Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-05-26
DAILY EVENING STAR.
CAPT. MooREs ANSWER TO MIR. R1yEs


also complains that did not allow him an,
thing extra for the setting of the small type
tnonparelD which Is used in the debates fo
extracts, resolutions, votes, &c. / will say
In reply, that L did not forget this item, but
not attaching the same Importance to it tha,
Mi Kives does, L did not think it worth while
10 endeavor to ascertain what proportion this
nonparlel type bore to the BREWER Mr.. Rive:
mas greatly over-estimated it. The volume:
were IN MS ONCE, and a few hours examination
would have enable him to state the amour,
with precision. [ am not in possession of the
volumes for the Thirty second Congress. but
find that those for the Thirtieth Congress con.
tain only four hundred and twenty six col umps
OF nonpareil type. Supposing this to be fai,
average for proportionate number of pages
the debates of the Thirty second Congress
would give about six hundred and seventy
columns. Mr.. Rives estimates the amount at
the high figure of fifteen hundred columns.
aeAteh IS an 0ver-eSttmate of one huudred
amd tacenty5our per cent, and upon this ex
travagant pretension he claims So, ,9I0 more
than L allowed him for setting the types
But IN making this claim, Notwithstanding
the sharpness of his vision as regards every
thlng that can be supposed to operate in his
own favor, Mr.. Rives tails into another grave
blunder in typographical computation, by
failing to see both sides even of this small
question. Taking his own estimate of the
quantity OF nonpareil type, zone hundred and
tive nty -four per cent. too much,) let US see
what would be the set-off to the extra claim
made on this account
MIR. Rives states that column of the Globe
set in BREWER type contains 1900 ems, and
that column set in nOnpareil type contains
1856 ems. This shows a difference between
these two kinds Of type of 1856 ems per col
umn. This difference of 2 1856 ems, multiplied
by the assumed number of nonpareil columns.
q ,ooO) will give 1854, 900 ems, which, divided
Dy 4,oO0, (the contents of a BREWER column.
will be equal to nine hundred and forty-fye
brewer columns; SO that if what Mr. Riyes
claims to be nOnpareil had been set in BREWER,
the fifteen hundred columns would have
amounted to twenty -four hundred and forty-
five columns, which increased number of col
umns would have added six hundred and
eighty eight pages to the debates when printed
IN book form. Now, to print G, ,456 copies* on
these 6oo additional quarto pages would re.
qulIe 3o0 additional realms of paper, at cost
OF 81, i,llS-the two sums forming a total of
s3,9o2 Surprising therefore, that the Office
expenses Of Mr.. Rives were increased S2.9I0
for setting up the small type, they were les
se"ed S3,9O2 by the saving in paper and press
work; being reduction of 81, 900 in conse-
quence OF diminishing the size of the book.
which Is paid for at the fixed rate of nine dol
iars per Congress, without regard to the num-
Der of its pages. But let it not be forgotten
that the average amount of small type would
be only about go pages. which would be
saving Of only $446.
Having thus demonstrated, as conceive,
lnat nv estimates are not inconsistent and de-
hcient in the particulars above enumerated. r
may be permitted to remark upon the singular
act that in arraigning them Mr. Rives does
not unqualifiedly assert, in any case, that they
f~tI short OF the expenses which formed the
'uhject of inquiry. L beg that the course of
us reasoning on these points may be exam
ned
lie proceeds first to show that Messrs. Gales
Seaton declined to report and publish the
iebates in the National Intelligencer on the
ground that ST 30 per column was not q suffi
,ient compensation for the labor But he doc.
t0t state that an 1nser tion In The Intelligence.
vas the only purpose to which Messrs Gales
Seaton could apply their reports and types
after preparing them for the press, and that
81. so per column was their only compensa-
ion, whilst Mr.. Rives has the advantage of
applying his reports and types to double pur-
pose, leach under the patronage Of Congress
oy first using them in the DAILY Globe" for
which he receives higher price per column
:hBn the Intelligencer did, amounting to
s56, 242 per Congress,) and then using them
seeond time, in printing the congressional
Globe" for which the two Houses pay the ad-
1ltlOnal sum of S3S, ,l04 per Congress, inde-
pendent of the proposed further subscription
Of $4l, 25O.
He next endeavors to show that my allow
ance for type setting and correcting is not 80
,t6erGl as it appears to be; in doing which he
presents his views of the prices established by
Congress for it's documents, and argues that
the debates printed in his newspaper should be
paid for at higher price than documents, for
the reason, as he states, that the latter work is
done from better copy, requiring fewer correc-
tons, and most Of it done in the day time He
then says that it cost him 'smore than double
as much" as L allowed him per column for
printing the debates ''during the first sixty
nine days of this session." but supposes that
for the remainder of the session it will cos.
him ''only about fifty per cent more for set
ting and correcting the types for the debates
than it would cost him for setting and correct
ing like number of types for documents
In all this there is no averment that the
90 cost to the printer of publishing the de-
bates is more than L had estimated. That j.
left to inference, directed by an ingenious
arrangement of words and sentences. "A sue
gestion is made of a difference of fifty per
cent in doing two descriptions of work, the
relative cost of which is not the subject of in
quiry; and forthwith this purely imaginar
difference is coolly added to my estimate, with
the premise that "tt fifty per cent. be added
to Mr. Moore's estimate the "item of sI7,-
997 go in his first statement would be increased
to $3l, 1861 40" Very true, # 1T be added
but Mr.. Rives does not sag, and I suppose
will not sag, that any such addition is neces-
sary to reimburse his outlay on this account
The introduction of this irrelevant mystifying
matter is sheer evasion of the question at
issue. The mistake that will be observed in
the figures last quoted is not mine. Mr Rives
processes to add fifty per cent, whilst the fig
ures he sets down represent an advance of sew
enty-fOur per cent, which is a mistake in his
own favor Of 81 1854. so in this fictitious item
In his next similar effort he is equally fortu-
nate, for while he processes to add only eighty
per cent. he in fact sets down a result that
an advance Of one hundred and
nine per cent, which is another mistake in his
own favor of So ,23S Persons hastily reading
these fictitious sums in Mr.. Rives's publication
might suppose that they represented only the
rate of per cent. stated, but in each case the
results are placed at higher figure than the
propositions will yield.
Again, Immediately following what has been
just commented upon, Mr.. Rives states that
'' since lS4S the wages Of printers in this city
have increased twenty per cent and, hav-
ing mentioned this fact, he adds twenty per
cont more to my estimate, in the same man
ner that he had previously added the fifty per
cent. In this case, as in the other, he does not
or that my estimate is twenty per cent, below
his expenses, but leaves the reader to draw
such an infereuce-with what fairness will be
the better understood when l state that the ad-
vance in wages to which allusion is made took
place bef0re Mr. Riyes contracted tn puhl; sh