The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-05-15

whether the Census reports should be
printed at the government printing
office or by private contract, together
with the preparations now being maze
at the former place for printing the
millions OF blanks which VIII DO re-
quired in the great decenniai stock
taking OF the nation serve to remind
the public that Uncle sam III a great
publisher Not only II he q great pub
Usher, but he IL by far the greatest
publisher In the world. He starts out
with a printing and binding account OF
more than $4,000. 900. Then he has
such vast corps.of authors that his
manuscripts are conservatively csti-
mated to cost him s14,o00,ooo more.
Uncle Sam. publisher. spends perhaps
10000. 900 year.
Does he turn out many books ns q
result of HIS activities7 II printing
from 500 to 1000 different kinds OF
books every year IL not q publishing
record. what 1T And then comes the
number Of each. The Yearbook Of the
Department of Agriculture starts the
list with half q million copies q year.
Each book weighs about three pounds.
One and half million pounds. seven
hundred and fifty tons. twenty-five
carloads--that Is what Uncle Sam gives
to his farmer friends as a starter. As
lie documents. the number of pieces
turned out annually Is 80 great that
even the much discussed audit system
kicked out unceremoniously by Presf-
dent Roosevelt, lost track OF the count
In 1907, however, there were 55,000,000
pieces turned out. with $4,000 pages of
type TO set
There are many items that might be
mentioned which will give some idea
- - ~. harx
ever. The waste paper sold last wear
brought $4,000, and waste paper at
the government printing office Is re-
duced to the lowest possible minimum.
Perhaps that twenty dollar goi9 piece
you gave away last Christmas came
from the government printing office as
part of its s4.555 worth Of waste gold
leaf ii sold TO the mint last year.
Even the leather scraps from the
bodybuilding department In year are
sold for more than $4,000. II takes
about $4,000 worth OF printers ink.
some 5000 pounds OF II In all. to 40
the printing. Enough gold leaf Is used
to pay for fine farm, and thread that
costs as much as o good six-roon city
home is required for sewing purposes
Even money spent on the ny end
waterbuE exterminator 10 as much as
would be needed to buy an ordinary
our-passenger touring car.
The paper used In Uncle Sans DIG
publishing business costs more man
q million dollars year. 100000 OF this
being used at the government printing
office proper. A quarter million dol
lars worth OF stock 10 always kept on
hand. The building ana equipment
where all these things are done on such
q huge scale Is commensurate with the
great work carried on. 1t IL Uncle
Sans boast that he has the finest
printing office In the world, and he can
reel off figures by the yard to show
that he is ready to make good against
all corners. He points out that In MS
new seven-story building he has nine
acres OF floor space, and six acres more
In the old building. He tells you that
the new building cost $2,bo0oo0 and
thaS the machinery put into 1t cost s5,-
500, 600. He values his whole plant at
sI6, 900, 900, and tells you that he hiss
a pay roll of $4,000 a day.
When he takes you through his big
print shop on q personally conducted
tour he has many things of interest 10
show. One room has seventy-nine Hno-
type machines init, the largest num-
Der in one office in the world. In an
other place are thaS melting pots, hold
ing fifteen tons of metal at time
In anotheRs roem -Ae shows presses
whose;g Combined output - more than
a million Impression every eight-hour
day. There are eighty-seven presses,
and there is not pulley or q belt IN
sight. Each machine Is operated by It's
own Individual motor. which lis placed
out of sight. They eat. up paper a.
the rate OF forty tons day and ink
at the rate of $50 pounds every eight
hours. The card press turns out half
n million cards printed on both sides
every day.
Getting down to the job office. the
visitor is again reminded that he Is
standing In the biggest place OF its
kind In the world. 1t turns out more
job work every day in the year than
the average plant turns out In a week
Leaving this place the visitor ts told
that the office of the public printer.
located on the same floor, Is the most
elegantly furnished office the govern
ment has And any one who has had
the opportunity to compare the public
printers office with that OF President
Taft's might think that Mr.. Taft's was
a backwoods law office In COMPARE
son.
Uncle Sam, publisher, has finished
some big jobs, but that monumental, IL
not highly useful work. the Rebellion
Records, with its 1913 volumes and
1900 page index. will perhaps remain
for generations to come the greatest
single undertaking in the printing line.
Think of 1t! over 100. 900 pages of his
tory dealing with one fiye-year periodi
1t required upwards of 10000 reains of
white paper, and more than 100000
600 ems of type to publish this great
work. The whole edition comprised
about o million and q half volumes.
1t is said that the finest piece of
work ITncIa Sam ever executed was the
History of the Capitol That 1t 10
fine book may be inferred from the
statement that although nothing is
charged for In its sale. but the bare
cost after the plates were made, Ii sells
for ten dollars volume. A great
many valuable works come from the
presses of Uncle Sans big printery.
but there is such an abundance OF chair
with the wheat that even the libraries
designated as repositories were sur
feIted with government documents.
perhaps the greatest need that Uncle
Sam as publisher has, is corps of
trained editors who are masters of the
art of blue penciling. An examination
Of the average public document re-
veals the fact that half OF Its contents
might have been cut out without the
loss of a single essential fact, and with,
the gain of an inestimable degree of
interest and serviceableness.
Not the least uninteresting part of
Uncle SANS big publishing business is
the work of the superintendent of
documents. To be able to sell that
which can be had for nothing is an I'M
usual accomplishment But the present
incumbent has been able to do that
very thing and to no Uncomfortable
extent His success has hinged on the
doctrine that advertising pays. That