Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-10
A vERITABLE DEATH TRAP.
The Dangerous and Unhealthy Condition
of the Government Printing ONCE.

Tnr NEED OF MORE ROOM AND BETTER FACILITIES
-ovERcRowDED AND POORLY VENTILATED
Rooxs-wH.r Has BEEN DONE TO PROVIDE
AGAINST AooIDESrs-THE DANGER FROM FIRE.
When Cornelius Wendell erected what is now
known as the main building of the government
printing Office there were people who did not
hesitate to say that the structure was much too
large for printing office. In this opinion Mr.
Wendell evidently concurred to . greater or
less extent for be 80 arranged the plant that
with but little additional expense he could
transform the structure into a row Of dwelling
houses. For years previous to 1861, when the
general government purchased Mr.. Wendelrs
building. such q structure had been really
necessary. The printing had been done in half
dozen different places, and as a natural re-
suit there were many radical. differences in the
'style" OF work, which should have been SIM
liar in material and execution. On March %,
1861, John d. Defrees, who had just been ap-
pointed superintendent of public printing by
President Lincoln. took charge OF the new
building and commenced the task Of system
atizing the Office work. He had ample room
more, he supposed, than any public printer
would need for fifty years to come-for there
we're only 800 employees upon the rolls when
the war Of the rebellion broke out. Today
there are nearly 200 people employed in the
government printing Office the great majority
OF them occupying the building which Cornelius
Wendell put up thirty years ago to accommo-
date less than one-fourth as many artisans.
1T NEVER WAS SUITABLE FOR THE PURPOSE.
Gagged by the enlightened standards of to-
day the building never was proper one for
the purpose. There was too much conbustible
material used is its construction, Its floors
were too light to carry the enormous weights,
nd Int Hrt aft tba i'm
portant questions Of lighting and ventilation.
As the Office became more crowded these ques-
lions began to force themselves upon the at
tention of a succession OF public printers and
up to the time when the present head-Gen.
Frank W. Palmer-took charge there was al
ways more or less theOriZing as to what ought
or ought not to be done to make the building
more secure and to give the employees a chance
to escape if it should be on fire No one but an
employe or expert who has examined the
condition of the office very closely can realize
how near to destruction that printing Office has
been every day for the past ten years. When
Mr.. Palmer entered upon his duties as public
printer the floors of the old building had
sagged to a degree that was continuously dan
gerOus. although previous administrations had
removed much of the weighty material that
naturally accumulates in such estab-
hshment. Store houses had been rented
In various parts of the city and
in them machinery and printed paper we're
narrow beams we're oyerstrained and the worn
floors warped. More than three hundred COM
positors and floor hands occupied the second or
document-room floor, with all the immense
accompanying weight Of type and imposing
stones and proof presses, while in the room
beneath 300 feet of shafting and nearly as much
OF counter shaftlng was conveying motive
power to Ga presses and dragging continuously
on the floor of the document room. How the
floor stood it can never be explained In the
and lab mid rrox
the length of the H-street building is the "a
inch pulley which carries the belt that moves
all the machinery in the buildings that pulley,
like the others. depends from the ceiling and
until lately II had no more support than that
afforded by the bolts which fastened it to the
boards on which the compositors in the docu-
ment room we're standing. In many places
there are as many as six pulleys within linear
space OF 10 feet.
THE DANGEROUS RELATIONS
which existed between the press room and the
document room were almost paralleled by the
bindery and the folding room. Wherever avail
able space could be found in the bindery some
piece of necessary machinery was put in posi-
ton and set to work. 1t had to be, for Con-
gress and the departments called loudly for
their publications and their blanks. The same
arrangement OF pullevs as that in vogue in the
press room was continued here and there was
the same startling absence of proper support
q
women were at work. and where documents
were piled up until they Of themselves made
more of a load than the floor could have been
expected to stand.
PUBLIC PRINTER PALMER REALIZES THE DANGER
As soon as Public Printer Palmer took charge
OF the establishment Capt. Brian, who had long
been seriously alarmed at the condition of the
structure, called his attention to its fraity and
to the lack Of proper preparation and means to
cope with conhagration. Mr.. Palmer at once
saw the necessity Tor action. and in company
with Architect Clark of the capitol and Capt.
Brian made thorough inspection of the
place. The result of the investigatory tour
showed that there was imminent danger of
catastrophe. Work was at once commenced on
the Strengthening of the building and is now
almost finished As an employe of the building
said, The administration OF the Office is bet
ter posted than the previous one. because there
are more posts in the building" The docu-
Spent room floor was the first to be propped I'D
Three rows of Pinch posts, about 10 feet apart
were run down the entire length of the room
and SO arranged as to give all the necessary sup
port to the long lines of heavy shafting.
The posts are set down solidly into the
floor, and at the upper ends are braced very
strongly TO the heavy girders which have also
been put In position recently. The same thing
was done IN the document room. except that
the posts used were but inches square, This
made 1t possible for a compositor to lay his
Justified lines shaken out by the vibrations of
the floor. Posts were also set up in the bindery
and the result Is the building is at least
temporarily safe from threatened collapse. But
these improvements, valuable as they un-
doubtedly are, can only be regarded as make
shifts. There is no longer any immediate dan
ger Of the floors falling through, but the num-
erous uprights and braces have done much TO
cut of the rather scanty supply OF daylight.
and they are forever stumbling-block to some
body or something. Economy of space is almost
impossible with three rows Of wooden posts and
two rows Of iron pillars down the entire length
OF the main rooms. For a time the building is
safe, but every day Of its continuance in service
as the government printing Office demonstrates
Its antiquity and general unfitness as such.
THE INFERNO OF THE STRUCTURE,
whether in winter or summer has ALWAYS been
the stereotype room. Here, for at least eight
hours day and six days a week, men work in a
superheated atmosphere which is redolent
with the fumes Of molten metal Noisy ma
chinery, constant occupation and the extreme
warmth combine to make situation in that de-
Partment most undesirable. Not that II has
been or is so much more sultry OF noisy than
any other large stereotyping establishments but
because the temperature is so much higher
than II ought TO be In any room where there is
the slightest attempt at ventilation. The
stereotypers and the electrotypers and eyerv-