New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-06-20
THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING.
SOURCES OF WASTE FOUND BY THE JOINT
COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS.
LACK OF SYSTEM IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF
DoCUMENTs-THoUsANDs OF VOLUMES
LYING UNcALLED FOR.
iBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TKrRUNE-I

LYING UNCALLED FOR
iBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE-I
Washington June 1O.-The Joint Committee on
Printing which was directed February to examine
into the numbers printed of the various documents re-
ports bills and other papers published by 0rucr OF 'oh
gress or Of either house thereof aud OF "Ihe Con
c7rssonal Record and to report bill In December
next making such reductions in the NUMBER Prlht7u
and In the cost of printing and such changes ana re-
ducon in the distribution OF said publications as they
NAV deep expedient etc, has temporarily suspchded
IFS nyescatiou but before doing it obtained mass
NJ valuable information much Of which Is OF special
interest to the taxpayers OF the United states Ill vie"
of tho millions annually expended for the pruning
binding and distribution OF public documents as Wch
rs for blank books forms etc. The Information tus
obtained has been printed for the use Oh the 1o'i'
Committee but will not be published for some time
or until the investigation shall be concluded for 1t Is
apparent that many additional facts are necessary anu
NAV be obtained by further inquiry
n &c the fashion 10 boast Of the Government printing
Office as "he biggest printing and binding establish
ment In the world 1t might be added that considering
tho demands which it is called upon 10 meet, IL Is
about as poorly equipped as any large establishment
NJ the kind in tho world, and that as result the
cos OF printing and binding Is much greater than IL
oucht to be. In every department the facintcS anu
accommodations are inadequate the buildings are 700
small and are unsafe well; unfinished "loos'"
work upon which must be resumed tomorrow, must be
unbound volumes must be cartd away and stored for
months IN rented buildings and then carcd back to be
bound and when they finally distributed the chief
and In many cases almost the only value or interest
they possess IS of historical nature. For example
four volumes OF the Census Of 1880 are not yet pub
| shed
For this unfortunate condition of affairs the men
who have successfully held the office of Public Printer
| during the past thirty years are not responsible,
with single exc pton--that of the incumbents I'M
| mediate predecessor. They have been able capable
and eflci mt officers and have done all that might
| reasonably have been expected under the circum-
| stances II not more Nor have they been remiss In
calling the attention Of Congress to the needs OF the
| Office Congress has been remiss in it, duty in
three respects at least; first its appropriations for
bindings machinery, etc, have been inadequate
| second It has ordered the printing and binding OF
thousand; upon thousands OF documents of little or
no value and third it has utterly failed to provide
| any adequate machinery or sensible method for the
| distribution Of volumes published by It's order.
The Joint Committee on Printing IS probably ready to
admit in the light Of Transformation vhichthas already
obtained the substantial correctness Of each OF the
foregoing assertions especially the last one. Accord
ing 70 the statements made to the committee by Public
Printer Palmer ard his subOrdinates as well as by
| Mr. Ames Superintendent Of Documents Of the In
terror Department. and Others it appears that public
documents are issued from twenty or more independ
| ent offices OF distribution in Washington, and that
while care is taken In five or six OF these Offices &c
prevent the issue Of than one copy OF the same
document to the same person, no such precautions
| are observed in other Offices.
The statements made by superintendent Hickcox
OF the senate folding room, fairly describes the con
dition OF affairs I'm number Of the Offices Of distrbu
ton. Mr. Hickcox judged that he was tie custodian
| OF between 100000 and 100000 volumes. although
he had not had chance TO make inventory for two
years. A good many thousands of the volumes an
stored outside the Capitol. there being stable full
and a basement full In the senate annex and
house full somewhere else The 100000 or 100000
Volumes It appears all stored to the credit ant
subject to the orders Of Senators, and there is, be
sides vast accumulation Of documents which ar
not credited 10 senators. The effort Of Mr.. Ilickco,
10 induce senators 70 take away dOcuemnts credited
10 them have met with very poor success Mr.. llick
| cox had no idea how many documents were In hi
custody which were not credited to Senator's" an'
| he was unable TO make anything like approximate
| statement as to how many documents are sent OH
Of every 900 that published Mr.. llckcox ais
| stated that he no precautions 10 prevent TN
duplication Of documents In the hands of the same In
! dviduals.
In the House foldng-rooms the congestion was eve
worse When the List Congress was organized, tn
doorkccper Of the House submitted an inventory Q
books maps and pamphlets hand, the total humble
3 | being about 100000 Among these were some doc
uments ordered as long ago as the XXXVIllth Cor
gress which expired In 1863 there were agriculture
reports from 1864 down to date with only two Year.
missing and Of this document for which there Is sue
demand, there were no fewer than 6,o21 copies fo
1854 0703 copies for 1885. 25,542 copies for leo
and rs 400 coades for 1857 In his recent statemer
before the Joint Committee on Printing. the forema
of the House foldlngroom said that the approXima
number Of volumes IN his custody about 0000 0
0 weighing in the neighborhoOd of $500 tons. TheE
were stoned about twenty In the basement an
subbasement, the vaults in the Terrace, and in II
annex in Pennsylvania-ave II appears that abol
100000 volumes in the annex No pr
cautions observed to prevent duplicate trIplca
c issues Of documents TO the same person.
, There two other offices In the House fro
4 which publc documents are issued, and one on,
in the Senate besides the fOdlng-room. Copies
nearly every document published by the GOvernmei
r distributed by three independent Ggencie
none Of which knows anything about the issues Of Il
| other agencies For example copies OF the annu
report Of the Department Of Agriculture, OF which
extra edition Of 100000 copies Is published each yea
: TIE Dispel Colds.
~