers in the Government Printing Olfice, which resulted in the most liberal wage scale ever granted to printers in the office, calls for public

recognition of the fair and generous treatment received by our craft : Therefore

be it Resolved, That the printers of the Government Printing Office gratefully

acknowledge the fairness and justice of Public Printer George H. Carter in dealing with the committee, and that this resolution be suitably engrossed

and presented to him as a mark of our appreciation and esteem. Geo. G. White, hand section, day; John E. Hogan, hand section,

night ; F. C. Roberts, proof room, day ; Stephen A. Beadle,, proof room, night ; A. M. Forrester, monotype hand, day

;

William H. Rowe, monotype hand, night ; Charles M. Flanagan,

patent section ; Reuben N. Jones, monotype keyboard, day

;

Jacob H. Stout, monotyi)e keyboard, night; Lester S. Layser,

linotyi)e, day: Amos Z. Hunt, linotype, night; Charles M. Sizer,

library; Robert W. Parker, job section, committee. It is also pleasing to report that friendly relations have been

restored between the Public Printer and the typographical union.

In its May. 1926, election, the local typographical union overwhelmingly defeated and ousted from control all the officers who for several

years had been maliciously attacking the Public Printer and seeking

to rule or ruin the Government Printing Office. The local union also

joined in repudiating and defeating the international president.
44 Annual Report of the Public Printer

James M. Lynch, who had been grossly unfair in presenting false charges against the Public Printer to the American Federation of

Labor. Since these charges were completely answered in the Public

Printer's Report for 1925, there has been no renewal of the out- rageous attacks. The decisive action of the union in repudiating

their base instigators seems to have ended the affair, which gained

nothing for the printers employed in the Government Printing

Office and brought only disgrace or defeat to the outsiders who had

sponsored the charges. ANIS'UAL LABOR TURXOVER DECREASED

The labor turnover during the fiscal year 1926 was less than for

several years, owing to the more normal flow of work and the

satisfactory wage adjustment. Separations from the service, in- cluding retirements, numbered 380 for the year, as compared with

850 in 1925, and 489 in 1924. Appointments added 541 to the rolls in 1926, as compared with 556 appointments in 1925, and 714 in

1924.

The largest turnover for the year was, as usual, among the

printers, who constitute the largest trade group in the office. There were 188 appointments of printers and 107 separations; while in

1925, 242 entered and 360 left the service. The number of bookbinders was reduced by 14 separations and none was appointed

during the year. Of pressmen, 15 were appointed and 8 separated

from the service.

Retirements for the year numbered 46, of which 26 were on

account of age and 20 for disability. In 1925 there were 116 retire- ments. In 1924 the number was 56. All the employees who retired

during the fiscal year 1926 were entitled to annuities from the

Government.

For the entire year there was an average of 3,985 employees on

the rolls, of which 3,121 were men and 864 women. The steady

reduction of the force in the last six ^^ears is shown by the following

statement of the average number of employees on the rolls from

1920 to 1926: In 1920, the average number was 4,989; in 1921, 4,488;

in 1922, 4,307; in 1923, 4,002; in 1924, 4,007; in 1925, 4,101; in 1926,

3,985. The total number of employees on June. 30, 1926, was 4,078.

The office had an average of 378 employees off duty each day

throughout the year. HEALTH AND SAFEGUARDING OF EMPLOYEES

The report of the medical and sanitary officer in charge of the

office hospital shows a great improvement in the health and safe- guarding of employees during the year. There was a decrease of

almost 25 per cent in the number absent on account of illness or

injury.

No employees have been absent on account of wound infection in

the last two years a sufficient length of time (three days) to claim

^compensation for the time so lost. Owing to the careful safeguarding of machinery there have been no serious or preventable accidents during the past two years, and in
Annual Report of the Public Printer 45

the last year only 16 employees were entitled to compensation for

minor injuries.

According to the Monthly Labor Keview for October, 1926, the

Government Printing Office is one of only two Government departments showing a marked decrease during the last five years in the

accident-frequency rate. All other departments reported an in- crease, some of which were comparatively high.

Accident data compiled by the United States Employees' Compensation Commission shows that the Government Printing Office had the lowest number of fatal and nonfatal accidents reported by

any establishment of the Government for the five years, 1921-1925.

This office also had the lowest number of accidents per man-hour

(1,000,000 hours' exposure). The report is based on a record of

three fatal accidents in the Government Printing Office in the five years, when, as a matter of fact, there were only two deaths and they were not caused by machinery or any preventable danger.

The medical and sanitary officer of the Government Printing Office

thus explains the few accidents and better health conditions in this

office

:

Many old antiquated machines liave been replaced by modern machinery

which gives greater output, with less laborious effort. The foremen of the various sections have taken a greater interest in the

cleanliness of their rooms ; more attention has been paid to ventilation ; the old antiquated chairs have been replaced by up-to-date equipment ; women workers

who operate machines have been supplied with modern posture chairs which

properly support the back while at work.

employees' cafeteria and recreation

The cafeteria on the eighth floor of the Government Printing Office continues to increase in popularit}^ and service to the employees. It

is financed and operated by the Government Printing Office Cafeteria

and Recreation Association, a voluntary organization of employees.

This association also furnishes funds to equip the office baseball

teams, maintain the bowling alleys, provide the Christmas entertainments for children of employees, conduct the annual office excursion,

assist the Government Printing Office orchestra, provide music for

holiday and memorial exercises, and in nuhierous other ways help

to better the morale of employees with entertainment and recreation.

The following extracts from the annual report of the president of

the Government Printing Office Cafeteria and Recreation Association, Mr. J. Thomas Ford, shows the excellent work that was done by

the association in the year ended October 18, 1926

:

During the past year the patronage in the cafeteria has held up unusually

well, a record mark of 3,269 persons passing through our lines in a single day.

The average daily service this year amounted to about 2,583 persons. From

October 1, 1925 to September 30, 1926, the association has served a total of 806,009 persons. During the past year the Cafeteria and Recreation Association has been

called on for a number of banquets, most of which were held in Harding Hall. Included in this service was the banquet held by the Washington Club of Printing House Craftsmen on January 27, 1926; a buffet luncheon on April 6, 1926, to about 125 of the delegates attending the Pan American Congress of Journalists ; and a banquet to both the white and colored baseball teams to celebrate the fact that both had won the 1925 championships in their respective
46 Armual Report of the Public Printer

leagues. None of these banquets were financed by the Cafeteria and Recreation

Association except those given to the baseball clubs, and authority for this expenditure was obtained through the general committee at one of its regular

meetings.

A turkey dinner was served to the patrons of the cafeteria just prior to last Thanksgiving at a cost of 40 cents, and it was well patronized both at the luncheon period and by the employees and their families at supper time.

It was very gratifying to know that after a careful check of the expenditures

in connection with the dinner, the Cafeteria and Recreation Association suffered no loss, although we were fully prepared and expected to lose something.

HARDING HALL IS A POPULAR PLACE Harding Hall during the past year has been the scene of numerous enjoyable

activities and has again proven itself a source of great pleasure to the employees, as indicated by the fact that 10 dances were held there last year

;

numerous meetings by the several organizations connected with the Cafeteria and Recreation Association, including the United Veterans, the Orchestral

Association, and the baseball clubs ; meeting and exhibition arranged by the American Institute of Graphic Arts ; the celebration of the sixty-fifth anni- versary of the establishment of the Government Printing Office; exhibit by

the Smithsonian Institution on " How Prints are Made " ; Memorial Day

exercises under the United Veterans of American Wars ; and the banquets

already mentioned.

We entertained at our Christmas entertainments approximately 2,200 children

of employees of the Government Printing Office at a cost of $604.41. This entire

cost was borne by the Government Printing Office Cafeteria and Recreation

Association, and no part of it was collected by subscription as was heretofore the practice. In connection with the entertainments held in the Government Printing Office on the 30th of May and on the occasion of the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Government Printing Office, you are informed that the Government Printing

Office Cafeteria and Recreation Association paid for the services of the quartet. This has been the practice of the cafeteria association in the past, as

it constitutes a recreational feature for the entire personnel, of the office. The

association is always glad to meet the bills incurred by any recreational fea- ture benefiting all of the employees of the office. The bowling association was conducted for the past year in an unusually satis- factory and efficient manner. Last season 59,362 games were rolled on our alleys. With the price charged in the Government Printing Office for bowling, we do

not expect or even wish to make a great surplus. Our net surplus at the end

of the last bowling year amounted to $637.23, out of which it was necessary

for us to pay $332 for the planing, scraping, varnishing, and the installation of side flare plates, and $157.83 for new pins and supplies.

We have an office league which bowls at night, and a night league to bowl

in the afternoons will be started when the full night force is organized. We

are very proud of the fact that we now have an office team in the District Bowling League, the strongest in the city. During the past year several applications have been received from outside

organizations, teams, and Government departments for the use of our bowling

alleys, but we have had to refuse them on account of our inability to accommodate them and the regulations of the association, which do not permit the use

of these alleys to other than Government Printing Office organizations. Last year the association conducted a candy sale for the employees of the Government Printing Office during Christmas time, resulting in the employees

purchasing at a greatly reduced cost more than 5,000 pounds of candy at a n6t surplus to the association of about $300. This surplus along with that made in the cafeteria during the month of December more than defrayed the expense

of the children's Christmas entertainment.

ANNUAL EXCURSION WELL ATTENDED Our annual excursion on July 29 to Chesapeake Beach met with its usual good success and was attended by approximately 1,400 people. This organization reaped a net profit of $231.25 from the sale of railroad tickets. Under the
Annual Report of the Public Printer 47

law we are not permitted to reduce the price of a railroad ticket. As mentioned

in my last year's report, this surplus is utilized for the purchase of trophies for the athletic events and other expenses the following year. The usual athletic events were staged, and, according- to the custom adopted year before last, punch was furnished everyone free. The Government Printing Oflace Cafeteria and Recreation Association was

called on ro assist in effecting a satisfactory collection for the purpose of pur- chasing veterans' service tablets to be placed in this office in honor of the employees who left to serve with the armed forces during the World War. By

resolution of the general committee, this association guaranteed to make up

the difference between the amount donated by the employees and the actual

cost of the tablets. The original collection from the employees amounted to about $1,600, and the cost of the tablets $1,948. The deficit was made up by

permitting the members of the association, who so desired, to donate their cafeteria loans to the veterans' service tablet fund. This was ample to take care

of the purchase of tablets and, in addition, buy two flag standards. We were successful in the past year in proving to the Board of Tax Appeals

that under the law we should not be adjudged a taxable organization and were

relieved of the burden of paying an income tax. This reaped a net saving to the association year before last of about $212 and of probably a greater saving on the past year's net. This was quite an item in our favor and necessitated a

controversy of about six months between the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Board of Tax Appeals, and a committee of the board of directors of the Gov- ernment Printing Office Cafeteria and Recreation Association. Both baseball teams of the Government Printing Office met with success in

their respective leagues this year, the colored team winning the championship and the white team winning second place. Both of these teams were awarded " loving " cups, which are now in our trophy cabinets in Harding

Hall. We are very proud of what the baseball teams have done, especially

since they have come under the jurisdiction of our association. They have

not only come out on top but have been self-supporting.

The orchestra has again during the past year played an important part in the entertainment of our employees through the rendering of concerts in cool we:Uher each Friday during luncheon periods for the employees and has added

to the enjoyment of our special programs incident to exercises in connection

with our national holidays, the Government Printing Office anniversary cele- bration, the Pan American Congress of Journalists, etc. This important part

of our organization has always been willing to assist in every manner in the entertainment of our employees.

ENTERTAINMENTS IN HARDING HALL

Activities in Harding Hall are generally supervised by Mr. William D. Skeen, vice president of the Cafeteria and Recreation Association, and the employees are especially indebted to him for arranging the delightful Christmas entertainments. These entertainments

for the children are given annually. The hall is beautifully decorated

for the occasion, which includes a program of music and vaudeville,

presents for all from the big Christmas tree, and suitable refreshments in the cafeteria. In addition to the numerous dances, Mr. Skeen's report of events

in Harding Hall during the year includes the following

:

1925 December 10 : Meeting, and exhibition of " Fifty books of 1925 and examples

of commercial printing." The Public Printer made the address of welcome.

The principal address, " The commercial value of beauty," was delivered by

Mr. Harry L. Gage, of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Music was

furnished by the Government Printing Office orchestra. This exhibit was

broadcasted by the Public Printer through station WRC, who extended an invi-
48 Annual Report of the Public Printer

tation to the public to view tlie same, Harding liall being open for the purpose from 10 a. m. to 10 p. m. December 29 and 30 : Christmas entertainment for the children of the employees. About 2,000 children attended and were entertained with vaudeville,

moving pictures, and a tableau, after which each child was presented with an

appropriate toy and escorted to the cafeteria, where ice cream and cake were

served ; an elaborate Christmas tree was placed in the hall with electric rail- way, etc. The hall was open to the employees and their families and friends on

the evening of December 31, when the tree and decorations were illuminated. 1926 January 27 : Meeting of the Washington Club of Printing House Craftsmen.

March 4: Sixty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Government

Printing Ofiice. April 7 : Buffet luncheon to the members of the First Pan American Congress

of Journalists. Music by Government Printing Ofiice orchestra ; special deco- rations with flags of Pan American countries; committee assisted by young

ladies of the Government Printing Office. April 12: Apprentice meeting. Speakers, Mr. Norman T. Munder, of Balti- more, Md. ; Mr. August Deitz, of Richmond, Va. ; and Mr. Bert Bair, of the Government Printing Office. Fifty-five apprentices were presented with nickel- plated composing sticks. April 21: Meeting of Association of Government Building Superintendents. Addresses by Mr. H. L. Crisp, president; Mr. John Greene, Deputy Public

Printer ; Lieut. Col. U. S. Grant, 3d ; music by University of Maryland Glee Club ; banquet served by the Government Printing Office cafeteria. May 1-31 : Exhibition of " How prints are made," by the division of graphic

arts of the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum.

May 29 : Memorial Day exercises under auspices of United Veterans of American Wars. Address by Col. Hanford MacNider, Assistant Secretary of War ; music by Government Printing Office orchestra. Flowers contributed by employees of the office were taken to Arlington Cemetery by veterans' committee.

May 29 : Banquet, entertainment, and dance by district meeting of the Inter- national Association of Printing Plouse Craftsmen. Toastmaster, John J. Deviny ; address of welcome by Public Printer ; greetings by Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Alvin W. Hall ; music by Dagmoir

Orchestra. LARGE SUBSCRIPTION TO THE RED CROSS

In addition to supporting liberally their own activities, the employees of the Government Printing Office are also generous contributors to numerous other public charities and welfare organizations.

Their annual enrollment for the American Eed Cross keeps this

office near the top of all the Government establishments subscribing

to that great fund. For the 1926 roll call, the employees of the

Government Printing Office responded with a contribution of

$1,214.40 to the District of Columbia Chapter of the Red Cross,

which, in proportion to number of employees, was greater than the

subscription of any other Government establishment in Washington

and exceeded by $70 the sum given by this office last year. Gen.

John A. Johnston, director of the tenth annual roll call of the Red

Cross, in thanking the employees of the Government Printing Office for their splendid enrollment, wrote the chief clerk, under date of

December 17, 1926, as follows

:

Please accept our grateful acknowledgment of the splendid number of en- rollment memberships in the District of Columbia Chapter and the incidentally

important aggregate of $1,214.40.
Annual Report oj the Public Printer 49

This is a splendid showing of interest in your department and merits our

highest recommendation and appreciation. Last year we stood second in ratio of membership to population and we hope

first this year in the entire country. Your large number of memberships will go a long way toward maintaining this. ^^ETERAXS* SERVICE TABLETS UXYEILED

The most notable event of the year in Harding Hall was the unveiling of the veterans' service tablets in honor of the 338 employees

of the Government Printing Office who served with the armed forces

of the United States in the World AYar and in memory of the 10

employees who made the supreme sacrifice. More than 3,000 employees attended the two exercises, which were held on November

19, 1926. Col. Theodore Koosevelt, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy

and one of the founders of the American Legion, was the principal

speaker at both programs, which were presided over by Capt. Ellwood S. Moorhead, jr., production manager of the Government

Printing Office. Music for the occasion was furnished by the Government Printing Office orchestra and the Columbian Quartette, of

Washington. An enjoyable feature of the orchestra selections was

its concluding number, " The Soldier's Good-Night," composed by

Mr. E. C. Hoopes, a member of the orchestra, who personally

directed the playing of his excellent music. The hall was elaborately

decorated with the national colors, and the handsome bronze tablets

attractively displayed on the stage, making altogether an inspiring

scene. Appropriately illustrated and printed programs were issued con- taining the names of the veterans thus honored, the service of those

who died in the war, a resume of the patriotic record of the Government Printing Office during the Civil, Spanish-American, and World

Wars, and appropriate memorial verses. The idea of the veterans' service tablets was first suggested by

the Public Printer three years ago and met with the hearty approval

of the employees of the Government Printing Office, who contributed

approximately $2,000 for the purchase of the tablets. A veterans' committee, consisting of Capt. Ellwood S. Moorhead, jr., production

manager; William J. Cassiday, assistant purchasing agent; and J. Thomas Ford, assistant chief clerk and president of the Cafeteria and

Kecreation Association, was selected to arrange for procuring and

unveiling the tablets. Exhaustive searches were made of the records of the Government

Printing Office, the War and Navy Departments, and the Veterans' Bureau to secure and verify the records of employees who left the

Government Printing Office to enter the armed forces of the United

States during the World War. More than 1,500 records were examined and 1,000 letters written in conducting this research. The

verified list contains the names of 338 employees who served in the

World War, and it is believed that this roll is complete and correct according to the Government records. The names are inscribed on two artistically designed solid bronze tablets, 44 by 48 inches in

size and weighing 420 pounds each. The tablets cost $1,948.
50 Annual Report oj the Public Frinter

RECORDS OF THE WORLD WAR DEAD

The Avar records of the three employees who were killed in action are as follows

:

Joseph V. Cullen enlisted May 20, 1917, as private with Company C, Third

Infantry, District of Columbia National Guard, in the Federal Service ; sailed from the United States December 15, 1917 ; was promoted to second lieutenant,

Infantry, July 9, 1918, and served in that grade with Company M, and later with Company B, One hundred and second Infantry, Twenty-sixth Division,

in the Rupt and Troyon defensive sectors (Lorraine), the St. Mihiel offensive,

and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive until killed by shellfire October 28, 1918,

in the Verdun area. Charles Addison Rhett Jacobs enlisted in the Marine Corps December 16, 1917. He embarked on board the U. S. S. Henderson March 13, 1918, and arrived

in France March 27, 1918 ; served with the American Expeditionary Forces in France from March 27, 1918, to October 3, 1918 ; participated in active operations against the enemy in the Chateau-Thierry sector (Belleau Wood) June

6 to 29, and in the Champagne offensive (Blanc Mont) October 1 to 3, 1918. During his service in the Marine Corps he attained the grade of corporal. He

was killed in action October 3, 1918, while serving with the Ninety-sixth Company, Sixth Regiment, in the Champagne offensive. William H, McKimmie enlisted April 28, 1918, at Washington, D. C. He

sailed from the United States July 9, 1918, and served in France as corporal

with Company H, Three hundred and sixteenth Infantry, Seventy-ninth Division, in the defense of the Avocourt and Troyon sectors (Lorraine), and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive until killed in action November 5, 1918, near Verdun.

The records of the seven other employees who died in the service

of the armed forces of the United States during the World War are

also included herewith:

Haywood Campbell enlisted August 18, 1917, at Washington, D. C. He

sailed from the United States June 30, 1918, and served in France as private

with the Three hundred and twenty-fifth Field Signal Battalion, St. Aignan,

until taken ill with pneumonia July 22, 1918, which resulted in his death on

July 26, 1918, at Camp Hospital No. 27, Headquarters, Services of Supply, Tours. Joseph James Jackson enlisted January 12, 1918, at Washington, D. C,

and served as a private with Company C, Three hundred and twenty-fifth Field Signal Battalion, at Camp Sherman, Ohio, until his death June 12, 1918, of diabetes and nephritis.

Aubrey Allen Mayo enlisted May 24, 1918, at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., and

served as private (first class) with Company D, Forty-sixth Infantry, at Camp

Sheridan, Ala., until his death October 25, 1918, of pneumonia.

Frank E. Newton enrolled in the United States Naval Reserve Force and was

placed on active duty April 3, 1918. He was assigned to the U. S. S. Triton at the navy yard, Washington, D. C, w^here he served until February 28, 1919,

when he was assigned to the United States naval hospital, in this city. He died

March 6, 1919. George Pate Pipkin enlisted July 22, 1918, at Norfolk, Va., and served as a

private with Battery D, Thirty-eighth Regiment Coast Artillery Corps, at Fort

Hamilton, N. Y., until his death September 30, 1918, of acute cardiac dilatation. Frederick Taylor Remler enlisted July 15, 1918, at Washington, D. C, and

served as private with Company M, Fifth Training Regiment, Engineers,

at Camp A. A. Humphreys, Va., until his death on September 28, 1918, of pneumonia. Leo Simmons enlisted August 2, 1918, at Washington, D. C, and while serv- ing as corporal with the Thirty-third Construction Company at the Air Service Flying School, Langley Field, Hampton, Va., died on October 9, 1918, of pneumonia.

