The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1910-09-22
FROM THE DEMoCRA-
TIC HANDBOOK.

mat depafLm6nB OF North CafO-
lina's affairs which is in Mr..
Shipman's charge, is from the
Democratic Hand Book, and is
well worth a careful reading.
Under the heading Depart
ment of Labor and Printing it
says:
Few instances illustrate better
the policy and practice of Demo
cratic principles than is shown in
the progress of the work Of the
Department Of Labor and Print
ing. Regardless of the labor in
volved, no opportunity for im5
provement in its services is allow
I'd to pass. until today, at a cost
o. administrator for its twofold
functions that is less than is al
lowed by other states for either of
these, it stands In the front rank,
both as to labor and industrial
statistics and to public printing.
Under the fusion administra-
ltion, a scandal arose in regard to
doing the work Of public printing,
for which a contract had been
made with a political favorite,
without proper safeguard as to
the performance of the work, and
as to its proper measurement, ETC.,
before payment of the printing &C
counts. After q large amount of
money had been improperly paid
for printing, the State Treasurer
instituted an action to recover it
for the state; but still a heavy loss
ensued from that bad manage
ment. Therefore, the following
Democratic legislature made an
enactment placing the public
printing out at contract, the work
to be done entirely nndAr the su-
pervision of the Commissioner of
Labor and Printing. Since that
time this work has been very sat-
isfactorily done. No better tes-
timonial can be wished than the
following from the Historical Com
mission:
This Department was estab-
lished by the Legislature in 1887
s the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
With an annual provision of only
$4,000, this work was necessarily
incomplete; yet even in its re-
stricted scope it was important
and valuable.
with the added duty of the
supervision of the States print
ing, however, the Department en-
tered upon a stage of intensely
practical activity. It's conduct
has been such as not only widely
to advertise and promotesthe adj
vantages and possibilities of the
State industrially, but also to re-
suit in an annual saving to the
State treasury of an amount of
money that at the least is double
the cost of maintenance.
Under the control of the Depart
ment al these matters are now
given to the careful scrutiny and
watehfuI control of an officer COM
petent and specially trained for
such duties. Before a single item
Iof printing expense is paid for by
the State, the account of the print
er is examined, accompanied by an
inspection of the work itself, by
a man who himself knows the
printing business. Every pound
of paper purchased is bought by
the State to fit the particular
need and is subject to the .deci-
sion, of the expert of the Depart
mentA himself, according to the
provisions Of the act, a practical
printer. The eye of the Depart
ment is constantly on every de-
tail of the large, growing, and
complex function of the admins
tration. That it is a work in
diligently performed and honest
ly safe-guarded is shown by the
fact that the printing of the
State is now done at a price
cheaper than that of any other
Commonwealth and at a stan
dard of excellence as high as can
be shown by any other State. "a
comparison of reports and public
documents issued by this and
other States is generally as favor
ably to the former in respect to
the quality of work as it is in re-
gard to the expense of doing it.