New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-01-23
pERLLc PRINTING REFORMS.

President Roosevelt has taken a decisive step
toward remedying abuses in public printing. His
recommendations go TO the root of the mlsman-
agement and extravaganza which have char
acterized the governments work as publisher.
The cost Of that work has been doubling every
five or ten years; but no material public advan-
tage has resulted from these vast increases in
expenditure. The volume of the governments
output has been greatly swollen; but it's value
TO the nation has been in no way enhanced.
Mass, not quality, has been the goal aimed at;
and perhaps half the product Of the big printing
house in Washington has fallen stillborn from
the press, responding to no discOverable demand
and distributable through no recognized chan
nels Restricting output 10 the normal limits Of
circulation was an idea which did not figure in
the calculations of the Public Printer; nor did
any special sense of obligation to possible read
ers halt the compilers of ponderous and sleep
compelling documents. The author the type
setter and the proofreader-these three were
the audience, fit though few. which the average
report reached and was contented with reaching.
The President proposes to change all this. In
approving the suggestions Of the Keep report on
exravagances in the public printing Office, he
lays down the rule that there must be hereafter
competent supervision of the matter offered for
printing and proper limitation of documentary
issues TO actual public needs The Tribune has
often contended that the great fault of the pres
ent system was its utter lack of intelligent cen
tralized control-the control Of a competent
editor or board OF editors This defect is TO be
cured by the selection, under the Presidents
orders, of an advisory committee on printing,
which is to pass on the eligibility of the matter
offered for publication and TO reject the re-
dundant and unessentIal Such a committee
would prevent the burdening Of departmental
reports with trivialities and repeutions and the
publication Of masses of correspondence entire,
when the same purpose would be served by ex-
tracts or cOndensauOns. 1t would also check
the duplication Of statistical matter and the
saddling Of reports OF ten or twenty pages with
appendices-often reprnts-running into hun
dreds Of pages. An editorial board Of this sort,
working in the proper spirit, could transform
the character Of our documentary output, make
it responsive TO public wants and public in
terest, and justify on educational grounds alone,
the maintenance Of our great public printing
establishment
Besides instituting an editorial commission,
the President lays down stringent rules to
govern In the preparation Of the annual depart
mental reports. These reports, he holds, should
be concise reviews Of work done and work con-
templared, not vague and vast attempts to con-
tribute 10 the sum total of human knowledge
Under the new regulations the annual reports
OF the various departments and bureaus should
be reduced at least a third in bulk and the ex-
clusion Of expensive illustrations might reduce
the cost by at least a half. We spent for public
printing in 1904 a little more than 100000 In
1900 the expenditure for this service was S49O5.-
SSl. Had no halt been called the total by 1910
would probably have reached 100000. The
Presidents reforms will affect the printing bills
Of the executive departments only, and Congress
must cooperate in looping off printing abuses
If the governments publishing methods are to be
thoroughly reformed. But an excellent start has
been made, and with aid from the two houses
the annual expenditure for printing ought TO
fall within a year or two below S5,OOOOOO