Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-26
REFORM IN G.P.O.
PROVIDED BY BILL
An Annual Saving of $3.50, 900
Expected if the Measure
Becomes Law.
MAKES CASH ALLOWANCE
FOR PUBLIC DOCUMENTS
Senators and Representatives Would
Not Be Furnished With Un-
wanted Publications,

g.
erning the government printing office
which 1t is claimed will result in an an
nual saving to the government Of $3.50, 600.
is receiving careful consideration by both
the Senate and House committees on
printing. That II will be favorably re-
ported by the committees, possibly at the
present session. and that 1t will be passed
by Congress and become a law at the
next regular session was a prediction
made today by members Of the Senate
committee
The bill, which is Identical with the
bill reported favorably to the House al
the last session. and which failed only
because Of lack of time to consider II
there. was introduced in the Senate at the
present session by Senator Smoot OF
Utah. 1t differs very little from the
Smoot bill which passed the Senate last
session. and Senator Smoot thought 1t ad-
visable to introduce the measure as
amended by the House committee instead
of reintroducing his original bill.
Chairmen Favor Bill.
Senator Fletcher of Florida, the pres.
ent chairman of the committee or
printing of the Senate. and chairman
Of the joint congressional committee or
printing, is strongly in favor OF the
bill and will do all in his power tc
bring about its passage, 1t was said to.
day. Representative Henry A. Barn.
hart of Indiana, chairman of the House
printing committee. who has reintro'
duced the bill In the House, is also
strongly in favor Of having 1t enacted
into law.
One Of the few changes In the bi as in
troduced this session from the measure
as it passed the Senate last SESSION IL
that in consolidating the offices of deputy
public printer and supervisor OF worA TIT
title which will be gwen this oftic al l.
supervisor Of work. and not deputy pub
lie printer. Also the bi.i pro ides now 70
the abol ton Of the folding rooms In bJti
the Senate and House. Tne bi, last ses
sion left 1t optional vita Senate am
House as to whether trey should abohs
their folding rooms. The aboiishmt mt o
these folding rooms at the Capitol 5u Id
ing, 1t is expected, will save thousands o
dollars to the government every year. l
will mean the concentrat on of the dissrf ?
uting of public docume nts in the govern
ment printing office. and will do ava!
with much duplication of work.
New Plan of Distribution.
Another big saving to the government
about by changing the method of distri-
button of public documents to members
Of Congress In the past the law has
provided that each member OF the Senate
and each member of the House shall have
furnished him certain number of every
public document printed at the govern.
ment expense, for distribution as he saw
fit to his constituents. member from
New York city was furnished with just
as many copies of a document on farm
ing as was the member from an agricul.
tural district in Kansas The consequence
was the New York member had no ust
for a large number of these documents
and they became mere waste paper, lit.
tering up the document rooms at the
Capitol
All this is to be changed and each
member of the Senate will be given q
credit Of $1,000 and each member of the
against the government printing office fot
public documents each year. In this
way each member will be able to select
just those documents for which he has
there are sOO,OuO obsolete public docu-
ments lying in the Senate document room
which must be disposed of as waste pa
per. Three years ago there was million
such documents in the House document
room.
Larger Committee Powers.
The powers Of the joint congressional
committee on printing over the printing
Office are broadened In the p: opposed new
law 1t will be authorized to go into the
printing Office and make any inyestiga-
ton 1t desires at any time. without fur
ther authority from Congress
The bill is a non-partisan measure and
has little. II any. opposition in either
branch Of Congress. The pressmen at the
government printing Office it Is true, a.e
asking for an increase in wages of from
So cents to o cents an hour, and the bill
provides 30 cents. They were given an
increase OF from so cents to 55 cents an
hour through the appropriation bill for
the printing Office last year.
A reorganization of the printing ONCE.
abolishing many superfiuous positions,
many Of them minor ones, is con-
templated in the bill. The power of the
public printer to create new positions and
fix salaries on the mechanical side of
the office is to be limited also. At pres
ent he is empowered to create any posi-
tion he wishes and to pay as high a
salary as he sees fit, taking 1t out of the
lump appropriation Of $6,OOO,OOO made for
the printing Office.
If the bill becomes a law the public
printer will not be permitted to fix any
salary higher than $3.50. Congress will