Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-07-29
CONFIRMING OFFICE
Interesting Recollections of
the Old Building.
ERECTED BY WENDELL
SOME ANECDOTES TOLD BY CHAR
LIE PARSONS, FRESHMAN.
How Work Was Done in the Olden
Days-First Office to Employ
Women


with him a few evenings ago. Its classic
| shades" he said. will soon be merged into
the assive new structure. and many of the
old employees, I, for one, will for the sake
of 'auld lang syne' feel more than
twinge of regret when the parting comes"
Probably the two oldest employees in the
government printing office, at least in point
OF service, are Mr.. Parsons and William F.
Scott. friend Of Parsons. speaking Of his
long career, says 1t seems as II he had
jumped from his swaddling clothes to the
jean OverallS of a pressman, and that was
so long ago that 1.-The memory Of man
runneth not to the contrary"
Served His Time With Bev. Tucker.
The veteran pressman gave cordial
greeting to The Star reporter, and mention
ed briefly in the course of pleasant talk.
many interesting incidents connected with
the early days and progress of the national
printing service, although his own expert
ences were confined altogether to the press
room. Il served my time said he. Tin
the old Sentinel office The paper was
published by Beverley Tucker-'Bev.' as he
was affectonately called by his friends.
At that time Tucker was doing the print
ing for the House Of Representatives. the
Globe was publishing the congressional de-
bates and Mr.. James c. Mcguire. one of the
oiOeSl anu IlOSl pioSIes SlNe CltiZcIlS VI
Washington. doing the government
binding. A. 0. P. Nicholson of the Union.
afterward United States senator from
Tennessee, was doing the Senate printing,
etc. / don't know the exact moduS operan-
di of doing the government work at that
time. but think 1t done by contract.
1t was before the official known the
public printer was appointed by the Pres-
dent. Well. Cornelius Wendell came along
here just about the time 1 got out of my
apprenticeship and bought Tucker out.
Wendell was a fine fellow and we'll liked"
said Parson, in a parenthetic way. Some
folks used to say of him that he would
occasionally make long list of members
of both houses of Congress that he owned,
and maybe he did. He had a big pull
anyway. AS soon as he bought the SEN
tinel this gentleman began work in the
Naylor building. located where the old pow
er house was situated at the corner of D
and 18th streets. Then he had gathered
In all the government printing work and
together with Mr.. Mcguire built the old
printing office now shelternY an army of
workers. but soon. as l said before. to be-
come one Of the has beens.' The ground
upon which 1T erected was then known
'Swampoodle' because of the marshy
character of the soil in it's locality and to
this day all the old-tmers refer to 1t as
the Swamp and 1t Is more in affection
than derison that 1t has this appelation.
Built the Government Printing Office
when Wendell built the present build
ing said Mr. Parsons, "he declared he
would have edifice so big that one
could drive the biggest load Of hay that
come to Washington through the middle
of the press room. which, of course. was
on the ground floor. And so he did It
was considered a wonderful building at
that time and was actually place of his
torfc interest"
When operations began in the office at
the time Mr.. Parsons was speak king OF
there were about thirteen presses in oper-
alton Now there are seven times that
many, and the evolution from the ma
chimes of that period to the giant inven-
tions of the present era reasonably
be compared to that of the little man-of-
war OF forty years ago to the great battle
ships Of this nation that hold the world in
awe today. The superintendent Of print
ing. and he was the party who gave out
the contract. frequently made visits to the
shop in the swamp to see how things were
progressing, and the old fellows who knew
cyon times say there was hole in the
WALL somewhere in the big building that
was never neglected on these formal Of
fetal visits.
An Old Press Restored
Mr. Parsons relates an incident that hap
peHed when Mr. Benedict was public
printer and in which the veteran pressman
feels no small degree of pride 1t was
during Mr.. Benedict's second administra-
tlOn III charge OIL the once. w men he re-
sumed his functions he missed, during an
inspection tour through the building a
fine Bullock press that had been doing ex-
cellent work in the past Upon inquiry, he
found the old machine. like old horse
turned out to die. and SO dismantled that
1t resembled nothing better than it did q
pile of old junk iron 1t was stored away
in the cellar of the old Globe building. The
public printer took Parsons with him to
take a look at the old concern and there
they found 1t disgraceful, ugly looking
heap of rusty iron.
How much money would 1t require Par
sons" said the official Ito patch up that
machine and get 1T into flrst-class working
order7"
From $3.50 to $780," said Parsons
Get to work at 1t right away was tho
order. and Parsons, with the necessary
material and assistance, after scrapin8
away the accumulated rust found little DIFF
ficultng in readjusting the old machine,
land" said he. that discarded old press
upon its rehabilitation did thousands Of
dollars worth of work for the govern
ment.
First Employed Women.
1t is a fact Of some considerable interest
that the employment of women in the pub
lic printing office antedates the employ
ment OF females as clerks in the various
departments. At first they were employed
by the contractor for performing the print
ing. but 1t was in the public service never
theless that they worked Many Of them
were employed in the bindery department.
and many others in the press room where
they were occupied feeders" An ex-
celent set of women they were. and in
many instances were welded to bachelors
in the press room and retired from feeding
their inanmate creations of iron and steel
to supplying the demands of institutions of
an altogether different character.
1t was a sorry trip in ante-bellum days
to the swamp. The powers of that great
renovator of the capital city, Alexander R.
Shepherd had not yet materialized, and the
roads were in bad weather a veritable
quagmre. There were no railway lines
accessible, and their Journeys from home
to Office was more Of a trial to workers
sometimes than any other portion OF their
days labor. In very bad weather the Off
cials used to look out for the physical well
fare of the girls. and send them home In
the big Office wagons but the boys had to
look out for themselves
And in the early days OF the war and
long before then work was carried on III
several branches of the office. notably in
the press room. from early morning until
II o'clock at night. and often until mid
night. There was a rather turbulent ele-
ment in the neighborhood of 'Swampoodle'
and those of the girls who did not have