New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-02-06
BENEDICT'S AMAZING ECONOMY.
SAVING AT THE sPIGoT AND LEAKING AT TIL
BUNGHOLE.

SAVING AT THE sPIGoT AND LEAKING AT THE
BUNGHoLE.
WASHINGTON Feb. SpeciaD.-The iDvestiga-
tion of the administration of Public Printer Bene-
dict and of his predecessor. S. 7. Rounds VIII
begin this week. Ever since the resolution was
odonted "Reformer Benedict and his emissares
have been extremely busy among Democratic
Members of the House. Bededict has succeeded in
winning the cordial ili-will of a large number of
Congressman on both sides of the House by his
boorshness and arbitrary conduct, and he is now
irving to make amends In the printng-ofhce IT.
self however. the iron rnle of the " Reformer is
more rigid than ever, and the employees nave re-
ceiyed stern and emphatic warnings that tho DIS
closure of any facts to the discredit OF Benedlct
will be punished by summary dismissal In fact.
Terrorism and the committee will find II extremely
difficnlt to get at the facts concerning Alr. Dene
Among the most flagrant Of Benedlcts offences IS
his refusal to carry ont IN its spirit and intent the
law which requires that in making appointments
and dlsInssals the interests of men who hold non
orable discharges from the military or naval service
of the United States shall be regarded. Probably
it can be easily shown that Mr. Benedict has
persistently and hagTantiv violated the law
1t is notorious that he has time and time again dls
charged exUniOn soldiers and the widows OF ex-
Union soldiers when there was no necessity LOT so
doing This IS as plain a violation of the law as
any that could be committed. OF course Benedict
is more anxious to give employment to good Demo
Gratis than partisan Republicans. All that Is well
Mr. Benedict has had good deal to say about the
economy he has uaugurated at the Government
printing Office and his defenders have rung the
changes on that word for all it is worth. But
he and they seem to forget that there is
such thing as saving at the spigot and leaking at
the bunghole. Mr. Benedicrs piece de resistance has
been in the money be has saved in the purchase OF
printing Inks, claim that may go down wei
enough with the uniDitiated but cannot be enter
tanned for a moment by those who know anything
about the business. For the benefit of laymen 1t
NAV be as well to say that the principal ingredients
of what rs known as ordinary news INK are lamp
black and cottOnseed oil The price of ink ranges
from about 80 cents to SO O pound tOr the best
grades. Suppose then firm offers to supply Bene-
dict with the 50-cent grade. Benedict says, "
can buy that ink for 20 cents and FL
knows what that means. Benedict
gets his ink at 20 cents. but he gets more oil and
less lampblaek and when he cuts the prico too
much, instead of cOttOnseed oil entering into It's
composition, product of petroleum is used.
This alleged economy is. like most operations or
the same kind, very costly III the long rlin Inc
Government printing office does lot OF fine work
and has to use a quality of paper 10 correspond
By using an ink with too much oil in lt-that of
poor quaity-after the lapse of a few months the
oil diffuses itself throughout the paper, causing
the work to have the appearance of great age
The result of this is that costly and valuable doe.
uments works of reference that have an historical
value and become more important the longer they
are kept will in the course of a few years be al
most illegbe because of this so-caed economy.