Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1902-08-21
NATIONAL PRINTERY.
GIGANTIC BUILDING IS NEARING
COMPLETION.
will Have a Floor Space of Over Four
teen Acres and Nearly 1000 Persons
Will Find Employ ment-127 Presses
Will BE Running.

Will Find Employ ment-127 Presses
will BE Running.
The new government printing office
is approaching completion and will be
gigantic affair, writes Rene Bache,
the well-known Washington CORE
spondent 1t will cost $2,OOO,OOO. and
will provide Il total floor space OF over
fourteen acres-more than two and
half times the floor area available III
the present establishment. AS yet the
building Is entirely covered with scat
folding. but it is substantially finished.
except for the interior woodwork and
painting. 1t will be the greatest print
ing shop in the world, employing the
services of nearly 1000 people. Accu-
ratcly speaking. 3.SS9 persons Will toll
under its mighty roof, nearly 1000 OF
them being women and girls. Each
year 1t will eXpend the enormous sum
Of $4,OOO.OOO nearly three-fou. tbs OF 1t
| for labor, and in its main composing
room S24 printers will be engaged in
sticking type. Eight hundred and
eighty-tive employees will be occupied
| in binding the books and documents
produced. and an additional 665 Will
do nothing but fold the printed sheets.
| Figures like these give notion OF
the gigantic scale on which the shop
will be conducted. Each twelvemOnth
1t will consume for bindings the skins
Of $4,000 sheep and 1000 goats, in ad-
dition to $4,000 square feet OF Russia
leather" made from cowhide. 1t will
use I'D in like period 5000 tons OF
white paper. 10000 pounds OF printing
ink and 81 800 pounds OF glue, together
with 1000 pounds of thread for sewing
books and pamphlets. and 1900 packs
of gold leaf Tor the titles OF volumes
de luxe.
One hundred and twenty-seven
presses will be constantly in opera
ton in the great building. their total
output in a working day of eight hours
being lust about 1,OOO,UOO impressions.
These presses are Of every conceivable
kind, one of them being capable OF
printing cards on both sides from
web of bristol board at the rate of Co.
900 cards per hour, while four other
machines turn ont 10000 printed en-
yelopes every sixty minutes. The guam
tity of type actually employed will be
approximately 1,5OO,OOO pounds. or $50
tons.
No other government spends any
thing like the amount Of money on
AZ; ,,,s;vN Int IA nd "
Uncle Sam. In this particular Congress
Is always disposed to Il reckless ex-
travagance. and hence the huge size
If the plant required Public documents
are an important perquisite OF Sena
tors and Representatives, who scatter
them broadcast among their cOnstttu-
ents. One hundred tons Of Il single re-
port now In press will be issued and
distributed In this manner, and the
total number Of volumes Of various
kinds Of literature turned out by the
office in twelvemonth Is about 1,OOO,-
300, representing total cost Of some
what more than $1,OOO,OOO.
Nowadays government books, like
other kinds or publications, require H.
ustrati0ns. and the cost Of these ran
up to about 100000 last year. 1t Ia
safe to say that ten years from now
Uncle Sans printing shop will spend
pretty nearly half u million dollars for
pictures. The most costly Illustrations
are for the reports for the Department
Of Agriculture and the bulletins Of the
Bureau Of EthnolOgy, many Of these
being In cOlOrS. Each bureau furnishes
It's own pictures, but the printing office
has them reproduced by firms in Bos-
ton. New York and elsewhere These
firms print the illustrations and return
them to Washington. ready to be
bound with the text.
The most important job the big shop
has to execute is the printing Of the
Congressional Record. This daily news
paper. which records nothing but the
doings Of the National legislature, is
written from beginning to end by the
official reporters Of the House and SEN
ate, who take down in shorthand every
word that is said at either end Of the
Capitol. They dictate from their notes
10 LypeWTlteTS, anu tue material thus
reduced to typescript is sent over to
the printing offices in patches by mes
sengers. The Record is ready for dis
tributlon early next morning. One hun
dred composltors are employed exclu-
svely in the business of setting type
for it. one department OF the printing
office being devoted exclusively to this
publication. which is set up and sent
to press just like any newspaper, being
delivered every day to about 5000 sub
scribers. Each representative in Con
gress gets % copies daily. while SEN
ator is entitled to A.. Anybody NAV
subscribe the price being $l.O
month: but the paper Is not directly
profitable to Uncle Sam, inasmuch as It
costs $l25.0OO a year.
The printing of bills is another i'm
portant feature of the work of the es-
tabllshment. Though only few hun
ired of the mea submitted to Con
gress In year become laws millions
Of copies of them have to be printed.
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