Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-23

printed exclusively at the bureau of en-
craving and printing. The publication of
the proceedings of Congress was for long
time a matter Of contract with a printing
house. The bills Of Congress and the Presi-
dents messages. as well as the reports of
the executive departments. were printed at
private establishment. Now all Of this
printing Is done at the government print
ing office, and at the little branch printing
omces in the departments. Revenue stamps
have been printed at the bureau of engrav-
Ing and printing for many years. But the
cor tractors chung to the contract for the
Postage stamps. The profit for printing
them was small. but the company which did
The work would have been very glad to do
II Tor nothing, SO as to retain the prestige
which the contract carried Now that the
contract has gone away from them, the
contractors say that the government will
lose money on the job-that the bureau
cannot do tine work as cheaply as a private
contractor. despite the fact that it is sup
posed to work at cost" because it does
not possess facilities for doing it, The
same cry went up when the contract
Tor printing the governments currency was
taken away from the contractors The
CHIEF OF the bureau of engraving thinks
that he can save money On the work. Ex-
perience will nave to grove which Of these
Is true prophet
Changes of Method.
For several years the government cur
rency has been printed on hard presses
That was the way the work was first done
In the interest Of economy and expedition
steam presses were introduced, and they
seemed to be doing the work satisfactorily
The labor organizations. however. went to
Congress and urged the rens tatement of the
hand presses. on the plea that the work of
the steam presses was irore easily counter
feited. Strong pressure was brought to
bear. and the change was ordered. That is,
the royalty TO be paid to the widow of the
patentee OF the steam presses was reduced
TO an impossible figure. This change from
power u hand work applied also to the
printing or the internal revenue stamps
After a time the bureau began to run be-
hind in Its work, and Chief Meredith con-
ceived the idea Of introducing the ordinary
printing press for printing the internal
revenue stamps He used a stop-cylinder
Hoe press. with a capacity Of $40 impress
sions per hour. The labor organizations
Were not especially pleased with the innC-
walton. but they made no protest, because
priation could be had for an additional force
to get the work up by hand. The bureau
had fallen far behind in filing orders from
the Treasury Department, and the work.
OF extra hours. The innovation meant a
great saving to the government 1t costs
Eow less than $1,000 to print the IL 400 600
tobacco stamps on Hoe presses and 1t used
10 cost SliGOO to print them by hand.
Inc printing of the postage stamps will
also be done by steam. The chief argu-
ment used by the labor organizations for
the substitution Of the hand work in the
printing OF securities was that the work of
the steam presses was more aslly counter
leited. This Is an objection which does not
noio IN the case Of stamps. 1t Is not con-
sidered In printing internal revenue stamps
because the purchaser of a tobacco stamp
Is required to get them from an authorized
agent of the government, and the govern
ment agent can sell only to a person whom
he knows to be a dealer in tobacco Their,
Is no such prohibition in the trade in post
age stamps A man may buy or sell them
where and when he pleases. But the Value
OF the denominations commonly used Is SO
small that there Is no promise of a profit in
counterfeiting them: and the larger de-
nominal tons are so little used that il would
be very difficult to sell them. So the gov
eminent mas no fear OF the counterfeiter.
Bid of the Bureau.
The bid of the bureau Of engraving and
printing for the postage stamps was at the
rate of cents for every ten sheets That
is. in the highest denomination of stamps
issued $50. the Post Office Department
will pay cents for what would cost you or
service which the stamps represent The
cost of printing is almost an unconsidered
quantity in the estimate Of the cost Of
postal service, although the aggregate of
the expenditure for this work will touch
$4,000 in a year OF course, in paying the bu-
reau Of engraving and printing for doing this
work. the government is taking money out
OF one pocket and putting it into another.
With the private contractor, Uncle Sam
knew just exactly what his stamps would
ha No
partment less now, but they may cost him
great deal more. All Of that remains to
be seen.
The printing Of stamps is different from
the printing of currency in some particulars.
The department engraver will take a piece
of steel which has been softened by decar-
bonization and engrave on it the design Of
the stamp. The steel will be recarbonize,l
and SO hardened. A cylinder of soft steel
will then be pressed by hydraulic ram on
the intasio engraving to form q cameo
copy OF the design. This cameo is touched
up by the engraver to make the lines of the
design more distinct. The intaglo is known
the female die. 1t is the female die
which Is linked. the cameo die coming down
on the other side Of the paper and giving it
the necessary contact with the linked sur
face below. This is the process which has
been followed by the private contractors.
The Cumming md Separating.
The sheets Of stamps as printed contain
200 impressions Of the design. They are
divided before they are placed on SALE SO
that when you buy a sheet from a local
post office 1t contains only 100 stamps
After the stamps have been printed the
sheets are gummed. In the early history
Of stamp printing this was done with large
brushes. Now a roller run by machinery is
used. and the result Is a much more even
distribution of the gum. This is not an I'M
important feature of the process. An entire
issue of scent stamps was recalled some
years ago. at great loss to the govern
ment because the gum was SO badly dis
tributed that II was useless.
From the cumming machine the sheets Of
stamps go in racks to a set Of steam pipes,
over which they are dried. Finally, the
sheets are punched. The Old-fashioned
stamps had to be separated from each other
with a knife or a pair of scissors, and these
were a part Of the properties of every
post office. The work of separating the
torn. The English government offered a
reward In 1St5 for device by which the
stamps could be made easily separable
The first divice adopted was a series of
knives cutting through the space between
the stamps. This was unsatisfactory. Then
a man named Archer devised punching
machine, which, after much experiment.
was brought to its present perfection. The
lines between the stamps are not punched
simultaneously. The punches are arranged
in rows and the perpendicular lines and the
horizontal lines are punched in two dis
tinct operations. Fifty sheets are punched
at one time.