The two handsome tablets bear the following names under the

inscription
Annual Report of the Public Printer 51

IN HONOR OF THE EMPLOYEES OF THE GOVERNMENT

PRINTING OFFICE WHO SERVED WITH THE ARMED

FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR

AND IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO MADE THE SUPREME

SACRIFICE " Thomas J. Abrams

Walter S. Ahlberg Ralph W. Alderman

Roscoe Alley

Philip S. Alverson

Clifton C. Anderson

"William J. Anderson

George W. Andree Malcolm J. Annadale lee Roy Ashcraft Ix)uis Attins

Charles L. Banks

George F. Banks

Nealy Bean Andrew Bell John W. F. Bell Ulysses O. Bell William F. Bell

Ix)uis J. Benner

George N. Berry

licslie J. Blackwell Thomas E. Blakely Herbert R. Blakley Frank B. Bloom

Robert J. Bowler

Jofcn J . Boyd

William D. Boyd

Christopher J. Brady

Vivian A. Brayboy Edward H. Brian Fred H. Brigham WilUam E, Brockman

Arth'or C. Brooks

Charles P. Brocks

Robert E. Brooks

Francis J. Brothers

Clarence E. Brown

Julius M. Brown

RogCx- N. Browna

Harry M. Bryan

Herbert A. Bullinger William E. Burch Eugene T. Butler Fred R. Byrd Don 0. Byron

Leo T. Callahan Haywood Campbell i Louis J. Campbell

Isaac M. Capayas

Richard N. Carter William J. Cassiday

Will H. Chase

Patrick J. Clancy William M. Clark Walter A. Clarke Joseph A. Cofone Samuel S. Cohan

Morris Cohen

Jeremiah M. Colbert Arlington Comstock

Richard A. L. Contee William W. Cook

Charles H. Cooksey

William E. Cooney

Bernard W. Costolow John J. Coumyn, jr. James P. Cromwell

Joseph V. Cullen' Lawrence B. Curry Eugene A. Dandridge

Charles Davis

Charles H. C. Dickinson John B. Dieste Vernon O. Dinger

Herbert Dixon John S. Donobue

Joseph P. V. Dorsey

George W. Downing

Burton W. Doyle

Albert Y. Dreisonstok Henry Y. Dreisonstok Robert F. Droney

Walt«r C. Duckett

Albert L. Duerr Raymond J. Dugan

Philip D. Duppins Thomas Eatrnan Minter G. Edwards

George R. Erler Dewey Esaias Joseph W. Evans

Walter M. Evans Henry P. Ewing

James E. Fahey

L'sadore Feldman

John P. Fersinger George A. Fischer Joseph B. Fitzgerald Charles M. Flanagan

Joseph S. Fletcher Lawrence 0. Fletcher Charles H. Thmn

Frank X. J. Fogarty

J. Thomas Ford WUliam H. Ford

George W. Fountain

Ernest C. Frazier George W. Freas

J. Anthony Gallagher

Albert W. Gates Leon Gatewood Henry W. Gawlis

Levi Gee

Jacob Z. Gehres. jr. Walter H. Geisel Herben C. George

Israel Gevrirz Myer Gewirz James R. Gioson

Joseph A. Goetzin?er Donald "IV. Graffius Philip V''. Green

George H. Greenfield B^nnn E. Hager

Curtis T. Hall

Janies W. Hall William A. Hallisey Mstthew V. Halloran Flovd H. Hamilton

Robert F. Hanner

Joseph B. Harding

V.'illiam J. Harrover

Frederick B. Hausmj;nn

Merrian C. Havson

Albert Helms

John A. Herbert Samuel Hershowitz

Daniel 3. Herzog James E. Hill Louis F. Hitselherger Edward C. Holmes

EJbert A. Holmes

Carl E. Koskens

William K. Houser W. Brooke Hunter, jr. William H. Hunter

Patrick A. Hurley

Frederick A. Hurt

Leopold Hutz, jr. Harry F. Ismer

Joseph J. Jackson' Joseph S. Jackson William 3. Jackson

Charles A. R. Jacobs

-

Harry M. James

John I. James

John M. Jeffries Edward T. Johnson James C. Johnson James R. Johnson

William A. Johnson

Luther W. Jones Melvin J. Jones Urban Jones Walter W. Jones William A. Jones Michael J. Keating William J. Keefe

Charles Kershenbaum

Cornelius A. King

Ellis R. King

Bernard J . Kober

Charles A. Kraft

Jesse A. Lednum

Josephus T. Lee Harold J. Lesh

Albert H. Lester James B. Lomack

Charles R. Lucas

M^orrill C. Lucas

Tov/nsend M. Lucas

Williatn J. Manning

Vincent 3. Marion

George S. Marshall Arthur Mason E . Richard Mason

Leon C . Massey

John W._ Mattingly Elmer In . May

Aubrev A, Mavo • Patrick II. McCarthy

James M. McConnell

Philip F'. ilcCullcagh Thomss T. McGuire

iLSsie Li. McTeer

Paul H. Mertens

Waiter P.. Metz

Stephen 0 . Mills John H. Mohl Homer M. Mohr

George A. Monagon Mark yi. Moore Raymond R. Moore

Sherman Moore

Eilwood S. Moorhead, jr. Irl R. IvI organ Leon J. Morris Matthew D. Morrissey Andrew Mortensen

Jacob S. Murden

Barthclome".^ V. Murdock John A. Murphy

William A. Murphy

Leon E . Murray

Jesse L. Xave

John O. Xelson Edward M. Xevils Meigs E . Xewkirk Edward A. Xewman

Frank E. XewtonGeorge L. Xorton

Joseph L. O'Connor

Harry E. Ohlsen Ashby J. O'Meara

Percivai K. Parlett James M. Patterson

Britton R. Pearce Leon A. Peterson Wilham E. Pinkston

George F. Pipkin' Alexander W. Plater Frank P. Platz Robert E. Poe

Charles A. Potter John D, Towers

Clarence W. Preston John L. Price Oliver C. Prosser Clarence E. Rambo

Herbert S. Rand

John L. Randall John B. Ranch

Charies P. Reckert

Hershell 3. Reese. Joseph B. Reid. Frederick T. Remleri

William Reutershan

Francis A. L. Reynolds

Alonzo L. Rhodes

Harry D. Richardson

Julian V. Richardson William W. Richardson Samuel Robinson John H. Roliman

George W. Rowland

George F. Ro3-e Harry J. Russell Daniel J. Ryan

Carl J. Sandstrom Eugene F. Saunders Ottawa J. Saunders

Philo Saunders James G. Sayles Henry R. Schaake

Willi am J. Schnabel

Chester B. Schuyler John H. Scott Levi Scott Paul A. Sebastian Xeal H. Settle Stanley A. Shaner

Sanuel Shapiro John W. Sheedy Thomas I. Sheridan

Edv,'ard H. Shuman

Charles Silberman Leo Simmons - Chester B. Simms

Leshe I. Sirbaugh

Innis R. Skinner David Smith

John M. Smith

Sidney Soloman

Vernon C. Spriggs Albert C. Stanley

Clarence A. Steptoe John C. Sterling Benjamin f. Stewart George J. Stewart Emory 3. Sudler Anthony W. Suess John L. Sullivan Richard C. Sullivan James H. Svreeney, jr. Xorval K. Tabler . u'illlam A. Tancil Alvyn A. Tate

Talfourd A . Tayior Hynes E . Terry Henry Thomas

Victor J. Thompson

Herbert 3. Tolson

Charles J. Tracy Mason J. Trent Lawrence W. Trumbull

Louray Tyson

Louis C . Vogt

Stephen Waiker

Horace B. Wallace Arthur L. Washington

Xeville R. Waters

Ernest A. Watson

Harry C. Wells Herbert R. Weston

Harry C. Whalley

Gerald L. Whelan

Edgar White

Walter White

William A. White Henry W. Whitlow

Edgar W. Whitman

Ernest Wickstrand James J. C . Wilkerson Robert A. WiUiams

Herbert Willis James Wilson Theodore J". Wilson

William T. Windsor

Claude O. Wood

William E. Wood

George W. Wjmn

Thomas L. Wynne

Charles R. Yates John H. Yates

> Died in the service. ' Killed in action.
52 Annual Report of the Public Printer

After the unveiling ceremony in Harding Hall, the bronze tablets were permanently placed in the marble wall at the head of the

grand marble stairway from the first floor of the Government Printing Office. There, on either side of the imposing marble bust of

Benjamin Franklin and flanked by beautiful silk flags, all bril- liantly illuminated, the tablets have been enshrined and will always

remain the altar of patriotic devotion for the employees of the

Government Printing Office. It is interesting to note that before this very place there rested

overnight the mortal remains of one of the veterans, Charles A. E.

Jacobs, who made the supreme sacrifice in France. The young hero was carried to his last resting place in Arlington after a most imposing funeral service in the Government Printing Office on August

31, 1921, attended by the Secretary of the Navy, Maj. Gen. John

A. Lejeune, and other high-ranking officers and comrades of the

Marine Corps. So it is that the tender memories of the employees

have hallowed this same place by inscribing there in enduring bronze

the names of their fellow employees who fought in the great cause

of civilization.

There are now employed in the Government Printing Office 528

veterans of American wars, including one who served in the Civil

War. Of this number of war veterans 116 are employees who

left to enter the armed forces of the United States during the World

War and returned to the service of the Government Printing Office

after the armistice.

TABLET PLACED ON PEESHING " LINOTYPE

There was another ceremon}^ in the Government Printing Office

during the year that honored the service of printers in the World

War. It was the formal placing of a bronze tablet on the famous

linotype machine which rendered distinguished service with the

printing unit at General Pershing's headquarters in France throughout the war. This machine on its return from service overseas was

obtained from Camp Humphrej^s by the Public Printer, who

accorded it a place of honor in the Government Printing Office as a

tribute to the war work of the printing industry.

The histor}^ of this machine was related in the Public Printer's

report last je^r with the observation that " some day a bronze plate

recording its war record will be placed on the Pershing machine, so that its distinguished military service may never be forgotten." That

statement evidentl}^ attracted the attention of the International Association of Printing -House Craftsmen, its board of directors generously offering to donate a suitable tablet for the Pershing machine.

This patriotic offer was promptly accepted by the Public Printer,,

and accordingly an attractive bronze tablet was presented and placed on the historic linotype, which is greatly treasured by the Government Printing Office. The tablet bears the following inscription

:

" IX • HONOR • OF • A • LINOTYPE

THAT SERVED ITS COUNTRY ON

THE BATTLEFIELDS IN FRANCE

. . . THERE • UPON A THROBBING

MOTOR TRUCK • MID SHOT AND

SHELL • THIS MACHINE TYPED

GEN. PERSHING'S COMMANDS TO

AMERICAS VICTORIOUS ARMY"
Annual Report oj the Public Printer 53

Beneath the inscription and between the seals of the Government

Printing Office and the craftsmen's organization the tablet also bears

this statement

:

" THIS TABLET HAS BEEN PLACED HERE BY

THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF

PRINTING HOUSE CRAFTSMEN • JULY • 1926 " The tablet was unveiled on the Pershing machine in the linotype

section of the Government Printing Office on July 24, 1926, at which time there were present the following officers of the Inter- national Association of Printing House Craftsmen, who officiated on behalf of that organization in presenting the tablet to the Public

Printer : President, George A. Faber, of Milwaukee ; first vice president. Ernst C. Dittman, of Chicago; second vice president, E. H.

Kurrle. of Toledo : secretary, L. M. Augustine, of Baltimore ; treas- urer, Harvey H. Weber, of Buffalo; past president, William A.

Eenkel, of Xew York; past president, John J. Deviny, of Washington; and district representative, George Ortleb, of St. Louis.

CEREMONY HONORS WAR MACHINE

The following interesting account of the ceremony was published

in the Craftsmen's jNIonthly Bulletin for August, 1926

:

On Saturday, July 24, before going to the convention, the board of governors

of The International Association met at Washington, D. C, to unveil the tablet placed on the linotype machine which was used at General Pershing's headquarters in France during the World War. President George A. Faber, on

behalf of the International, formally presented the tablet to the United States through Hon. George H. Carter, Public Printer, who accepted it in a very

appropriate manner. Among those present was Maj. Wallace W. Kirby, who was instrumental in securing the machine from a small French village and placed it on a motor

truck where it was operated during the war while bullets and shells were fall- ing on all sides. 3Ir. Carter received quite an ovation when he stepped forward to accept

the tablet and gave a brief history of the machine and how it was operated

under such handicaps as stated above. He voiced his pride in the action of

the craftsmen in thus paying tribute to its faithful war service. James M. Kreiter, linotype operator, who was at headquarters in France for two years, and who operated the machine during that time, recited several personal experiences while doing so. Those present during the unveiling ceremonies, besides the International Board, were Norman Dodge, vice-president and general manager of the Mergenthaler Co. ; Walter H. Savory, personal representative of the vice president

of the same company ; Fred C. Grumman, manager New York Sales Agency

;

Charles S. Gunn, Washington agent : and F. T. Denman, assistant manager,

publicity department, of the Mergenthaler Co. ; Earl H. Emmons and wife, of New York ; George Ortleb, district representative of the International ; John J. Deviny, president of the Washington Club ; and many of the members of that

club. The ceremonies were very carefully arranged by Mr. Carter and his assistants,

and were executed in the usual smooth manner of all functions in the Govern- ment Printing Office. After the presentation was over the board and visitors sat down to a luncheon

in one of the private dining rooms and left immediately after to attend the opening hospitalities of the Philadelphia Club. The tablet is a very fine zinc etching, unusually deeply etched to give the effect of raised letters, and was made in its entirety by members of the Baltimore

Club of Printing House Craftsmen through the cooperation of the Day Printing

Co., Alpha Photo-Engraving Co., and the Shane-Beever Co.. electrotypers. It

is very unique and reflects great credit on the designers. The wording on the

tablet was the suggestion of Public Printer Carter.
54 Annual Report of the Public Printer

The Pershing machine is now in daily use in the Government

Printing Office, but it stands out conspicuously among all the 149

linotype machines, proudly bearing at its head the handsome bronze

tablet and the flag which it served so notably on the battle fields in

France. The machine is again operated by Corpl. James M. Kreiter,

who had set on it many of General Pershing's orders during the war

and is now a regular operator in the Government Printing Office. PAN AMERICAN JOURNALISTS ENTERTAINED

Another notable event of the year was the visit of the members

of the First Pan American Congress of Journalists, who were the

guests of the Government Printing Office on April 7, 1926. About

200 journalists and guests from Central and South America and the

United States attended the reception in Harding Hall and were

there tendered a buffet luncheon by the Public Printer and other

officials of the Government Printing Office. The hall was elaborately decorated with the flags of all the Pan

American countries and the tables ornamented with very pretty

plants, much to the delight of the guests. The luncheon was served

by a committee of office young ladies, who also acted as charming

hostesses for the occasion. Music was provided by the Government

Printing Office orchestra, which was highly complimented by the

visitors. After a brief address of welcome in Spanish by the Public Printer,

the visitors were taken in groups on a tour of the office and spent an hour or more inspecting the machinery and various operations, from

the printing of postal cards to the publication of the Congressional

Kecord.

An artistic souvenir booklet of 24 pages, descriptive of "A Trip

Through the United States Government Printing Office" ("Una

Visita a la Imprenta del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos"), was

printed in both the English and Spanish languages and presented to each visitor with the compliments of the Public Printer. The booklet, with its neat cover tied in silk cord of the national colors, was

highly appreciated by the Pan American journalists.

The visit to the Government Printing Office was the opening fea- ture of the entertainment of the First Pan American Congress of

Journalists, which met in Washington April 7-13, 1926. The privilege of providing this feature of the program was accorded the Public Printer through the courtesy of Director General Rowe and Mr.

Franklin Adams, counselor of the Pan American Union, who assisted

in the reception of the distinguished guests at the Government

Printing Office. In formally thanking the Government Printing Office for the

entertainment given the Pan American journalists and their guests.

Director General Rowe wrote the Public Printer, under date of

April 7, 1926:

I want to take an early opportunity to thank you for the very hospitable

reception which you tendered to the members of the Pan American Congress

of Journalists. They deeply appreciated your courtesy and I can assure you

that you have done a real service to Pan American relations.
An7iital Report of the Public Printer 55

EXHIBIT AT SESQUICENTENNIAL EXPOSITION

The Government Printing Office made a very creditable display of

its products at the Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia,

June 1 to December 1, 1926. Although not invited to participate in

the Government exhibit until shortly before the exposition opened,

the Government Printing Office succeeded in preparing an interesting

exhibit, which was the first to be installed and ready for inspection in

the Government building when the exposition was opened to visitors. The exhibit consisted of eight cases containing samples of artistic printing and binding, and a number of publications of historic value,

such as the President's personal copies of his addresses bound in full morocco, and rare old copies of the proceedings of Congress. The

exhibit also showed the method of repairing and preserving old

manuscripts and documents for the Library of Congress and the

State Department, and the process of color printing. The details

of plate making and photo-engraving were depicted with numerous

specimens, including electrotypes, stereotypes, matrices, lead-molded

plates, half tones, and zinc etchings. The testing section also showed

samples of standard materials used in printing and binding and exhibits of its laboratory tests of type metals, paper, inks, dyes, twine,

and book-covering materials.

Through the courtesy of Admiral Stickney, United States Commissioner to the Sesquicentennial Exposition, the Government

Printing Office exhibit was given one of the best and most central

locations in the big Transportation Building along with other Government exhibits. It attracted much favorable attention from the

many visitors who were impressed with the extensive variety of work

done by this office. Even the handsome mahogany cases used for

displaying the printing exhibit were the product of the carpenter

shop of the Government Printing Office. Besides being the first exhibit ready for the opening of the exposition, the Government Printing Office was also the first Government

exhibitor to pack up and remove its display at the close of the exposition, thereby receiving the compliments of the commission for

the prompt transaction of business.

The Sesqui exhibit is now on display in Harding Hall where it may be viewed by visitors, who are always welcome to inspect the

Government Printing Office. AWARDED GOLD MEDAL OF HONOR

The jury of awards of the Sesquicentennial International Exposition has awarded a gold medal of honor to the Government Printing Office for its exhibit at Philadelphia. In a formal notification

of this award, the secretary of the executive jury of awards wrote

under date of December 13, 1926 : This is to notify you that the International Jury of Awards of the Sesqui- centennial International Exposition has awarded the United States Govern- ment Printing Oflace a medal of honor for collective exhibit illustrating the development and activities of this branch of the Government service. A well

selected and admirably arranged and instructive display.

Diplomas of award are being prepared and it is hoped to have them ready

for distribution during the early part of the coming year.
56 Annual Report of the Public Printer

The Government Printing Office has also received a diploma for

participation at the typographical school exhibits of the Second

International Book Exposition, which was held in Florence, Italy,

in 1925, under the patronage of His Majesty the King of Italy.

The diploma was signed by the president general and the director

general of the Florence Exposition. It has been properly framed

and Imng in the Public Printer's office, along with medals and

diplomas from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San

Francisco in 1915 and the Paris International Exposition in 1900.

The exhibit at Florence consisted of 12 display boards mounted with

specimens of Government printing and the work of the apprentice

school in the Government Printing Office. About 50 handsomely

bound books were included in the display of United States Government publications. Invitation to participate in the International

Book Fair at Florence came from Mr. Eaffaello Bertieri, of Milan,

the commissary in charge of the exhibition for printing-art schools. The exhibit was transported to and from Florence through the

courtesy of the international exchange service of the Smithsonian

Institution, and the interests of the Government Printing Office were well taken care of by the American consul at Florence,

Mr. Joseph Emerson Haven.

Another exhibit was made by the Government Printing Office at the Industrial Exposition of the Washington Chamber of Commerce in March, 1925. This exhibit consisted of a display of Government printing and binding, specimens of platemaking and photoengraving work, and samples of Government standards of printing

material prepared by the testing section of this office. KEEPIIsG PACE WITH PRINTING PROGRESS

To keep informed of the progress of printing and allied industries

and to secure for the Government the benefit of the latest and best

methods used by the most successful representatives of the trade, the

Public Printer and other officials of the Government Printing Office

have inspected numerous printing and binding plants in the United

States and have conferred with many leaders of the printing in- dustry, who in turn have visited the Government Printing Office to study its equipment and methods of production. This broadening

experience and the exchange of ideas have been invaluable in the

rehabilitation of the Government Printing Office and have provided

the Government with a most efficient organization and the best

equipped printing plant in the world.

The Public Printer, accompanied by the chief of tests, Edward O.

Reed, also visited England, Germany, Italy, and France in 1926 to study the condition of the machinery, paper, leather, ink, type

metal and plate-making industries and their relation to the progress

of printing and binding in those countries. Many large printing

and binding works were inspected in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig,

Munich, Frankfort, Cologne, Dusseldorf, AYurzburg. Paris, Rome,

Oxford, London and vicinity. Several large paper mills were visited

in Germany and England.

Special courtesies were extended by the heads of the German government printing office (Reichsdruckerei) at Berlin, the French
Anmial Report oj the Public Printer 57

governinent printing office (Imprimerie Xationale) in Paris, the

Vatican printing office in !Rome, and the controller of His Majesty's

stationery office in London, the principal of the London School of

Printing, the director of the American Institute in Berlin, the

officials of the State testing bureau (Staatlichen Material]3rufungsamt) at Dahlem. near Berlin.

STUDY PRIXTIXG COXDITIOXS ABROAD

Conferences were had with leading printers, machine manufacturers, paper, leather, and metal makers, and chemists in all the

countries visited. Especially gratifying and helpful was the cordial

cooperation of the officers of the German Master Printers' L'^nion (Deutscher Buchdrucker-Verein) in Berlin and at their meeting held

in Eisenach, also the Federation of Master Printers of Great Britain

in London, and the Sationers" Company in London, whose court

Tionorecl the Public Printer and the chief of tests at their luncheon

session in historic Stationers' Hall.

Much useful information was also secured by conferences at the

headquarters of the German Printers' L^nion (Verband der Deutschen Buchdrucker) in Berlin, the Printing Machine Managers'

Trade Society in London, the German Employing Printers' Association (Buchgewerbe-Vereins) in Leipzig, the Gutenberg Museum in

Mainz, and the German [Museum in Munich. The Munich museum

contains the most complete and elaborate display of working models

of j)rinting and paper-making machinery ancl of various other industrial arts and crafts to be found anywhere in the world.

Many of the persons visited abroad have at different times in- spected the L^nited States Government Printing Office and hold it in

high esteem. Unfortunately, space is not available in this report to mention all of them by name, but the Public Printer desires to assure

his friends abroad of his sincere appreciation of the many enjoyable

courtesies which they extended to him.

The exchange of ideas and information has been most helpful

in the operation of the Government Printing Office, which has thus

become a laboratory for the printing industry of the world and a leader in the art of Gutenberg, Caxton, Aldus, Garamoncl, and

Franklin.

REPORTS SUBMITTED BY OTHER OFFICERS

Extracts from the reports of the Deputy Public Printer, the production manager, the chief of tests, the superintendent of documents, the superintendent of construction and maintenance, and the

medical and sanitary officer are submitted herewith. The Public

Printer is indebted to these and the other also excellent reports submitted to him by the principal officers of the Government Printing

Office for much of the data upon which his report is based. It is regrettable that space can not be taken to publish all of these reports

in full, as they contain valuable information concerning the Government Printing Office and the general printing industry.
58 Annual Report of the Public Printer

REPORT OF THE DEPUTY PUBLIC PRINTER

The keynote of Government Printing Office activities for the fiscal year closing June 30, 1926, judging from reports by the heads of the

various divisions, is "economy, efficiency, and cooperation." From

every section reports come filled with innumerable instances of sensi- ble economy ; of waste turned into profit ; of greater production with

less workers; of full and hearty cooperation between officers and

employees, who are equally charged with responsibility—the one of

direction, the other of execution—of the great work of reducing to the printed page the words and acts of our Government.

Practically all departments of the office have functioned with re- duced forces, 3^et the quantity of production has increased, and the

quality of the product improved. This is indicative of the splendid

spirit of mutual helpfulness now pervading the Government Printing

Office. The exhaustive report of the production manager on the operation

of divisions under his supervision leaves little on which to comment.

The fine spirit of cooperation existing in all the manufacturing units

is thoroughly demonstrated in the magnificent reports submitted by

the respective officials in charge, an analysis of which shows continued

and constantly increasing efficiency and production.

Almost any hour of the workday officials may be seen in con- ference with the planning division suggesting changes in methods

of printing and binding procedure, stock size changed to save impressions, etc., all of which tends to promote efficiency and aid production. This condition was brought about through the Monday

conferences established by the present Public Printer. Officials are encouraged to offer recommendations or suggestions that will add to production in any section of the office. EFFICIENCY DUE TO COOPERATION

If the Deputy Public Printer were called upon to explain the cause for the present high efficiency of the different units of the

Government Printing Office, and this includes the clerical as well

as the mechanical forces, he would unhesitatingly credit it to the

teamwork shown throughout the whole plant, beginning with the

Public Printer and extending to all officials and employees of the

office. The success of any establishment is entirely dependent upon

how thoroughly the spirit of cooperation is absorbed b}^ its personnel.

With this condition ever present failure is impossible.

The activities of the night force deal mainl}^ with the work inci- dent to the sessions of Congress. The record established for efficiency

is worthy of especial commendation. With this force rests the

responsibility^ of printing the Congressional Record, bills, reports,

and documents required by Congress while in session. An idea of the work accomplished b}^ the night force may be gained

from the following: Daily issues of the Congressional Record

printed, 175, averaging 76 pages daily for seven months, a total of

13,270 pages, or 1,441 pages more than for any previous session.

The figures for bills, joint resolutions, reports, documents, and other

congressional printing are about in the same proportion. This work
Annual Report of the Public Printer 59

Avas done with a smaller force than usual in every section except the

proof room, which reported a slight increase in personnel.

ECONOMIES OF PLAXXIXG DIVISIOX The report of the superintendent of planning is replete with

economies made possible through close supervision in the correct writing of work jackets, to the end that lost motion will be eliminated

in the routing of work throughout the plant. When the fact is taken

into consideration that in this division from 50.000 to 75,000 jackets

are planned and written annually, each jacket possibly calling for

from 50 copies to 50.000.000, the necessity for definite written instructions as to size and face of type, color and quality of ink and paper,

whether to print from type or with curved or straight plates,

the nature of the binding, and the innumerable other operations

necessary to the delivery of a well-balanced publication is obvious.

The report of the production manager proves how efficiently this

division has functioned in terms of dollars and cents. It shows that

every facility of the office has been brought into action so that work

would be produced economically without in any way reducing the

quality of the output.

The same is true of the requisitions review board, which is practically a coordinating branch of the planning division. This board

reviews all printing and binding requisitions received for the purpose of submitting to the i^lanning division only such work as is authorized to be printed by law. From the savings inaugurated by

this board yearly the necessity for the establishment of such a reviewing organization has been more than vindicated.

The report of the superintendent of printing shows continued

efficiency and increased production in all printing divisions.

The 128 gas pots in the monotype section have been replaced by

electrically heated pots. This change has not only permitted the re- moval of the unsightly overhead pipes, but it has also reduced the

temperature 8^ to 10° in a section that under most favorable conditions is overheated.

Out of a total of 19,586 galleys inspected by the monotype in- spector, only 321 galleys were found to contain defective type. This

test shows an average casting efficiency of 98.3 per cent—a record,

so far as can be ascertained, unsurpassed by any monotype-casting

plant in the country.

One of the outstanding features of the printing division is the manner in which type forms are imposed. Through the acquisition

of additional twin chases, which make it possible to place twice the

number of type pages on a press for each run, there was a reduction

of 1,067,338 press impressions, with a saving of $3,844.

GOOD WORK OF TYPE-MACHINE SECTION

Attention is invited to report of the chief of type-machine section.

