Washington sentinel., 1854-04-02
PUBLIC PRINTING.

PUBLIC PRINTING.
Thus far we have said nothing in respect to
the printing of Congress. One Of the publish
ers of this paper having been elected printer
to the Senate, we thought that silence was
most becoming. But matters and things cal
culated to perplex and mislead were brought
forward in the debate of Thursday in the
Senate on Mr.. Badgers amendment to the de.
fciency bill, which provides that hereafter the
printing ordered by each house shall be exc
cuted by the printer of the house orderingit
By the seventh section of the act of 1852, it
is provided that "when any document shall be
ordered to be printed by both Houses of Con-
gress, the entire printing of such document
shall be done by the printer of that house
which first ordered the same" The inconve
nience and annoyance which this provision oc
casioned has been very great whilst it opens
the door wide to injustice, oppression, and in
trigue.
Each house Of Congress should have the con-
troll Of the printing ordered by it, and legiti-
form the work. Under the force of these ideas,
Mr.. Badger moved his amendment, which gives
the printing of each house to its own officer
and requires the superintendent of public print
ing to make an equal distribution of the print.
ing of the executive departments between the
two printers.
This reasonable, proper, and even necessary
amendment is attacked, on the ground that it
would increase the expense of the public print
ing by large amount. This attack has no
valid and substantial foundation.
The seventh section of the law Of 1852, after
the words we have just quoted from it, proceeds
as follows: And, whenever the same person
or the same firm shall be printer for both houses
of Congress, and both houses shall order the
same document to be printed icithin three rceeks
of the same time, composition shall be charged
but once for said document"
By this clause of the law, it would seem that
double composition can be charged whenever
there are two printers But it has been deter
mined, as we understand, that when there are
two printers, and one Of them prints docu-
ment for both houses, then quo ad that docu-
ment, there is but one printer for both houses,
and only single composition can be charged.
We have never yet and do not now contest that
determination. But, yielding up this point as
foreign to our present object, we will now e1-
anime the ground on which the assertion is
based that large expense will be oecasioned
BY the adoption of Mr.. Badgers amendment,
only remarking in advance that trihing e1.
pense should not hinder the right and prevent
legitimate action.
1t will be seen, by reference to the quotation
we have already made from the law, that, when
there is only one printer for the two houses,
double composition on document ordered by
the two houses can be legally charged unless the
orders OF the two houses are made pithin three
aceeks of each other. The reason Of that limi-
tation is plain, and the reason is this: The gov
ernment did not wish to pay printer for COM
posing document tscice, when he composed it
only once; but at the same time the govern
ment could not, with any show Of justice, re-
qulre printer to keep his type standing for
al indefinite length Of time. 1t was therefore
determined that three peeks should be the limit;
so that the law presumes that, after that time,
the printer has to pay for double composition.
and should be paid double composition by the
government. With this explanation, we think
that what follows may be readily understood
The Superintendent Of Public Printing :,
his letter which was read by Mr.. Hamlin in
the Senate during the debate of the 3Oth. make,
it appear that fair estimate would rive
$4,000 as the additional cost of printing aris.
ing from division of the work. This is the
basis of his estimate:
The following Is list Of the principal documents ordered
be printed by both houses Congress- at the present
session. 10 this date with or estimated coat for
composition alone:
No Of CbR o.
49,, Pages. CSrnp'n
States and accompan ying documents p3s AZ 4sS %
Letter from Second Auditor, relative 10
Indian disbursements ................ 55a oo1 m
Report Of the Secretary of the Treasury ON - =
the state Of the finances. ....... .... ssa 400 m
Report of the Secretary Of the Treasury y
Coast Survey, (quarto 900 800 IN
Patent Office Report Mechanical. 400 500 Co
Agricultural ...... coo ZOO nd