The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-12-05

HE CONGRESSIONAL PRIST1NG.-Ne give IN
another column despatch from Washington in
relation to the coming struggle for the printing
and binding of the Thirty fifth Congress. The
amount of money to be expended for this work
will probably exceed two millions of dollars,
and the clear profit to the printer is estimated
at over one hundred thousand dollars For this
capital prize in the government spells lottery
there are half dozen applicants, all noisy, ra-
venous and hungry. They are backed up by
cliques Of country editors whose business il is
to talk, coax, bully, swear, cajoe and brighten
the members into voting for their pet candi-
date. There's Stcadman, from the West. with
his clique there's Wendell, with the Northern
and Middle States lobby there's Banks, with
score of half starved editors of demo-
cratic papers on the Southern seaboard
Richie with all the first families Of Old
Virginia; Harris and Heiss, with pack of
scribblers from the Southwest, and heaven only
knows how many more All these fellows, or
their agents, infest the grog shops on Pennsyl-
vania avenue, gasconade about their services to
TIE party, drink, shout and make day and night
hideous with their bawling. They fight over
the crumbs that fall from the government
table like the beggars that sat at the
rich mans gate. Very few of them we opine,
however, have any chance for rest in Abrahams
bosom.
This disgraceful struggle will be repeated
with every new Congress until radical change
is made in the system of giving out the print
ing and binding. From time to time Congress
has attempted to reform it by half
way measures, which only made the
matter worse. The people are swindled
year after year under the present systematic
work is done in the most miserable way-the
expense is enormous, and the contract is simply
fat bone, which is thrown to the hungry dogs
in the lobby for q scramble If this sort of
thing is not stopped we shall have all the poll
teal editors of the dominant party quartering
themselves on the treasury during every session
of Congress, and the capitol will be turned into
an arena for their fights over the spoils. Now
the remedy is an easy one, and perfectly within
the control of Congress. 1t is simply to make
department of public printing, with the same
power over the printing and binding of Con-
gress, the publication of the debates, and
the printing of the government of all
kinds, as the other departments have
over the treasury, the army and navy,
our foreign and interior relations patents
and Indian affairs. The expenditure is quite
sufficient to warrant the creation of such
department; the work would be much better
performed, government money would be saved,
the capital would be freed from the nuisance of
a bawling lobby, and the members of Congress
would escape from the importantly of mob of
hungry country editors. The evil has become
crying one, and it is quite time that it was
abolished. We trust that the matter will be
brought before the next Congress and properly
attended to. The project of a National Print
ing Office was started in these columns many
years ago, and we believe that the time is
coming when it will he fully realized.