The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-03-22
ANXIETY OF PRESS FEEDERS
Women at the Government Print
ing Office Alarmed.

A New Appliance to Throw Many of
Them Out OF Employ
Description OF the Device and How
1t Vorks-Itz Greatest Usefulness.
There is feeling OF decided unrest
among the women employ 6 of the Gov
ernncut Printing Office. There is fear
that tenure in Office is nov. a matter Of a
short time. A machine Is about TO take
away their occupation. il their cOnJec-
lures prove true. This dreaded device IS
what is known as the automatic paper
feeding machine Il can be applied eth
er 10 a printing press. folding machine,
or ruling machine. There are something
Ike 700 women among the 1000 employees
Of the Government Printing Office who
work in the press rooms and in the bind
/. cry. where the folding and ruling is done
hey iced paper into the various ma
chimes. They fear they VIII fail victims
Of the automatic Continuance If the Pub
! lie Printer should decide TO displace them
with it.
That he is seriously considering the ad-
visibility OF doing 50 Is firmly believed By
many persons. both men and women, who
| have observed proceedings at the Office
during past Years. Already, 1t is said
seven OF these automatic feeders have
been attached to printing presses. Some
who dread them admit the machines are
! a success Others declare they are a
failure. Whether a success or a failure.
! il is understood that more Of the ma
chimes are soon TO be put 70 work Six.
/ II IS said, VIII be added TO the number
now in use With thesz fair test Of
! the merits Of the de-Ice on various
! kinds Of work can ba made before the
new Printing Office Building is finished.
/ If, by that time. the powers that Dr. are
/ satisfied with the automatic feeder. il
/ viii probably be put to servic= on every
| printing press, folding machine, and ruI-
! ing machine in the big shop
! 1t is held that this automatic device On
/ printing PRESSES running AZ a speed of
| from l.Zo9 TO 1-5i@ Impressions an hour
| when fed by hand VIII increase the pro
duction, without Increasing the speed OF
| the press. of from 10 20 Is per cent An
! other point claimed for the machine is
/ that time now taken in putting paper
! on the feed board Of the ordinary print
| ing press is saved by having the automat-
| ic machine loaded outside of regular
! working hours. II viii carry from 10000
/ 70 Za,J0o sheets. and when thus handled
! full use of the press and pressman-s time
| is assured.
! 1t IS also said that it viii do better work
| than can possioly be obtained by hand
| feeding, and that il does away with q
| large percentage of the waste that usual
| y attends the old way of operating Il
press The same claims are made Tor the
automatic feeder when applied to the
! folding machine OF the ruling machine
| IL IS not contended that the machine
| VIII save labor. At the Government
| Printing Office one pressmau, one helper
and two feeders, the latter women. are
now employed TO operate TWO presses on
the Oh plan. On each press that has the
/ automatic eonJTiEaEce there is press
man and one helper i required Cor each
two pr Sses- The women feeders are
| eliminate. The actual cost Of labor is
therefore increased. for one pressnan- $
wages are considerably more than those
Of two feeders The feeders get about
two dollars Tor each working day. The
! advantage claimed for the new device is
solely in the increased amount of work
/ Speaking Of the possibility of the auto
matte feeder GiSplactng women at the
! Government Printing once a gentleman
( who was formerly employed there. ana
/ who now has charge of one of the largest
I private printing offices in Washington.
/ said yeste rday: Il have been q preSsman
: all my life / have watched pretty close
y everything new in my line that has
! come TO the front since l became "a
I jOuTneymau. There Is 10 use IN irving
10 disVarase This feeding device II can
. hardly Hc called new = has been in use
/ for FIVE or six years II uSs not how
. ever. made much headWay until tne last
two years Within that time T. has been
greatly improved To-Day there is no q >
putting the fact that Il is decided sac
cess The Kind OF work and six of the
/ Job on which il is employed. however.
control its merit Where heavy paper
( IS used and thsTuu IS ign%-fr0rn 5.G.g m
. pressious up-it is far and away ahead OF
. hand feeding You load your machine.
: ana from the time II is started until the
last sheet goes through the press there.
is no need for a stop. Sheets on the roll
heSct the preSSm2u when the hand feed
. CT : UP are Of rare occurrence when
the automatic feeder is in use. Thus d
/ great deal Of time IS saved I cannot
however. see that the automatic has
! anything the best of the hand feeder
when light paper IS used or short runs
/ are to bc made.
As for the adoption Of the automatic
feeder Icy The Government Printing OF
fee. ] believe that Is sure to come sooner
or later ! can therefore understand the
COnceEn Of the hundreds Of women work
machine VIII diSpIace all of them for
the reasons ! have given regarding its
decreased usefulness on short Jobs and
light paper II win not do on this sort
OF work and A. there Is a lot OF il done
many hand feeders Will have to be retain
cd-prohably cnc-haIf of the present force
now employed IN The Government Print
/ ing Office pressrooms and bIuaefy-
i have little doubt that the instaua-
( ton of the Government Printing ONCE
in the new building viii mark the time
( Tor the elimination of many OF the wO-
/ men feeders. II certainly seems to me
/ that things are pointing 10 such cII-
! m!uation.