This section looks after the repairs on linotype and monotype composing machines. It not only repairs but in many instances manufactures new parts for the machines. The full value of this section can not entirely be estimated in dollars and cents ; the time saved in
60 Annual Report of the Public Printer

being enabled immediately to replace a broken part is frequently of

paramount importance. As compared to the estimated cost of the same work if done by contract, a total of $1,475 has been saved in

repairs and manufacturing new parts during the past year. Especial attention is invited to the good work performed by the

chief type machinist, who designed and manufactured in his section

a matrix-cleaning machine which will clean a set of linotype matrices

in 15 minutes with the help of but one employee. Previous to in- stallation of this machine it required the services of one employee

four hours to perform the same amount of work and the continuous

work of four employees throughout the year to keep matrices in

proper working condition. With one employee this machine cleans

matrices more thoroughly and saves approximately $5,000 per annum. The superintendent of platemaking reports substantial improvements in his division. The work of his apprentices is commented

on favorably. A total increase of 684,641 square inches of stereotype

plates over last year is recorded.

That the presswork division has kept pace with the demands of

Congress and Government departments is the report of the superintendent of that division. The installation of new machinery means

better product and increased production, and gives this office one of

the best-equipped pressrooms in the world. The money order and

postal card sections are operating more efficiently with a considerable

decrease in expenses. Changes have been made that make the work

of these sections more orderly.

The bindery division has more than held its own, although working with a reduced personnel. The amount of rebinding for libraries was unusually heavy, and near the end of the year reached a peak hitherto unsurpassed.

NEW AND MODERN MACHINERY INSTALLED

New and modern machinery has been installed in the different

bindery sections during the past year, and orders are out for a number of other machines which are expected to be installed not later

than January 1, 1927. The spirit of cooperation between divisions was splendidly manifested the past year and resulted in a better

understanding between foremen and a higher conception of results

in production, quality, and cost of output. Frequent consultations

are held before work is printed, which results in handling the work

more efficiently and economically. No serious break has occurred on any bindery machine during the year, and credit for this is given

to careful operatives who, due to their thorough attention and regular inspection, maintain the equipment in excellent condition. The

superintendent is of the opinion that the value of the testing section to the bindery is probably greater than to any other division in the

office. The report of the chief of tests proves that the testing section is continuing its record for efficiency. In addition to the routine test- ing of materials used by the Government Printing Office, the chemists

are engaged in research work in different lines, and conducting ex- periments which in many cases have resulted in standardizing grades

of materials.
Annual Report of the Public Printei' 61

As a result of the investigational work continually being conducted

by this section, definite specifications are now used for the purchase

of practically all materials regularly used by the office. Thorough

investigations have been made relative to the testing and use of rul- ing inks, dyes, detergents, and glue, results of which have been highly

satisfactory.

A complete report was made last 3^ear relative to detergents for

remoA'ing ink from type and plates. This year the subject of detergents for laundry and general cleaning purposes throughout the

plant has been under investigation. As a result, trisodium phosphate

is now used in the laundry for washing rags and towels, and also for general cleaning purposes such as washing floors, walls, woodwork, cuspidors, etc. The detergent formerly used for washing rags

cost S3. 59 per tub. By the use of trisodium phosphate the cost has

been reduced to $1.55 per tub. As there is an average of 30 tubs per

month, the annual saving is over $700.

Especial attention has been given to the correction of linotype,

monotype, and stereotype metals. An average of 14: tons of type

metal is used daily by the type-casting machines.

TESTIXCx SECTION WORK IXCREASED

The work of the testing section was materially increased by Congress in authorizing the Public Printer to furnish to other branches

of the Government inks, glues, and other supplies manufactured by

the Government Printing Office. Practically all these materials

are manufactured under formulas developed by the testing section.

Work in the stores division is reported as being heavy during the

past year, and considerable inconvenience is caused by lack of storage room. Two new tiering machines and one crane truck for handling

rolls of paper have been installed, which greatly facilitate the work

of this section. The chief of delivery section reports a very busy year. In addition to the usual regular deliveries of departmental and congressional work, there were hauled during the year from the different

freight stations in the city 1,013 carloads of paper and 1,032 less- than-carload lots." The fact that the office paid no demurrage

charges is indicative of the efficient work done by this section. Current deliveries (congressional and departmental) amounted to 331

daily, or 103,689 for the year, ranging in weight from 1 to 500

potmds

In addition, 13,111 empty cases were brought from the Bureau of

Engraving and Printing for use in making postal-card cases. Among

large deliveries are 1,608,465,500 postal cards in 252 shipments,

averaging 6,366,926 cards to a shipment, and approximating 2,251,200

pounds, or 1,125 tons. TRAIXIXG OF APPRENTICES VINDICATED

The decision of the Public Printer to instruct young men in

the various trades in the Government Printing Office has been more

than vindicated. At the present time the apprentice section includes

171 printers, 10 bookbinders, 1 jDressman, 2 machinists, 3 photo-
62 Annual Report of the Public Printer

engravers, 3 electrotype finishers, 3 stereotypers, and 3 electrotype

molders, a total of 199. Between July 1 and October 20, 1926, 20

apprentices finished the 4-year course and were promoted to probationary journeymen. It is a pleasure to report that in each instance

the young men are proving themselves competent in their respective

trades. They have been trained as all-round craftsmen, and can

therefore be used in any unit of the trade. The practice of commercial printing plants has become altogether too general to give

apprentices training in onlj^ machine operating. In a plant like

the Government Printing Office it is absolutely essential that the

printer should be competent in hand composition and other composing-room work. To meet this requirement, the Government

Printing Office training includes hand and job composition, imposing,

making-up, estimating, and jacket writing. Not only are the young

men meeting the requirements on the composing machines but they

are also giving satisfactory service as hand and job compositors,

book and job imposers, and in estimating and computing.

The printer apprentices have been of material assistance to all sections, holding copy, reading proof, correcting, imposing, stripping

type, and aiding in other related occupations. The 26 apprentices

in the platemaking division, machine shop, pressroom, and bindery

are reported by foremen as developing into high-class craftsmen.

These young men while under instruction have also rendered 43,384

hours of productive labor.

ECONOMY IN SETTING TABULAR MATTER

A change in the interest of economy has been made in the setting

of en-quaded spaced tabular matter. The same system used in hand

composition of spacing tables was followed upon the installation of

composing machines. After making a survey of the whole proposition it was decided that a worth-while saving would result by reducing en-quaded spaced matter to a minimum of 2 points; thus the

space between lines on a 6-point en-quaded table will be reduced 1 point ; 8-point, 2 points reduction ; 10-point, 5 points reduction. This

change eliminates the upkeep and use of a 9-point mold and made

it possible to obtain satisfactory results from the 8, 10, and 12 point

molds that are a part of the office standard equipment. The reduction of space between lines will allow more lines to the printed page

in each instance. The reduction in spacing in 6-point octavo pages

will allow the addition of 7 lines, or 10 per cent more matter to the

page ; 8-point page, 9 lines, or 16 per cent ; 10-point page, 9 lines, or 20 per cent. This reduction in the number of pages in en-quaded

publications will naturally be economically reflected in paper used

and in presswork and bindery operations.

It may be of interest to submit the result of an inventory taken

August 12, 1926, on storage of live and dead type pages: In pages

and on galleys awaiting return proof from departments, 51,912; held

for pick-up iby order of departments, 101,113 ; dead, awaiting distri- bution or remelting, 25,194; grand total, 178,219 pages. On galleys

awaiting return of proof or in process of correcting or proof reading,

30,016. The space required for this immense quantity of type taxes the storage resources of the office to the limit.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 63

REPORT OF THE PRODUCTION MANAGER

PLANNING DIVISION The work in the planning division reflects the material growth of

printing necessary to keep pace with the growth of the Nation. As

the country grows, the Government activities are bound to increase,

and any increase in Government activity necessarily carries the

demand for more printing in the nature of blank forms, reports,

bulletins, and the numerous other pamphlets and books called for

by every branch of the service. During the past year the total number of requisitions received was 54,074, as against 52,731 for the previous fiscal year—an increase

of 1,343 requisitions.

The requisitions review board is closely allied with the planning

division in that all requisitions must be passed on before the job is accepted, and the employees of this division are trained to study all requisitions with the view to accept for printing only when the most

economical method is determined. The board determines the legality,

most economical method, and urgency of the jobs, and the planning

division works out the details, such as color of ink, quality and size of stock, how to run one job in combination with other . similar jobs

from one or more departments, and to save composition, presswork,

and bindery operations.

As a result of this close study of all work submitted to this office, 441 requisitions were modified during the past year, effecting a saving to the Government of $52,000=

This saving was made possible by standardizing sizes, substituting

cheaper stock without impairing the usefulness of the form, eliminating colored inks, changing style or size of type, numbering and

perforating on press at time of printing instead of separate operation in the bindery, eliminating stereotyping or electrotyping, substituting stereotyping for electrotyping in other cases, eliminating

round corners and nonessential bindery operations, and numerous

other changes of requisitions that are constantly brought to light

by study of all printing and binding methods.

Another activity of the planning division is that of furnishing

blank paper to the various departments of the Government in this

city. A total of slightly more than 5,000,000 pounds of blank paper

and envelopes were furnished during the past year, the total cost of

which was $447,468.43.

It is conservatively estimated that this resulted in a saving of

$45,000 to the departments. The office has been complimented by

ihe users of this paper about the quality furnished and the dispatch

with which deliveries are made. Previous to the Government Printing Office taking over the handling of blank paper and envelopes,

it was purchased through the General Supply Committee, and at least 30 days was required for delivery; but as practically all grades

and sizes are now carried in stock by the Government Printing Office,

delivery in most instances can be made immediately if the departments so request.

16710—27 5
64 Annual Report of the Public Printer

In addition to the handling of blank paper, in carrying out the provisions of the legislative appropriation act of May 13, 1926, Public,

No. 222, this^ office is now furnishing the departrnents with various

supplies, such as ink, glue, paste, etc., manufactured in this office. A catalogue of articles and prices was issued and circulated July 1, 1926. It is believed this last activity will result in a great saving to the various departments, but the service has not been in effect long

enough to make a detailed report.

PRINTING DIVISION This division has had an unusually busy year. Demands have

been made by Congress and by the executive departments that did

not seem possible of fulfillment. They have been met, however,

with creditable punctuality. This called for constant study to improve and increase the output as well as reduce the cost of production.

The recent increases in wages have been appreciated by the -em- ployees, who are, as a whole, showing their appreciation by increasing their efforts to meet the Public Printer's demands to increase

production to compensate the Government for this increase. The

long- established custom of allowing the employees five minutes fo^

clean-up at the end of the day's work was abolished, and there was no

protest from the four thousand and some odd employees, showing

their willingness to cooperate toward a more economical administration of the office. Monotype section.—Moving the three enrollecl-biil presses to the

linotype section, moving the partition wall between the assembling room and casting room west 12 feet, and the erection of a new locker

gallery in Jackson Alley hallway are three important changes in

operation and equipment made in this section during the past year. As all bills are now set- in the linotype section, the moving of the

three presses has consolidated and greatly facilitated the handling of

this class of work. The moving west of the partition wall has made

it possible to place the sliding bank into closer proximity to casting

machines, resulting in saving of time and travel for the caster men.

This latter change has made available 528 square feet of additional

floor space for assembling and correcting room, furniture has been

arranged in a more convenient way, and four additional galley racks

with a storage capacity of 720 document galleys, have been installed.

The new locker gallery in Jackson Alley hallway accommodates

138 lockers, making it possible to keep all lockers off the main floor of this section.

Another change which improves both the working conditions and

the appearance of the casting room was the installing of electric metal pots and the removal of the unsightly overhead flues that were

necessary with the gas pots. When it is realized that formerly the

temperature in this room on a hot summer day reached 110° with

the old gas pots, and the highest temperature reached this past sum- mer was 100° on the day the official Weather Bureau temperature on

the street was 110°, it can be seen that this change was a decidedly

humane one. Of course, greater comfort for the employees means an

increased production, so that the Government benefits as well as the

employee.
Annual Report oj the Public Printer 65

A system for measuring the production of the casting machine

Avas instituted this past year, showing that the average number of ems produced over a period of eight months was 3,858 per hour. As

no individual record was ever kept before, there is no way of comparing former production, but it is my opinion that there is at least

a 10 per cent increase in production in this section.

The casting room produced 410,123 pounds of rule, leads, and

slugs, and 258,606 pounds of type sorts for this office and other

departments of the Government. From a total of 19,586 galleys cast during the 3^ear, only 321 galleys had to be reset, showing a per- centage of quality efficiency of 98.3 per cent. One of the methods of economical production in this section is planning the run of boxheads. During the past year 7,693 spools

for boxheads were rerun on casting machines 31,920 times. This means cutting down expensive composition on boxheads about 18

per cent—a big saving on composition.

With the numerous changes mentioned above and the changing

over of all type from 0.050-inch drive to the 0.030-inch drive, and

the adoption of a single standard height lead and slug, it is my

opinion that this section is better equipped than ever before to handle

the great volume of work demanded by both Congress and other

G^overnment activities. Linotype section.—During the past year 24 additional Model

25 linotype machines were purchased. This model machine has

proved a much more efficient and economical machine than the oldmodel machines. This last purchase makes 4-8 Model 25 machines in

this office, a battery of up-to-date machines that could very easily

set the type on a large-sized city daily. This number of machines,

however, can only produce about one-third of our work. We have

149 slug-casting machines running all the year round during the day

hours and about one-half of that number running during the night

hours. Forty-one of these machines are constantly working on

patent specifications and the Patent Office Gazette. During the

session of Congress a nightly average of 60 machines work on the

Congressional Record, bills and resolutions, hearings, and reports for

both Houses of Congress and the numerous committees of Congress.

I mention the above demands on one of our composing rooms to demonstrate the enormous amount of printing we are called on to

deliver. When it is taken into consideration that the composition

is only the first step in the course of producing a finished book, it can well be seen that Ave have to have not only the largest battery of

typesetting machines in the world but also large press, bindery,

photoengraving, stereotyping, electrotyping, ink-making, and paper rooms to be ablis to meet the demands of the largest and most active

Government of the world.

The day linotype section has been called on during the past

session of Congress to spend about 40 per cent of its time on congressional work. During former sessions of Congress the night linotype section was able to take care of all congressional work, but

they could not handle all this class of work this year, as Congress

ordered considerably more printing than in former sessions. This big demand necessitated more working space in this section.

A gallery was built over the west G Street hallway, which permitted

the removal of all lockers from the main floor of this section. Also
66 Annual Report of the Public Printer

two galley racks and five tables with galley racks were installed in

this hallway, which gave still more floor space. However, this room

is still overcrowded, and the remedy is the closing over of the court

between the north and south wings of the main building, now under

construction. This, it is believed, will give all the additional space

needed.

There has been considerable loss of time in the printing of Congressional Library catalogues due to authors' alterations. These

alterations were caused by a lack of uniformity in style, abbreviations, punctuation, capitalization, etc., in the copy.

By order of the production manager, the foreman of the day record

section and the referee of the proof section prepared a brief style

sheet, showing the various classes of cards and a standard style for

them. This was submitted to the Library and approved.

The style sheet is now used by the Library in writing cards. It will mean a considerable saving in composition, proofreading, and

correcting.

Hand section.—During the past year a new method Avas adopted

for the training in office procedure for all new compositors, whether

emergency or probationary. When a new compositor is appointed

he is immediately assigned to the hand section. During his first month's service he is instructed in rules of the office, style, kinds of

type, etc., and it is determined in what branch of the composition

trade he is best fitted. He is then detailed to the monotype, linotype, or job sections, and the foremen of these sections continue his training. In this way, by the end of the employee's probationary period,

the office is able to determine where the employee should work, so that the Government obtains the services for which the employee is best able to make a return for his salary. This also gives the employee a better Imowledge of the work of the office as a whole and

results in a greater interest in his product.

This section has made gre at strides in the economical imposition

of type forms for press. . In 14 outstanding jobs imposed during

the past year the number of press impressions was reduced from

1,963,444 to 1,006,722, a reduction of 956,722 impressions. On one

of these jobs, l3y doubling up the plates on insets and pasters, 60,616

impressions were saved, a total reduction on the 14 jobs of 1,067,338

impressions, or a saving in the cost of printing them of $3,844.60.

Job composing section.—During the past year this section received

33,119 jackets, 630 in excess of last year. The improvement in the

quality of the work performed in this section is notable.

That job composing is becoming more and more efficient is proven

by the fact that at the close of this fiscal year there is a 3 per cent gain as against a II/2 per cent loss the previous year, or a gain of

4% per cent over last year. Patents section.—This section is unique in that the principal work

it does is started and completed all in the same room. The patent

specifications are their principal work, and this work is constantly

increasing. During the past year 1,277 more patents were printed

than during the preceding year, with an increase of 4,441 pages.

The average number of patents printed per week during the past

year was 900, as against 600 in former years. A new Babcock cylinder press has been installed in this section during the past year. This obviates the necessity of sending forms to the
Annual Report of the Public Printer 67

main press section, as all the press work can now be performed in

the patents section.

This section was organized October 1, 1925, so no comparison can

be made with former years. Lihrmy pHnting branch.—Previous to the past year this branch was located on the ground floor and in the basement of the Library of

Congress. This was a very poor arrangement from both a health

and efficiency standpoint.

On orders from the Public Printer a studj^ was made of the work

being performed there, with the result that it was found all work

pertaining to printing could be performed on the ground floor, eliminating entirely the necessity of employees working in the dark and

unhealthy basement.

This layout has also considerably increased the production of the

branch, as shown by the fact that during the past year 86,000 titles were set and 15,831,000 cards printed, the largest number ever printed

in one year. An interesting comparison can be made here between the present

and 25 years ago, showing the difference between hand composition

and also showing how the Librar}^ work is increasing. In 1901, with

a daily average of 19 employees, there were 70,000 titles set and

5,000,000 cards printed. During the past fiscal year there was an

average of 20 employees working daily, and 86,000 titles were set and 15,831,000 cards were printed. An increase of only one employee

shows an increase of 16,000 titles and 10,831,000 cards printed.

Another important change instituted and in process of completion

is the standardization of the type faces used in catalogue carets with

the standard faces used in the Government Printing Office. Since

the branch office was established the type faces used in card work

have been totally unlike those used in the main office, so that the

vast mechanical resources of the Government Printing Office have

never been available for Library work in cases of emergency.

Some idea of the magnitude of the undertaking to standardize this

equipment may be gained from the fact that there are approximately

66,000 matrices involved, over 25.000 of that number being special

characters used in the printing of catalogue cards in approximately

100 languages and dialects. All the job type has also been standardized to conform to the type cast on the monotype in the main office, thereby insuring a constant supply of good type.

Proof section.—The great problem in this section has been to get

a sufficient number of skilled readers. We are still below the required

number. It is necessary to detail emergency readers daily from

the composing room. The Public Printer's suggestion of having a

class of employees as copy holders to be trained as readers is heartily

concurred in by all officials of the office that have to do with composition and reading. In the opinion of the production manager this

is the only solution to this vexing problem. It is a problem of not

only this office but throughout the whole craft all over the country.

Proof readers should be students of the English language primarily,

willing to study in their off hours, to keep informed on current

topics, and be a source of information to other employees in the

office. One of the new methods started in this section during the past year was to examine all proofs returned by the various departments of the
68 Annual Report of the Public Printer

Government before proofs are forwarded to the composing sections for correction, with the view to prevent useless correcting. This has the

effect of preserving the style and improving the finished product, as well as the more important item of saving to the Government the

large amounts which such corrections would have cost. A small book entitled "Syllabication" has been issued to the

readers, saving many trips to the dictionaries. This book was compiled by an employee of the proof section.

Type-machine section.—This is a type-machine repair sliop and more than pays for itself by being so close to the machines it serves. During the past year repairs and new parts manufactured for the

monotype machines amounted to $7,887.60. If purchased from

manufacturers, the cost would have been $8,869.19, a saving of

$981.59. Repairs and new parts for the linotype machines amounted

to $4,601.10. If purchased from manufacturer, the cost would have

been $5,094.51, a saving of $493.41.

Taking the printing division as a whole, it is my opinion that

efficienc}^ is still on the increase. This is evidenced by the wholehearted way in which all officers of this division discuss their sections

and their work with the production manager. There is no let down

when they have put into effect some new method; instead, this seems

to spur them on to renewed effort to hold down the cost of this the

most expensive part of the printing of a book or job.

PRESSWORK DIVISION

This division as a whole shows a gam of 5 per cent as against a 1 per cent loss the previous year. The policy of the Public Printer of concentrating on machinery

improvements in this division during the past year has resulted in

the purchase of much more efficient machinery, thereby increasing

the mechanical facilities to meet the ever-increasing demands on this

branch of the work. The following is some of the new machinery

installed during the past year:

The two Hoe web presses have been completed and will be able to take care of the Record for some years to come. Two Miehle vertical presses and two Miehle pony cylinder presses have been installed.

Five new Miehle cylinder presses replacing five obsolete and wornout Huber presses. Four of these have automatic feeders.

The three new rotary envelope presses are not limited to printing

envelopes, but are capable of working flat-sheet work as well. Five presses and one slitting machine for manufacturing tabulating

cards.

A few of the large jobs run in the main press section are as follows

:

Copies

Money-order applications, two sides 250, 000, 000

Internal-revenue information 25, 000, 000

Notice to publishers . 20, 000, 000

Requisitions for stamp stock 1, 000, 000

Agriculture wrappers 4, 000, 000

Post-office surplus funds 2, 000, 000

Registered matter, received and delivered ^ 2, 500, 000 Navy radiogram blanks 3, 000, 000

Special-delivery slips 3,000,000 Farmers' Bulletin slips .. 8,000,000
Annual Report of the Public Printer 69

Sheets

Post-office special delivery 12, 000, 000 War Department shipping tickets 2, 600, 000

Agriculture Yearbook, 1925—79 signatures of 400,807 each, making

8,016,140 impressions of 64-page forms.

Postal Guide, 72 signatures, 2.429,750 impressions.

BINDERY DIVISION This division for the past year has had little out of the routine

tasks and has maintained its usual schedules on regular work. The

large outstanding orders such as the Agriculture Yearbook, Postal

Guide, income-tax blanks, and Farmers' Bulletins at times reqidred

shifting of jobs and help, but never seriously delayed the hundreds

of other orders of varying quantity.

The amount of rebinding for libraries has been unusually heavy,

and toward the end of the year reached a peak hitherto unsurpassed.

Blank books have also shown an increase, particularly in the large

record books required for the United States courts. The call for

loose-leaf binders has been more than in previous years. New machinery purchased and installed in the bindery during the

past 3' ear is as follows:

In the forwarding and finishing section : Ten book-sewing machines, one continuous trimmer, one case-forming machine, one pamphlet-covering machine, one stamping press, and one case-making

machine.

In the jL'uling and serving section : One dual L ruling machine, one

stripping machine, and two 44-inch cutting machines.

In the pamphlet bindery section: One job folding machine.

In the Library binding branch : One 44-inch cutting machine.

Orders are out for the following machines, all of which will be

installed not later than January 1, 1927:

In the forwarding and finishing section : One book-cover printing

press, three numbering and paging machines, two book-oversewing

machines, one sheet-scoring machine, one forwarding and casing-in

machine, one pamphlet-binding machine, one book-sanding machine,

two book-sewing machines (straight needle), one leather-skiving machine, one case-cleaning machine, and three gluing machines.

Riding and sewing section : One perforating machine, one McBee

binding machine, one disk ruling machine, three numbering and

paging machines, one stripping machine, and one book-sewing

machine.

Pamphlet bindery section: One numbering and paging machine,

three job folding machines, four double 16-double 32 folding machines, and one continuous-feed stitching machine.

Library binding branch : One book-oversewing machine.

It will be seen by the above program that the bindery as a whole

is up to date in its purchase of machinery—far and above the average

commercial binderj^

In the ruling and sewing section one of the large orders constantly

running is the application for money orders. This calls for

250,000,000 applications, in pads of 500. Another is 5,000,000 shippers' export pads of 100 to a pad and drilled. In addition, hundreds of other jobs were delivered, large and small,

including 12,279,000 copies of various farmers' bulletins.
70 Annual Report of the Public Printer

The Library binding branch is getting along with a much reduced

personnel. The past year there were 59 employees, as against 70

employees in previous years. A continued increase in the work is noted. The number of books ripped for this year was 20,561, as against 20,464 last j^ear, an increase of 97 books. The number of

books sewed this year was 26.666, as against 24,209 last year, an

increase of 2,457. The number of books forwarded this year was

25,028, as against 22,042 last year, an increase of 2,986. The number

of books finished this year was 24,401, as against 21,148 last year, an

increase of 3,253. The value of the work this year was $131,060.79,

as against $116,029.20 last year. All this increase with less employees

shows an efficient force is employed on this very intricate and valuable work.

