National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1880-02-05

TO the House UI Representatives yesterday by
the employees OF tho Government Printing
Olice:
wAsuScroN. p. G., February g. 1850.
Hon SlmUeiJ Rdii1H, Speaker gfH. House ofRrprc-
SsHiuiitts:
sun The undersigned, committee represent
ing the employees the Government Printing ONCE,
desire to prescHt 10 you the following uCt, In re-.
lutiOn 20 a controversy which hus Ari.pu between
lhim and the Pubic Printer " order that the at
lcuiOn of Congress may bo called To the same, 80
that the proper remedy may be applied and The
matter definitely settled by the Ouiy body having
absolute control Of the subject.
II has been the custom for The past twenty
years for all legal holidays IN this District 10 be Oh
served IN tile Executive Departments, the AgrCul-
lural Bureau and the Government Printing 0flce
II has not teen the custom IN that length Of time
10 make any deduction from the salatigs compensa-
tiOn or wages Of those employed I'm the places
above named, as the holidays are enforced ones
80 far as the employees are concerned, aud the time
lost from business is generally made up by the cx-
IRA eXertiOn imposed upon the persons In all
branches Of the public service, which Is rendered
imperative by the necessity of keeping up with
the current operations of tho Government No
question the proprcty of the cuuro
pursued by the proper officers Of the Gov
crnmcut in this connection and In evidence
that the custom has uniformly received the mp
proVal of Congress we most respectfully beg leave
to refer TO the Books of Estimates submitted by tho
secretary OF the Treasury upon which spprnpra-
tions are based. In the BOOK Of Estimates for the
fiscal year ending june 10, 1850 page li9 II will be
seen that, undc, the heal of Public Printing the
FIRST line reads Wages iOr3i days aud then follows
a detailed statement of the personnel OF the office
NUw, Nu appropriation for 3l4 days includes every
day IN The year except the iiity-twO Sundays and
the construction indicated here has been placed
upon the law over since the establishment OF the
office and It would be presumption OF which this
committee Is not guilty to assert that the Congress
u the United States was not aware Of the iur'e Of
Its own acts, when made In accordance with the
estimates submitted by the principal financial
officer OF the Government.
The grievance we complain of Is simply this:
The Public Printer now asserts that hC will no
longer allow compensation for legal holidays IN his
Oucc. This committee believes that Congress has
already appropriated the money for that purpose,
aud that he has no right to Withhold il from US
This construction has been placed upon the law
tor the pust twenty years and no reason has ye,
been given Why il should now be changed, or why
the persons employed IN the Government Printing
Ohcc should lie made exceptions to the rule mp
piled IN all other cases.
We respectfully ask that the subject be referred
for examination to such committee MS to tg House
of Representatives shall seem proper,
respectfully,
AfIEID THOMAS, /. II. JCLtIEN.
CLAY E>rY, CoLU MINUS DENHAM
". II. TOWERS. n. :. IlSRER
JAMES II. EAGER a. G.. Cu1TLE
\. T.. SARDO, Ions L. f.ClAEEsON,
WILLIAM h. KELLY, q. ". FIERCE,