The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-08-04
PRINTERS RULE
THE BIG OFFICE
Government Printing Comes High
Under Present Conditions.
MAY BE AN INVESTIGATION
TROUBLE OVER MILLER AT THE
BOTTOM OF 1T.
MAY BE AN INVESTIGATION

w AoHANGTON, Aug. at is more
w than likely that the government
printing Office will have a thor
ough investigation as a result of de-
Veiopments growing out of the dismiss
al and reinstatement OF Miller the
tpookoinder and the rupture of the
, iioers union. This incident has
brought some facts sharply 10 notice
chief among which is that the gov-
eminent printing Office, under its strict
union methods, is very expensive
pant This was asceTtained by Gov
eTnor Merriam. director of the census.
when he undertook to make a contract
with private firm for a large amount
Of census printing. The government
printing office people made a great TO
DO about 1t, and as result the census
printing had to be done at the govern
ment printing Office instead of Oy pri-
Vate contract. although it cost about
$50 per cent more
Complaint Against Miller.
The complaint of the bookbinders
against Miller was that ne insisted
upon more work being done by the men
than the union prescribed. but there
are other parts Of the printing office
which need looking into The statement
is made that the ordinary individual
printer and employe Of the printing Of
flee could accomplish nearly all the
work he does each day by noon. in
stead of working the fun eight hours.
Any new man that gees into the gov
eminent printing office and undertakes
to do more than what has been known
as the regulation amount OF work is
called down very soon by some of the
old hands, who suggest that he is do
frn-~ I'll
work himself TO death while working
for the government, CT some other such
suggestion.
Union is Strong.
Another thing that is being brought
out sharply is the fact that no inn
proved labor-saving machinery is used
in the government printing Office. The
union has been strong enough to pre-
vent the Introduction of type-setting
machines, although all big modern
printing blishments and newspa-
pers use these machines 1t is not be-
.JleVed that type-setu1g machines would
eGurtail the work very much as il is
more than likely that more work would
be done. It was found necessary some
years go to greatly reduce the amount
OF government printing on account OF
expenses and quite a number of pub
fore the demand is supplied There
would be more printing of this char
acter, more documents circulated per-
haps, If the expenses of the govern
ment printing office were not so great
The fact that the union printers have
prevented the introduction of type
setting machines recalls another inter-
esting matter connected with the bU-
reau Of printing and engraving. Mod
money have not been introduced be-
cause of the objection of the plate
printers of the bureau of engraving and
printing. Modern methods cannot be
introduced in either of these establish
ments because the government is rich
and can afford extravaganza.
Rests With Congress.
As a matter of fact there is a big
field for reform in the expenditures of
the United States government. If a
few men in either house of congress
could only sacrifice themselves to a
cleaning up of the government serv-
ice at Washington, they would make
themselves famous, although they
would be greatly disliked by other peo-
pie. Most of those people that are in
Office have a pull somewhere and many
of them have sufficient pull to prevent
anything being done which would save
money to the government, or cause the
dismissal of employees. Even if the
government printing office is investi-
gated. and it is determined that great
saving could be made. it is doubtful
whether congress would consent to the
change. because of the pull which the
printers who have come from all parts
of the country and have secured their
places through influence. would be able
to exert on members Of congress At
the same time. facts may be brought
out which will be interesting to the