PLATEMAKIXG DIVISION Some of the new machinery installed in this division is as follows

:

One flat beveler ; a combination saw trimmer ; 2 shaving machines

;

an automatic curve-plate beveling machine ; 30 automatic blowpipes

with mechanical shut-ofFs; a sweatin^--on machine; a shell trimmer

and lead cutter ; an electrotype cast scrubbing machine ; a lead-molding press ; a chromium plating apparatus, consisting of a lead-lined

tank, stone jar, rheostat, and exhaust for removing gases; a stereo- type molding press; and a 5-ton metal furnace.

All this new" machinery has resulted in a decided saving in the

various operations of electrotyping, and stereotyping, and I look for even more efficiency in this division during the coming year, as some

of this machinery was installed at the end of the year. One of the important jobs performed during the past year was the

making of precanceling postage stamp plates for the Bureau of

Engraving and Printing, We are now making cancellation stamp

plates for playing cards.

During the past year this division made thousands of bond coupon

plates, blocked on wood and metal, for the bureau also. This work

alone amounted to $25,000.

The photo-engraving section has proved every day that the installation of this section was a wise and economical step toward better

service to the Government establishments. In spite of the fact that

this section had 23 employees this year as against 21 the past year, expenses of the section have been reduced $283.49, showing that it is giving the economical production demanded by the Public Printer.

The amount of overtime was cut down from 1,907 hours in 1925 to 1,341 hours this year, a reduction in cost of $325.

The metal room is undergoing a complete change of layout, including the purchase of a new inclosed 5-ton metal furnace. Our daily

requirements for the two machine typesetting sections is about 12 tons of metal per day. We are casting an average of 15 tons of

ingots per day, which is allowing us to get plenty of metal ahead for

emergencies. We now have in storage 85 tons of linotype metal

and 36i/'2 tons of monotype metal. Of course, 85i/^ tons of linotype

metal will only meet about 15 days' consumption, but with the

amount being melted down daily this surplus will be ample.
Aiinual Report of the Public Printer 71

XIGHT ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER

The night force is primarily a congressional force, and therefore a report of its activities must deal mainly with the work incident to the

session of Congress.

A new method of handling the House Journal was started this

session. In previous years the entire volume was set, no pick-up

being used. As a result of a conference with the House Journal

clerk, a plan was adopted whereby a large number of pages of type were picked up from the bound Record forms for use in the Journal.

To make the saving more effective, a slight change in the style of

the Journal was agreed to which made the Journal style conform

to that of the Record. To carr}^ out this plan the parts which could

be picked up were marked on the Journal copy and as soon as the

forms of the bound Record were printed the type was saved.

As a result, out of 896 pages of Journal, composition was entirely

saved on 353 pages and slight changes made on 271/2 pages, making

3801/2 pages. This pick-up is equiv^ilent to 2,487,242 ems of type,

amounting to approximately $2,650. This is a permanent annual

saving, as the method will be followed in all future House Journals.

Congressional work, other than the Congressional Record,

pamphlet speeches, bills, and work to be plated, amounted to 106,-

957 pages, or 12,350 forms, an average of 70 forms a night during

the session. There Avere also 25,664 pages, or 2,810 forms, of departmental work sent to press, an average of 16 forms a night. The

bills amounted to 80,189 pages, or 12,442 forms.

In all. exclusive of the Record, pamphlet speeches, and enrolled

bills, there were 212,810 pages, or 27,612 forms sent to press during

the session, a general average of 155 forms a night. This record was made with a smaller force than ever before in the history of the

office. It Avill be seen by the above report that the night force was able

to meet all demands of Congress through a splendid spirit of co- operation between all sections. The utmost harmony prevailed

between the officials of the various sections and between the officials and their employees. The employees had confidence in their supervisors, knowing them to be competent in their positions and just

in their dealings with those under them.

DELIVERY SECTION

Owing to the fact that the past session of Congress was the

busiest ever experienced, the delivery section was called on to ex- tend itself to the utmost. However, all demands for deliveries were met with practically no overtime.

The fleet of Slack trucks proved themselves indispensable during

this rush, and showed that our request for them was not merely a

desire to have a big equipment but were actually needed. They

hauled 1,013 complete carloads and 1,032 " less-than-carload lots " of paper from the various freight yards in this city. This vast amount of work was handled on such good schedule time that no demurrage charges were made against this office, which reflects 16710—27 6
72 Annual Report of the Public Printer

credit on the employees who handled the job as well as being a source of gratification to all concerned.

Our deliveries, both congressional and departmental, amounted

to 103,689, an average of 331 daily, varying from a 1-pound package

to a 500-pound case. There were 252 shipments of postal cards, aggregating 1,608.-

465,500 cards, made during the year, making a total weight of ap- proximately 2,251,200 pounds, or 1,125 tons. All the above tremendous increase in hauling has been performed

by the same number of employees—52—as we had on the roll the

previous year. SAVINGS

As chairman of the permanent committee on savings, I wish to re- port that effort along this line is just as intense as at the time the

committee was first appointed three years ago. This effort is helped materially by the constructive organization

pictorial posters that are posted weekly. All employees, as well as the supervisors, are interested in them, and in my opinion one of the

greatest results is in the efi'ort to cut down waste, both in time and

materials and in the recommendation of purchase.

An itemized list of savings made possible by utilizing material

formerly disposed of as waste, added production through substituting modern for slow and obsolete machinery, use of cheaper material

without affecting the grade of product, etc., shows that these econo- mies for the year amounted to $230,838.59.

Just a word in conclusion. It will be seen by the above report of

the work and the savings in the various units of this great plant

that the efforts of all officials are to keep on working to make this the

greatest printing establishment in the world from an efficiency standpoint. There is complete harmony and cooperation between all

officials, and between the officials and the employees.

From my daily observations I believe that never before in the

history of the office have the employees as a whole been so contented

and cheerful about their work as at the present time. This is due

primarily to the fact that they realize the Public Printer, as the head

of this great establishment, has gone out of his way to improve working conditions, pay a salar}^ comparable with commercial establishments, and to generally look after the health and welfare of all emploj^ees from the highest official to the newest messenger boy.

I also wish to take this occasion to state that in my position as production manager I have received the finest support from the

Public Printer and the Deputy Public Printer that any official could

possibly receive from his superior officers ; and that the close cooperation given me by the officials under my supervision, and also those

of the auxiliary divisions of the office, has made my occupancy of

this exacting position a pleasure far in excess of any other experience

I have had during my life. Whatever success has been made by the production divisions is due

to the efforts of your official family*^ in always striving to help each

other over the difficulties, and to cooperate with me in meeting the

vexing questions bound to come up daily in an office of this size.
cilinual Report of the Public Printer 73

REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF TESTS

The work of the testing section during the past year has been

much heavier than in any year since its installation in the Government Printing Office in 1922. Several important investigations have

been completed and a number of new research problems undertaken.

The total number of samples analyzed during the year was 6,844,

compared with 5.354 for the fiscal year 1924r-25. This shows an

increase of 28 per cent in the actual number of samples tested. The

niunber of samples tested includes the technical inspection of all delivered materials, testing of samples offered by bidders, the analyses

of technical control samples of glue, type metals, inks, etc., as well

as all investigational samples.

The following is a detailed tabulation of the samples tested during

the fiscal year 1925-26 and the fiscal year 1924—25

:

1924-25 1925-26

Paper and paper products, including bid, delivery, and investigational samples

Textiles, including bookbinding cloths and cordage Bookbinding leathers Metals, including tvpe metals, tin, lead, antimonv. etc Glup Ink-making materials Lubricating oils and greases Gasoline Chemicals

Miscellaneous, induding soaps, waxes, turx)entine, etc Total

942

51635

16544

26682

72

136

76

5. 354 6, 844 This tabulation shows the largest increase in samples tested to be

under paper and metals. The paper work has been unusually heavy

during the past year; and owing to modifications in the paper

specifications during the last two years, necessary testing in this

connection has been materially increased. The specifications for all bond, map, ledger, writing, and kraft papers now carry a folding

endurance requirement. A large number of paper samples were also tested during the past year in connection with investigations con- ducted relative to kraft, bond, and ledger papers.

The largest increase in the number of samples tested is shown

under metals and is due to the technical control of type metal in the

office. This requires the daily analysis of at least three lots of

approximately 10.000 pounds each of linotype, monotype, or stereo- type metal. A full report on the technical control of type metal is submitted herewith.

There were 171 rejections of paper and 42 rejections of miscellaneous materials^ during the year as a result of technical inspection.

The following is a tabulation of the causes for rejection of paper, some deliveries being rejected for more than one deficiency

:

General appearance 12 | Deficient in stock 6

Off and mixed color 8 Unsatisfactory opacity 1 Low in bursting strength 22 Unsatisfactory finish '16 Overweight 16 | Deficient in folding endurance 131 Considering the large amount of paper purchased annually on

definite specifications, the number of rejections due to noncompliance
74 Annual Report oj the Public Printer

with specifications is very low. On a total purchase for the year of

approximately 40,000,000 pounds of paper the rejections amounted

to about 5 per cent. This includes all rejections, whether for paper

which was unsatisfactory on account of noncompliance with specifications in quality or, if satisfactory in quality, not within the 5 per

cent weight tolerance allowed.

The value of the technical inspection of the various supplies purchased by the office can not be judged entirely from the number of

rejections which result from such technical tests. The contractors dealing with this office fully appreciate that deliveries of all materials will be subjected to rigid technical examination for compliance with the specifications or accepted samples, and are exercising greater care to deliver material which will be satisfactory than

would be the case if such technical inspection were not made. The

office has received cordial cooperation from the contractors and

manufacturers of paper and other materials.

In addition to the regular routine work of testing materials

delivered to the office and the technical control work of materials

manufactured by the office, considerable work is continually being

conducted of an investigational nature. The results of this work are of the utmost importance in the development of specifications for the

materials purchased for the use of the office and in effecting improvements and economies in the various processes employed b}^ the

office. IN^O^STIGATION OF BOND AND LEDGER PAPERS

The cooperative work which was started two years ago with the

United Typothetse of America and the paper manufacturers for

jointly working out technical specifications for at least the more

important printing papers and materials used by the printing in- dustry has been continued during the past year. The work so far done on the technical standardization of paper

has been limited to those papers commonly known as bond and ledger

papers. During the year 1924^25, tentative specifications and

grades for bond and ledger papers were prepared and published,

together with a classified tabulation, under cipher letter, of tests on the commercial samples submitted by the manufacturers.

During the year 1925-26, the paper manufacturers were again

invited to submit new samples of their regular brands of bond and

ledger papers, in order to ascertain if the tentative specifications

proposed were in need of revision, to determine the normal variation in paper of the same quality, and to stimulate additional interest in the technical standardization of paper. The paper manufacturers cooperated in this work.

For this second investigation on bond and ledger papers, 41 mills

submitted samples of their regular mill brands. In all, 121 samples

of bond and 51 samples of ledger papers were submitted and tested. The results of this investigation were printed in tabulated form^

under cipher letter, each manufacturer being assigned a letter or

letters after the serial number of all papers submitted by him.

Copies of this tabulation, and also the tentative specifications and
Annual Report of the Public Printer 75

first tabulation, are available to anyone interested in this work and

will be furnished upon request.

Inasmuch as the results of the first investigation on bond and

ledger papers indicated that the folding endurance test was the

most indicative of the serviceability, durability, and quality of these

papers, the folding endurance test and the bursting strength test were the only physical tests made in the second investigation. A

quantitative determination for glue and rosin sizing was also made

on all papers submitted which complied with the proposed specifications for grades 1 and 2 of the bond and ledger specifications.

The results of the second investigation relative to bond and ledger

papers have shown an inclination on the part of several manufacturers to reduce the number of grades formerly made, and to produce these papers in accordance with the proposed specifications and

grades.

It is now planned to reprint the proposed specifications with whatever slight modifications may seem advisable and include the classi- fied tabulation of all samples submitted by the paper manufacturers on both the first and second investigations. A conference of representatives of the paper industry and the United Typothetae of

America will be invited to discuss the technical standardization of

these papers.

This cooperative work on bond and ledger papers has been of

great assistance to the Government paper specifications committee in

the revision, under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing,

of Government specifications for these papers. The specifications

adopted for the year 1925 by the Joint Committee on Printinginclude five grades of bond and four grades of ledger paper which

are in conformity with the grades reconunended in this investigation.

These specifications have been renewed without change in the Government paper specifications for the years 1926 and 1927. INVESTIGATION ON KRAFT PAPER

In order to secure reliable information as to the most satisfactory

tests for indicating the quality and serviceability of kraft paper, an

extended investigation has been conducted. Kraft paper manufacturers were requested to cooperate in this work by furnishing samples

of their regular brands in two weights, 24 by 36, 500—40 pounds, and

24 by 36, 500—80 pounds, for test purposes. Fourteen different

manufacturers cordially cooperated in this work and submitted

samples of their regular mill grades of kraft paper. The samples

submitted were subjected to all physical tests commercially used for

paper testing, such as bursting strength, folding endurance, tensile

strength, stretch, and tearing resistance, as well as determinations

of fiber content and ash. Previous to the investigation, practically all specifications for

kraft paper were based on the bursting strength test, which test alone has not been found satisfactory for indicating the quality and

probable serviceability of this grade of paper. A careful study of

the different physical testing equipment indicated that the folding

endurance tester gave results which were most indicative of quality

and serviceability.
76 Annual Report of the Public Printer

As a result of this work, specifications were prepared for two

qualities of kraft paper, a No. 1 grade and a No. 2 grade, in which

minimum average specifications for folding endurance and bursting

strength were stated. The bursting strength test was specified

owing to its common use by the paper manufacturers, but it should

be stated that the folding endurance requirement is more important.

Papers which may comply with the bursting strength requirement

will not necessarily comply in folding endurance. However, any

paper meeting the folding endurance requirement will possess good

tensile strength and bursting strength, and will meet the requirements specified for bursting strength.

The specifications for two grades of kraft paper recommended as a

result of this investigation were adopted by the paper specifications

committee and approved by the Joint Committee on Printing for use

in the Government paper specifications for 1926 and also for 1927.

The complete results of this investigation on kraft paper, giving

all tests made, will be published in the hear future for the information of paper manufacturers and consumers. At the request of the District government, specifications have been

prepared for use in the purchase of paper for use by the District

schools. Bid and delivery samples submitted in connection with

these specifications have also been tested for compliance with the same. At the request of the Library of Congress, tests and recommendations have been made on samples of rope manila paper submitted to

this office for use in the production of publications for the blind by

the Braille method.

PAPER TESTING METHODS AND APPARATUS

The folding endurance test is now the most important requirement in the paper specifications for writing, bond, ledger, map,

safety writing, and kraft papers. The paper specifications for the

year 1926-27 specified a folding endurance requirement for over

11,000,000 pounds of paper, and the proposals for 1927-28 for over

12,000,000 pounds of paper. This test has been found to be the

most satisfactory for indicating the quality and serviceability of

paper.

During the past two years a thorough study has been made of the

folding endurance tester. As a result of this work a very important

improvement was made on the tester by substituting flat rollers,

approximately one-fourth inch wide, for the knife edge rollers supporting the clamps holding the paper. The manufacturers of

this tester are now equipping all testers with flat rollers having

adjustable bases, in exact accordance with those developed by this

office. ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS IN PRINTING PLANT

An important investigation which is being conducted by the

testing section is for the purpose of determining the most satis- factory relative humidity to maintain in the various parts of a printing office in order to secure maximum production of good
Annual Report of the Public Printer 77

printing, and also to ascertain the effect of humidity on paper.

ink, rollers, and other factors entering into the work of the

printing plant.

Paper is a hygroscopic material which is readily susceptible

to variations of the atmospheric conditions to which it is exposed.

Owing to this sensitiveness to changes in the temperature and rel- ative humidity of the air, many problems confront the printer in

the handling of paper. Variations in atmospheric conditions are

directly responsible, in most instances, for static troubles, wavy

edges of paper, curled paper stock, and expansion and contraction

of paper, all of which seriously interfere with production. Press

rollers and printing inks are also susceptible to changes in physical

characteristics due to variations of atmospheric conditions. At

certain seasons of the year considerable difficulty is experienced

with these materials.

The moisture content of paper bears a direct relation to the rela- tive humidity of the air in which it may be exposed. For instance,

the moisture content of printing paper exposed to a condition of

35 per cent relative humidity would contain a definite amount of

moisture, probably between 3.5 and 4.5 per cent. Paper exposed to a condition of 20 per cent relative humidity would contain less moisture, and paper exposed to a condition of 50 per cent relative

humidity would contain a greater amount of moisture. Therefore,

if paper containing a certain percentage of moisture should be taken

into a pressroom the relative humidity of which is considerably lower

than would be required to maintain the moisture content of the

paper itself, there would be a tendency for moisture to leave the

paper. Or, if the humidity of the pressroom should be higher than

would be required to maintain the normal moisture content of the

paper itself, the paper would tend to take on moisture from the air. The results of this changing moisture content of the paper, and the

fact that paper in stacks will not adjust itself to the atmospheric

conditions uniformly in the same length of time, causes curl, wrinkles, wavy edges, and changing dimensions of the sheets. Furthermore, the normal temperature and relative humidity indoors is not uniform and changes from time to time.

Static electricity is produced by friction and occurs chiefly under

low relative humidity conditions or on account of a wide variation

between the temperature of the paper and the temperature of the

pressroom. By increasing the humidity of the workrooms, static conditions are materially reduced and can be entirely eliminated at high relative humidity conditions, provided the paper is allowed

to adjust itself to the room conditions.

In order to ascertain the normal indoors atmospheric conditions

under which paper is handled by the printer and the ultimate con- sumer, considerable reliable data have been secured during the past

two years. Recording temperature and humidity instruments were

installed in certain sections of the pressrooms and bindery of the

Government Printing Office where there was no apparatus for controlling or increasing the relative humidity of the rooms.
78 Annual Report oj the Public Printer

The following tabulations give the indoor and outdoor temperature

and relative humidity in Washington for each month for the vears 1925 and 1926:

Indoor

1 Outdoor Month

TemperRelative hamiditv Temper- Relative

ature, ature, humidity,

average Average Maximum Minimum average average

1925 °F. ^'Ppv f^cTni Ct III Jrtf LtilL o p Per cent January 80. 9 60 10 32. 3 67. 3 February CI Q 9Q 9 41 1»1 8 42. 7 64 March 79. 6 oU. 0 ^10 on 46. 7 61. 3 April 78. 3 34 4 49 90 54. 3 56. 6 May.- 80. 6 34. 6 ox O'i i6 62. 7 57 June 84. 3 34 9 48 21 79 59 July 82. 7 oy. o 55 iiO 1 1. 7 64. 7 August 81. 6 55 6 DO 41 71 68 September 80. 7 OU. 0 7Q 45 72. 7 68. 7 October 79. 3 'to. y

RQDo 26 00 68. 3 November 80.

1

22.3 31 12 44. 7 63 December 78. 9 28.2 37 18 37 61 Average for year 80.7 36.4 58.1 63.2

1926 January 78.5 31.4 41 . 33.7 64.7

78.8 21.8 39 15 36.3 66.7 March 80.4 23 33 12 39.7 54 April 81.2 31.4 42 20 52 48.7 May 79.5 39.8 49 25 65.3 50.4 Jime 80.6 46.8 68 29 70.4 61 July 84.3 55.

1

72 45 77.7 66.7 August.. . 79.1 57.9 75 36 76 75.3

78.1 65.8 79 56 68.7 77 October. . ... 78.7 55.7 75 33 57.7 73.3 November 80 39.2 54 25 44.7 66.7 December 79.4 21.2 32 13 33.7 69.7 Average for year 79.8 40.7 54.7 64.5

1 The indoor results are readings taken from the 24-hour charts at ^ a. m. and 4 p. m. daily recorded in the main pressroom of the

Government Printing Office. The outdoor temperature and relative

humidity for the corresponding months are taken from United

States Weather Bureau reports for Washington and are the averages

of readings taken at 8 a. m., noon, and 8 p. m. daily.

From these data it will be noted that during the months of January, February, March, April, May, November, and Deceniber, and

portions of June and October, the indoor relative humidity in Washington is usually low. During most of these months artificial heat

is used to a considerable extent. The average relative humidity

indoors for 1925 was 36.4 per cent and for 1926, 40.7 per cent. Information secured from commercial plants in various parts of

the country indicated similar conditions to those noted in the Government Printing Office. Sections of the country which require the

longer use of artificial heat have a lower average indoor relative

humidity than warmer climates.

From these investigations to date it has been found that, to secure

satisfactory working results with paper, it is essential that low

relative humidity conditions be overcome by humidification and that

uniform relative humidity conditions be maintained in the printing

plant. If paper manufacturers could deliver paper of a moisture

content corresponding to the atmospheric conditions of the printing
Annual Report of the Public Printer 79

office, complaints of static electricity, curl, svslyj edges, changing

dimensions of the paper, and similar troubles would be overcome.

It is now essential for certain kinds of work requiring exact register

that the paper be thoroughly seasoned in the pressroom by hanging

the sheets in racks.

Ecjuipment for increasing the humidity was installed in the job

pressroom of this office in May, 1925. The results with this in- stallation have shown an improvement in operating conditions. No

curl or wavy edges of the paper stock have been experienced, and

static has been largely eliminated provided the paper was stored in

the room from 12 to 21 hours previous to use. The working conditions are also more satisfactory for the employees, as the air is more

wholesome and practically free from dust. Further investigations are being m^ade with reference to the effect of relative humidity on the folding of paper, the ruling of paper, and

the handling of bookbinding materials. One of the most important

sections in a printing plant where low relative humidity should be

avoided is in the folding room. Paper which contains a low per- centage of moisture will give a rough fold and in many instances

the paper will crack and break. Also in paper ruling the best

results are obtained with paper containing a reasonable amount of

moisture, approximately 4 to 6 per cent. In both the folding and

ruling of paper the same difficulties are experienced with static elec- tricity as in the pressroom. By the elimination of low relative

humidity and by maintaining uniform humidity conditions, better

results will be secured.

Considerable investigational vfork has already been conducted

relative to binding books under controlled humidity conditions, in

order to overcome the difficulties experienced with the warping of

book covers. This work has been carried out in the testing room of

the testing section, which is maintained continuously at 50 per cent

relative humidity and 70° to 75° F. temperature. The binder's

board used was previously exposed in this room, the cases made up,

and the book completely bound under these atmospheric conditions.

The results up to the present have indicated that books produced

under these conditions have shown less tendency to warp than

similar books produced under the normal indoor conditions.

From the results of this investigation on atmospheric conditions

up to date, it is our opinion that the maintenance of a relative humidity of between 40 and 50 per cent will be most satisfactory during the months of the year when low relative humidity indoors

usually occurs. During the summer months a relative humidity of

between 50 and 60 per cent would probably be found the most eco- nomical to maintain without dehumidifying equipment.

IN\TESTIGA1T0NS ON MOISTURE CONTENT OF PAPER

An investigation has also been started by the testing section for

the purpose of determining the normal moisture content of all kinds

of* paper as delivered to the office and also the moisture content of

paper after exposure to definite relative humidity conditions. This

investigation was undertaken because of difficulties experienced with

paper containing an excessive amount of moisture.
80 Annual Report oj the Public Printer

Moisture is an essential constituent of paper. Paper containing

too low an amount of moisture will tend to be brittle, seriously

affecting its folding quality and serviceability. Paper which contains too much moisture will give various troubles in the printing

plant. Moisture is also a matter of considerable importance in the

weight and cost of paper.

Even at the high speed of the new postal-card presses it was

found that paper containing 6 to 9 per cent moisture would be

affected by the low relative humidity conditions of the pressroom

so that the cards curled badly, seriously interfering with production. In fact, there was a loss in production of approximately 40

per cent until it was discovered to be due to the moisture content of the paper. Paper containing approximately 4.5 to 5 per cent moisture was found to give the best results. Therefore the new

specifications for postal-card paper require approximately 5 per

cent moisture content. Excessive moisture is a matter of considerable interest both to the Government and the manufacturer, since

the. postal-card contract covers approximately 12,000,000 pounds of

paper annually at about 6 cents per pound, and the addition of 1 or

2 per cent of moisture to this immense tonnage seriously affects the

cost as well as the condition of the paper.

