Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-21
Printing Investigating Com
mittee to Meet Wednesday.
WANTED
WORK MAY OCCUPY ALL NEXT
WINTER.
What the Chairman Thinks Of the
. Situation That Has Developed Un-
der the Present Lax Laws.

The subcommittee on printing OF the
House of Representatives, of which Mr..
Chas. B. Lands is the chairman, charged
with the investigation of government print
ing with the view of effecting economy, will
begin it's sessions at the Capitol next We'd
nesday, the 25th. The committee has not
yet formulated any plan of action. but will
be open to conviction by any of the wit
nesses that appear before 1t. The wit
nesses will include the acting public printer,
the superintendent of documents, several of
the chief employees of the government print
ing office, the editors of the various de-
partments and possibly the heads of num-
Der of the bureaus and even cabinet officers
who figure largely in the printing work of
the government. The committee hearings
may continue for ten days, but the work of
rearranging the laws under which the print
ing business of the government has hereto
fore run riot may take the most of the win
ter.
In speaking of the investigation Mr..
Lands said: I'VE do not want to waste
any time, but we are anxious to hear all
of the witnesses who have anything per-
tinent to say. The list of witnesses is not
even made up, but if there is any one who
has anything of value to tell us, we would
be glad to hear from him.
What Led to the Investigation.
On the general subject of waste in the
printing service MIR. Lands says that at
every session of Congress the committees
on printing of both the Senate and House
are deluged with requests for the printing
of special reports and additional copies not
already authorized by the printing laws.
notwithstanding the fact that the appro-
priations for printing have been practically
doubled within the last ten years.
Had the printing committees or the
House and Senate acted favorably upon re-
quests that were earnestly urged from con-
scientious motives the last congress woula
have faced an expenditure of S2,C00,O00 on
special printing alone. The committees OF
the last Congress considered these demands
so enormous in the aggregate that early
after. their organization they decided 10
pursue policy of the most rigorous Scru-
tiny and discrimination. AS result they
reduced this item of expense, as compared
with the two preceding Congresses, more
than so per cent, and reduced this item OF
expenditure more than a quarter of MIL
lion dollars. This convinced the committees
that substantial saving could be made
all along the line and led to the creation
of this investigation commission
Collection Of Data.
Immediately after the adjournment of
Congress the commission began the collec-
ton of data. all of which is now in the
hands of a subcommittee, composed of Mr..
Lands, Senator German and Mr.. Perkins.
This subcommittee will elaborate on this at
their hearings
Mr.. Lands stated that the commission
had been endeavoring first of all to learn
actual valuation placed by the public upon
the documents freely distributed. and TO
determine whether the benefits to the coun-
try Justify the expenditure involved, and
whether the distribution has been to the
best advantage He says that the inquiry
has extended TO every section of the coun-
try, and an effort made to obtain the esti
mate of value placed upon these documents
by the people for whom they are intended,
as well as by the officials by whom they
are prepared. There Is no doubt that many
of them are of great value. but intelligent
discrimination and more effective distribu
ton should result from the inquiry.
There are tons upon tons of documents
for which there will never be any demand
piled up in the basement of the Capitol;
there are carloads of documents for which
there will never be any demand piled up in
the warerooms about the government print
ing office; tons of these documents are piled
up in the committee rooms and in the va
rious departments about Washington and
in the garrets and wood sheds of sena tors
and representatives throughout the country.
1t all represents waste and extravaganza
and improvidence, and the situation fairly
r-u