The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-02-11
N: MONDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY II, 1850

the several contractors who have undertaken the
printing for the present Congress, with the view,
and in the hope. that they would receive my sug-
gestions in spirit like the one which offered them,
and come forward TO aid in the good work OF justice
to themselves and To the country
IL has been remarked that this obnoxious soon
tract system" tended to reard rather than advance
the art of printing. This is trueaye, literally true.
II proofs were wanting, they are abundantly fur
nished by the printing for the last Congress-ay,
whole sheets of them; and, take them all in ALL the
"dirties proof sheets" il has ever been my fortune
To read May never look upon their like again!
say nothing but what you know as well as l.
indeed, better than do from your superior know
ledge of the art-when pronounce the printing for
the last Congress, under the contract system, to
have been bad work in itself, unfit for the purpose
for which it was intended, and, above all, disrepu
table to your noble art and honorable craft But
say, also, that the evil originated in the action OF
Congress. The system adopted is bad one, fraught
with evils to all concerned; destructive to the pub
ic interest, injurious TO personal honor, and derog
atory to the dignity Of the National Legislature
This system held out the inducement, offered the
temptation, to do wrong; and, as an inevitable
consequence, its authors have gathered the reward
OF wrong -doing-bad work for poor pay. Who
so sows thstles shall he not gather thorns " All OF
you have seen the work done under this system; I;
and such work. whether we regard the type, press
work, or the paper, venture to say you have
never seen come from the hands Of men who de-
served the name of printers. The gentleman who
first addressed you said that it better than
printing done ticO hundred gears ago. ! will add
that have some old books, which found IN be-
nighted Mexico, printed three hundred years ago,
which are infinitely better in all the attributes of
printing, than the Patent Office Report for lS4S.
might go farther, and say, with perfect truth, that
at the present day, in the western wilds fa beyond
the Mississippi the red man OF the forestbe Chero-
kee lndan-who, within the last fifteen years, from
his own unlettered genius, invented the rery cha
racters in which his language was first recorded,
has Infinitely better printing done by his own peo-
pie, even for general circulation, than that which
the American Congress has purchased for the ar
chiyes of its government! There is no extrava-
gance in this. 1t is literally true. ! repeat the
proof is at hand. Ii has been in the hands, and
under the eyes, Of every present. TO say
nothing of other jobs just revert to that same Pa
tent Office Report! The paper you can look through;
and, you cannot actually read through 1T is only
because the impression is 50 imperfect, the page
80 blurred, that you can hardly read IL at all.
Verify, it is no improvement upon the original
papyrus. Then, the press-work! i will merely
remark that the pages do not register, in many
instances, by half an inch need not comment
upon the effect OF that upon the face Of thin
and mi-diaphanous sheet Next, come, the ink !!
1t is net black-it is not blue--it is no, green
ii 10 not red-indeed it is not any color used by
printers; but is Of that hue, Of comminged colors
and ingredients, that may justly entitle it to the
name of mud-ay, sir, veritable mud! and justiies
the belief that its abundant supply was conye,
niently and economically drawn from the bed of
the classic stream which rolls its placid current
hard by the temple where ths work vas done.
And last-though for sufficient reason, not least
III tne oil ChaTactcrlstlcs, TO DC men
toned the types Of this extraordinary production.
did not at first know how to name, as l DO not
now how to class them.
When first saw the work, was puzzled about
alike to read and oaccount for the effect produced
The shapes of the letters themselves rough and
! ungraceful, might well have been taken Tor the
fret, untutored effort of "'prentice hand" Then
TO my puzzled gaze, they seemed staring, and
| struggling, and scattered over the page, in such
| unneighborly fashion, that it required painful
exerton OF the eyes, and no little ingenuity at COM
binaton, TO recognise their relations and arrange
| them into words and sentences PAPER enough
(such as il was) was between them; still, they did
not present that light and airy aspect which 30
relieves and facilitates the reading of ieaded matter.
There was, to my unfamiliar eye, the combined
effect OF leads and spaces both; and that made up by
| an unskilful hand. repeat, was puzzled; and /
| inquired. Then learned that the thing saw had
been done Intentionally: and if not in the highest
style of art, was, ut least, most artflly done. The
fact was this The contract required the printing to
| be done on small picn type. To do this, the new
cxpedient resorted to- Of having font Of type,
especially cast, Of small plea face upon plea body
And thus the thing done, and not done, at the
same time-the letter of the contract complied
with, and its plain import was openly and grossly
violated, and at n saving to the contractors which
you are much better qualified TO estimate than am;
but which think could motif fall far short OF twenty
five per centum.
In all this, sir, il is not my purpose to censure the
contractors; though one say they are wholly
without blame. Nor ought the committee TO have
received such work The terms of the contract, and
the samples should have constituted the standard
BY that should the work have been judged; and
received or rejected as it came up to- or fell below,
the standard. But go back still further; and find,
said in the beginning, that the root Of all this
evil is in the false economy Of Congress.
My letters to the contractors, OF which have
spoken, and the warning j deemed II proper, in
fairness and kindness, 10 give them, were based
upon these considerations. had examined the con-
tracts for the last Congress, and found, even by
calculation that the prices were not rcmunerating-
nay, fell short of the actual expense Of the manual
labor employed TO do the work, TO say nothing of
the pecuniary investment, &c. had had tins con-
rmed 20 me by the declarations Of the contractors
themselves (victims OF bad system); and, more
over, had been informed that reclamation would
be presented to Congress for large amount Of mo-
ney, which, il would be clearly shown, had been
.ost upon the contracts; despite the various and
extraordinary shifts and expedicnts which had
been resorted 10, in evasion, for the purpose OF
saving from loss, If not Of making proht. had
also examined the present contracts; and found,
greatly TO my astonishment, that the same work
had now been undertaken at prices evenlower than
those Of the last Congress- think, at an average
Of some twenty-five per cent. lower. was driven,
rrcsistiby, TO the conclusion, that the present con-
tractors could not, possibly, fulfil their engage
ments, without serious, perhaps rulnous, pecu-
mary loss In view of these facts and knowing,
as did, that the Printing Committee held itself
bound in duty, alike 20 itself and the Government,
10 exact faithful execution of the work, strictly
in accordance with the terms of the contract; did
notbeeve could do less, in good conscience, and
in fairncss toward craft which 30 much hon
ored, than TO give warning Of the danger which
could not but foresee, and to which my best judg-
mcnt gave great magnitude. | gave the warning
in spirit OF perfect candor, and a craftmaps fra
tcrnal kindness, in order that, before il should be
too late the contracts might be surrendered by the
contractors, and, as doubted not and now doubt
not, would be received back and cancelled by Con-
gress. did hope that this warning counsel would be
received in a spirit of equal candor and kindness
yet hope SO, and that good may grow out of IL.
/ hay q he
hope, that Congress prepared, by the expert
encc of the past, 70 abandon system which had
been demonstrated TO be fruitless Of good, and
so productive of mischief, and willing TO adopt an
other, which could not bc otherwise than better,
though, perhaps, far from being perfect
have rested my belief and my hopes as to the
course Of both parties TO these contracts-the con-
tractors and Congrcss--upon my estimate of their
good sense n guide whichl have never seen fail TO
lead men to wise practical conclusions, especially
when enlightened by the teachings Of a recent and
stern experience.
Mr.. President and gentlemen Of the Typographi-
cal Society I have already detained you much