The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-08
JINGLE SANS PRESSES.
-7rJRE OF THE GREATEST PRINT
ING OFFI1E IN THE WORLD.

From the Nei1 York Graphic.
81 WASHINGTON, Feb. 24.-The Government
PRINTING Office at Washington, which does
h the public printing for nation of co.
81 40 900 of people, is undoubtedly the largest
81 Enlistment of its kind in the world
81 The building is of brick, painted white,
80 bur stories high and is situated on North
fapitol street, at the corner of H, about
8alf mile directly north of the Capitol. 1t
Accupies an entire block, with courtyard
IN tie centre, and is 1854 feet long by Us in
width. Two other large buildings are also
nsed for storage warehouses. While it does
Il OF makean imposing appearance compared
ith the other public buildings of the city,
II is one Of the busiest hives in Washington
Ind the output in the shape of printed mat
3er is almost beyond belief. Its capacity
for accomplishing a great amount of work
IN short time is wonderful while the i'm
4nense quau tity of tabular and blank work
one within its walls excels that of any in
#S In the world. A work of over 700 pages of
Bold BREWER has been set up at this estab-
81 sbment, printed, bound and delivered be-
q ween o'clock at night and the same hour
the next morning. Sixteen hundred pages
Fof Congressional bills have been printed in
Zone Gay ULllS WllJeT. l4doU winter TWO 2D-
4propriation bills, making over 400 pages,
were printed in two hours They were oe-
8lvered TO Congress at half-past 10 o. NJ the
night of adjournment. Without these bills,
! which arrived just in time to be passed, the
4 President would have been obliged to call
an extra session of Congress- Notwith-
standing all this the capacity of the office is
not large enough to keep abreast of the
work of the day; With the g owth of the
country there has been an enormous in
crease in the public printing, and the pres
ent Congress has already ordered an in
crease Of so per cent. in books over that of
last year.
THE PUBLIC PRINTER.
The man who presides over this important
department is Mr.. Thomas E. Benedict. of
New \ ork State, who took charge in Sep
tember 1886. He was born in Warwick. n.
Y, April 3, 1S47, and learned the printing
business in Ellenyille, where he also edited
two Democratic papers, In 1879 he was
sent to the Legislature in Albany, where he
served four terms, after hich he was ap-
pointed Deputy State Comptroller. In 1888
he was the Chairman of the Democratic
State Convention. " bile in the Legislature
lie was Chairman of the Committee on Rail
ways and was member of several lnvesti-
eating committees. He was noted for his
e iergy and industry 1t was while in AL
hany that Gov. Cleveland made his ac-
quaintance, and afterwards when he became
President selected Mr.. Benedict for the DO
sitiOn which he now holds. Since his advent
in Washington Mr.. Benedict has reorgan-
lied the Public Printing Office and largely
increased its working capacity. He is ably
assisted in the administration of affairs by
his brother, Mr.. Gilbert II. Benedict, as
chief clerk, who for % years has been
practical printer and is an expert in all of
the branches. He was for many years con-
nected with some of the largest printing
houses in New York city. The executive
Offices are on the second floor of the eastern
front of the building. The Public Printer
sits at his desk in large and sunny corner
room, the walls lined with portraits and
pictures. His brothers Office joins and
either side of the long hall are rooms for
the clerks. There is no complete collection
of the books issued by the government in
the Printing Office, but a library of about
2,000 sample volumes of the various styles
of printing and binding is kept in the chief
clerk S room.
IN THE PRESS ROOM.
The press room, paper warehouse, proof
rooms, machine shop, etc , occupy the base
ment floor. The press room is e. feet wide
by 300 in length and contains 50 presses,
three Of which are large web presses. These
slant operation and are lighted inside and
out with electricity. Here one can see the
preSs-feederS, usually women sitting perched
high UP i'll the air by he side of the great
black laundering machines which are doing
Uncle Sans printing. The ink consumed
by these presses during the fiscal year of 1887
amounted to ~, 46S pounds. The number of
blank forms printed from was %, 279. Many
OF these were of the largest size and most
hOr to- e ~.
forms from three to five millions of copies
were printed. Inaddition to this 10S, 40, 800
sheets Of book paper were printed Alto
gether 10, 104 reamS Ct ledger and other
blndery paper were used, "a ,5S5 reamS of
writing paper, 100000 sheets of Bristol
board, thousands of sheets of parchment
paper and 5000, 900 pounds of printing paper
Tor documents and pamphlets The printed
matter turned out every day amounts to
from twelve to sixteen tons. To deliver
TINS to the various departments twelve
wagons are kept running day and night.
THE WOMAN CoA1PosIToR.
On the second floor is found besides the
executive offices the main document COM
posing room. which is wilderness of stands
hundreds of feet in length with a row of
stones for making up down the centre, the
whole abundantly lighted with electricity.
The present fore of the office is 2, Isl men
and women. Of these 500 are IN the COM
posing room, and here can be seen the woman
compoSitor working at the case.
The number of women employed in the
pulling is 100. Some of thes earn as nigh
as IS % per day, while the sewers, folders,
gatherers, etc, who work by the piece,
make from 81 25 to 81 30 per day. The
colored women are also a feature of this
ottice, and trey work in the bindery and
toldlng room the same as white women.
Coiored men are employed as compositors,
aoorers, etc, the total number of colored
people being about 100 On this floor there
are also the job room and electrotype foun-
dry-the electrotype plant being unequaled
anywhere. 1t has two of the largest sized
oynamos and capacity for LOCO octave
pages every four hours. All the work in
thls office IS now electrotyped, there being
no printing from the type.
Inc government stationery business is
simply wonderful and in the printing of it
women are employed as press feeders. The
Two Houses of Congress require for one ses-
sion no less than 100000 envelopes. Mill
Ions OF wrappers for books and documents
nave to be published The stationery for
ali the different branches of the government
from Maine to Texas is printed here. The
CARDS or blanks for the money order system,
amounting from 100000 to 100000 a
month, come from this establishment. Up
10 last July the 81 900 fourth-class postmas-
ters In this country had no uniform system
Oh Keeping accounts. Now blank books
nave been prepared for the purpose and by
IheSe 5000 have been issued, enough for
nve years These were printed at the rate