Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1871-11-30

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a gambler, is said to have carried pacl
of cards in his pocket. and when he ha,
won the famous field he took out the min
of diamonds and wrote his account of tn
victory on it.
The Largest Printing Office in tint
World.
WASHINGTON, d. G. Nov. 20.
Uncle Sans numerous family are al
given to boast freely of the way things are
done in their country. We have heard,
in fourth of July orations about the ex.
tent of his territory, of the vast value and
variety of his resources. of the wonderful
energy and enterprise of his children, and
of the unsurpassed growth in population
and wealth of his country. i have visited
to-day one of the departments of his Gov
ernment which, considering its magnitude
and wonderful capacity to perform the
work assigned to it, affords just cause for
something of boast.
The Government. printing Office in this
city is, beyond question, the most COM
plete and largest establishment for that
kind of work in the world. In its arran-
cement, its outfit and its results, it is
something of which the county can justly
boast. | made hurried visit to it this
morning, and gathered some facts about it
that will prove of general interest, 1 know.
1t has three departments-the composing,
the printing and the binding depart
ments.
In the composing room, which is long
and well lighted, some 2OOxSO feet, are
employed two hundred and eighty-four
men, mostly composers. Some of these
work by the piece, some by the day
The former are paid sixty cents per thou
sand ems, the latter four dollars per day
of eight hours. The force compose on an
average four hundred thousand ems per
day. The outfit of this room is, in every
way, complete. Mr.. Bryan, the foreman,
informed me that he had on hand about
ten tons of long primer, six tons of BREWER
and four tons of nonpareil type. Bruce.
the Type Founder filled for this office the
largest order for type given to any estab-
lishment.
The next division in natural order is
the press room. This is on the ground
floor, and there is no other place in the
world where another such a sight can be
seen. There are over sixty large presses
IN this room IL constant use. Two large
engines furnish the motive power. When
in fall operation, over two hundred thous-
and impressions are made every hour on
these presses. The wonder of this room
is one of Bullock's presses that prints
from a continuous sheet of paper mile
long, making impressions on two sides
and cutting the paper all at the same
time and at the rate of one hundred
thousand impressions every eight hours.
The crowning feature of this wonderful
piece of machinery is that it accomplishes
its great work with the aid of but two
hands. The paper for this press is re-
rolled and wet by machinery. The pro-
cess of wetting is by sprinkling the paper
as fast as it can be rolled by large num-
Der of jets that throw out light spray of
water. The presses used are all of the
most improved styles and the work is
done economically, but WELL
The bindery room is the largest of the
kind in existence. Here machinery of all
kinds and of the best pattern is to be
found.
The room is under the charge of Mr..
Roberts, who has employed about three
hundred and fifty men and women. The
ruling, folding and stitching is mostly
done by ladies, who work by the day or
piece. They do this work better and
faster then men, and are paid good prices.
The amount cf work done in the bindery
may be better understood when say that
they are now at work binding two hundred
and twenty five thousand copies of the Ag
ricultural Report for 1870.
T Hundreds of thousands of blanks, letter
heads; checks, receipts, post Office money
orders, envelopes, &c, are printed in ad-
ditien to all the reports, messages, &C.,
that are bound. All the blank books us
ed in the various departments and Offices
of the government are made at the low
est prices and in the best stvle of work
manship.
There is connected with this great Office
stereotype foundry, where such work as
the Agricultural Report are stereotyped.
The whole establishment is under the
control of Hon. A. M. Clapp, the Con-
gressional Printer. He has the business
uHucE pcTlcCO COutEoi, anu OOnuuVto ~ WIN
admirable system.
So complete and extensive are the re-
sources of the Office that after proper no.
tice, and with all the manuscript furnish
ed, he could, in two days, compose, print
bind and deliver thousand copies of
book Of four hundred pages. The total
force employed is one thousand. The ex-
penses of the establishment last year was
$1,000, ,859,92. This same work, if Civ
en- out under contract, would have cost
the government at least two millions. The
amount expended for paper alone exceeds
three hundred thousand dollars per an
mum. The cost of the work is by good
management reduced to minimum figures.
Thus the cost of the agricultural reports,
large book, well printed on good paper
and bound in usual government style is a
trife over fifty cents per volume. This is
proof sufficient of the good management
of this department. As 1 said at tho be-
ginning, it is the largest printing Office in
the world and is necessarily increasing in
size every year. X.
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