The moisture content of various other papers has been determined

by samples taken from a large number of deliveries. Standard

samples of each grade of paper have also been exposed in uniformly

maintained conditions of 50 per cent relative humidity and 70° to 75° F. temperature for at least 24 hours, and the moisture content determined. The following is a preliminary tabulation giving some

of the results so far obtained

:

Kind of paper

Moisture

content of standard samples

70° r.-50%

R. H.

Moisture content of regular

deliveries as received

Average Maximum Minimum

Newsprint

Per cent8.2

6.3

5.2 6.0

6. 1 6.0

5.2

6.0

6.7 7.5

Per cent9.7

4.6

4.9

5.8

5. 1

5. 1 4.7

4.8

5.2

6.2

Per cent 11.0

5.4 5.5

7.7 6.7

5.6 5.6

8.7

5.7

6.6

Per cent8.3

3.7

4. 1

4. 5 3.4 4.5

3.7

3.0 4.7

5.9

Machine finish book

Supercalendered book . Sulphite writing- . .- 30 per cent rag bond. - - ..- 60 per cent rag ledger . 100 per cent rag parchment

Postal card Kraft Rope manila

Deliveries

Keference to this tabulation will show that with practically all of

these papers there is considerable variation in the moisture content of

different deliveries. Also that different kinds of paper will vary

considerably in the moisture content at the same relative humidity

and temperature.

The investigation now under way will cover all paper handled by

this office. It is hoped to set the preferable moisture content for, all paper and to state the desired limits for moisture, so that paper

manufacturers may have full knowledge of the requirements of this*

office.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 81

IN\^STIGATION OF RULING INKS

During the past year an investigation has been completed relative

to inks for paper ruling, the results of which have been published in

various trade journals. This investigation indicated a lack of in- formation on the part of the operator as to the chemical nature of

the various ruling inks used for paper ruling, their permanency, and

suitability for ruling purposes. It has been the custom in purchasing ruling inks to specify simply a color designation, such as blue,

red, or green ruling powder, with little or no information as to

quality, permanency, or suitability for any specific character of

ruling work.

There is considerable difference in the permanency of different

ruling inks. An inspection of most ruled work that has been exposed

to light for any length of time will show considerable fading, and

in some cases the colors will have disappeared completely.

In the production of certain types of high-class work, such as ledgers and important record books, stress is laid on the quality and

permanency of the paper and to the appearance of the ruling, but

little attention has been given to the quality or permanency of the

ruling ink. If a job is of sufficient importance to warrant the

highest quality of paper and binding materials, it deserves the use

of the most permanent ruling dyes.

A chemical examination of the various ruling powders used for

paper ruling showed that they were water-soluble aniline dyes, that

most of them required considerable " doping," that they were mixtures of several dyes in some cases, and that fading was usually very

pronounced in finished work when exposed to light for any length of

time.

This investigation was conducted for the purpose of securing

reliable information on the following points

:

(1) To ascertain the dyes possessing the characteristics suitable

for paper ruling.

(2) To determine the permanency to light of these dyes in the

concentrations used for ruling.

(3) To determine the most satisfactory and economical methods

of preparing ruling inks for use. (4) To develop tests for determining the quality and suitability

of dyes submitted for ruling purposes.

(5) To eliminate " doping " as far as possible.

(6) To develop a list of dyes suitable for high-grade ruling and

also a list of cheaper dyes suitable for tablet ruling and similar work

where cost is a prime requisite and permanency not essential. (7) To recommend the purchase of the dyes used for ruling under

their chemical rlye designations.

Aniline dyes, some of which are used for ruling, are divided into

six general classes, known as basic, acid, direct, sulphur, vat, and

developed dyes. The different classes of dyes were studied in order

to rletermine their adaptability to the requirements of paper ruling.

The basic and acirl dyes were found to be the only dyes which possess the necessary rharacteristics for ruling work, and of these basic

dyes are at present used almost exclusively in the commercial field. In oT'der to secure information relative to the kinds of dyes used

in rulinjj powders, a thorough examination was made of various
82 Annual Report oj the Fuhlic Printer

powders commonly offered for use in paper ruling. These were found

to be basic dyes, which, while satisfactory for cheap ruling, can not

be considered permanent enough for durable or high-grade work,

especially if such work is to be exposed to light for any length

of time.

The investigation on ruling dyes showed that acid d3^es are more

suitable for ruling, especially for high-grade and permanent ruling

work. They are more soluble in water than basic dyes, require practically no " doping," keep well in solution without the use of preservatives, are not affected by impurities in the water to the same extent as basic dyes, and are much more permanent to light than the basic dyes

commonly used. They have less tinctorial power than the basic

dyes, which necessitates the use of somewhat stronger solutions.

It was found that acid dyes are, except in the case of red, somewhat more expensive than basic dyes of corresponding color. However,

the cost of the dye is but a small fraction of the cost of ruling, since

only a dilute dye solution is necessary. In order to determine the resistance of dyes to light in the shortest

time possible, various types of apparatus have been devised using

the ultra-violet electric light. These types of apparatus are used

to a large extent and are suitable for comparative purposes. However, the results obtained with this apparatus are not always in

harmony with those obtained by exposure to direct sunlight. The

direct sunlight exposure is recommended as the best indicator of the

actual durability of a color. ECONOMICAL USE OF DYES FOR KULING

Distilled water is the best solvent for dyes, but if tap water is used the solution should be allowed to settle for several hours.

Water from certain sources, due to dissolved salts, will precipitate more color than water from other sources. The use of distilled water

will eliminate this trouble, and the cost will be offset by the saving

in dye. Occasionally basic dyes will precipitate out heavily from

tap water, due to dissolved calcium salts. This can be overcome by the addition of a small amount of vinegar or weak acetic acid.

In making solutions, the dyes should be dissolved in hot, but not

boiling, water, diluted to the proper strength, and allowed to stand

a few hours before being used. Good dyes will remain in solution

indefinitely if kept in closed jars; but if kept in open boAvls, the

evaporated water should be replenished occasionally. If much dextrin be present in the dye, the solution will have a tendency to mold,

especially in warm weather. This will necessitate the use of preservatives, which may cause trouble, as some preservatives cause the dyes

to precipitate out, or, as it is commonly termed, " run watery." These

troubles will be practically eliminated by the use of acid dyes.

Trouble is frequently experienced with poorly sized paper. When

the pens strike certain spots in the paper the ink will not take. This

can be remedied somewhat by the use of alcohol in place of part of

the water. Acetic acid may also be used, and has the additional

advantage of increasing the brightness of the color and decreasing the

spreading of the ink over the paper.

In general, the use of " treating materials," such as ox gall, soda,

borax, glycerin, gum arable, rock salt, sea water, alum, etc., should
Aiiniml Report oj the Public Printer 83

be aToidecl whenever possible, as these materials tend to clog the

flannels, or affect the color or keeping qualities of the ink.

Excessive acidity of inks or the nse of mineral acids in inks should

be avoided, as this causes corrosion of the pens and also tends to cause

deterioration of the paper on which the rulings are made.

BLACK RULIXG IXK

An iron gallo-tannate ink. made according to the following for- mula, has been found satisfactory for black ruling work. This ink

rules blue-black, and dries with a deep black color, which is fast

to light, and when completely dried is imaffected by water

:

Grams Ounces

Tannic acid .j 94

Gallic acid 31 Ferrous s ul phate (orystal s) 120 Hydrochloric acid (10 per cent solution) 100 Phensl 4 Blue dye (soluble blue "A") color index Xo. 70. or Schultz Xo. 539 14 Water to make i4, 000

4W

1 Cubic centimeters. 2 Gallon. All chemicals used in the manufacture of this inl^ should be of

C. P. or U, S. P. quality. Particular attention should be given to the blue dye. as many of these dyes react with phenol and cause

a metallic-appearing film on the surface of the ink. Inks made

with such dyes will give trouble in ruling. Samples of dyes submitted should be tested, and only those dyes which do not react with phenol should be used for making this ink.

This ink should be made in the following manner : Dissolve the

ferrous sulphate in cold water and add the hydrochloric acid. To

this add the tannic and gallic acids, previously dissolved in warm

water. Then add the dye dissolved in warm water and also the

phenol. Dilute the mixture to 1 gallon. This ink is manufactured

in the Government Printing Office at a cost of about 60 cents per

gallon.

As a result of the investigation, two lists of approved dyes are submitted, one of acid dyes recommended as the most suitable for

record and permanent ruling work, and one of basic dyes for cheap

ruling, such as tablet work, where permanence to light is not essential and price is an important consideration. Although the acid

dyes cost more, in most instances the difference in cost is offset to

a considerable extent by their ease of manipulation.

Some dyes are known by several trade names, and wherever this occurs two or more are given. In addition, the Schultz number

and also the color index number are given. Either of these numbers is sufficient for identification by dye manufacturers. The con- centrated dyes are specified in all cases, since this is the economical

method of purchasing dyes for ruling work. The identification

number covers the chemical composition of the dye, but different

manufacturers' products will vary in color shade. Ruling dyes

should be bought under their chemical names and identification

numbers instead of designation by color only.
84 Annual Report of the Public Printer

The lists of dyes given cover the following colors: Blue, red,

green, violet, brown, yellow, and black, which are the colors com- monly used for ruling work. It is appreciated that there is a

limited demand for other colors. However, these can be obtained,

in most cases, by mixing the colors given in the list, or an acid dye

of the desired shade can be obtained.

Dyes recommended for ruling

Color

Acid dyes—most suitable and permanent for ruling work. Eecommended especially for records, ledgers, etc.

Name of dye Schultz No.

Color index No.

Dyes for cheap work such as tablet and other work of temporary character

Name of dye Schultz No.

Color index No.

Blue...

Eed..-.

Green..

VioletBrown.

Yellow.

Black..

Fast acid blue Cyanol extra. Vitryl blue, F. B.

Croeeine scarlet B, 2 B. or M. O. 0.

Brilliant croeeine. Naphthalene green V i.. Erie green extra. Vitryl green 4 G. The following mixture will give a better color than

acid violet alone: Vitryl blue F. B. 75 per

cent. Fast acid violet 25 percent. Eesorcin brown

Fast acid brown.

Tartrazine Wool yellow extra. There is no black acid dye

suitable for ruling. For a

satisfactory black see "Black ruling ink."

546

227

564

546

582

213

23

715

252

735

715 758 235

640

Methylene blue 2 B

Zinc free. Croeeine scarlet B, 2 B. or M. O. O.

Brilliant croeeine. Malachite green Acid green B

Methyl violet 2 B

Bismarck brown R. or Y

Basic brown B. R.

Chrysoidine Y

There is no black basic dye

suitable for ruling. For a satisfactory black see "Black ruling ink."

659

227

495 502

515

284

33

922

252

657 666

680

332

20

Acid green B. mixed with tartrazine will yield a bright grass green which is especially adapted for use in coloring book edges. This mixture can be varied over a wide range of shades by the marbler, is much more

permanent to light than the grass green dye commonly used, and will be found less expensive. GLUE INVESTIGATION

One of the most important investigations undertaken by the testing

section since its establishment in the office has been relative to glue.

This investigation has been completed this year with the adoption of

methods for testing glue and the development of definite specifications for the various qualities used by the office. Methods for the

proper handling of glue and formulae which were developed for

flexible glues for various bindery uses have been put into effect during

the past two years with very satisfactory results. All large elec- trically or steam heated kettles, holding approximately 50 gallons,

formerly used for handling glue, have been discontinued.

Glue, either straight or flexible, for all uses in the office, is now

handled by molding in cakes of approximately 10 pounds each and

is issued in this form 'for use in the small electrically heated pots of

the bookbinders or various types of bookbinding machines. These

cakes of molded glue when cut in small pieces will melt readily in a short time.

During the year investigational work was conducted on technical

methods for measuring the quality of glue. The complete apparatus
Annual Report oj the Public Printer 85

for making the viscosity and jell strength tests, according to the

methods adopted by the National Association of Glue Manufacturers, was installed. A careful investigation was made with this

equipment and all samples of glue submitted with the bids for the

annual contracts for 1925-26 were tested. The results were then

checked against those obtained by the manufacturers themselves on

the same samples. The results were satisfactory and showed that

it is possible to obtain check results between different laboratories

with these methods. This was practically impossible with former

methods of testing glue. In addition, the tests are expressed in

terms which can be understood by manufacturers. The methods were

therefore adopted by the testing section and are used for testing

all glue purchased by the Government Printing Office. Prior to the adoption of these standardized methods for determining viscosity and jell strength, the evaluation of glue was on more

or less a hit-or-miss basis. As a rule, glues were purchased by comparing them with standard samples. Xo two manufacturers used

the same standards, and there was no standard test accepted by all manufacturers, and standard samples might vary widely. As a result, the purchaser was limited to glues from manufacturers who had

furnished good material or to glues selected by merely practical

tests. The practical test method, however, is unsatisfactory and

unreliable, owing to the " rule o' thumb method in soaking and

preparing the glue and the difference of personal opinion.

By adoption of standard methods it is now possible to pitrchase

glue of any particular quality according to definite specifications

for viscosity and jell strength. Any manufacturer should be able

to bid intelligently on the specifications. Although the apparatus

and methods of testing are such that it is not practicable for the

average consimier to make the specified tests, a glue manufacturer

should be able to guarantee glue according to definite specifications

of viscosity and jell strength.

During the year the preparation of all glue for bindery use was

transferred from tiie bindery to the press roller room, where more modern equipment was available, thereby consolidating the handling

of all glue in one section. The handling of glue by molding into

cakes for issue has proved efficient and economical and has been con- tinued with all kinds of glue. The glue is soaked in cold water, then

melted at a temperature not exceeding 150" F.. and the necessary

ingredients and preservatives added. As a preservative, 0.2 per

cent of zinc sulphate is used. The melted glue is strained through

fine wire screens in order to remove any lumps, traces of dirt, or

-other foreign material, and is then rtm into pans which hold approximately 10 pounds each. When chilled, this glue is transferred to the

refrigerator in the bindery glue room for storage.

SPECIFICATIOXS FOR GLUE

The following tentative specifications were adopted for the three

grades of glue required for the office for the year 1926-27

:

All glue shall have a pH value between 6.4 and 7.0 and be clean

and free from foreign matter. A solution of any grade shall not

develop a strong or sour odor when kept 48 hours at a temperature

of 25° to 35° C. All tests to be based on a 12 per cent moisture
86 Annual Report of the Public Printer

content and to be made according to the methods adopted by the

National Association of Glue Manufacturers. Deliveries to be made

in paper-lined wooden barrels.Glue No. 1 Bone or hide glue, ground, for general bindery use:

Viscosity, not less than 50 millipoises.

Jell strength, not less than 130 grams. Glue No. 2 Bone or hide glue, ground, nonfoaming and suitable for machine feed:

Viscosity, not less than 60 millipoises.

Jell strength, not less than 165 grams. Glue No. 3 Hide glue, ground or flake, for roller manufacture and bindery use

:

Viscosity, not less than 130 millipoises.

Jell strength, not less than 400 grams. The value of these specifications for purchasing glue was shown

in the bids received on the proposals for 1926-27. Bidders were

permitted to bid on the specifications without submitting a sample,

or, if not equipped with the necessary apparatus for testing in ac- cordance with the adopted methods, they could submit a 5-pound

sample and tests would be made by the Government Printing Office. It was definitely stated that no award would be made unless the

quality proposed Avas equal to the specifications. Awards were made

for all three qualities of glue to the lowest bidders on specifications.

Deliveries so far made on these contracts have been equal to the

specifications and quite satisfactory in use. Since it is now possible to definitely specify the quality of the glue

used, the formulse used for various glues in this office are given

herewith, and can be used by commercial binderies, provided the same

qualities of glue are used. Five formulae have been adopted for all types of work in this office, three of which, including tablet composition, are flexible glues, and two straight glues, molded ready for use. With flexible glue it is necessary to vary the formulae slightly at different seasons of the year in order to secure satisfactory results,

owing to atmospheric conditions. This is done in most instances

by varying the percentage of water and not affecting the amount of

glycerin added, but can also be done by varying the amount of

glycerin if desired. In our opinion it is better to maintain the flexi- bility of the glue if possible, and for this reason the glycerin is not

changed unless absolutely necessary. However, these formulae have

been reduced to practically a minimum water content and furnish

glues which will, under most conditions, require dilution with water

as used.

The following formulae give the ingredients used in the preparation of approximately 350 pounds of material in each case. In

general, these formulae are satisfactory throughout the year. Flexible glue, for general bindery use

:

Glue No. 1 pounds— 123 Water do 123 Glycerin do 91 Zinc sulphate ounces— 10
Annual Report of the Public Printer 87

Special flexible glue, for use on gathering, stitching, and covering

machines, and wherever a high-quality quick-setting flexible glue is required

:

Glne Xo. 2 pounds 75 Glue Xo. 3 do 75

VTater do 130

GlTcerin do 64 Zinc sulphate ^ ounces 10 Tablet composition:

Glue X'o. 1 pounds-- 120

Glycerin do 113 Water do 113

Zinc oxide do 4 Zinc sulphate ounces 10 Case-making glue, for use on case-making machines : Glue Xo. 2 pounds 175 Water do 175

Zinc sulphate ounces 10 Common glue, for use in modifying other glues when necessitated

by weather changes

:

Glue Xo. 1 pounds 175 Water do 175

Zinc stilphate ounces 10 UTILIZATIOX OF WASTE ROLLER COMPOSITIOX

As Stated in last year's report, the waste roller composition which

previously had been discarded and either thrown away or sold for a price not exceeding V-o cents per pound is now reclaimed for bindery

uses. Press rollers are made fi'om high-grade hide glue and glycerin,

and even after becoming unfit for further use as such the material is satisfactory for certain adhesive purposes in the bindery, particularly

where considerable flexibility is needed, due to the high glycerin

content. The greater part of the waste roller composition has been utilized

in the manufacture of tablet composition. Colors which may be

absorbed by this composition from various inks are not objectionable

for tablet work. This material has been sufficient to furnish all tablet composition used by the office. A small amount is also used

to give flexibility to some of the lower grade bindery glues. The

utilization of this waste composition has effected an appreciable

economy. The following formula is used in the manufacture of

tablet composition from waste rollers

:

Waste roller composition pounds 200 Glue Xo. 1 clo 20 Water do 90 Zinc oxide do 5 Due to the high quality of the glue and the large amount of

glycerin present in this composition, it was found necessary to add a small amoimt of grade 1 glue.

An article is now being prepared for publication giving the results of this work and recommending the use of definite specifications for

the purchase of glue. The article will state the various qualities

necessary for use in the printing industry, the most economical

methods for handling, and recommend formiilse for various uses.
88 Annual Report oj the Public Printer

At the request of the Treasurer of the United States a special

adhesive was developed by the testing section for use in applying

signature paper forms to aluminum guide cards. Considerable diffi- culty had been experienced with adhesives used for this purpose in

that either unsatisfactory adhesion resulted or the adhesive affected

the ink on the paper. It was necessary that a liquid adhesive be

used which could be applied cold. As a result of experiments a liquid animal glue adhesive was produced which could be applied

cold, and the results were entirely satisfactory. This glue gave

excellent adhesion between the paper and aluminum and had no

effect whatever on the ink on the paper.

TECHXICAL CONTROL OF TYPE METAL

Probably the most important investig^ation which has been undertaken by the testing section is the technical control of all type metal

used by the Government Printing Office. The work was started last year when methods of analysis and correction were adopted for

handling each pot of metal when remeltecl. Tentative standard for- mulae were adopted for linotj^pe. monotype, and stereotype metals

after a careful study and practical tests with several different alloys.

The formulge have been adhered to throughout the year without

change.

The following tabulation gives the amount of each metal corrected

to standard formulae between Januar}^ 1, 1926, and December 31,

1926, together with the amounts of metal used in making such correction. Since the annual report for last year covered the correction

of type metal through December 31, 1925, this report covers one year

beginning January 1^ 1926

:

LINOTi'PE METAL

Old metal melted pounds 5, 142, 565 Lead used in correctiou do 270, 720 Lead-antimony alloy ^ used in correction do 60, 365

Corrected metal delivered do 5, 473. 650

Increase due to correction do 332, 085 Percentage increase due to correction per cent 6. 4 MONOTYPE METAL

Old metal melted pounds 1, 730, 245 Lead-antimony alloy^ used in correction do 47, 347 Tin used in correction __do 3, 574

Corrected metal delivered do 1, 781, 166

Increase due to correction do 50, 921 Percentage increase due to correction per cent 2. 9 STEREOTYPE METAL

Old metal melted pounds 575, 020 Lead-antimony alloj^' used in correction do 7, 062 Tin used in correction do 691 Lead used in correction ^ do 4, 859 Corrected metal delivered do 587,632

Increase due to correction do 12, 612 Percentage increase due to correction per cent— 2.

1

1 Lead-antimony alloy consists of approximately 55 pei- cent lead and 45 per cent antimony.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 89

An average of three pots of type metal, each containing approximately 10.000 pounds, are analyzed and corrected to standard formiilfe daily.

During the year a new metal melting pot of 10.000 j^onnds capacity was installed. This jDot is eqiii^Dped with mechanical agitation, thus

insuring proper alloying and mixing of the metal, and is also equipped with thermostatic control to prevent overheating the metal.

It is insulated to retain heat and to reduce loss of type metal from

drossing to a minimum. It discharges from the bottom of the pot

into cooling molds, which eliminates the labor of ladling out the

metal.

Several modifications in the handling of metal have been effected during the year. TThen type metal control 'work was begmi it was

found that a large part of the metal contained more or less impurities, particularly copper, which was present in some instances above

the allowable percentage, especially for linotype metal. The removal

of small amounts of copper is very diffictilt and can only be effected through careful drossing and fluxing.

All type metal is now melted so that samples of the metal may

be analyzed and the pots corrected the afternoon previous to pouring.

After drossing. analyzing, correcting, and alloying, the pots are allowed to solidify overnight. In the morning they are heated gradually imtil melted and are then skimmed at a definite temperature in

order to remove any copper or unalloyed antimony which has come to the top. These metals have a tendency to come to the top if the

molten type metal is allowed to stand undisturbed at a temperature

slightly above the freezing point of the alloy.

By this method and careful drossing. together with care that no

additional impurities are allowed to get into the metal, the qtiality

of the type metal has been improved considerably and the percentage

of copi^er is now below the allowable limit in most metal. A copper

determination is made on each pot of metal in addition to the tin and

antimony analyses.

In view of the difference in the physical structure of alloys, air

cooled and water cooled, and the cliffictilties experienced with air- cooled metal during the year, all type metal—linotype, monotype,

and stereotype—is now water-cooled in order to secure the closest grained alloy.

In order to eliminate the possibility of any oxidized metal or dirt

getting into the pots on the typesetting machines, and thus showing

up in the faces of type cast, all pigs are now skinuned after pouring.

A pyrometer for indicating the temperature of the metal in any

of the four metal pots has been installed- in the metal room during

this year. Definite instructions have been issued in connection with

this teclinical control work, stating the temperature at wliich the

alloy shall_ be added to the metal, the length of time and temperature at which the metal shall be thorouglily stirred and agitated, the

temperattire at Avhich the metal shall be sldmmed after standing

overnight, and the pouring temperature for molding. It has been

found that only by careftil attention to each of these details can the

quality of the type alloy be properly maintained.

Linotype metal.—The formula adopted for linotype metal last year was 4.5 per cent tin, 11.5 per cent antimony, and 81 per cent lead. This formtila has been followed throughout the year without change.
90 Annual Report of the Public Printer

The allowable copper content of linotype metal has been set at 0.05 per cent, and considerable work has been done this year to reduce

the copper content of this metal, which when metal-control work was

begun was in many cases above the allowable percentage, in some in- stances being as high as 0.2 per cent. In our opinion metal with 4

per cent tin content would be entirely satisfactory for linotype work.

Therefore, no attempt will be made to hold the tin content of tliis metal up to 4.5 per cent, should it fall below this amount. Previous

to technical control of type metal the tin content of linotype metal was too high for satisfactory use on the machine, averaging approximately 6 per cent. During February and March of this year considerable trouble was

experienced with linotype metal. This difficulty was the clogging of

the mouthpieces on the linotype machines. Careful investigation

traced this trouble to the fact that air-cooled molds had been put into use for pouring linotype metal for use in Margach feeders on ac- count of insufficient water-cooled molds. The pigs cast in these molds

weigh approximately 25 pounds each and are triangular in shape,

approximately 2 inches to a side. Such a large quantity of metal

poured in air-cooled molds, especially after they had been in continu- ous use for a short time, chilled at a slow rate. The slow chilling

resulted in metal with a coarse grain. The size of the crystals in an

alloy, other things being constant, is dependent directly upon the

rate of cooling. The air-cooled pigs required from 14 to 20 minutes

to cool, while the water-cooled pigs cooled in 3 to 5 minutes. The

small amounts of copper in the metal crystallized in large crystals

when air cooled, which aggravated the troubles due to copper in the

metal. When the metal was cooled in water-cooled molds it was

chilled so rapidly that the resulting metal was of a solid, close- grained texture, and all crystals, particularly those composed of copper, were much smaller than when air cooled slowly. All air-cooled

molds have been discarded, and all linotype, monotype, and stereotype

metals are now being poured in water-cooled molds only.

