The Wahpeton times., 1886-11-18
The Nations Printing Establish.
ment

The Nations Printing Establish,
ment.
There is nothing with which to com
pare it. It is the biggest printing Of
flee in the world and one OF the most
interesting places in Washington te
visit. 1t is a big, ugly brick building
in the heart of "Swamppoodle." Ii
is bewildering at first to 60 into the
building, there is so much of it. Or
the first floor are forty-two large
presses, on top of which are women
who feed them all day long without
seeming to satisfy their appetites
Above this is an immense composing
room-the largest in the world
Among the compositors are about q
dozen females, who are quite expert
and in the trimming, binding, sewing
and folding departments 500 are en-
ployed, about one-third the entire
force. Surrounded with piles ofbooka
and printed sheets, and quartered as
close together as they can work,
are young girls and elderly women,
making their fingers fly through
the pages. They work so fast
that at first all seems to be in confr,.
sion, but gradually, as you get used to
it, you see that there is perfect sys.
tenn. Most of the women are on piece.
work, and their pay depends on what
they do. In the sewing department
about 500 are at work, some at ma.
chimes and some sewing by hand. Be.
fore them are thousands of loose
pages OF dry public documents which
they are fastening together into books,
to be sent out by members of Congress
to their constituents. 1t is quite q
picture. Many of them are very ex.
pert, and those who do the handwork
rank higher. Page after page they
be cut off finally in volumes, pressed
and backed and bound. The machine
sewing is done much faster, but is not
so we'll thought of. The Post
Office Department will not accept
a book of machine sewing. Many
of the young women are quite pretty,
and it is very hard for them to pay
strict attention to their work when
visitors are going through. They throw
sly glances out from under their bangs
and stitch away, for their living de.
pends upon it..
In another room women are feed.
ing folding machines, in another they
are lining, and in still another about
100 are folding by hand pages which
cannot be folded by machinery. All
of these get paid by 1.-The piece and their
fingers fairly fly through the pages.
The wages they earn are not usually
large, but one young woman, who is
unusually nimble with her fingers,
earns sometimes as much as $lOO in
a month. Very few approach this fig
ure, and some of the elderly women
make very little, tediously.
The stereotyping, the printing and
the binding are all done by men, a bout
1, 600 of whom are employed in vari.
Gus capacities. All the departments
are arranged according to a perfect
system, and the men and women are
constantly busy. The piles OF books
in the various rooms would make car
loads, and they are not all like the or:
binary black cloth covered document
commonly received from the depart.
ment. Many are books OF great value,
full of fine plates and bound in calf,
Russian leather or morocco and gold.
About the gliding presses great care is
taken to save the small scraps of gold
leaf that fly like snowtakes in the air.
settling on and coating the floor and
surrounding objects. So much mate.
rial is used that there is not room
to store more than enough for one
days consumption in the building at
a time.
In the winter when Congress is in
session the work is going on night and
day with large force. The Con.
gressional Record has it's special
presses and different force of COM
positors. Everything is arranged so
that the most voluminous record may
be set up and done within a single
night.
All the printing OF the government
is done in this office and each branch
has it's department. The Department
circulars and small pamphlets make
up what is known as job work, which
is put off in q hurry. The annual re.
ports and scientific works require
much more care and have to pass
through several departments of the
shop.-Washington Letter New York
Commercial Advertiser.