Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-02
LARGE SUPPLY OF Junk"
PUBLIC DOCUMENTS FOR WHICH
THERE WAS NO USE.
Congress Cut Off the Source and
Caused Reduction of Enl-
ployes at G. P. o.

1.-THE recent reduction in the force at the
government printing office should not be
difficult to understand. nor will it excite
criticism of the public printer any one
else when the facts are understood" said
Victor L. Ricketts, when asked yesterday
evening his opinion of the reasons for It.
Two years ago Congress was confronted
with rapid increase in the appropriations
for public printing and binding The APP
preparations had grown from 5000 $50 in
1895 to 81 100000. and the figures We're still
climbing. These appropriations had doubled
in period OF ten years following the en-
actment OF the general printing law of
1895 and the innumerable amendments
which supplemented It, Waste and eX-
travagance were apparent to every one in
Congress. and the President even called at
tention to 1t IN his annual message
Mr. Ricketts, is secretary of the printing
investigation commission. This commission
was appointed two years ago. and is iden-
teal in its membership with the joint COM
mittee on printing. Senator Patt is chair
man of the commission and Representative
Charles B. Lands is chairman OF the sub
committee conducting the investigation.
Albert II. Howe. clerk of the Senate COM
mittee, and Mr. Ricketts,. who was then
clerk of the House committee. were directed
to dig out the details OF 1.-The system re-
dug. They dug deep and successfully. and
on the results of their explorations the
commission formulated and presented to
Congress recommendations calculated to
stop the waste.
Amount of Useless Material.
You may be surprised, Congress
was" said Mr. Ricketts,. when / tell you
that a careful computation by competent
engineers showed that there were stored in
the basement of the Capitol, in the old gov
eminent printing office, in the Maltby
building. in the old carbarns and two rented
warehouses more than 800 tons of docu-
ments and reports-enough to All a freight
train more than three miles long or supply
a cargo to a big ocean liner.
In addition to its own storage capacity,
the government is paying s13. 500 per year
in rentals. large proportion of these
documents are obsolete-many were obso-
lete within a year after their publication.
Under the authority given the joint COM
mittee on printing in the new legislation
that committee cut off nearly a million vol
umes this year of the congressional print
ing alone. and in this the committee only
touched the Surplus-the waste which was
piling up in warehouses to rot. 1t cost
the government millions of dollars for labor
and material, and not only the labor but
the material have served no useful purpose
Reduction in Expense.
labor was given to this surplus production
that the product of their labor, as well as
the material, are now mere waste. They
neither made the law nor created the 'sys-
tenn and 1 am certain that the joint COM
mittee on printing, as well as the public
printer, has the keenest sympathy for every
one whose employment ceases with the
change in methods. The printing appro-
priations, due to these reforms and the
efforts of the public printer, are about
two million dollars less than they would
have been If the growth had continued.
Naturally, this means reduction in pay
rolls and in paper bills; the other course
meant more warehouses and more junk
One of the problems on which Mr.. Rick
etts Is engaged. and which the commits
sion expects to take up next winter is the
emptying of the warehouses and store
rooms and the disposition of the accumu-
lated surplus This will require additional
legislation, as no one has the authority to
GiSnoSa Of If