National Republican., 1880-03-09
TIE PUBLIC PRINTING.


years past to prejudice and cripple the
Government Printing Office and bring It
into disrepute in the interest of iobbing
scheme which seeks to capture it and its
| enormous business as a plundering bonanza.
So far but little progress has been made in
the way of capture, but defeat seems to
have challenged the bitterness and sharp
ened the appettes of these harpes, and
now they are bowling in the ears of Con-
gress warning against vo ting a deficiency
appropriation to set the wheels of the pub
lie printing Office in motion again-they
having been stopped under fail
ure of the regular appropriation for
that purpose. The motive which prompts
this hostility is apparent. 1t is to
bring disrepute upon this system of
doing the public printing and binding,
and, if possible, to secure its overthrow
that it may become prey to the cupidity
Of iObbers and contractors. As we know
nothing of the internal management of the
Office at present, we do not care to either
| applaud or condemn it. For aught that we
know it may be entirely satisfactory, and
it may be exposed to criticism-with that
we have nothing to do. But this much is
apparent: The public interest suffers when
the public printing is suspended and it is
| equally apparent that under the law,
when an appropriation has become ex-
hausted, the work must stop. The Gov
ernment Printing Office has reached that
point. Over 1000 respectable, industrious
and impecunious mechanics and laborers,
male and female, who subsist upon the re-
ward of their daily toll, have been thrown
out of employment and are now confronting
absolute want, The Public Printer has given
Congress ample notice of this impending
calamity, and has asked for an appropria-
tion to enable him to prosecute the busi-
ness. Pending this measure, with the busi-
ness at standstill and a suffering people
in idleness and approaching absolute want,
the emissaries of plunder interpose their
efforts to secure its defeat, for the reason
that in their Judgment the business of the
Office has not been judiciously managed.
Congress should centainly turn deaf ear
to all such sordid cries and efforts, for they
are uOu III luS iuleTeSJ Ol tHe PUBIC wei
fare They partake strongly of that motive
power which would place dynamite beneath
the National Treasury, and ignite the ex-
plosve material that the treasure therein
concealed might be hurled in the air and
become the prey of prowling plunderers
To such influences Congress should give no
heed. 1t should with the least possible
delay, provide the means for putting the
Government Printing Office into operation
again, that the public printing and binding
interests shall not suffer; and what
is still more important, that the anx-
ious men and women who are plunged
in deep distress by this suspension shall
feel some assurance that they shall be re-
lieYed from absolute destitution and want.
The interest of the state and the common
considerations and promptings of humanity
combine to demand this appropriation
which is so bitterly assailed in the interest
of selfishness Congress should rise to n
higher plane in the discharge of its duty
than is marked out for it by those who have
a covetous eye upon the vast business of
this beleaguered institution.