The Washington herald., 1906-11-23
Cost of Administrn1ion.

As 10 the cost or administration. Mr.
Sullings points TO the fact that the appro-
+ priation allowed by Congress for the pub
lc printing for the current fiscal year
Fyas $4,000. or as he says. about $4,000
/ per month. He says ne has tried TO save
on this. and his expenditure sheet shows
T that n round figures he spent in July
$4,000: in August. S34s.o00; in September.
S42019. and ia October. $4,000 He ex-
plains the large expenditure in October by
saying that he knew leather was going up
in price. ana so purchased enough to run
/ the department for some time
He points to an economy in buying cloth
for bookbinding. He found. he SAYS that
under the old contract system the depart
ment was paying more for book cloth
than il could be bought for in the open
market. He says: Not only that; the
specifications under the contract called
for roll that was some yards short Of
the rolls bought in the open market.
recently purchased $4,000 worth Of book
cloth on which. considering the extra
yards on the rolls, the per cent discount
which 1 got of for payment within thirty
days, a thing common enough to the
trade, but not before allowed to the gov
ernment, I saved the government at least
$2,G00 on the order.
Energetic and FOrcefuI.
Mr.. SuIlings impresses one as being an
energetic and rather forcefuI man. but
hardly the type of cool-headed business
genius needed as executive officer over
4.oo0 individuals. He was born in Boston
April 20. 1871, and was educated in his
home town in the public schools. He
learned printing in his fathers office, and
when his fathers business was merged
into the firm of the Grfiths-SuIlings
Press he became general manager In
1903 he came to Washington and became
manager of the Printers Board of Trade
here. He was also secretary Of the Ty-
pothetae of Washington. He was made
secretary of the Printers Board of Trade
of New York, and retained this office
until appointed to his present Office by
President Roosevelt He is a Scottish
Rite Mason. In April 1895, he was mar
ried 10 Miss Anna Mari Rau. of Harpers
Ferry. and a month of two ago a son
was born to him. When he was being
considered for the Office of Public Printer
he secured letters of Endorsement to the
President from many of the leading
printing firms in the country-frOm the
De Winnie Press, New York; Houghton
Mitnin < Co, Boston: The StanhOpe
Press. Boston, The Crane Printing Co,
Washington. and many others, and he
was personally indorsed by Curtis Guild,
governor OF Massachusetts.
Printery Thoroughly stirred.
The charges of all sorts. both serious
and petty, that have been hurled at him
within the last few weeks are the best
indication that there has been such a
stirring up in the Public Printing Office
that there is now a marked feeling of
unrest: a feeling certainly not conducive
to the best interests of the government
service. Some of the charges are made
by employees at present in the service.
some of them come from men who have
been dismissed, for one cause or. another
(some of them say no cause at aID by
Mr. Stillngs. They include charges
against the Public Printers capacity.
against his morals, and against his So
briefly. For his part, MIR. Stgniugs denies
them all, and declares that though he
used 10 like d good sparkling bottle OF
wine he has not been a drinking man
since he took Office
He thinks that the announcement that
he is going TO demand a commission of in
quiry as soon as Congress meets will have
the effect of quieting the unrest in the
days.