Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-09
GOVERNMENT RECORDS
MATTER OF THEIR PERMANENCE
IS A VITAL SUBJECT.
A Treasury Official Talks Upon the
Care Taken in That De-
partment.

The permanence of public records of the
government continues to be a most vital
subject with leading government officials
who have given it consideration. George
Simmons, chief of the stationery division
of the Treasury, and the man who has
charge of the supplies of that department,
was asked what the Treasury does to Sc
cure permanence. In discussing the subject
generally he said:
THE permanence of the public records
of the United States is of the greatest i'm
portance, and the chief officials of the gov
eminent are fast arriving at realizing
sense of this fact. OF all the government
records those of the Treasury Depart
ment are most important. as they relate to
the finances and receipts and expenditures
of the nation from the beginning. Lyman
j. Gage, late Secretary of the Treasury,
than whom a more efficient head the de-
partment has never had, regarded the mat
ter of the ink used on the Treasury records
as, of sufficient Importance to bring II up
for discussion before one of President Nc
kinley'S cabinet meetings, and the ink now
used in the Treasury is made after a for
| mula approved by Mr.. Gage and the chief
officers of the department after mature con-
sheraton
The Matter of Ink.
"The ink is made by wellknown, reputable
manufa cturers of ink, and before being
cepted is always tested in the chemical
laboratory of the department. Most of the
commercial inks have been found to be
lacking in the necessary indeible quality.
The indelible or lasting feature of those
| inks is sacrificed in the effort at excessive
fuidity and cheapness. Nut gall and iron
in sufficient quantities are essential to leg
Utility and permanently in an ink. A thu
ink is popular with clerks and others who
are not particularly interested in the fea
turC of Oprmanphce ink vii a
heavy body, which does not flow as freely
as thin, aniline one, is apt to be criticised
and objected to by the user, who considers
his own convenience only. But those who
are responsible for the make up of the pub
lie records must view the subject from an
entirely different standpoint.
Our government is yet young, but the
day is not remote when many of our most
important records, especially those written
within the last forty fifty years, will be
llleglble. 1t is a remarkable fact that many
of the Older records-those dating back to
the organization of the government-are to-
day more legible and in a better state of
preservation than many of those of later
PERIOD which goes to prove that more at
tention was given to the matter Of perma-
nence in the early days than latterly.
Experience of Foreign Governments.
I'VE ought to profit by this experience as
well as the experience in the same direction
of other and older nations. Indeed kings
and potentates of the old world now are
brought face to face with the problem of
how to preserve the important written rec
ords. Not long ago the parliament of a
leading European power called for certain
of1cial papers relating to the operations of
its army some twenty-five years back and
when produced they were found to be al
most illegible. The ink had not only faded
put the paper was decomposed. So unsatis-
factory were the Vatican records found to
be at one time that one of the popes deemed
1t necessary to call a conference of noted
CHEMISTS librarians and other experts
which was held somewhere in Switzerland
with the view of procuring paper and ink
that would stand the test of time num-
Der of almost undecipherable documents be-
longing to the papal archives were sub
mitted to the conference.
THE experience of our own government
in connection with the records growing out
of the civil war 0S6l-65) furnishes an apt
lesson on this subject. A large amount of
money has been expended in patching.
reprlntlng and rewriting many of the mus
ter and pay rolls of the army and navy
pertaining to the period mentioned MANY
or those important documents were printed
on an inferior quality of paper. and written
upon with aniine or indelible inks, so that
they became absolutely illegibe
AS to the Typewriter.
"The use of the typewriter in modern
correspondence has, in measure dis
pensed with the use of copying ink There
fore, the quality of the ribbons used on
official papers becomes matter of great
Importance.
The quality of typewriter ribbons has
improved to "a remarkab BILE degre in the ma st
ten years. When typewriting machines
hrst came into use the ink was made with
a glycerine base and aniline color like rub
Der stamp inks, and the impressions could
be washed off with water and faded out by
a few minutes exposure to sunlight Now
the inks are made with a vaseline or oily
oase and combination of coloring matters
including pure carbon. that the impress
slons are almost as permanent as printed
matter, and yet are capable of giving a
good permanent copy. When made with a
good ribbon, and with clean type upon a
good machine, both the impressions and the
copies or typewriter documents are more
durable than those written with pen and
ink All makes of ribbons usd in the
Treasury Department are subjected to care
full practical and chemical tests to deter
mine permanence of writing, durability of
rlooon and working qualities.
In order to insure permanency in the
public records those officers who are re-
sponsible for their makeup must ever be
Watchful, to prevent the Introduction and
use OF inferior and objectiOna ble articles,