The percentage of correction necessary to adjust the linotype metal

to the adopted standard has decreased throughout the year, and the

metal is now in much better condition. The average increase due to necessary correction for January, 1926, was 16.7 per cent, while that

for December, 1926, was 1.6 per cent. When this control work was

started the condition of this metal was such that it required as much as 40 per cent of its weight of correction metal to adjust the

metal to the standard formula. This was due to the high tin content

of this metal which was considerably above the amount satisfactory

for linotype metal.

Stereotype metal.—The formula adopted for stereotype metal last year—8 per cent tin, 15.5 per cent antimony, and 76.5 per cent lead

has been followed throughout the present year without change.

Some trouble was experienced with stereotype metal due to coarse- grained, honeycombed plates. When technical control work was

first started, stereotype metal, after correction to the standard for- mula, was poured in air-cooled pigs weighing approximately 50

pounds each. As in the case of linotype metal similarly cooled, the

metal was of a very coarse structure, and when remelted at the low

temperature used for stereotype casting this structure was retained

to a certain extent, resulting in unsatisfactory plates. As soon as
Annual Report of the Puhlic Printer 91

this condition was discovered the method of cooling the metal was

changed and all stereotype metal was cooled in 25-pound watercooled pigs. A marked difference was noted as soon as this metal was put into use, and no complaints due to defective metal have been

received from this section since this change was made.

Monotype metal.—The tentative standard formula for monotype

metal was set last year at 7 per cent tin, 16.5 per cent antimony, and

76.5 per cent lead"^, which has been foilowecl throughout this year

without change. It was found that the monotype metal contained

a higher percentage of copper than the other type metals in the office. However, since it is cast at considerably higher temperatures, the

copper present has caused no trouble. From our experience to date

with this metal it is believed that copper to the extent of 0.4 per cent

is not detrimental to monotype metal, but gives added toughness and

hardness to the finished type.

Xo trouble has been experienced with monotype metal during the

year, and a marked improvement has been noted in the type cast and

also in its use in the office. Complaints of crushed type have been

infrequent, and in cases investigated the trouble was found to be

due to type cast before the technical control or to difficulty with

the heating unit of the casting machine.

The following statement regarding the monotype metal before

and after technical control was recently made by the office type

inspector

:

Previous to the teclinical control of monotype metal, the main cause of bad

type was the metal. This has been practically eliminated since the testing section took charge of the metal. The results from standardization of monotype metal indicate that

a consistent correction is required to keep this metal up to standard.

This metal shows an appreciable loss of both tin and antimony after

each use on the casting machine. The average loss during the past

two months shows O.-i per cent tin and 0.8 per cent antimony.

Previous to the teclinical control of the monotype metal, the metal

in use by this office was generally too soft for'satisfactory work, due

to low antimony content. Linotype metal, however, does not show

loss to the same extent after remelting, and in our opinion can be

reused several times before requiring correction.

DETERGENTS FOR THE REMOVAL OF INKS

In the annual report for 1925 a report was made of an extended

investigation conducted by the testing section relative to detergents

for the removal of printing ink from type, the removal of wax from

electrotype shells, the cleaning of press rollers, and the cleaning of ink

containers. The recommendations have been followed during the year

without material change, -and excellent results are being obtained

throughout the office. Further study has failed to develop any better

materials for these purposes.

Our experience with the materials recommended in the previous

report on detergents has indicated a minor change in the use of the

alkali materials in order to insure more satisfactory results. In

the use of the trisodium phosphate cleaning mixtures for washing'

type forms it was stated that the surface of the type should be

thoroughly washed with hot water jDi'evious to the application of
92 Annual Report of the Public Printer

the cleaning mixture and then again be rinsed with hot water. Experience with this method of cleaning showed that the use of lukewarm water was unsatisfactory, the removal of printing ink was

incomplete, and the type showed a slight incrustation of the cleaning

solutions upon drying. It was found necessary, therefore, to wash

the forms with a mixture of steam and hot water, which quickly

heated the surface of the metal and efficiently removed all traces of the cleaning solutions in the final rinsing.

The testing section has continued to render assistance to the Post

Office Department in connection with cleaning compounds. The

materials used for this i^urpose, which were proposed as a result

of the detergent investigation by this laboratory, are trisodium

phosphate and caustic soda and are purchased in very large quantities. Specifications for this material have been prepared by the test- ing section and all bid and delivery samples tested for compliance

with the same. WORK OF THE INK SECTION

During the year 118,061 pounds of ink were manufactured by the

ink section. Although 75 different kinds of ink were manufactured,

there were only 30 of which 100 pounds or more were made.

The following gives a list of the principal inks manufactured by

the ink section during the year and the quantities produced

:

Pounds Book black 28,907

Job black 22,497

Halftone black 11,357

Eecord black Kotary halftone black- Stationery black Money order black Carbon coating black-. Proof press black Eulogy black Addressograph black_. Bronze blue Money order blue Stationery blue

Stencil blue

14, 855

7, 044

4, 972

2, 415

1, 257 920

420 230

838 336 233

268

Pan American blue Revenue red Job red Job red, blue shade

Sunproof red Tampa yellow

Lemon yellow

Orange yellow

Postal card green French medium green- Revenue green

Marble, dark brown__

Marble, dark red White

Magnesia

Pounds 160

569 388

155

117

397 296 220

6, 625 499

215 296

142

243

141 It will be noted that the 30 inks listed cover approximately 91

per cent of the entire output for the year. During the year a new three-roll ink "mill has been installed in the

ink section. It is now possible to meet all requirements of the office and to insure the proper grinding of all inks. Additional equipment will be required during the next year due to furnishing various

inks to other branches of the Government.

In order to reduce the amount of waste ink returned to the ink

section from the pressroom, an investigation has been made into all phases of handling of ink. As a result of this investigation, no can

for ink is refilled without first being thoroughly cleaned. Oiled

paper is placed over the surface of all ink placed in the can to prevent

the formation of skins on the ink. In order to facilitate the washing of ink cans and add to the life of the cans, they are purchased

^ with rolled edges on the top and on the lids. The dimensions of all cans were changed so that it is easier to remove the ink and scrape
Annual Report of the Public Printer 93

clean. All narrow deep cans were discarded and replaced with lower

cans of greater diameter.

The amount of waste ink returned to the ink section was reduced

20 per cent during the year compared with last year, and 40 per

cent compared with the year 1923-24. In 1923-24 approximately

15,000 pounds of waste ink of various kinds were returned to the ink

mill. In 1924-25. 12,380 pounds were returned, and during the

present year 9,900 pounds.

The use of the trisodium phosphate formula for washing ink containers has been continued with entire satisfaction and considerable

economy.

All niaterials used in the manufacture of ink are purchased under

definite specifications prepared by the testing section and all deliveries are tested for compliance with the same. During the year specifications were adopted for two grades of varnishes not previously

used and specifications for all lake colors were revised to allow the

purchase of materials which are much faster to light.

Attention has been given to all material used in the manufacture

of ink for printing posters for outdoor exposure. During the year an investigation was made relative to ink used for red-poster work.

Various samples were submitted by different color manufacturers

and these colors were given severe exposure tests for fastness to

light, both in sunlight and the ultra-violet light. As a result a

satisfactory pigment has been adopted which is of a brilliant color

and much more permanent to light than any previously used by the

office. Specifications have been prepared for the purchase of this

color. In order to meet the requirements of the gelatin process duplicating machines, a formula was developed for violet copying ink for

use in printing forms to be copied on this machine. A purple writing

ink, suitable for filling in such blanks, was also developed for use on the duplicating machines.

Special investigations have been carried on in the past relative to stamp-pad and numbering-machine inks. As a result of this work we

are now in a position to furnish red, blue, and black stamp-pad and

numbering-machine inks for use in this office and the Government

departments.

In the past considerable investigational work was conducted rela- tive to the manufacture of mimeograph ink, which is used by the

Government in large quantities. Special formulae were developed,

and ink produced by this office gave satisfactory results. With the authorization of the Sixty-ninth Congress, whereby inks,

glues, and other supplies manufactured by the Government Printing

Office may be furnished to other departments of the Government,

considerable additional work was added to the ink section in the

production of mimeograph ink. M'ultigraph ink, which is also used

by the various departments in considerable quantities, is furnished

from the regular, printing inks which are satisfactory on duplicating

machines using metal type.

A special check addressograph ink was developed about two years

ago at the request of the Treasurer of the United States for use on

sensitized check paper. The use of this ink by the various departments has increased considerably and during the year has been fur-
94 Annual Report of the Public Printer

nished to the Treasury Department, Veterans' Bureau, Post Office

Department, State Department, and practically all branches of the

Government service using metal addressograph stencils. At the request of the Post Office Department an indelible black

printing ink was developed this year to be used for precanceling

postage stamps. A special purple copying stamp-pad ink capable of

giving a minimum of SQ clear copies was also developed for the

Interior Department.

ASSISTANCE TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS

The testing section is frequently called upon to assist various

Government departments by conducting investigations of a technical

nature in order to improve certain materials or processes already in use or to develop new materials to meet special requirements. Work

of this character has already been noted in this report in connection

with paper, ink, and glue investigations.

PASSPORT INK AND GLUE

During the year considerable work has been done in connection

with the United States passports printed for the State Department.

This investigation was conducted at the request of the head of the

passport division in order to produce passports which would be

practically impossible to alter without detection. Specifications were

prepared for a high-grade all-rag paper for use in printing pass- ports and a slate-green sensitive ink was developed for use in printing a surface design on the paper. The ink developed for this

purpose is sensitive to any attempt at chemical or mechanical erasure and will not lose its sensitiveness even after a long period.

A special adhesive was also developed for attaching photographs

to passports and a method of using the same recommended. The

adhesive suggested for this purpose has proved to be much more

satisfactory than that previously used. Photographs applied with

this adhesive can not be removed without destroying the paper to which attached.

A special indelible-black stamp-pad ink was developed for use in

stamping passports. The new ink penetrates the fibers of the paper,

carrying a carbon-black pigment practically through the sheet, thus

making it impossible to eradicate.

BOOK LABELS FOR LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Assistance was requested by the Library of Congress in the matter

of applying labels to the backs of books in cataloguing. The labels

previously used were of poor quality paper, gummed with dextrin

or dextrin and fish glue, such as is commonly used for this work.

Considerable trouble had been experienced due to the labels falling

off or the paper splitting. This was a serious difficulty, owing to the

great number of books in the library, and was aggravated by the

various qualities of bookbinding materials used. Tests were^ made,

using various grades of paper and different kinds of adhesives in

order to determine the best paper for the purpose and to secure the

most satisfactory adhesive for this purpose.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 95

As a result of experiments extending over several months, the

following recommendations were made : That the labels be printed on

100 per cent rag-bond paper, basis 17 by 22, 1,000 sheets, 32 pounds.

The grain of the paper to run in the vertical direction of the label

in order to allow the maximum stretch of the paper, which is across, the grain, to run across the back of the book. The labels to be

gummed with a special flexible animal glue developed by the testing

section. It was found that the labels so gummed could be easily

attached in a very short time by dampening them in the usual manner and then applying a warm flatiron to them after being placed on the back of the book.

While the time consumed in putting on these labels was somewhat

longer than with the former type of labels, a trial convinced the

representatives of the Library of Congress that it was time well

spent, since once these labels were attached there was practically na

possibility of removing them.

Suggestions were also made relative to the use of flexible varnishes

to cover the labels after application to the book. The recommendations as a result of this investigation were adopted by the Library of

Congress, and now all labels are printed by the office in accordance

with the above specifications and suggestions.

SUPPLIES FURNISHED OTHER DEPARTMENTS

The work of the testing section has been materially increased since

July 1 of this year, due to the passage of Public Act 222, Sixtyninth Congress, which contains the following provisions

:

* * * Provided, That inks, glues, and other supplies manufactured by the Government Printing: OflSce in connection with its work may be furnished to departments and other establishments of the Government upon requisition, and

payment made from appropriations available therefor : * * *. Practically all materials covered by this law are manufactured

under the direction of the testing section. As a result all jackets

for these miscellaneous materials must be checked by this section in

order to insure delivery of satisfactory products. The work of the

ink section will be increased considerably, since the largest quantities of miscellaneous supplies to be furnished in accordance with this

act are inks manufactured by this section. The principal materials

which will be furnished are mimeograph, multigraph, addressograph, and writing inks. Printing inks, paste, and glues will also

be furnished to certain branches of the Government using considerable quantities of this material.

Although this act was effective July 1, 1926, it was stated that the

office would not be m a position to furnish mimeograph ink until

the 1st of October, in the first list of materials published furnishing

information to the departments on the materials which could be

furnished. Between July 1 and December 31 orders have been

received for 6,579 pounds of printing ink of all kinds, includiiig^

mimeograph and multigraph, 1,830 pounds of flour paste, 389 gallons, or 1,556 quarts, of blue-black and red writing inks, and 532 pounds

of molded glue. The majority of these orders were received since

September 1. 16710—27 7
96 Annual Report oj the Public Printer

The economy which will be effected by furnishing these materials

to the departments can be readily noted by comparing the following

prices quoted by this office and the General Supply Committee for

1926-27 on similar items.

Material GovernmentPrinting Office price General Supply

price, 1926-27

Mimeograph ink, in 1-pound cans - . $0.60 per pound...

<pu.ou or ou.oo per pound.

$1.25 per pound in J^-pound cans.

$1 per pound

$0.60 per pound...

$0.48 per gallon, without bottles. $0.20 per gallon, without bottles.

$1.50 per pound.

$1.30 per pound.

$4.31 per pound in 1-ounce bottles. $2.73 per pound.

$2.25 per pound.

$0.87 or $1.05 per

gallon in quart

bottles. $0.93 or $1.07 per

gallon in pint

bottles.

Numbering machine ink—blue, red, or black Black addressograph ink for use on metal stencils, also suitable

for sensitized check paper; in 1-pound cans. Blue multigraph, in 1-pound cans Standard blue-black writing ink for fountain pen and general

office use.

All writing inks furnished by this office are furnished in 1, 3, or 5 gallon containers, which can be reused.

During the year considerable quantities of check addressograph

ink and a limited quantity of other inks and glue were furnished to the various Government departments.

PUBLICATIOXS

( During the past year the following articles have been prepared by

the testing section and published in various trade journals

:

" Value of technical work to the printing industry,'' by E. O. Reed.

" Detergents for use in the printing industry," by E. O. Reed.

" Ruling inks and dyes," by E. O. Reed and B. L. Wehmhoff.

" The work of the testing section of the Government Printing Office." by E. O. Heed.

"Atmospheric conditions for paper testing." by E. O. Reed.

" Second tabulation of test results on bond and ledger papers," published

by the Government Printing Office, May, 1926. COOPERATION WITH VARIOUS INDUSTRIES

Considerable cooperation has been conducted throughout the year

with commercial concerns furnishing materials to the office for the

purpose of developing specifications for the various materials used

and for the purpose of carrying out various investigations conducted

by the testing section.

Cooperative work was conducted with members of the National

Association of Glue Manufacturers in connection with the investigation on the methods of testing glues and the development of

specifications for glue. As previously stated in this report, cooperative work has also been conducted with the United Typothetae of

America and the paper manufacturers relative to the standardization

of paper.

Numerous requests have been received by the testing section for

technical information on various problems handled in connection

with the work of the Government Printing Office. This work has

been very heavy during the year, showing a considerable increase
Annual Report oj the Public Printer 97

over any previous year since the establishment of the testing section.

These requests have been for information on specifications for paper

and other materials and for assistance in connection with difficulties similar to those experienced in this office. In all, more than 500

communications were sent out during the year in this connection by

the testing section. The testing section has planned several new research problems

whicli will be started in the near future.

1. Investigation of paper and cloth shipping tags in order to prepare satisfactory specifications for the purchase of the same.

2. Investigation on various types of gold, imitation gold, and

aluminum stamping leaf for the stamping of book covers, in order

to determine the qualities which will best resist corrosion.

3. An investigation on coated book paper in order to prepare more satisfactory specifications for the purchase of this quality

paper.

4. An investigation on type-metal alloys for various typesetting

machines and stereotype work.

5. Investigation relative to chromium plating for use on printing

plates.

6. Investigation relative to the best materials for use in cleaning

stereotype plates before nickel plating.

7. Investigation relative to bookbinding materials, including bookbinding cloths and leathers. Considerable assistance has been rendered various Government

technical committees by the testing section of this office. The chief

of tests is a member of the following committees and devotes considerable time in connection with the work of these committees

:

Paper specifications committee of the Joint Committee on Printing,

Federal Specifications Board, envelope committee of the Post Office

Department, committee on inks in connection with the printing of

money (Bureau of Efficiency) ; also the following Federal specifications committees : Paper technical committee, committee on inks and

typewriter ribbons, technical conunittee on color, shipping container

committee, and committee on specifications for lubricants and liquid

fuels. In my opinion, the work of the testing section has shown remarkable progress and fully justified its establishment in this office. The

regular routine work of the testing section has been very heavy;

however, we have been able to accomplish valuable results in connection with the investigational and technical control work.

REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS

I have the honor to submit herewith the annual report for the

fiscal year ended June 30, 1926.

A future of unbounded usefulness lies befoie the public documents

division of the Government Printing Office when Congress and the

public awaken to a reahzation of the true value and proper function

of Government publications and when they become fully conversant

with the possibilities for extension of the service that our office renders to American libraries and the American people. I have

grown up with the documents office, and, from the beginning, I

have been impressed with the part the office could play in the dis-
98 Annual Report oj the Public Printer

semination of information compiled by the various departments of

the Government. I have heard expressions of surprise from hundreds of visitors when they realize the wonderful amount of information contained in Government publications, yet see how little effort,

comparatively speaking, is made to acquaint the public with what

has been printed.

The progress that our office can make in serving the public will

be materially affected by two requirements—first, available room

in which to grow; second, a proper appreciation of the character

of the work and the realization that only a trained and experienced

personnel can render the most efficient service. As to the first requirement, your success in having the Government Printing Office

included in the building program that has been provided by Congress

offers some encouragement, for I know your interest in our work will

result in additional room for the public documents division. As

to the second, I have reason to believe that the salaries of the personnel will be raised to a higher standard, which will prove an in- centive to the employees to remain a sufficient length of time to acquire a knowledge of the publications and the activities of the

Government.

The increase each year in the work of the office—and there is every reason to believe that it will continue to increase—justifies our anticipating an early need for additional room. Some idea of

the increase will be gained from the following figures

:

Receipts from sale of publications

:

1924-25 $487,922.63 1925-26 544, 937. 51 Increase 57, 014. 88

Publications received in stock: 1924-25 55, 138, 327

1925-26 60, 757, 158 Increase 5, 618, 831

Publications distributed

:

1924-25 49, 438, 927 1925-26 60, 990, 405

Increase 11, 551, 478

Letters of inquiry received: 1924-25 161, 852 1925-26 163, 723 Increase 1, 871 SERVICE

Last year I mentioned in my report that improvement in service is our constant aim, and our efforts are meeting with some success. Deposit accounts are being encouraged, shipments are made C. O. D.

when requested, and also in cases where the writer indicates an immediate need for publications of which he does not know the price.

The practice of returning short remittances and quoting correct

prices has been replaced by the practice of sending publications with

memorandum of balance due. This innovation has created consid-
Annual Report of the Public Printer 99

erable favorable comment, and is a practice that is followed by mailorder houses.

Another new feature being inaugurated is accepting deposits for

continuation orders for publications that can not be sold on subscription owing to the varying sizes of the publications and irregularity

of issue. This saves customers the trouble of making numerous re- mittances and being on the lookout for the next issue of the series. SAVINGS

The activities of the public documents office are of such character

that it is difficult to measure savings in dollars and cents. The detail

instant to the routing of mail is constantly being studied with the

idea of accomplishing results with the least effort and the fact that we have been able to handle the increase without a corresponding

increase in force shows that we have met with some success. As an

illustration, I might mention the change made in the handling of

subscription orders for the Postal Guide. It was the practice for some years, where an order called for a subscription to the supplements and also the Guide, to have the stencil cut for the supplements

and write the label for sending the Guide when it was ready for dis- tribution. We now, however, print our label for sending the Guide

at the time it is cut for the subscription list, thereby saving the

typing of more than 20,000 franks.

Considerable thought is given to the character of wrapper or envelope to be used in mailing out all orders, and the fact that this

year we will be able to turn back at least $5,000 from our general

expense account allowed for this class of material is the result of

such scrutiny, but a large percentage of this amount is due to the

fact that we have used large quantities of envelopes discarded by the

departments, which we have overprinted for our work.

ELIMINATION OF WASTE

The Director of the Budget, at the last meeting of the business

organizations of the Government, said : " We are spending too much

of the taxpayers' money in helping to fill the wastebaskets of the

Nation." This is not a new discovery, but a subject upon which

volumes have been written. When one considers that millions of

publications are destroyed annually, he must realize that something

is wrong with the present methods.

The American people have been kept better informed as to the

activities of their Government than are the people of any other

nation of the world. This has been done through the free distribution of public documents, but the distribution has been made at an enormous expense and has been accompanied by tremendous waste. The remedy lies in the reduction of free distribution, the adoption of a sales policy, and the centering of the control of distribution under

one office. As the Public Printer, Mr. George H. Carter, stated

:

Now that the public has been so well advised as to the governmental affairs, we believe that they should join in the necessary reduction of Government ex- penditures by paying for such publications as may be of benefit or interest, thereby placing the public printing upon a substantial business basis.
100 Annual Report of the Public Printer

The departments ma}^ never be willing to entirely relinquish control of the distribution of their publications, but they should make

a careful study in advance of printing to determine the number of

copies of each publication required for limited free distribution.

The Director of the Budget has recommended in Circular 75

that departments print for free distribution only sufficient copies

for their regular mailing lists, which should usually be limited to the

following

:

(1) Collaborators and cooperators with the departments in their

investigations.

(2) Organizations exchanging like courtesies.

(3) Libraries.

(4) Educational and scientific institutions.

(5) Officials of the Government.

(6) The press. Observance of such regulations and an annual turnover to the

documents division as a central office which is provided for by law

would centralize the control and allow for the continuance in stock

of publications for which there was a demand.

One might ask the question, " How would such a practice eliminate

waste?" If at the end of a year the departments found they were

surrendering thousands of publications which had been paid for

from their appropriations, they would immediately arrange for the

printing of smaller editions. That is just what is wanted because

now, notwithstanding millions of copies are being destroyed annually, the stock of publications belonging to the departments re- mains around 27,000,000 copies. The storage of such vast stock is an

expensive and serious problem and requires space that could be used

to better advantage.

We are willing to concede there may be certain publications that

should be continued on the free basis, but the exceptions should be

few.

The Department of Commerce has adopted the recommendation

of the Bureau of the Budget and is enthusiastic over the results. The officials of the department realize the nominal price charged

does not impose a burden on anyone who is really interested in the

information made available through their publications; moreover,

the value of a publication may be determined to a large extent from

the general demand.

A further advantage of the sales policy is that there is no limit

to the number of copies that the Superintendent of Documents may

print, the only requirement being a continued demand; on the contrary, the number of copies that a department can print is naturally

limited by available appropriations, and it is reasonable to suppose

that preference will usually be given to printing new material rather

than to reprinting old material, the result being that many valuable

publications are soon out of print.

If all publications, with a few possible exceptions, are on a sales

basis, the confusion that now exists in the minds of the public as to where to apply for publications will be removed, and the supply

can be made adequate to the demand.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 101

DISTEIBUTIOX FOE DEPARTMENTS

The distribution for the departments for the last fiscal year totaled

47.700.277 copies, which was 8.523.771 more than the previous year. This increase was due almost entirely to it being campaign year, at which time there is always a much greater distribution of Farmers'

Bulletins.

If the departments and Government establishments in Washington

would follow the intent of the law of August 23, 1912, which centralized the mailing operations under the direction of the Public

Printer, I am quite confident that many more thousands of publications would have been mailed by this office. I am sure it was the intention of the law that there should be only one mailing equipment and one place for the mailing of publications,

but unfortunately the law specified that the centralization of mailing should include only publications for public distribution and ex- cepted orders, instructions, directions, notices, and circulars of information. Under these exceptions considerable mailing is done by the

departments, which serves to destroy the saving that might be effected

by having one centralized point.

