Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-28

HM AeEL< vhK" gest on the face Of the
:: :: =: !: :: !:
niably true. This
Brobdignagian estab-
lishment. being the
only permanent bureau at the capital not COW
cred bv the civil service law. is now the all
attractive camping ground in prospect for the
vast army Of Office hunters throughout the
country who want to get in as soon as Presi-
dent Harrison goes out. From every section
and every state tine democratic members and
Senators in Congress are already receiving
wagon loads Of applications from people anx-
ious to enter this rich domain after the 4th of
March.
The census Office. which TODAY employs some
500 persons outside the operation of the civil
service law. will be closed up, with its work
finished, at the end of the year. and out of the
10000 odd clerks in the other departments
5000 are on the protected list. Hence. with
the recent extension of civil service protection
over the letter carriers and post Office clerks in
the cities and big towns, the only remaining
haven open to any considerable number of
Office seekers in Washington is the government
printing Office, which for that reason will be-
come in few weeks the great Mecca of hungry
partisan pilgrims. not only of the printers
craft, but Of the rank and file of the unskilled.
THE ENORMOUS WORK DONE.
Uncle Sans printing Office takes So. 500, 900 a
year and 8, 100 persons to run it. Old Fathers
Gutenberg and Faust would reel with astonish-
ment were they to return TO the land of the
living and here observe the marvellous progress
made in the art of printing since their prim-
tive dsy-dawn. The output Of this concern is
Ia to hA tpnn lr,an
S2,OO00OO is paid out annually to its employees
In wages, and the quantities of materials it con-
sumes in its prodnct are staggering. Last year
2l0OO0 reams of paper (prlnters' reams) were
used, procured in New York, Philadelphia. Ba!ti-
more, Hoyoke and Pawtucket and costing $780,
OO0 or other necessary ma terials there were used
for example, ten tons of printers ink, twelve
tons Of glue, six tons of soap, lao bar
rels OF -four, three tons of potash three
tons of thread, two tons of Irvine, two
tons of glycerine. two tons OF anthony, one
ton OF bar tin, half ton Of plumbago, 500
pounds of pumice stone and 72O pounds of
beeswax, together with 5000 gallons of oil,
$500 gallons of benzine, lao gallons of alcohol.
5000 packs of gold leaf, 1000 yards of crash,
40 600 feet of Russia leather, 1000 dozen sheep
skins, 1000 pieces of book cloth, 800 dozen
Turkey morocco skins and 23O square feet of
caifskln. This leather came from the cities of
New York. Philadelphia and Newark Besides
these materials used were thousand other
articles of supply necessary in the arts pur-
sued In the institution. The engraving and
hthographng. which is done BY contract in
New York and Philadelphia. alone costs $40, coo
every year.
VALUABLE CONTENTS OF THE OLD RAT TRAP
The big building at II and North Capitol
streets contains seventy-fve huge printing
presses, In addition TO an immense complement
OF binding machinery. appliances and fixtures
I'm Mn Nv hort
time the greatest jobs of printing that can be
projected On the ground aoor are the press
rooms. paper ware rooms. safety vaults and
machine shops. Ga the second floor are the
administrative Offices, the main composition
room. the job room, stereo .yping and cleo
trotyping Departments and proof rooms. On
the third hoor Is the biade-y aud its ware
rooms. The fourth storv Is devoted to ne pub
Hcatlon OF the Congress- hda Record. OF patent
o.-lce specifications aud 10 necessary ware
rooms Added 10 the enormous force of
printers-comDositOrs pressmen. siereotype-s-
and bookbinders there are regiments and COM
panles OF feeders, computers, helpers. assist
ants. machinists, engineers messengers and
watchmen, with none OF whom is a technical
training needful prerequisite for employ
ment.
Most of the computers, feeders and assistants
are women and gifts, numbering III thousand in all
who earn comfortable competence for their
labor. Outside the nam plant are five
branch printing Offices, under the supervision
OF the public printer, located for convenience
respectively in tine Treasury, Interior, Navy,
State and War departments. for work requiring
special secrecy and direction in those depart
msnt Tie whole printing Office concern is O
veritable teeminy hive of human industry.
WHAT Is DONE.
The establishment executes all the printing
and binding for both houses of Congress in the
shape Of bills, committee reports and docu-
ments, for all the executive departments and
the innumerable bureaus and offices under
them, for tbs Supreme Court, the library Of
Congress- and in fact for every branch of Uncle
SANS government having any printing to be
done. For the legislative branch alone from
5000 to 600 different bills are printed dur
ing each Congress, several thousand different
reports. many Of them quite bulky, and usually
IL 900 regular and complete copies of the Con-
gresstonds Record, each copy comprising four
teen or fifteen volumes. each volume being
made up Of thousand double-column, closely
printed pages. As examples of printing for
the executive departments $4,000 extra copies
OF Secretary Rusk's popular treatise on Dis
eases OF the Horse We're printed last year and
500 900 copies of the reports of the Secretary of
Agriculture are printed annually.
REMARKABLE WORK.
Some prodigiously large volumes have been
printed at the government printing Office in a
WohuerIuuy snort time. Tor instance, the
Revised Statutes, which constitute a volume of
LOSS closely printed pages, were set up, proof
read three times, printed and delivered in
bound form to The House of Representatives
between 3 CLOCK 7. m. on q Wednesday and IL
o'clock noon on the following Saturday-an
interval Of only sixty-seven hours Perhaps
the greatest work of printing ever undertaken
anywhere was the publication of 10 900 copies
OF the Records of the War Of the Rebellion, in
l20 royal octave volumes of 500 pages each at
total cost of 81 ,260 900 for printing and bind
ing. This single publication will require over
$4,000 printers reams Of white paper to print
It. and the composition viii probably exceed
S00, 900 600 000a'e There will be when the
work is flushed not less than ,290, coo actual
books Of 800 pages each. These figures dwarf
those Of the largest encyclopedia ever pub
lished in any country or in any language. This
work viii probably be completed next year. II
all the manuscript had been ready for the
printers ct once, no doubt the G. p. o. could
have chewed IL up within few weeln in its
capacious NAV. The largest work undertaken
previously was the Pacific railroad survey,
which was completed In eleven volumes in 1860
ct . cost Of t66s, SIS. The largest order for
type fled with type founder since the inven-
6on Of the art OF printing was given by Uncle
Sans concern TO . New York firm, the order
being for u, 900 pounds Of type in . singls lot
CONFIDENTIAL wolK..
Some Of he work Of The government printing
once d in The hishsst degree secret and CONT
dental With the Presidents annual message,