Los Angeles herald., 1906-01-22
TO STOP PUBLIC
PRINTING WASTE
INSTRUCTIONS ISSUED BY THE
PRESIDENT
His Intention Is to Do Away With Uns
necessary Work and to Improve
Form Of Department
Documents
BY Associated Press.

BY Asso ciated Press
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21.-To do
away with unnecessary printing origi-
mating In the departments and to i'm
prove the form of the annual reports
and other department documents, the
president has issued the following in
structions applicable to all the execu-
tive departments:
There shall be appointed by the
head of each of the executive depart
ments an advisory committee on the
subject of printing and publication.
The chairman shall be an assistant
| secretary, or other qualified official,
and at least one member of the COM
mittee shall have had practical eX
perience in editing and printing.
1T shall be the duty of such COM
mittee under direction of the head of
the department to see that unneces-
sary matter shall be excluded from
such reports and bulletin; that copy
is carefully edited before and not after
going to the printing office; to do
away with the publication of unneces-
sary tables and to require that statisti-
lcal matter be published in condensed
Iand intelligible form: to supervise the
preparation of blank forms; to pre-
| pare the frequent revision of mailing
lists; to prevent duplication of printing
| by different bureaus; to exclude lln.
necessary illustrations from depart
0eIlL anu 10 prevent tne
| printing of the maximum edition al
lowed by law when smaller edition
will suffice: to recommend to the head
of the department for inclusion in the
recommendations contained in his an
nual reports, needed changes in the
statutes governing departmental pub
| lications."
Concerning Annual Reports
The president has directed that the
following general principles shall here
after govern the form of annual re-
ports of the various bureaus and Of
fices of the departments:
1. Annual reports shall be confined
to concise accounts of work done and
expenditures incurred during the period
covered, with recommendations re-
lating to the future, including plans
| for work to be undertaken.
2. Contributions to knowledge IN
the form of scientific treatises shall
not be included in annual reports.
8. illustrations in annuad reports
shall be excluded, except: (a) reports
and diagrams indispensable to the un-
derstanding of the text; (b) views of
monuments or important structures
begun or erected (c) views showing
conditions in outlying possessions of
the United States and relating to work
done or recommendations made.
4. 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 Of
flee shall be excluded.
| 5. Reports of officers who do not
report directly to the head of an exec
utive department shall not be printed
in the annual report of a department.,
but where necessary shall be summar-
| lied in the reports of the officials to-
whom such officers do report.
| g. Tables shall be inserted only when
verbal summaries and statements of
totals are inadequate, and complete
texts of law and court decisions shall,
except in cases of great importance, be
excluded.
| 7. Detailed descriptions and lists of
methods, processes, purchases, bids, re-
jections, installations, repairs, specifica-
tions and personnel employed shall be
omitted except when required by their
unusual Importance or by statute.
The president also announces that he
will appoint general commission on
bookmaking advisory to all the depart
ments, to consist Of the librarian Of
congress, as chairman, the public
printer, a representative of the de-
partment doing the largest amount of
printing and two printers not in the
public service of large experience in
making up books who are to serve
without compensation other than their
travelling expenses. This commission
is to be appointed to promote the
economy, utility appropriateness,
beauty, durability and, so far as prac-
tica BILE, the uniformity of the govern
ment publications. This committee is
not to deal with the contents of publi-
cations, but solely with their forms,
size, style, paper, type, makeup and
binding.
This action of the president is the
result of a report to him on public
printing by the committee on depart
ment methods popularity known as the
Keep commission, which has been in
vestigating the subject by his direc-
tion. This report was made public to-
day.
Various recommenda tions i'm this re-
port relating to the government print
| ing Office also have been approved by
the president and will be made the
subject of communication from him
to the public printer. Among the ad-
ministrative changes i'm the printing
office, recommended by the committee,
are the following;
The installation of "A cost-keeping
system in the government printing
ONCE, and the employment of expert
assistance in installing such a sys-
tenn; the keeping of efficiency records
of the work of employees and the use
of such records to weed out incompe-
tent persons. The public printers at
| tention has been called to the state
ment of the committee that the NUM-
ber OF supervisory and unskilled EN-
ployes in proportion to the skilled forea
has largely increased I'm recent Years,
and he has been directed to make care
ful investigation into this subject
do Not Neglect "A Had Cold
Never allow a cold to take its course
Too often, at this season Of the year Its
course Is toward pneumonia Chamber
lain's Cough Remedy will promptly cure
your cold and connteract any tendency