STORAGE OF PFBLICATIOXS

During the past year only 333.543 copies of publications have

been eliminated as obsolete or excess copies from the consigned stocks

of the departments, which totaled 26,896,987 copies on Jime 30, 1926.

There is an indifference to the recommendation of the Bureau of the

Budget in their Circular 75 that the departments comply with sec- tion 67 of the printing act of 1895 providing that the departments

and offices of the Government annually turn over to the Superintendent of Documents copies of publications in excess of official requirements. Evidently a number of the departments consider the law

obsolete, because no attention was paid to it for 25 years after its passage. With few exceptions the departments are very generous in sur- rendering copies of their publications for sales purposes, but from

the fact that they are not troubled with the storage problem they

appear imconcerned as to whether or not they . continue in stock

excess or obsolete copies.

It is therefore recommended some action be taken to compel the

departments and offices of the Government to make periodical examinations of stock on hand so that the Government Printing Office may

be relieved of storing publications that are either obsolete or where

available stock is in excess of any possible demand.

PUBLICITY

During the past year there were sold 10,962,571 copies of Government publications, for which §544,937.51 was received. There is no

doubt that with proper advertising the sales would have amounted

to more than a million dollars. The Government does not properly

market its product. Although many millions are expended in the

collection of information and the printing of publications, no funds

are available for advertising.
102 Annual Report of the Public Printer

DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES

The depository library system was inaugurated many years ago, and many changes have come with the growth and development

during the last 50 years. Many of the depository libraries first designated in the different States have remained such regardless of

conditions and of their ability to properly care for the publications

received from the Federal Government. We have reason to believe

that some are not living up to their obligations.

There has been considerable dissatisfaction expressed recently

regarding the law which provides for the allotment of designated

depository libraries, and I am convinced there is necessity for con- gressional action which will result in a more equitable distribution

of these libraries throughout the States. The allotment by congressional districts, as now provided for, has its disadvantage where

there is more than one important library in a congressional district,

and although there may be other districts in the same State with

libraries not sufficiently interested or well equipped to accept a designation, the law is not elastic enough to give to the State its quota through the designation of two libraries in the same district. As further evidence of the defects in the present law, there are numerous libraries pleading for depository privileges although, at the same time, only 468 designations have been made out of the 6(57 now possible.

SELECTIVE PLAN FOR DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES

The selective plan for distributing Government publications to depository libraries was authorized by Congress so as to relieve the

libraries of the burden of caring for all publications printed; also to prevent the waste of thousands of publications that the libraries were unable to find shelf room for and make available to the public.

When a library accepts designation as a depository, it assumes the

obligation to render a definite service, and for that reason there

should be some minimum requirement as to the number of selections. A library that desires only a few publications is not deserving of

the privilege of designation as a depository.

In 1923 a report made at the Hot Springs conference of the American Library Association by a representative from our office disclosed

the fact that 27 States (including Territories) would be without

complete collections. This number has since been decreased to 21,

but it does seem that at least one library in each State should be

provided with a complete set of Government documents.

PUBLICATIONS ISSUED

Index to Monthly Catalogue, July, 1924-June, 1925 (188 octavo pages).

Twelve numbers of Monthly Catalogue, July, 1925-June, 1926 (totaling 1,101 octavo pages).

Twenty-seventh Preliminary Schedule of Volumes, Reports and Documents of the Sixty-eighth Congress, second session, December 1, 1924r-March 4, 1925

<6 octavo pages).

Document Index No. 35, Sixty-eighth Congress, second session, December 1, 1924-March 4, 1925 (172 octavo pages).

Document Catalogue of the Sixty-fifth Congress, July 1, 1917-June 30, 1919, including the special session of the Senate, March 5-16, 1917 (2,706 quarto

pages).
Annual Report of the Public Printer 103

Index to Proceedings of Foreign Relations Committee, Sixty-third to Sixty- seventh Congresses (40 octavo pages).

Sixty price lists and five leaflets. The Docrnnent Catalogue included in the above list covers the

period of the United States participation in the World War, 1917-

1919, and is the largest catalogue yet issued. It was more than welcomed by the librarians for the reason that it indexed all of the Government's publishing activities during the war. The Document Index now being prepared for the Sixty-ninth Congress, first session, will index 3,438 documents and reports, which is only 411 less than were issued during the entire Sixty-eighth

Congress.

PUBLICATIOXS OF THE FUTURE

We realize that the libraries need bibliographical tools to help

them with their document work, and we are eager for the time to come when our cataloguing force can be enlarged sufficiently to bring

the Document Catalogues up to date and keep them so and also to prepare other compilations that are much needed.

List of governmental author headings.—Although each biennial

Document Catalogue contains a list of the Government authors

whose publications appear in that catalogue, there is need for a

revised edition of the general list issued as a separate pamphlet.

Classification 'bulletin.'^.—We have had many requests for a bulletin on the classification of public documents used by our office. Such a bulletin should contain the titles of all series listed in' the order of

their appearances in our shelf list, with an indication of the method

by which each class is book numbered and an alphabetical index to

class headings. We ourselves have long felt the need for such a working tool, and when office conditions permit its compilation we

shall be glad to make the information available to librarians.

Checklist.—Ever since the third edition of the Checklist of United

States publ c documents was published, we have had in mind a supplement to the Checklist and a combined index to the Checklist itself and to its supplement, but owing to the thousands of publications

received since 1909 and the consequent expansion and necessary modification of the classification, man}^ difficulties would arise in an at- tempt to index at the same time both old and new classifications. The

longer Checklist compilation is delayed, the greater will be those

difficulties. We have become convinced that the most practical solu- tion will be to abandon the old plan and instead to compile a fourth

edition of the Checklist, with a general index to that fourth edition.

We believe that in the long run a fourth edition could be compiled as economically and that the results would be far more satisfactory both

to ourselves and to libraries. Early Congress 'papers.—Our dream of the future includes also the

publication of a list of the documents classed in the Checklist as Z4,

documents of the first fourteen Congresses, 1789-1817 (original

prints). For historical and bibliographical reasons the remarkable

material now in our possession should be prepared for publication.

The list will be a wonderful contribution to the archives of the

Government.

Weekly bulletin.—We have not forgotten the plan suggested some

time ago for a weekly annotated bulletin announcing the more im16710—27 8
104 Annual Report of the Public Printer

portant publications. It is not possible at present to undertake its publication along the lines then recommended, but there is a possibility that we may be able to get out a weekly list showing the title and issuing office of publications that are thought to be of special

interest to libraries and to the general public. Although such a list would not be as useful as a more elaborate one, it would furnish

current information for the bulletin boards in the libraries and

would assist in acquainting the public with new publications.

REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF CONSTRUCTION AND

MAINTENANCE

The construction and maintenance division has added substantially to the total amount of economies previously reported, particularly in the matter of savings in the power-plant operation. Several construction jobs have been carried through, and other important jobs begun. Much new machinery and equipment have been

installed throughout the plant, old machinery has been overhauled,

and routine operation, cleaning and maintenance have been kept up. The value of the work done by the various shops in the construction and maintenance division, exclusive of routine maintenance,

totaled $118,476.14.

FLOOR SPACE AND BUILDING MAINTENANCE

The floor space on June 30, 1926, totaled 727,918 square feet, exclusive of 14,590 square feet of space occupied in the Congressional

Library and the United States Capitol. The cost of building maintenance for the year was $75,799.10 for labor and $13,124.54 for

materials, totaling $88,923.64, which makes the maintenance unit

cost 12.21 cents per square foot as compared Avith 12.19 cents the

preceding year. The total cost of operation and maintenance, including the operating expense of the power section, the sanitary section, building

maintenance, electricity and steam purchased, totaled $321,415.34, or

44.1 cents per square foot, as compared with $334,911.48, or 46,3 cents per square foot for the preceding year. As 56 per cent of the

steam and electricity purchased are for manufacturing purposes

and not for heating, lighting, ventilation, etc., a deduction of this

percentage from the power section's expense, including steam and

electricity purchased, reduces the total cost for building maintenance

and operation to $245,700.81, or 33.6 cents per square foot, as com- pared with 35 cents for the preceding year. Floor space has been added during the year as follows: Erecting

a locker balcony in the hallway on the seventh floor, north wing, 411

square feet; a similar balcony and floor over part of a stairwell,

seventh floor, south wing, 523 square feet ; roofing over areaway

over blacksmith shop and flooring-in at the second and third floors,

846 square feet. These additions, together with those previously re- ported, make a total of 84,133 square feet of floor space added during

the past six years. A skylight or glass roof was erected over the western end of Jack- son Alley extending 168 feet from our west property line north of

the alley. This roof covers all of the unloading platforms in the
Annual Report of the Public Printer 105

alley, thus enabling incoming j^aper stock and outgoing waste paper

to be handled without danger of spoilage by rain. Trucks for which

garasre space is inadequate are protected by this roof at night. A

120-foot extension of this roof to cover weighing scales and further

protect work and trucks in the alley is nearing completion. The

alley area thus covered totals 8.533 scjuare feet. These additions, together with those given in previous annual re- ports, make a total of 8-1.133 square feet, or nearly two acres of floor space added by construction during the past six years. Through appropriation by Congress there has been acquired a two-story brick building adjoining the main building, which adds

a further area of 7.568 square feet. POWER SECTIOX

In the last annual report it was shown that the total annual sav- ing resulting from changing over the power plant from a somewhat

obsolete steam-generating plant with steam-driven auxiliaries, air

compressors, house pumps, and absorption-type refrigerating plant,

to an electric substation taking steam and electricity from the Capitol

power plant and replacing steam-driven units by electrically driven

equipment, showed an annual saving to the Government of

$65,365.20. as compared with what the same service would have

cost with the old plant. In arriving at this figure consideration was

given not only to comparison of direct operating expenses before

and after the change over, but allowances were also made for changes

in the market price of coal, changes in wage scales and water saved

the District of Coltmibia for which the Printing Office did not pay,

but which nevertheless represents a real expense to the taxpayer.

Further economies effected dtiring the past year, incltiding reduction of electric rate, more economical pumping of water, recirculation

of cooling water, and installation of small compressors to carry light

loads, add S30.046 to the total anniutl savings. This brings the total annual saving residtlng from the change over, to 895.111.20. Xeic equipment,—Increased economy in stipplying compressed air service for elevator doors, pneumatic ttibe conveyors, monotype keyboards, air hoists, agitation of solution, htimidity control, blow

torches, gas furnaces, etc.. has resulted largely from the installation

of two compressors of a stiitable size to carry night. Sunday, and

holiday loads. Part of the increased economy is also due to the new

practice of cutting off air service from parts of the building such

hours each day as ftill service is not required. The annual savings

amotmt to 83.190. Increased efficiency in pumping water for house or industrial service was accomplished by building a concrete tank of 5.600 gallons

capacity in the basement of the power house into which returns from

ammonia condensers, after cooler, cylinder jackets of compressors,

and cooling water fi^om typesetting machines discharge. Two float switches, one located in one of the storage tanks on the roof and one

located in the new basement tank, automatically control the starting

and stopping of the ptunps which intermittently pump water from

the basement tank and the city stipply mains to the roof tanks without waste of water. Pumping occurs approximately 60 times in 21
106 Annual Report oj the Public Printer

hours, each time of only a few minutes' duration. This method of

operation compared with the former metliod of continuous pumping against partially closed float valves accounts for the saving of

power. The large basement tank and piping of some returns to it which were formerly discharged to sewer, makes possible the intermittent pumping without waste of water. Tests showed the saving

of water to amount to $6,910 annually and the saving of power to amount to $5,246 per year. New electric meters have been installed on the service to the city

post office and recording meters applied to all principal, service

maintained by the power section. These instruments give a graphic

record of each service all 24 hours of the day and provide an invaluable check on the plant's operation.

OPERATING RESTJLTS With a force of 13 men, one less than in the preceding year, operating results for the year as compared with the year ending

June 30, 1925, are given in the following statement

:

1925 1926 Change Per cent change

Total cost of electric current for Government

Printing Office and post oflSce Labor and material substation Labor and material for all other power-plant

operation Kilowatt-hours purchased

Cost of purchased current Pounds of steam purchased

Cost of purchased steam

Received from post office for current Total cost (net cost) to Government Printing

Office Transmission and conversion losses, kilowatt- hours...

Kilowatt-hours used by Government Printing

Office Kilowatt-hours used by post office Operating efficiency, per cent Cost of current to Government Printing Office. Substation load Gallons of city water used Value of city water used

Gallons of drinking water used Pounds ice manufactured Cubic feet of gas consumed

Cost of gas consumed

Operating cost of electric trucks Number of miles traveled Kilowatt-hours used in charging batteries Average cost per truck-mile Average kilowatt-hour per truck-mile Average cost 9f current per truck-mile

$119, 357. 60

$10, 187. 26

$22, 525. 57

7, 204, 100

$109, 170. 34

63, 693, 337

$30,515.83

$29, 115. 11

$143, 283. 89

822, 159

4, 826, 541 1,655,400

88.59

$90, 242. 49

1, 224, 861

202,486, 650 $13,537.10

663, 626

582, 500

18, 305, 900

$12, 814. 13 $12,380. 68

37, 161

46, 612.

1

$0.33310

1.254

$0. 0235

$112, 862.44

$11, 711. 55

$22, 149. 68

7, 110, 950

$101, 150. 89

67, 930, 647

$30, 651. 53 $30,459.14

$135, 204. 51

706, 820

4, 687, 270

1, 719, 260

90. 07- $82,403. 30

1, 148, 625

139, 830, 000

$9, 346. 93 696,491

603, 100

16, 505, 500

$11, 663. 85

$7, 145. 23

42, 442

38, 366.

5

$0. 1683 0.905

$0. 016

$6,495.16

$1, 524. 29

$377. 89

93, 150

$8, 019. 45

4, 237,310

$136. 70

$1,344,03

$8, 079. 38

116, 339

139, 271

163, 860

1.48

$7, 839. 19 176,236

62, 656, 660

$4, 190. 17

32, 866

20, 600

1,800,400 $1,260.28

$5,235.35

5, 281

8, 246. 6

$0. 1648

0.349

$0. 0075

5.43 decrease.

15 increase.

1 .68 decrease.

1.30 decrease.

7.90 decrease.

6.65 increase.

0.45 increase.

4.60 increase.

6.40 decrease.

14.20 decrease.

2.90 decrease.

10.60 decrease.

1.69 increase.

8.65 decrease.

14.40 decrease.

31.20 decrease.

31 decrease.

5 increase.

3.54 increase.

9.80 decrease.

9.80 decrease.

42.70 decrease.

14.10 increase.

17.60 decrease.

49.50 decrease. 28 decrease. 32 decrease. SUMMARY OF OPERATING RESULTS

Changing the system of air compression, nights, Sundays, and holidays, and industrial water pumping from continuous drive to auto- matic start and stop of the driving electric motors only when service is required; doing with one less laborer on electric truck and

battery work and charging electric truck batteries only in proportion

to the miles traveled instead of daily charging has resulted in more

efficient and economical operation.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 107

TaNe showing sav-ings effected Electric current for air compression . $2, 653. 31

Electric current for water, brine, and other pumping 2, 689. 16

Electric truck operation, inspection, repairs, batteries, etc 5, 235. 35

Total savings as compared with previous year 10, 577. 82 Value of city water used 4, 190. 17 Total savings, including the value of city water used 14,767.99

In view of the fact that the new systems of air compression and

water pumping were put into operation the latter part of the year, greater savings from them may be expected in the future than those

shown for this year's operation.

MACHINE SHOP SECTION

The personnel of this section has been reduced during the year by

the retirement of one blacksmith, who has not been replaced, and

now numbers 39 employees.

Jobs completed cluring the year totaled 41,097, which includes

repairs, adjustments, inspections, knife grinding, saw filing, minor new work jobs, and construction and maintenance jackets, including

moving equipment and installing new machinery.

Numerous improvements have been made on a number of productive machines embodying ideas of supervisors, operators, and machinists. Among these may be mentioned the following : A reading

device for use on a bookkeeping machine by means of which the

corresponding line on five diiferent daily reports is brought out

clearly. The estimated saving in time by this device was $500 in

the first two months of its use. A mechanical tilting board device

used on three cameras in the photo-engraving section has produced

an annual saving of $800. Stagger and skip-stitch attachments in- stalled on two folding machines speeds up and simplifies production

and produces an annual saving of $1,500. Changing delivery on two continuous wire-stitching machines has increased their capacity

and simplified operations, making an annual saving of approximately

$1,000. Five endurance paper-testing machines were conditioned at an estimated saving of $200. Four hundred felt wipers were made

up at a cost of $13.65 less than purchase price. Three thousand five hundred steel galley locks were made in the shop, saving $498.75,

as compared with quoted prices. A cutting attachment made up

and placed on a crash-cutting machine has saved $31.50. Making

instead of purchasing two racks for drum presses saved $55. A

mechanical trip devised in the shop for one of the presses to take

the place of an electrical trip that caused frequent shutdowns and

damage to forms has effected a saving of $187.20 in a year's service.

Double wax-ruling tools were designed to do in one operation what

formerly required two, resulting in an annual saving of $75. Maintenance work on elevators, conveyors, tiering machines, and hoists

is being kept up by fewer men without slighting the work. The

saving during the year has been $889. Special attention has been

given during the year to belting troubles and by proper alignment

of motors with machines this trouble has been reduced 50 per
108 Annual Report of the Public Printer

cent. The result materially reduces maintenance costs and increases

production.

Much old material and salvaged parts have been used during the

past year, the saving from which amounts to $2,104.66. Totaling

these figures, with an allowance for the blacksmith's vacancy left unfilled, makes a saving for the year of $9,139.06.

ELECTEICAL SECTION

The electrical section's roll numbers 61, the same number carried

last year. The section operates all elevators and installs and maintains all electrical equipment throughout the buildings. New in- stallations during the past year totaled 227; repair jobs, 22,814;

inspections, 5,876; adjustments, 796; and minor new work jobs, 160;

totaling 29,873 jobs for the year. This is an increase of approximately 50 per cent in the number of jobs for the year. The largest job of the year was the installation of 128 electric

metal pots on the monotype casting machines, replacing the gas- heated pots. The new installation includes automatic time control

by means of which any desired number of the pots are turned on

for the day and night forces at the proper time to have the machines ready for the operators when they report for work. The

system is so arranged that different numbers and different groups

of machines may be used by the day and night forces. Lighting changes and new installations were made necessary by

the installation of new equipment. The principal jobs were for book

stacks in the documents division, seventh floor and third floor ; individual lights for all book-sewing machines ; new cutting and packing

section, old building; pipe shop; machine shop; banks and racks,

monotype section; Harding Hall; and new shades for all lights in

the proof room. A foot candle meter was purchased and used for

checking the illumination needed for various classes of work.

Passengers carried on the elevators numbered 13,417 in one day's

check, making over 4,000,000 per year. PIPE AND SHEET-METAL SECTION

This section has 20 employees on its roll. Its work includes

installation and repairs of plumbing, heating, ammonia, air, and gas

lines, pneumatic tubes, pipe railing, roofs, gutters, down spouts,

waste lines, and all manner of sheet-metal work.

This section contributed materially to the savings effected in the

power plant operation, particularly in connection with the heating

system and the new water-pumping system. Particular mention

should be made of the conditioning of the heating system, making it possible to heat all parts of the buildings, including both vacuum

and gravity systems, on pressures not exceeding 1% pounds, whereas

formerly pressures as high as 7 pounds had to be carried. The

saving of the approximately 400 minute streams of cooling water

used on monotype and linotype machines and a few other isolated

machines, amounting to approximately 42,000,000 gallons of water

per year, by bringing them into a return system terminating in the

r
Annual Report oj the Public Printer 109 new concrete tank in the power plant, was conceived and carried out

by this section.

^ The heating system contains approximately 256,000 feet of various

sizes of "pipes, ranging from one-fourth inch to 12 inches in diameter.

This includes 1,284 pipe coils and radiators, with a total heating

surface of 94.200 square feet. CARPENTEE AXD PAINT SHOP SECTION

The section carries 36 employees, including 2 temporary painters.

The work done includes repair jobs, 12,207; minor new work jobs,

890; adjustments, 4; and construction and maintenance jacket jobSy

459, making a total of 13,561 jobs during the year. Included in the

jacket jobs were the following large pieces of furniture and equipment : 37 cabinets, 21 proof desks, 28 form and galley racks, 2 dictionary stands, 43 tables. For the new lift trucks 750 platforms were made and 404 platforms of various sizes for paper storage.

Pressing blocks, wood furniture, pica reglets, cutting sticks, etc., totaled 20.813 pieces. Crates for shipping iron cores totaled 1,369,

boxes for the presswork, binding, and stores divisions totaled 69, and

postal-card shipping boxes 36,947.

Much of the lumber used in making the above was salvaged from

packing boxes. From the Bureau of Engraving and Printing 13,194

packing boxes were received, which produced 200,000 board feet of

lumber suitable for making postal-card boxes, at a saving of $12,200.

Lumber salvaged from packing boxes received in this office and material from old tables, cabinets, partitions, etc., amounted to 138,820

board feet and produced a further material saving of $9,023.30.

Lumber purchased during the year totaled 316,278 board feet^ making a total of 655,098 board feet of lumber used during the year. Economies effected on other jobs over former methods or in comparison with outside quotations added $563.50 during the year. Spray painting equipment was purchased and used on a number of

large jobs, such as painting the interior of the power plant, painting

of fifth, sixth, ancl seventh floors of the Superintendent of Documents building after completion of extensive alterations, and

painting exterior of the old building.

SANITARY SECTION

This section has 74 employees, who clean the buildings for both

day and night forces and operate the laundry. More attention was

given to the cleaning of windows and lights, thus contributing to the

saving of electric power.

The laundry washed 30,854 pounds of rags, at a reduction in cost of 25 per cent for material and labor as compared with last year's

cost. The saving on rag washing this year amounted to $3,625.35 as compared with former practice of not washing greasy rags. Towels

totaling 799.912 were laundered during the year at a cost of less than

one-half cent per towel.
110 Annual Report of the Public Printer

REPORT OF THE MEDICAL AND SANITARY OFFICER

There were 12,218 treatments given to injured and sick employees

of the Government Printing Office, of which 3,122 were .surgical

cases; 5,053 medical cases, requiring 4,043 retreatments ; one death,

due to myocarditis.

The surgical cases included

:

Incised wounds 253 Lacerated \YOimds 5x4 Punctured wounds 122 Contused wounds 349 Abrasions 3(33 Sprains 275 Burns I57 Foreign bodies 427

Infections 2.52 Fractures 10

Dislocations 1 Amputations 1 Miscellaneous 395

Total 3, 122 Number of employees receiving compensation for lost time, due to injury, 16 PHYSICAL EXAMINATION

For entrance into tbe Government service as provided by Executive

order of June 18, 1923 1 528 For extension of two years, as provided by retirement act of May

22, 1920 91 Reexamination for fitness for duty, transfer, and miscellaneous reasons. _ 84 Total 703 Blood examinations 122 Number of employees sent to United States Public Health Relief Station, for diagnosis or treatment 28 Number of employees sent to Veterans' Bureau for treatment (at their request ) 3 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES Diphtheria : Cases in homes of employees ^ 9 Quarantine unsatisfactory; sent off duty 4

Scarlet fever : Cases in homes of employees ^ 13 Quarantine unsatisfactory; sent off duty 2 Measles : Cases in homes of employees 10

Official calls by medical officer to homes of employees 45 ABSENTEEISM Number of employees absent due to illness, injury, or death in family

:

Reported in person 623 Reported by telephone 3, 095 Reported by letter 61 Reported by messenger 579

Total — 4,358

This shows a decrease of almost 25 per cent over last year's report. Many old, antiquated machines have been replaced by modern

machinery, which gives greater output with less laborious effort.

^ These cases wpre investigated as to whether or not satisfactory quarantine was being

observed.
Annual Report oj the Public Printer 111

The foremen of the various sections have taken a greater interest

in the cleanliness of their rooms; more attention has been paid to ventilation; the old antiquated chairs have been replaced by up-todate equipment; women workers who operate machines have been

supplied with modern posture chairs which properly support the

back while at work.

Owing to the careful safeguarding of machinery, there have been no serious or preventable accidents during the past two years. There were 16 cases in which compensation was paid for time lost. There has not been an employee absent for a sufficient length of

time (three days) to make a claim for compensation for time lost due to wound infection during the past two years. The Washington City post office has an emergency aid station

with a nurse in charge but no night service. They have cases of

such a nature that that institution is not prepared to handle. These

cases have been receiving treatment at the Government Printing

Office. During the last fiscal year there were 355 treatments given

to employees oi the Washington City post office.

