The Washington herald., 1908-02-16

A report from ". s. Rosslter. chief in
vestgator at the Government Printing
Office. scoring the methods OF charge es-
innate and billing under the sullings
regime and recommending a retroactive
return 10 the old charge scale. has been
sent To the President and approved.
Through the order Of the President yes
terday, the executive departments, from
which came the principal cry against the
Sullings regime because of the increased
cost of printing, will have their work
done on the charge scale in use prior 20
Of more than 100 per cent.
The ROssiteT recommendations. ap-
proved by the President and already in
effect, are as follows.
That the ITice Of composition. which for many
years established at % cents Per houf. AID
which. Oh November T. 1907. advanced 10 Sl3
PR hour for hand composition and Sls per boaW for
machine composition. he reduced 20 s. cents Ter
hour FOR band WaEk machine woTk 10 b. considered
tie basis ~ UlcceE0Ik the rate of 50 cents per
Leo ems. the other amt required iH charging
various classes Of wogk 20 Ietn 20 tie scale which
was iu force 20 November a. 1867. until such future
time as. sitter due notice to the departments. the
PBoc Printer may formulate a new sale Il pTices.
That this aeale Of charges shall he employed hg
roth the estimate clerks and the billing clerks.
That the resdflstFne1t q the -csle of prices q
/ the Government Printing Office shall take effect oa
February J. lss.
That uatIl sach time as in the Judgment of the
Public Printer the abolition, reduction. read
Wstment of the present system of Cost analysts os
considered advisable, sich system of c=t accounting
ahel be continued Tor Che purpose Of making annals -
/ 90 determine actual CCzt.
What Changes Accomplish.
/ Tie first Of these recommendations
means that the departments are no longer
going 10 be made to suffer deficits in
their printing funds because of an in
creased scale OF charges at the q. =. ..
I II means also that Mr. R0ssiter and the
other experts assisting him believe the
G. p. .. should carry any deficit brought
about through possibly too low charge
scale until the actual cost Of production
/ mas been positively ascertained and a
| uniform and satisfactory scale adopted.
The second paragraph refers 20 the
practice in operation at the printeTy Of
/ having the estimate clerks forecast the
cost Of piece OF work for q depart
+ ment on q certain basis. and. after the
! job is completed, having the billing clerks
make out a bill 10 the department in sc-
/ cordance with the time slips OF The
Audit System and oil other units that 80
+ 10 show the entire cost of producing the
/ piece of work. Through this method what
! a department expects 10 pay for q piece
Of work has been often 100 per cent less
/ than what il is actually charged.
Revision i'm Immediate Effect
The third recommendation. by its ap-
proval and adoption. means that this
months bills viii all be- made out on the
/ old charge scale
/ IN the final recommend stion, Mr.. ROs-
/ sitter merely reiterates what ne has stated
/ before-that until some better system Of
/ cost accounting can be substituted for the
/ clumsy methods taught by Tae Audit
/ System. il were well 10 keep the "sys-
/ tenn in operation some system of cost
/ accounting being absolutely necessary be
/ fore q satisfactory charge scale can be
/ worked out
/ Mir. RoSsiter supplemented his recon-
/ mendations with the following statement:
1T is the custom Of gerat manufactur-
! ing. concerns. which employ the most
/ progressive methods of accounting. 10
/ establish definite scale of prices. based
/ upon several years of observation. and
/ at the same time TO keep q daily record
( of cost accounting, in such detail as may
/ be feasible, in order that they may watch
and study the changes which necessarily
! occur In the cost OF production.
Customer Pays for Defects
IF they perceive a material and par
sisting INCREASE in cost which cannot be
remedied 10y reforms and economies in
administration. it then becomes necessary
/ for them 10 consider the reimbursement of
/ the scale of charges after due notice.
! Bat In ne case with which 7 am familiar
/ is the customer compelled TO pay for the
individual defects, shortcomings, or mis-
takes of workmen engaged upon par
/ ticular piece of work.
! This. however. is exactly what is done
at the present time in the Government
! Printing Office. ard IS one of the prin-
/ ctDaI causes OF he excessive charges
which are severely criticised by the ex-
I ecutive departments
THE departments are Untitled to Il uni
/ form scale and 10 the assurance that
such scale viii not be changed for def
/ mite period of time, in order that their
/ estimate of the appropriation required for
printing. necessarily made many months
! in advance of the date at which it be-
/ comes available. may be made with the
! certainty that there viii be no violent
changes in cost 10 subsequently embar-
rass them
BY the plan al present followed a
department has no assurance whatever
that a job produced and billed in January
could De duplicated al tie same price IN
ebruary. This results necessarily in irri-
tation and uncertainty.
Present System Absurd.
"The system now in operation is made
almost absurd by the fact that the esti-
mate clerks are making estimates upon
work by fixed units. which are modiioa-
tions of the former scale. but the hml
clerk finally makes up the bill upon the
basis Of the actual cost Of the job. in
fiUenoed by the individual proficiency Of
the employees, together with a host OF
other influences. such as the wisdom OF
using given press as compared with
another and various features of admins
trative judgment.
Officials who have charge Of execu-
tive department printing are thus COM
pletely at sea regarding every order for
printing they now send to this office"
The recommendations have received the
approval of the Joint Printing COMMITTEES
and the Acting Public Printer.