The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1881-04-30
UNCLE SANS PRINTING OFFICE.
Tho Largest In the Worid--wonderful
Facilities for Rapid Printing and Bind
ing-How the Public Documents
Are Turned Out.
Cor. Of the Media American.

Washington Cor. Of the Media American.
Almost every voter in the land has
received public documents from his
member, but very few have any idea ol
the immense establishment where they
are printed and bound. A gentleman
of this city is now engaged on a work
giving full history and thorough de.
scription Of it, which will be read with
interest.
This place is pretty good index to
the development of the nation, and il
its original designers could see it now,
they would be astonished at the result
NThe building Cwhich win soon be en-.
larged) Is called the Government Print
ing Office, and contains about eight acres
of floor surface. Should you stand by
it at five O'Clock in the evening, you
might count 1, 400 men and 600 women
emerging therefrom, with quite a num-
Der remaining for night work. They
represent every State and Territory and
hold their positions by "infiuence. -
The woman are, many Of them, the wild
ows OF those who fell in the war-both
on the blue and gray sides.
In 1894, Congress made an appropri-
alton Of $4,000 for public printing
and all the other expenses of Congress.
The appropriations for similar pur-
poses for the present year amount to
S., 900, 900, or five hundred times as
much.
This printing Office is the largest in
the world, and the amount Of work ex-
ecuted here is simply wonderful. II has
about 70 steam power presses throwing
off from 1000 to $1,000 impressions
per hour. Some Of these presses are the
finest in the world, costing ss5, ,ooo.-
The "Bullock" press alone prints about
half million volumes year.
In the proof rooms you will find
about thirty Of the most experienced
and efficient proof readers in the world.
Hcie are persons reading all the Ian
guages, through whose hands millions
of pages pass annually, that will stand
any criticism for correctness Of typo
graphy, grammatical construction and
punctuation.
The document room alone has over
400 compositors, amongst whom are
three ladies said to be the best in the
office. 1t requires 200, 900 pounds OF
type with I5o fonts of title page type
for this room alone. These compositors
set at least one million ems Of type
daily, equal to three hundred million
ems a year, for which they are paid at
the rate OF 10 cents per hour.
The bindery is an immense place, en-
ploying over five hundred PERSONS
Twenty years ago there were forty, all
told. Some Of the jobs here are i'm
mense. An agricultural report contains
$4,000, 900 sheets I; an average folder
folds |, 1000 a day and hence it would tate
her 1000 days or thirteen years to fold
this report.
The work done for Congress is won
derful. In 1870 the Congressional work
reached four and half millions Of doc
uments. Last year there were over
thirty millions. II is nothing unusual
to handle soo, 200 pages day in this
department.
The Co1gyeSSioaai Record is printed
in this building under the direction OF
the Public Printer, and about 100 CON-
positors work on it The debates in
Congress of each day are printed at
night and delivered on the following
morning. This daily work makes from
so to IS page Of Reeora. Last year
1000 volumes were printed for the
use Of the members.
In addition to this all the envelopes,
books, blanks, &C., for all the executive
departments are printed here.
The largest edition issued is the Agri.
cultural report, which averages soc, 200
copies annually. The actual cost is re-
duced to only about IS cents volume,
Of from 500 to 6So pages. Orders for
blanks sometimes reach away into the
millions. For instance the ''money-
order" blank demands require about
ZOO, 900 copies every six weeks
An order from the Capitol for 5000,
600 or 5000, 900 envelopes at time is
not all surprising, Ga goodly portion,
perhaps, going out under Congressional
"franks" for campaign purposes.) In
census years 100000 to I6, 6,ooo, ,ooo
extra printed blanks are used. When
il is remembered that every custom
house in the land draws annually upon
this Office for blanks, books, forms, re.
ceipts, &C., the enormous production
may be at once intelligibly appreciated,
and at times stacks Of documents, books,
papers, sc, looking large enough "to
supply the world" are stored away
until the great mass of bundlings are
packed and crowded in every foot oi
space, with the stock awaiting delivery.
Now all this costs money, as you may
suppose, and as will appear from the
following data:
/ In one year the paper costs Lass
900, and the other expenses exceed Ss,'
900, 900. As / said before, il shows q
great expansion since 1877.
The largest job ever undertaken BY
this Office is now on hand-the printing
Of "The Rebellion Record, which viii
be published in 90 large octave volume.
Of 500 pages each, making Il, 500 pages
It will require $1,000 reams Of papeI
and s5o, ,ooo, 900 ems Of type
The United States Revised Statute:
were printed here. They comprise H.
o3S pages, and were printed and bound
in three days. A Senate document oI
44o pages was delivered in 36 hours.
J pW"wounded in the war, were you
Badly 2" "T'he bullet hit me in the
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