Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-27
NO VALUELESS WORK
SUPERFLoUS PRINTING SAID TO
HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED.
Big Government Printery Uses Enor-
nous Quantities of Paper Daily
Personal Mention.

The press rooms of the government print
ing Office are said to be a verifcation of the
saying that "the use of paper is the barom-
eter of a nations progress for the great
er the progress of the American nation the
more presses the public printer is COM
| PEELED to install. The press room of
modern newspaper is one of it's show places,
| and the same holds true of the government
office. Some idea of the magnitude of the
| main press room of the largest printing Of
flee in the world might be gained from the
statement that the daily consumption of
paper Is about nine ions. 800 pounds of ink
! being required. Twenty tons OF paper of
different kinds are used each day in the
operation of the entire plant. over twenty
five cars being required to deliver a months
supply OF this one item from the mills.
The consumption of ink and paper brings
up the h-discussed question of reducing
the amount of public printing. The reduc-
ton is said to have already taken place,
and that 1t is now practically impossible TO
find a single book or publication of any
kind issuing from the Office that has not 4
decided value TO both those interested in
the maintenance of government and the
whole country at large The most lavish
user of public printing is of course the Con-
gress, and it is said that much work is
turned out to the order of both houses
"hlch Is Valueless except TO the introducer
Oh lhe resolution ordering the printing One
case is instanced of the past session when
one senator who was accredited with
, wish to obstruct the passage of men,
SION nllls, caused to be printed in the Con-
sFesslenai Record the reports of the PEN
SlQn-eommittees of both houses. increasing
the volume of that usually valuable publi-
cation by over 100 pages.
Patrons of Warehouse.
The force in the office of w. J. Simmons.
superintendent of the paper warehouse is
said to derive considerable amusement from
the frantic efforts of employees of the Of
flee to get on the list for the delivery
of kindling wood and packing boxes. The
office dfsposes of the large boxes in which
paper is delivered, and at the rate of six
Tor n cents the revenue of the office is
increased several hundred dollars year
So many of the employees are conversant
with the quantity and quality of wood
that orders are received months in ad-
vance. OF course, the last conner is in
urgent need of the boxes and usually
makes that fact known, hence the quiet
smiles of the clerks employed there
ONCE workers living in the northeast
section of the city are said to be some
what dissatisfied with the condition of the
sidewalk on II street in the neighborhood
of the new station. The walk is said to
be very dirty, owing to the constant fl
tertng of dirt from wagons, elevated
trains, and steam shovels and that in
wet and rainy weather it is both slippery
and sloppy.
The employees of the office are said to be
somewhat accustomed to the noise and
odors of the typesetting machines, and
their antipathy on that account is grad
ualiy disappearing. Then. too, various de-
vices are being devised as rapidly as pos
sible to obviate these disagreeable fea-
lures.
Personal Mention.
The chief electrician of the office w. H.
Tapley, is understood to have devised an
electrical attachment for the Lanston key
boards which is said to be both original
and very useful. Charles L. Smith the in
structor, proposed to Mr.. Tapley that
some means be provided to do away with
the ringing of the bells, and after some
thought the introduction of colored cleo
trio light to announce the end of the line
was decided upon. Many useful and novel
electrical appliances throughout the Of
fee owe their adaptation to Mr.. TapleyS
ingenuity.
Machinist Imhoff of the Official Gazette
division has adopted a ShreWd scheme for
the Improvement of the keyboard copy
holders in which the copy is impelled
backward. ms tad of falling over toward
the operator, as all folded copy is inclined
to do.
Thomas c. Esterling, for a number of
years an employee of the Office has
signed to accept position with the Mt.
Vernon and Alexandria Railway Cont
pany.
one of the oldest employees of the print
ing office. Zidon E. Ross, passed to rest
the past week. Mr. Ross had many friends
both in and outside of the office, and his
demise is correSpondngly deplored.
One of the sixth division machinists, F.
C. Damn resigned recently to accept po-
sition with the st. Louis Post-Dispatch.
w. s. Hennen of the late night Record
proof room is reported to be slowly but
surely recovering from attack of quin-
sy.
The sick list from the first division in
cludes f, F. Latham, w. A. H. Hunter, Z.
d. King e NJ. Root and G.. ]. Woodgate,
the latter having had prolonged illness.