The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-28

gress gets twenty-two copies daily. while Senator is. entitled to forty-two. Any body may subscribe. the price being $1,j0 a month; but the paper is not directly profitable to Uncle Sam, inasmuch as it | costs $125.0O0 a year.
 The printing of bills is another import ant feature of the work of the establish. ment. Though only a few hundred of the measures submitted to Congress in a year become laws. millions of copies of
 them have to be printed. A bill must go through great many phases before it | can become law, and during the pro- | cess of it's evolution it has to be printed again and again-perhaps dozens of times. If finally passed. single copy of | 1t is printed on the finest parchment, and this goes to President Roosevelt for his signature Having received that august autograph. it Is a law. and is handed over to the Department of State. to be | filed away in the nations archives No such blank books are manufactured anywhere else in the world as are pro duced in this printing office. Nothing is too expensive To be put into some of them. and the lettering on their backs l Is of pure gold. Three blank books are made each year for the use of Congress at d cost of s65 each. They are designed to contain the names and addresses of Senators and Representatives and their accounts with Uncle Sam. Each of them weighs S5 pounds. contains 1,200 pages l and is composed of the finest ina gina ble 1 paper. In fact, the paper alone for three | books cost $50. and the materials tor the
 bindings bin dnd come to $S. No fewer than 35o,ooO blank books of all kinds are turned
 out every twelvemonth.
 The paging of the blank books is done by an ingenious machine. which enables
 single operator to page a, book of 600 work as well as the stamping of titles in
 gold letters, which is performed by hand
 For the sake of economy. however. d | mixture of brass and lead called Ger
 man metar' is used for most of the
 books instead of gold. Hand-sewinS is | chiefly employed in the binding Of vol
 umes There are about 200 sewers, all of them women. Department reports are
 mostly sewed by machines with huge spools of thread
 One of the most striking illustrations of | the capabilities of the establishment for
 executing hurried orders was the printing
 of the message Of President Mckinley l transmitting the report of the Naval Court of Inquiry upon the destruction Of
 the United States battleship Maine. This 1 publication consisted of 298 pages of text,
 twenty-four full-page engravings. and one Autograph in coiors. Although the originals of the illustrations were not in
 the possession of the oIilce until clock D. m. of March B, and the manuscript of the text was not received until D. m.
 of the same day. complete printed copies 1 desks of Senators and Representatives by ] 10 o'clock the following morning.
 The annual messages of the Chief EX- 1 ecutive of Congress are always uight
 
 and until they are formally received by Iihe National Legislature there is nc ] sound slcep for the officials in charge t%rheir task is like the guarding of a
 treasure. for the possession of which q few hours in advance eager newspapers are ready to pay fortune Once, and only once. was a m assage stolen. It Was
 one written by President Hayes, and vas not obtained from the Government pr.nt- ing office but from the printing shop il the Treasury Department, 70 which il had been contided for greater 7eerety l When MT. Rooscvelt's last message Was delivered at theJ Government printing Of
 flee a few picked compoii,t,ors were ehoset, ! work on ii they were held lnd"r the
 watcnfui eye of the foreman The copy ,lcI!l cred in type script by d trusted mes gcnser from the White House, was cut I'D into takes so small that no ind:-
 viduai could make head pr tail of his
 own. No one was allowed t2 sec a p:oo'
 self handled. The sallevs tull ot type. a'
 fast as they were made up. were placed