Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-22
ECONOMY IN PRINTING
INSTRUCTIONS ISSUED By THE
PRESIDENT.

AS the result of a report on printing by
the departmental committee of inquiry,
headed by Assistant Secretary Keep, the
President has issued the following instruc-
tions to all departments:
Advisory Printing Committee.
There shall be appointed by the head or
each of the executive departments an ad-
visory committee the subject of print
ing and publication. The chairman shall
be an assistant secretary, or other qualir1eu
official, and at least one member of the
committee shall have had practical expe-
rience in editing and printing.
1t shall be the duty of such committee,
under direction of the head of the depart
nent, to see that unnecessary matter IS
excluded from reports and publications; to
see that copy Is carefully edited before ana
not after going to the printing office; to
do away with the publication Of unneces-
sary tables, and to require that statistical
matter be published IN condensed and In
telltgtble form ito supervise the preparation
OF blank forms, to require the frequent le-
vision of mailing lists; to prevent dupIica-
ton of printing by different bureaus; TO
exclude unnecessary illustrations from de-
partment documents, and to prevent the
printing of the maximum edition allowed
by law when smaller edition will suf1lce;
to recommend to the head of the depart
ment, for inclusion in the recommended
tfons contained in his annual reports, need
ed changes in the statutes governing de-
partment publications.
General Principles to Govern.
The President has also directed that the
following general principles shall hereafter
govern the form of the annual reports of
the various bureaus and offices Of the
departments:
4 Annual reports shall be confined to
concise accounts of work done and expendi-
lures incurred during the period covered
with recommendations relating to the fu-
ture. including plans for work to be under
taken.
- Contributions to knowledge in the
form of scientific treatises shall not be in
cluded in annual reports.
%. Illustrations in annual reports shall
be excluded, except: (a) maps and dia-
grams Indispensable to the understanding
of the text; (b) views of monuments or i'm
portant structures begun or erected; (c)
views showing conditions in outlying pos
sessions of the United States and relating
to work done or recommendations made.
IL Inserted material, written or COM
piled by persons not connected with the
reporting office, and biographical and
eulogistic matter relating to the past or
present personnel Of the office, shall be
excluded.
- Reports of officers who do not report
directly to the head of an executive de-
partment shall not be printed in the annual
report of a department, but where neces-
sary shall be summarized in the reports of
the officials to whom such officers do re-
port.
80 Tables shall be inserted only when
verbal summaries and statements of totals
are inadequate, and complete texts of laws
and court decisions shall, except in cases of
great Importance be excluded.
az. Detailed descriptions and lists. of
methods, processes, purchases, bids, reJec-
T1o+I tr-c TiFa n q
and personnel employed shall be omitted
except when required by their unusual i'm
portance or by statute"
Committee on Bookmaking.
The President aSko announces that he will
appoint a general committee on bookmak-
ing, advisory to all the departments to con-
sist of the librarian of Congress as chair
man. the public printer, a representative OF
tho department doing the largest amount of
printing, and two printers not in the public
service of large experience in making good
books who are to serve without compensa-
ton other than their travelling expenses
THIS committee is to be appointed for the
purpose of promoting the economy, utility,
appropriateness, beauty, durability, and, so
far as practicable, the uniformity OF the
government publications. This committee
is not to deal with the contents of publfca-
tons but solely with their forms, size.
STYLE paper, type, makeup and binding.
This action of the President is the result
of a report made to him on the public
printing by the committee on department
methods. who have been Investigating the
subject 10y his direction. This report has
just been made public.
Keep Committee Recommendations.
Various recommendations in this report,
relating to the government printing office,
are also approved by the President, and
will be made the subject of a communica-
ton from him to the public printer. Among
the administrative changes in the printing
office recommended by the committee are
the following:
The installation of a cost-keeping system
in the government printing office and the
employment Of expert assistance in install
ing such a system the keeping of efficiency
records of the work of employees, and the
use of such records to weed out incompe
tent persons; the adjustment of compensa-
lions paid at the government printing Of
fee so that watchmen firemen, elevator
conductors. laborers and other Iniscel-
laneous employees shall be paid compensa-
tions mot exceeding those paid by the ex
ecutive departments for the same work.
The attention of the public printer is also
called to the statement of the committee
to the effect that the number of supervisory
and unskiled employees in proportion to the
skilled artisan force has largely increased
in recent years, and he is directed to make
careful investigation into this subject
The report of the committee also makes
number of recommendations for changes in
the laws relating to the printing Office and
TO public printing generally. These recon-
mendationS cannot be put into effect with
out action by Congress, but they will be
available for the use of the congressional
committee which now has under considera-
ton changes in the laws relating to the
public printing and binding.