Under authority of the act approved May 13, 1926 (Public No.

222), the Public Printer has discontinued the printing of such other

and additional reports for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1926, as have

usually been submitted to Congress concerning the business of the

Governing Printing Office. The original copies of such reports will

be kept on file in the office of the Public Printer for public inspection,

as provided for in said act. Kespectfully submitted.

STATISTICAL TABLES

(Compiled by Superintendent of Accounts and Budget Officer)

Table No. 1.

Resources and liabilities under appropriations for fiscal year ended June 30, 1926

resources

Appropriation for salaries, office of Public Printer $155, 480. 00

Appropriation, printing presses, Government Printing

Office 122, 350. 00 Appropriation for working capital $2, 400, 000. 00

Transfers and payments for print- ing and binding for departments and bureaus and payments from

other various sources to June 30_ 9, 087, 672. 41

Bills receivable July 1, 1926, for printing and binding furnished- 553, 966. 98

12, 041, 639. 39

Appropriation for salaries, office of Superintendent of Documents 362, 720. 00

Appropriation for general expenses, office of Superin- tendent of Documents 188, 400. 00

Total resources available for work of fiscal year 1926 $12, 870, 589. 39

liabilities

Salaries, office of Public Printer

:

Disbursed to June 30 $134, 199. 00

Outstanding obligations, July 1, 1926_ 5, 991. 72

Total disbursed and outstanding obligations $140, 190. 72

Printing presses, Government Printing Office : Outstanding obligations, July 1, 1926 122, 350. 00 Working capital and repayments for printing and binding

:

Disbursed to June 30 $10, 203, 715. 79 Outstanding obligations, July 1, 1926 1, 395, 297. 43

Total disbursed and outstanding obligations 11, 599, 013. 22

Salaries, office of Sui)erintendent of Docu- ments : Disbursed to June 30 $337, 176. 41 Outstanding obligations, July 1, 1926_ 14, 701. 92

Total disbursed and outstanding obligations 351, 878. 33

General expense, office of Superintendent

of Documents : Disbursed to Tune 30 $120, 991. 98 Outstanding obligations, July 1, 1926_ 50, 000. 00

Total disbursed and outstanding obligations 170, 991. 98

Total disbursed to June 30 $10, 796, 083. 18

Total outstanding obligations, July 1, 1926 1,588,^1.07

Total disbursed and outstanding obligations $12, 384, 424. 25

Unobligated balance (subject to 10 per cent over or under outstanding

orders) 486, 165. 14

12, 870, 589. 39 113
114 Annual Report of the Public Printer

Table No. 2.Summary of financial transactions in fiscal year ended June 30, 1926, covering appropriations for fiscal years 192^, 1925, and 1926 APPROPRIATION FOR 1924

Resources Disburse- ments Unexpenaea

balance Ju^' 1, 1926

Salaries, office of Public Printer: Unexpended balance July

$12, 543. 39 $12, 543. 39 Public printing and binding: Unexpended balance July 1, 1925... 171, 639. 70 Disbursed for material and supplies $84, 266. 10 Total 171, 639. 70 84, 266. 10 87, 373. 60

Salaries, office of Superintendent of Documents: Unex- pended balance July 1, 1925.. 15, 300. 26

18, 456. 60

29, 099. 61

15, 300. 26

18, 456. 60

29, 099. 61

General expenses, office of Superintendent of Documents: Unexpended balance July 1, 1925 Increase of compensation ($240 bonus): Unexpended balance July 1, 1925... Grand total appropriation Unobligated balance of 1924 appropriations on June 30, 1926

247, 039. 56 84, 266. 10 162, 773. 46

162, 773. 46 APPROPRIATION FOR 1925

Salaries, office of Public Printer: Unexpended balance July 1, 1925 $19, 678. 94 Disbursed $5, 730. 83 Total.. 19, 578. 94

1, 069, 268. 10

143, 836. 22

5, 730. 83 $13,848.11 Public printing and binding: Unexpended balance July 1, 1925.. Credited to appropriation per payments by Govern- ment establishments and private individuals for printing and binding executed and by funds from

miscellaneous sources

• Disallowances deposited.. 14. 25

194,316. 34

625, 477. 20

44, 188. 74

26, 589. 15

192, 914. 53

Disbursed for paper

Disbursed for lithographing and engraving

Transferred to printing and binding, 1926 Disbursed for material and supplies Total.. 1, 213, 118. 57 1, 083,485. 96 129, 632. 61 Salaries, office of Superintendent of Documents: Unexpended balance July 1, 1925 24, 715. 96

13, 938. 74 Total 24, 715. 96 13, 938. 74 10, 777. 22 General expenses, office of Superintendent of Documents: Unexpended balance July 1, 1925 48, 058. 20 Disbursed 30, 641. 49 Total 48, 058. 20 30, 641. 49 17,416.71 Grand total appropriation, 1925 1,305,471, 67 1, 133, 797. 02 171, 674. 65 Deduct for outstanding obligations 43, 406. 55 Unobligated balance of 1925 appropriations on June 30, 1926. 128, 268. 10 APPROPRIATION FOR 1926

Salaries, office of Public Printer:

$155, 480. 00 Transferred to Interior civil ledger (retirement fund) $2, 768. 00

131, 431. 00 Total.... 155, 480. 00 134, 199. 00 $21, 281. 00

122, 350. 00 122, 350. 00
Annual Report of the Public Printer 115

Table No. 2.

Summary of financial transactions in fiscal year ended June 30, 1926, covering appropriations for fiscal years 1924, 1925, and 1926—Contd. APPEOPRIATION FOR 1926—Continued

Resources Disburse- ments Unexpended

balance July 1, 1926

Public printing and binding:

Legislative act of Mar. 4, 1925 $2, 400, 000. 00

9, 087, 662. 50

553, 966. 98

9.91

Credited to appropriations per payments by Govern- ment establishments and private individuals for printing and binding executed and by funds from

miscellaneous sources

Bills receivable July 1, 1926, for printing and binding

furnished Disallowances deposited Transferred to Interior civil ledger (retirement fund) , ,

,

$171, 000. 00

6, 809, 939. 07

2, 375, 777. 36

66i213. 19

780, 786. 17

Disbursed for labor Disbursed for paper Disbursed for lithographing and engraving Disbursed for material and supplies Total 12, 041, 639. 39 10, 2t)3, 715. 79 $1, 837, 923. 60

Salaries, office of Superintendent of Documents:

Legislative act of Mar. 4, 1925 362, 720. 00 Transferred to Interior civil ledger (retirement fund) 8, 075. 00 Disbursed 329, 101. 41 Total 362, 720. 00 337, 176. 41 25, 543. 59 General expenses, office of Superintendent of Documents:

Legislative act of Mar. 4, 1925 188, 400. 00 Disbursed 120, 991. 98 Total.-. 188, 400. GO 120, 991. 98 67, 408. 02 Grand total appropriation, 1926... 12, 870, 589. 39 10, 796, 083. 18 2, 074, 506. 21 Deduct for outstanding obligations 1, 588, 341. 07 Unobligated balance of 1926 appropriations on June 30, 1926. 486, 165. 14 Total unobligated balances (subject to change by 10 per

cent over or under on outstanding obligations)

:

1924.- 162, 773. 46

128, 268. 10

486, 165. 14 1925. 1P26-. Total 777, 206. 70 RECAPITULATION—ALL APPROPRIATIONS

Total paid for labor during fiscal year i $7, 175, 255. 41

Total paid for material and supplies 1, 084, 555. 95

Total paid for lithographing and engraving 110, 401. 93

Total paid for paper 3, 001,254.56

Total paid for printing and binding 11, 371, 467. 85

Total paid for salaries, office of the Public Printer 2 139^ 929. 33

Total paid for salaries, office of Superintendent of Documents 3 351^ 115^ 15

Total paid for expenses, office of Superintendent of Documents 151, 633. 47 Grand total 12, 014, 146. 30

1 Includes amount paid to retirement fund $171, 000

• Includes amount paid to retirement fund 2, 768

3 Includes amount paid to retirement fund 8, 075

Total paid to retirement fund 181, 843
116 Annual Report of the Public Printer

Table No. 3.

Moneys received during fiscal year 1926, the source, and

Treasury deposit

1925

Deposited to the credit of appropriation for public printing and binding

:

Deposited for printing for departments and bureaus $143, Oil. 51 Deposited for miscellaneous printing 776. 72 Refunds , 47. 99

Auditor's disallowance . 14. 25

$143, 850. 47

Less transfer to printing and binding, 1926 26, 589. 15 Total 117, 261. 32 1926

Deposited to the credit of appropriation for public printing and binding

:

Deposited for printing for departments and bureaus $8, 966, 700. 06

Deposited for miscellaneous printing 86, 420. 16 Refunds 36. 95

Repairs to truck 25. 00

Auditor's disallowance 9. 91 Expense incurred in making sales of waste paper, etc_ 7, 891. 18 Transferred for printing and binding, 1925 26, 589. 15

9, 087, 672. 41

Total "9, 204, 933. 73

Deposited to the credit of miscellaneous receipts

:

Sale of waste paper - $53, 925. 50

Sale of waste wood 1, 419. 25

Sale of waste metal 4, 537. 02

Sale of condemned material, machinery, etc 1, 148. 14

Sale of leather scraps . 30. 35 Surplus receipts from sales of documents 326, 606. 79

387, 667. 05

Total 9, 592, 600. 78 Table No. 4.

Production of principal items entering into printing and tinding

in fiscal years 1924, 1925, and

Item 1924 1925 1926 Main office and Congressional Library branch: Total charges for printing and binding dollars Jackets written number

Estimates written do..

Bills computed do.. Total ems set do.. Time work in composing sections ..hours Electrotypes and stereotypes square inches

Postal cards printed number

Money-order books shipped do.. Forms sent to press do.. Actual impressions do.. Chargeable impressions do..

Sheets folded by machine do..

Signatures gathered by machine do.. Tips made by machine do.. Copies wire stitched do.. Copies paper covered do.. Books and pamphlets trimmed ..do.. Books rounded and backed do.. Books marbled and edged do.. Stamping impressions do.. Books cased in do.. Indexes cut... do..

Sheets passed through ruling machine do..

Signatures sewed do.. Copies punched or drilled do..

Sheets or lines perforated do.. Tablets made do.. Miscellaneous rebindings, etc do..

9, 279, 921. 37

54, 946

45, 562

63, 986

2, 044, 664, 900

276, 204

10, 641, 184

1,253,073. 180 948,460

151,386

480,293, 692

2,051,135, 651

242, 954. 732 148,237,041

8, 943, 186

52, 261, 582

6, 195,993

58, 187, 509

1,336,066

188, 675

2, 714, 567

1,371, 196 131,419

24, 136, 850

79, 653, 610

79, 323, 823

8, 547,095 3,081,257

80, 259

11,532, 954. 66

52, 731

45, 830

66, 000

2. 128, 394, 700

274, 609

10,447, 231

1,595, 376, 890

1, 102, 503

145, 005

471, 384, 300

2. 129, 585, 506

235, 489, 426

139, 940, 616

7, 217, 929

46,426, 889

4. 583, 788

56, 726, 117

1, 192, 311 150.359

2, 742,491

1, 257, 079

140, 311 21,096.848

83, 821, 611

102, 005, 765

6, 582, 474

2, 850, 376

93, 295

12, 599, 074. 87

54,074 45,309

67, 991

2, 158, 890, 100 257,288

10, 948, 121

1, 596. 862, 880

1, 100, 827

160, 345

465, 549, 492

2, 056, 808, 214

221, 987, 941

130, 285, 798

9, 535.440

47, 442, 436

5, 367, 364

56, 392, 663

1, 121, 799

184,385

2, 573, 041

1, 272, 999

129, 872 21,657.309

71,977, 215

100, 661, 589

7, 569, 351

2, 903, 111

92, 538

I Includes $800,000 estimated labor and material expended on uncompleted jobs

.
Annual Report of the Public Printer 117

Table 5.

Charges for work executed for Congress, departments, and inde- pendent Government estaMishments durmg the fiscal year ended June 30, 1926

Congress . $2, 157, 460. 06

TVork ordered by Members of Congress

:

Miscellaneous charges 1, 042. 93 Documents, reports, bills, etc 11, 127. 90

Speeches ^ . 80, 922. 65

Private orders for electrotypes . 739. 37

Superintendent of Documents 509, 064. 64

«tate 173, 123. 48

Treasury 991, 625. 03 War 652, 264. 19 Navv 561, 778. 23

Interior ^_ 206, 203. 13

Geological Survey 87,289.55

Smithsonian Institution 99, 321. 11

.Justice 182, 447. 34

Post Office 2, 149, 321. 94

Agriculture 785, 132. 86 Commerce 688, 374. 55 Patent Office 1, 147, 571. 55 Labor 241, 371. 18

Library of Congress 286, 543. 12 White House 3, 897. 67 Pan American Union 35, 968. 34 Supreme Court

:

District of Columbia 4, 174. 77

United States 26, 003. 34 Court of Claims 29, 374. 56

Interstate Commerce Commission 172, 885. 25

Civil Service Commission 57, 952. 29

Geographic Board 469. 08

General Accounting Office 26, 955. 75

Alien Property Custodian 6, 605. 30 Bureau of the Budget 24, 261. 97

Commissioners. District of Columbia 12, 626. 29 Employees' Compensation Commission 4, 329. 58

Federal Reserve Board 37, 312. 63

Federal Board for Vocational Education 7, 273. 67

Federal Trade Commission r 21, 583. 58

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 11, 556. 05 Panama Canal . 16, 758. 49

Railroad Administration 3, 627. 72

Railroad Labor Board 19, 731. 29 Shipping Board 63, 147. 04

Tariff Commission 17, 494. 17

Veterans' Bureau 152, 969. 39 War Finance Corporation 1, 968. 05

Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks ^ 4, 631. 43

Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission 762. 87 American Battle Monuments Commission 1, 065. 50 Bureau of Efficiency 350. 49 Commission of Fine Arts 166. 72

Federal Power Commission 2, 099. 40

National Forest Reservation Commission 494. 41

National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers 17. 85 Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Commission 20. 32

Special counsel, oil leases, etc 376.52

Lincoln Memorial Commission 3, 600. 00 Board of Tax Appeals 13, 634. 51 John Ericsson Memorial Commission 141. 89 National Capital Park and Planning Commission 39. 44

National Sesquicentennial Exhibition 22. 44

Total J 1 11, 799, 074. 87

1 This amount includes $447,468.43 charge for blank paper.
118 Annual Report of the Public Printer

-,'2 <» § ® fl

TP IC rH ( ^(M00500C--JC>00(

I 05 ec 00 00 lo o ( 5O0C-^0000«O(MlOCDC^t^CO<N • ro r— lO —I 00

; ^ CO 05 C<1 ^

6^ -

I (N CO o cc ; 05 CO O I !N Csi 00 «<D TlH (M' 00 o o i>- 00 o a>

Tji lo o o 00 oTc^fio «f o NO <M «C T}1 r-t (35 C5 ^ S O

CO p 5C <C lO 1 00 Tt< 05 t~ CO

I CO CD 00 <N O lO CO )COCO(M(~-OOTj<,-HTt<OOOOC7>C> •OOCOOOOOiOOOCDCOOOOCO )O'-^Tt<tCt^O00C0O'-IC0l0t^

OiOO'Ot^'-it^COCOCCO'-Hr-,-!, |lOlOOOOr-llO-^-^TPCO(M

igfj^f"^ o o lO CD 00 o>o

l> CO

f-l CO eor-io

CO CO CO 00 ^00 05

CO O C ftS ! cT

OT S a> X o

Tj<OCOCO

l> 0 02

C5 Tji IM" (M C<l

<B CD -rt ^ s ag

CO

00

05 O (N O t--. CD »C CO O C<lCO-^iO COOCDCOt^l O CO

.-I <N 00 (M CO irf

lO oco I-l i-H CO 00 c<i t>

OOO COC

(M lO I »0 CO

III =

PI ^ s ^

03 go a

CD IM C<I 00

c5 § S

TtioOOoicDlOCOCDi—IIM r-Sr-HC5C<(Ttlt^00C0lO{N o 00 CO o CO CO 00 i-( r ~

c<ro'"i>-'T^*t>~co (

OC00500^iOt--(M- ioooco-*oo-*a>ooi>- (NOi-KNCftC^-^COCReO >0>-IC0C0'-l(N!NOO'0 iOiOC000OMO=0< iC5COO<MiMTl<-!}<TticO

ic" (N~ CO T-T(--"aT CO co" r-T 5t<—i-<*<c00505t^<Mt-(N

2i be ca." fl « w

COo o o 2 +i +j ^ s

g O i=l 5

"-0 13 -0x3 £3o ©

, - a a CI fl , „ ^ ,

P. X}a , _ wrs c3 « S

cs5 « « c3 2s

b a
Annual Report of the Public Printer

$314,608.

37

331,104.46

1,378,

715. 90

1,701,389.64 124,972.

78

»

89,

212. 18

215,441.

78

90,329.11

1,280,

849.03

745,

150.32

429,

156. 75

801,838.42144,687.

85

881,

683.

20

88,054.49

L

_

131,m79

530,332.05 24,

198. 30

153,622.04

61.75

1,898,403.40

89,327.06 9,

075. 92

28,

601. 32

36,034.

85

11,517,911.76

Credits

by

worlc

for

other

sections

$25,535.38 51,

130. 32

116,008.66 326,375.52 261,219.36

1,019,469.45 186,

888. 84

105,447.

19

346.

16

84,001.77 1,826.

97

7,

163. 29

13,031.48

375.92 4,

734.

89

8.785.25_ WW i

iiii i

iiii;

1

530,

338. 18

73,155.

79

24,

198. 30

153,

625. 40

34,

676. 07

1,898,403.40

89,327.06 9,075.92 28,

601. 32

36,034.

85

13,838,031.

81

ill

,.......<> 1 ..<..'

.

i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i

i

^^^^ g

s mm i

f ff^ $

1

ordered,

and

outside 1

$371.25 8,

623. 36

54,

380. 80

124,

838. 15

83,811.72

561,

924. 62

20,

937.

51

, 7.

894.26 s s sss I i s $n mill i

5 iS"" i i If

||||| i gBSiSS'ss5S-s=g»§=--

7,

958. 07

4,

564.

53

31. 77

2,

814. 82

1,096.

16

40,491.84 28,

601. 32

22,

999. 80

2,705,310.86

if

If

t

1 - 1

34,

357. 05

11,450.

78

2,

697. 78

43,352.

11

6,

550.

22

2,

279,

528. 34

1 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

45.

9841

20.

0396

12.

6303

40.

3431

24.

2334

40.

6765 i

1 i iiig'siigigsigiSii

74,

715.

03

57,

140. 48

21,

359. 54

107,458.47 27,029.

69

13,035.05

5,

620,

679. 16

Division,

office,

or

section

Job

Linotype Proof

Platemaking

Press

Postal

card

Metal

Details Stores Ink

Illustrations

Work

for

stock

returned

to

stores

Superintendent

of

Documents—

other

than

printTotal
120 Annual Report oj the Public Printer

O o!

2 S8

I CO. J5 2

CJS «o

CO

05

T-< 00

00 «o eo

i>- o

c>

5S oGO

CD

»o oT eo ot> 00

T-< eo O«o o00 o O CO ^ o

32,

748. 67,

049. CO

<N

,430. 58,

496. 13,

778.

,340. ,519. ,308. ^5

^ CD 00 l>

03 o^-_

CO 00 eo CD i-^

O

o COo

CO 00

»o O

00§

<M (N CO CD

CD O

tH (N

CO lO (M

05

CO

CD CO 280, eo

CO Mcf

CO

0000 oCO CO

05

CO O

CO

r- 00 T-i «o

CO c> O CO 05 »0 CD OS

T-T o

8 S

j?^ ® w p>, (_) "3 4J tH +S

05 "5 (35 Tf

odo

CD (N

CO CO

CO cS

tH CO

tH tH O fcH C3 <N CD T-H CO i-H

CD ^

ic. t-:

COO

coco

CD lO >Ci

lO to

y-l CO

CO CO

CO CO i i

t-- CD

.5 « 03 •^^-^ ft

a> o OO'S' . i-lT-H coo NO CO ^co (M ^ O

is

r-i t-H lO t--. lO 00 lO CR 00 CO e<i !>• OS CO

lO CO kO 03 OJ !>• CO

CI o c<i ic

o

fa _o

'4-9 ft

"tH M

® Pl m ® ^ <D m,£h t tH^ o <o

; fto

1 cs ft

1 ft©

CO CO »-i

ftS-oi

pQ

a 5

.2 Sft

03O CO o O t§ft C3 0;=;

l§ if is

^"-.Slco;

5 "1-1 i2 S o

<o.ii a S-n a*^^ rs bi ^ *^ ®'OtH'"T32frt.W
Annual Report of the Public Printer 121

Table 8.

Inventory of quantity and cost of paper and envelopes, material and

supplies, and machinery and equipment on hand June 30, 1926

Description Sheets Pounds Cost

Paper and envelopes: Machine-finished book 36, 624, 000 $107, 287. 12

71. 528. 20

16, 284. 29

16, 148. 16

1, 676. 99

43, 140. 00

13, 329. 54

298, 881. 40

1, 963. 25

87, 090. 81

11, 178. 70

35, 264. 22

6 978 88

987! 90

3 351. 89

I, 92l! 24

21, 421. 91

3, 744. 90

56, 232. 03

1, 043. 60

18, 468. 20

16 904. 63

Do i, 262, 200 Coated book 784, 000 United States money order writing 134, 155 Safety writing 146, 000 Sulphite writing... 9, 032, 000 Do 203, 436 Map and bond 30, 499, 000 Do 9, 975 Ledger. _ 3, 473, 000

1, 133, 000

5, 702, 000 Cover Manila Do 146, 000 Manila board... 158, 000 Do 144, 000

58i 000

1, 210, 000 CardboardBristol board Do. 199, 000 Miscellaneous 880, 000 Do.. 17, 000 Binder's board. 517, 800 Envelopes

Total, paper and envelopes 843, 827. 86 Other material and supplies: Miscellaneous supplies 198, 579. 49

21, 062. 46

7, 538. 95

9, 596. 85

Z, 346! 36

Book cloth.. Ink ingredients Leather.. . Ink (90 per cent made in Government Printing Office) Total, material and supplies 240, 124. 11 Total, material and supplies, paper and envelopes 1, Ooo, 951. 97 Machinery and equipment:

Machinery 3, 476, 734. 70 Equipment 362, 807. 87 Total, machinery and equipment 3, 839, 542. 57 Grand total 4, 923, 494. 54
122 Annual Report of the Public Printer

Table 9.Publications, including annual reports and documents, printed upon

requisition during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1926, for departments and

independent Government establishments (Congress not included)

Copies

State 369, 504 Treasury 3, 734, 915 War 11, 550, 695 Navy ( 1, 805, 789

Interior , 1, 965, 851

Justice _ 26, 667

Post Office 1, 851, 212

Agriculture 27, 9'o5, 223 Commerce 6, 190, 862 Labor 2, 176, 209 Smithsonian Institution 1 161,838

Library of Congress 135, 085 White House 69,737 Pan American Union 246, 465 Supreme Court

:

District of Columbia 1, 674

United States 28, 885 Court of Claims 2, 348 Bureau of Efficiency 2, 018

Federal Power Commission 3, 014

Interstate Commerce Commission 1. 801, 726

Civil Service Commission 106, 187 Geographic Board 8, 100

General Accounting Office 10, 777

Alien Property Custodian 4, 571

Commissioners. District of Columbia 16, 829

Employees' Compensation Commission 9, 104, Veterans' Bureau 945, 319

Federal Board for Vocational Education 48, 628

Federal Reserve Board 417, 010

Federal Trade Commission 86, 231

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 18, 407 Panama Canal 2,230

Railroad Administration 1, 437

Shipping Board 363, 724

Tariff Commission 20, 017

Railroad Labor Board 12, 220 War Finance Corporation 2, 000 Commission of Fine Arts 1 Bureau of the Budget 39, 241

Miscellaneous . 20, 036

Total 59, 251, 786 Table No. 10.— Condemned machinery, material, etc., sold in fiscal year ended June 30, 1926

Sale of condemned material, machinery, etc . $1. 148. 14

Sale of waste wood 1, 419. 25

Sale of waste metal 4, 537. 02

Sale of waste paper 53, 925. 50

Sale of leather scraps 30. 35

Total 61, 060. 26 O