The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-15

The recent fight in congress as TO
whether the census reports should be
printed at the government printing office
or By private contract together with the
preparations now being made at the for-
mer place for printing the millions Of
blanks which viii De required N the sreat
decennial stOck-taking Of the nation, serve
10 remind the public that Uncle sam IS
4 great publisher. Not only is he great
publisher. but he Is by far the greatest
publisher in the world. He starts out with
a printing and binding account OF more
than S6,OJ0.090. Then he has such vast
corps OF authors that his manuscripts
are cOnservatively estimated to cost him
100000 more. Uncle Sam. pubhshvt,
spends perhaps so. O000 go a year.
Does he turn out many books as re-
suit Of his activitiesg If printing from
900 to loo different kinds Of books every
year is not a publishing record. what Isl
And then comes the number of each. The
Yearbook Of the department OF agI1cul-
/ ture starts the list with half a million
copies a year. Each book weighs about
three pounds One and a half million
pounds seven hundred and fifty tons,
twenty-five carlosds-that is what Uncle
sam gives to his farmer friends as
starter. As the birthplace of the millions
OF public documents. the number OF
pieces turned out annually IS so great thaI
even the much discussed audit system,
kicked out uncereuaoniously b. President
Roosevelt lost track Of the count. Ia
1897 however there were 100000 pieces
turned out. with 555ooO pages Of type to
set.
There are many items that might be
mentioned which viii give some IDEA OF
the Vastness of that number. however.
The waste paper sold last year brought
&l,G0. and waste paper at the govern
ment printing office is reduced TO the low
est possible minimum. Perhaps that TWEEN
ty dollar gold piece you gave away last
Christmas came from the government
printing office as a part Of its 1855 worth
of waste gold leaf it sold TO the mint
last year. Even the leather scraps from
the bOokbinding department in wear
are sold for more than 5000. Il takes
about $1,000 worth of printers ink. some
/ 5000 pounds Of it in ALL TO do the print
( Ing. Enough gold leaf is used 10 pay for
fine farm. and thread that costs as
much as a good siX-room city home IS
required for sewing purposes Even
money spent on the fly and waterbug eX-
I Termination IS as much as would be needed
/ to buy an ordinary four-passenger tour
/ ing car.
The paper used in Uncle Sans big
publishing business costs more than a
million dollars a year, 500 600 Of this being
used at the government printing office.
: A quarter OF million dollars worth OF
stock is always kept on hand The build
/ ing and equipment where all these things
I are done on such huge scale is com
I mensurate with the great work carried
/ on. It IS Uncle Sans boast that he has
/ the finest printing office in the world,
I to show that he is ready to make good
I against all Corners He points out that
/ in his new seven-story building he has
/ nine acres Of floor space and six acres
more in the old building. He tells you
Z that the new building cost $500, 600. and
that the machinery put into 1t cost $500,
coo. He values his whole plant at sl6-
Coo.00. and tells you that he has pay
/ roll of $4,000 a day.
/ When he takes you through his big
} print shop on a personally conducted
/ tour, he has many things Of interest to
/ show. one room has seventy-nine limo
/ type machines I'm it, the largest number in
| one office in the world. In another place
/ are the melting pots, holding fifteen tons
Of metal at a time. In another room ne
shows presses whose combined output is
I more than million Impressions every
/ eight-hour day. There are eighty-seven
/ presses, and there is not a pulley or d
/ belt in sight. Each machine is operated
/ by its own individual motor, which is
placed out of sight. They eat up paper
[ at the rate Of forty tons a day, and ink
! at the rate Of so pounds every eight
| hours The card presses turns out half
| a million cards printed on both sides
] every day.
Getting down to the job office, the Wis
[ itor is again reminded that he is stand
ing in the biggest place Of its kind in the
1 world. It turns out more job work every
I day in the year than the average plant
I turns out in a week. Leaving this place
/ the visitor is told that the office OF the
1 public printer, located on the same floor,
( is the most elegantly furnished office the
/ government has And any one who has
{ had the opportunity to compare the pub
1 lie printers office with that Of President
Z Tsfts might think that Mr.. Tafts was a
/ backvoods Law office in comparison.
/ Uncle Sam. publisher. has finished some
/ big jobs, but that monumental. if not
I highly useful work. the Rebellion Rec
/ Ords, with its 123 volumes and a .200-pa ge
index. will perhaps remain for generations