Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-12
UNCLE SANS PRINTERY
SOME INTERESTING DEsCRIP-
TToNs OF WORK DONE THERE.
What Labor-Saving Machinery Ac-
complishes in the Folding Room
Rapid Delivery Work-Notes.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

The folding room of the big printery is
yeritable beehive of industry. The amount
Of work produced by this important division
of the office is in itself astonishing to any
one who gives the subject consideration
but the expedition and system which mark
are certainly delight to the student of In
is certainly delight to the student Of in
dustrial arts There is something doing In
the department every minute Of the day
and night during twentyfour hours. Here
is the hopper for the grist Of bills which
como down from Congress every day dur
ing the session, and the way its small army
of men and women grind them out for the
early morning mails would discourage and
disconcert anybody else but the trained
help that is employed.
The foreman Of the folding room Is q
most capable general, and directs the intr1-
cate workings Of his force. somewhat re-
moved from his immediate presence In the
big building, with a knowledge of its needs
and a thoroughness of execution that only
many years Of experience and familiarity
with employees and work afford.
1t is here that 100000 sheets OF printed
matter are handled daily These sheets
must be filed and gathered into DOCKS
every day. To accomplish this and to exc
cute other work in that department re-
ouires force of over 700 persons OF this
number 40 are women and 26O men. The
force is now below the maximum NUMBER,
and there is rarely any time when larger
force could not be used to an advantage IN
getting the work finished and delivered.
Expedition More Important Than Cost.
To give one an idea Of the expedition neo-
essary to get certain work at many times
delivered when ordered by the govern
ment, reference is directed to the recent is-
sue of 900 copies Of the Agricultural De-
partment's crop reporter. The force start
ed in at o'clock in the morning, and by
1920 o'clock-less than three hours after
ward.-the entire edition was in the hands
of the agricultural bureau. 1t In also nota-
BILE that this force of workers has handled
800 different Jobs in one day.
Speaking about congressional bills, which
is one of the big daily jobs of this division,
as high as 5000 bills have been handled in
machinery for expeditions and accurate
work is demonstrated in a most practical
way, and, instead of dispensing with labor,
It has contributed to augmenting the out
put of the Office beyond the possibility of
expedition by an increased force. This may
seem paradoxical. but II one will study the
situation and take into consideration the
possibility Of accurate human effort in q
limited time they will realize the true value
and relation to skilled labor of folding
machine that gathers sixty books of
twenty-four signatures each per minute!
Gathers them accurately, too. For so care
fully and ingeniouely Is this machine de-
vised that If a signature-wllich. by the
way, is O folded sheet OF eight or sixteen
pages--gets into the feeder Of the long
machine with the opened side next to the
drop IN automatic arrangement Etors the