New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-08-02
IFnoM TEE TRIBUNE BUREAu.l

uAOn ano non-unlon the doors OF the biggest print
Ing Office in the world have swung open to receive
the particular laborers to whom the President
announced this policy. The magnificent S25Oo,0o0
Government Printing Office. which has been under
erection for the last four years in Washington is
now practically completed, and is being occupied
rs rapidly the plant. great deal of which is
also new. be put in place. The old building
which the printing office force is leaving is
both dilapidated and dangerous the policy
OF the supremacy OF the union. which the President
condemned.
II the seven floors of the huge new printing Office
were spread out side by side instead of being one
above the other. they would cover fourteen acres.
or four ordinary city blocks. Each of these
floors practically single room as there are few
partitions. As printers need a good deal of light,
onethrd OF all the wall space is glass; there being
fifteen hundred windows in the building In
order that this light may not be lost, the interior
walls are lined with white enamelled bricks which
can be washed. The building is hreproof or as
nearly hreproof any building can be. 1t is also
substantial possible It's walls are built like
those OF a fortress type is heavy and printing
presses cause considerable vibration and il would
be unfortunate 10 have the roof and walls cave
in and bury four thousand American citizens under
material and machinery that is intended for the
dissemination Of intelligence. The floors. so the
engineers calculate will sustain weight of IS 10000
pounds which is, Of course. much in excess of any
weight which they viii be called upon 10 bear.
The outside walls three feet thick. and TO con-
struct them l00OOO 600 red bricks were required,
enough 10 rebuild two-thirds of the Washington
Monument Inciosed within them is steel frame
work weighing about 100000 pounds. which is
heavier perhaps than the frame of any other builo-
ing IN the country. The steel columns. beams,
sirders. and plates not made Of ordinary STOCK
steel but were forged to order and the steel work
so protected that in Of heat being generated
by any cause its strength viii not be affected by
warpfng
The most modern methods Of operating the ma
chinerv have been provided There will not De
foot Of shafting in the whole building Each OF
the three hundred presses will have It's own lotDi
propelled by three of the largest dynamos IN the
country each Of so horsepower. These dYnalhos
VIII also surlv ZOO ncandescent lights ana most
novel system Of ventilating fans. which are placeu
IN the loft and win draw the air from the olIefeh
floors through shafts and expel il through the rooI
with such rapidity that there viii be an eh'ie
change Of atmosphere in the building every seven
minutes and each employe will have S'"o CUBIC |
feet OF pure fresh air an hour.
Another novelty will be seventy-hve drinking |
fountains placed at convenient locations through
ont the building fed from pumps in the basement
which force the water through an ammonia Ireez-
ing plant reducing It 10 temperature Oh 10 ue
grees IN all parts Of the building compete sys
TEN Of telephones has been installed so that Ihe
foreman Of every department can communicate |
with the chiefs Of divisions. and by lifting re-
eeiver 20 his ear. Mr.. Palmer, the pupnc pFlhlei'
nav know instantly what is going on in any part
of the establishment Vaults have been constructed
t convenient paces on the different floors for the
storage of standing type, eectrotyped plates aho
printed documents Of a secret and conndehual chaI
ecter such as messages of the President reports
OF his secretaries. treaties, reports OF congress
committees and other documents, until II Is uiile
TO give them 20 the public
there are enormous store rooms for the stock OF
material kept on hand. which is probably greater
n amount than can be found IN any similar estao-
lishment in the world In the regular course Oh
business the printers about fifteen tons OF
raper a day. and in the cases are more than Two
million pounds of ordinary type. An inventory OF
some Of the material IN daily use IN. the printing
ONCE in ordinary amounts hand Include SOW
tons Of paper 81 pounds Of glue. 1900 packs OF
gold leaf rs go square feet Of Russian leather Soo
sheepskns for binding the statutes OF the Cnlteo
States 1850 gallons Of ubricating OIL 4oOO pouhos
OF printers Ink. 10000 pounds Of roller composition
1000 Turkey morocco skins. 1900 gallons Of ben
zine 5000 pieces of book muslin and $500 yards or
canvas
There are 1851 employees the payroll OF the
Government Printing Once. distributed about the
establishment as follows: Executive office, AZ; main
composing ROOM $50; bindery, 92I; main press room
a5s; Job press room, 80; job composing room ~
eectrotype room, IS; specification ROOM ZSsi iolohe
room I2l: Congressional Record room, 4O5 chlei
ensineer's room 90; Treasury Department branch,
e. Library Of Congress branch TO- Interior Depart
rnent branch, 80: Navy Department branch SSi
War Department branch. 90; State Department
branch, 80; Department Of Agriculture oraneh' ~
public document division. 40; miscellaneous Ito
With this force the government Of the United
States does more printing and publishes more docu-
.nents than any other nation In the world Last
wear the cost Of branch OF the service reached
s. s4s E5s Os The most remarkable job OF printing
ever turned out by the institution, and one which
is regarded as the record breaker OF the world was
the publication OF the report OF the Congressional
committee which inquired into the hszing incidents
at West Point three years ago. The manuscript
was delivered to Captain Henry Brain, foreman OF
printing about o'clock one Saturday evening, and
On Monday morning three volumes Of 1900 printed
pages were upon the desks Of members OF
the House OF Representatives, who wanted TO
refer 10 the testimony in the debate that was to
take place that day upon the Military Academy
AUTHORIZATION bill. The edition a small one
so that the presswOrk was limited. but 1000 copies
could as well have been printed, stitched and
bound in the time
Another record breaker in the printing line was
the report OF the Court OF Inquiry on the Maine
disaster. Tho manuscript was received after
o'clock one evening and a volume Of three hundred
pages with twenty-five illustrations, was delivered
at the Navy Department at the opening OF ONCE
hours the morning. TWenty-four of the IL
Iustrations were half tone, being coored'
which required two Impressions.
Some years ago the Revised Statutes Of the United
States a volume OF thousand Quarto pages
was put IN type. printed and bound in sheep be-
tween Wednesday night and Saturday noon No
other printing Office Ia the world could have done
the Job in that time. Captain Brain declares that
the capacity Of the plant has never yet been tested
II has 10 limit he asserts, and If it necessary,
the type could be set the presswork and binding
done and a book as big as Webster's Dictionary
or a set volumes OF one thousand pages
each could be delivered in twenty-four hours. Cap
tain Brain is anxious have ask the
impossible OF the Government Printing Office, and
declares that it could produce the biggest book
ever written in a single day. The largest annual
publication OF the government is the yearbook Of
the Agricultural Department. a volume Of eight
hundred nine hundred pages OF which an edition