Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-03
GOVERNMENT BINOERY OUTPUT
EFFECT OF USING LABoR-SAv-
ING MACHINERY.
Assistant Foreman Meier Says That
product Is Greater and Work
Turned Out Is as Good.

Mr.. Julian +. Meier first assistant
foreman of the government printing Of
flee bindery. says regaId ding the criticisms
upon Mr.. Frank foreman of binding. on
account of his report to Mr.. Tawney,
chairman of the House appropriations
committee, regarding increased output
with Il smaller force:
You may say for me that there are
certain facts in connection with the report
of Mr.. Frank that. in justice both to the
public and the printing office. should
become public information, revealing
facts why this amount of work has been
done.
ment division. with which 1 have been
directly connected we will cite for in
stance, the casemaking machine. by
which practically all the cases are now
made. The daily average production of
large editions these machines has
been in the. past 200 cases A day. re-
quiring two men TO each machine, which
would average loo cases day per man.
During the present fiscal year this sys-
tenn has been changed and instead of
having two men to A machine. only one
man is required. producing $500 cases
per day. being an approximate increase
for each operator of 100 per cent. or
more Plainly speaking. the office is
La
per day as formerly.
Another instance worth considering.
and which is a great saving in time. is
the cas1ng-in machine. In previous years
the output of these machines was 2.4OO
books every eight hours, or an average of
4S0 per man day. requiring five men
to operate the machine-that is. one man
to carry and arrange the books for the
machine, one man to feed and one man
to receive the work when coming from
fuyn mo- tn hoY in
press. AT the present time only four
men are required to each machine, each
machine turning out completely cased
3 500 books each day, or an average of
nearly 800 books a day per man.
These machines are now producing a
fair proportion of work as compared
with outside establishments, being an
increase of IS per cent in 1903 over
previous years.
1T has been the custom in the govern
ment bindery for many years to work on
what has been known as a task, a
stint, binder being required to do so
much in a given time: this method has
always proven unsatisfactory, as in many
instances certain work was given out
for an eight-hour task, it would be per-
formed in five hours and in many cases
completed in four hours. AT the same
time the workman was required to con-
sumo the full eight hours according to
law, and consequently would have to re-
main idle during me balance of the time.
In the event of bookbinder exceeding
the limit set by the biookbinders organ
izatiOn. then in a great measure DOM
inant in the office, the workman would be
fined anywhere from so to $25 in this
way, and the output Of the office was
greatly interfered with on account Of
this. At the present time there is no
task imposed, employees being required
to work full eight hours. and not re-
quired to do a certain amount as for
merly.
Another feature which has been dis
continued is allowing bOOkbinders to per-
form any kind of manual work, such as
wrapping. etc. Previously when work
became slack bookbinders were put to
wrapping, thus increasing the overhead
charges, SO much complained of. Many
other features of employing skilled labor
to perform unskilled work could be cited
along these lines. 50
Prior to July 1. 1901, a division of the
bindery known as the folding room
was a separate and distinct division, COM
ing directly under the supervision of the
public printer, the foreman of binding
having no authority over it at all. This
has been changed so that all the branch
es. or subdivisions of binding, are con-
centrated under one head, thus in a great
measure expediting the work. AS an in
stance I might mention the binding Of
newspapers. of which thousands are
bound. Preparation of newspapers re-
Quires considerable time. In the govern
ment printing Office this work had been
done by men at 30 cents an hour, con-
Stunning four hours to each paper. at a
cost of S. This has also been changed.
Girls now prepare the papers. and COM
plete two papers day at a cost Of 81
each This innovation has decreased the
cost about % per cent and equally in
creased the output.
Mr. Meier denied the statement that
the work has deteriorated. and claimed
that the quality of the work had greatly
improved.