The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-01-07
to the senators on the census COM
mittee. This letter reads as follows.
"The amendment proposed to the


"The amendment proposed to the
census bill by the senate committee
on census, giving to subordinate
officer of the government the power
when, in his opinion the printing
and binding are not produced in a
manner satisfactory to him to con-
tract with private parties for over a
million dollars worth of printing and
remove the work from the government
establishment, is a most unusual and
far-reaching provision, evincing a
confidence in the judgment, skill, and
understanding of single individual,
himself not printer or, binder, that
has never before been equaled.
"The government printing office is
matchless in its superior facilities for
handling with facility and unap-
proachable expedition printing for the
government, especially work of the
character required by the census Of
flee, the ratio of capacity being as 1862
to 20-the latter being the number
of tabular machines in the next-best
equipped printing Office in the United
States.
Exceeds Private Shops.
"In the composition of textual, or
straight matter, the Office has more
than four times the number of slug
casting machines possessed by any
other job or bcok-printing office in
this country.
The cost of paper stock, binders
cloths and feathers, machinery, inks,
oils and other materials entering into
the production of printing is no great
er to- the government printing Office
than to commercial printers. There
fore, any reduction in the cost of COM
pleted work must come out of the
wage scale of the workmen.
The commercial printer must ex-
act a charge sufficient to cover in.
surance, taxes, and profit, three ele-
ments not present in the government
printing Office charge. the public
printer being required to furnish the
public printing at cost. The elements
of cost in the government printing
office consist of light, labor and ma
terial only.
THE quality of the printing done
at the government printing office is
the highest of it's class, and is ac-
knowledged by master printers every
where to be in the best form known
TO the art; in fact, is a standard or
guide for publishers throughout the
country"
1t is understood that the senate
committee was pretty evenly divid d
as to the advisability If adopting this
amendment. Out of the seven mem
oers OF the committee who were pres
ent. four voted in favor of the amend
ment and three against it. 1t is un-
derstood that those favoring it were
Senators Hale, Bailey. McCumber and
Ialiaferro; opposed to it were Sem
ators McEnery, Hopkins and LaFol-
lette. Senator Long, chairman of the
committee, was absent at the time.
Senator McCumber last night said
saat tie amendment had been adopted
by the committee after listening care
fully to evidence on the subject at
the hearings. 1t was brought out that
the government printing office had
been far behind the scheduled time
set for publishing former census,
1t was also said that the estimates
submitted by the public printer for
such work were in excess of esti-
mates submitted by private firms.
In order that the census should be
printed on time and that the work
should cost the government as little
as possible, it was decided that the
! director Of the census should have
the power to have the census, or such
part of 1t as he thought necessary
printed in Offices other than the gov.
ernment printing office.