Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-03

promptly pick the power press frpfn ths
hand press bills. and he ana sever an, "
The printers looked them over careAuns'
And he asked the witnesses that "e'e
heard many questions abosA them.
Members of the printig oCHnmittle eA-
asnined each of the bills In oetail, anu
some OF them remarked that they AL
look alike to me-" And they asked ques-
lions about the circumstances OK pIan..
ing the notes off the power presses ~
was plainly evident that they attaciTu
much Importance to the exhibit III the
mower press notes cannot be detectec
from the hand press ones, II is contehaeu,
there is no reason why power pesoCs
should not supersede the hano pfeoses ~
the bureau and bring about the annua,
saving estimated at more tnan *o"'o'''
year
Could Not Tell One From Another.
William c. Mckinney. chief of the print
ing division, was the first witness anu
Director Ralph began his duties as pros
ecutor'' or as the active champion OF tue
power presses by putting questions 70
him He was shown the fifteen dollar
b;I,s and asked 10 pick out the five that
were nrinted in his presence oy po"ei
rress He looked them over carefuhy.
..I wouldn't attempt to pick out which
is which, he told the coTnmlttee.
He was asked if he had examined anu
,onnparcd the work executed oy Tue Po~oi
presses and the hand presses, a &c -.
an affirmative reply he was asked ne
would issue the power press notes 10 'iie
public. .erbosa
notes printed by the power presses With
remarkably wen doiie, eohp
hand press notes. -
Ue described generally the circum-
STANCES under which forty bliis We're
printed on power presses 10 u., ta n nai5
thcir efficiency for that work. ana He SUI"
dcH a
I'm your Judgment as a practlcdl piate
nrinter are those bills printed by power
presses more easily countef1eiteu .'a..
those printed on hand presses? senator
No SIR Mr. Mckinney replied Ihose
notes are as difficult to counterfeit as INC
hand press bills.
Wants Other Thirty-Five Produced.
When Attorney Ralston took up the
e.ross-examination he wanted 10 hho"
what had become of the other LII ~
i've of the notes printed on the po"ei
press at the same time as the nVe pio-
duced in the batch of fifteen. Direo'oi
SRalph volunteered the in1ornd1ioh q
~. wsre i'm the keeping of Frank E.
E'ereuson. assistant director OF the ou-
roam. and would be accounted 1or ia.e,,
Attorney Raiston wanted them produe-
ed at once. ... .,at would
no unfair" suggested Director raiph'
.suntiI proper use has been maoe VI TIC
five in this lot of fifteen Gould
eff all the forty We're mere we coui ,
determine the fair average % s sI,r-
of mower presses" Attorney Raistoh sus-
gested. o,,o,- for
con a new job, We always allow 1or
spoilage." Director Ralph added.
THAT seems an ADMISSION .rent :, ra.
other thirty-fve are not perfect re.
marked senator Smith of Maryland. III
doesn't seem that five out OF forty Is
fair average. 200
LET us have legislation to PRINT Sv,
600 or 1OOOOOO sheets on power presses
and we will stand on the average, III
rector Ralph protested. c..
Ar the suggestion of Senator Smoot
the committee did not order the other
thirty-five notes produced at this time.
improvements in Power Presses.
In ,he course of the cross-examination
Attorney Ralston brought forth the ad-
mission from Witness Mckinney that he
had opposed the substitution of power
presses for hand presses about twenty
five years ago. but the witness commended
that many improvements in. the power
presses have been made during that. time.
Attorney Ralston did get an admission
that a first-class man working with hand
presses can produce better notes than the
+ power presses. But In response to a.
further question by Senator SmOot the
witness stated that the power press work
equaled that of the ordinary plate printer.
printer
When the fact was brought out that
tobacco and liquor stamps, which used
TO be printed by hand presses. were now
printed on power presses Attorney Rails
ton called for specimens of the stamps.
and tried to get the witness to admit che
designs had been simplified when the use
OF the power presses was begun. But the
witness commended that while many of the
designs were changed. some were made
more complicated, while others were SIM
plified.
Charles Randall. foreman of the power
press room for the past eighteen years
and a practical plate printer for thirty
five years, was the next witness. He
was the man who prepared the power
press upon which We're p inted the spect-
men bills; and he said no special prepa-
rations We're made. except to make the
necessary adjustments, to put on the nee
essary blankets and to put ink In the
fountain. The work took him about
twenty minutes
After the bills had been printed, he
said, he examined them and compared
their quality with notes printed on hand
presses.
They were very good: I was surprised
they were so good he said.
Did you favor this job"
NO. indeed.'
Work as Good as Hand Presses.
He was asked a general question as &c
the efficiency OF power presses asains,
hand presses in printing bills.
II am satisfied that the power presses
can print work as good as four-ffftbs q,
the work that is HOW done by hand
presses" he said.
DO you mean that one-fifth of the
work now done is INFERIOR Dtrecto,
Ralph quickly asked him.