The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1914-01-06
GOVERNMENT HAS
WONDERFUL SHOP
Printing Establishment Of .. S. As
Near Perfection As Possible-Pay
Roll Is $1,000 Per Hour.
1000 PERSONS ARE EMPLOYED
All Are Members of Printers Union
Machinery Covers Sixteen Acres
of Ground-84 Linotypes.
From Congressman C. H. Tavenner

From Congressman C. H. Tavenner
Washington, JAN 6-The greatest
printer and publisher on the face Of
the earth is your Uncle Sam, Wash,
ington, D. C. There is no other
printing establishment in the WORLD
that equals the Government Printin e
Office AS newspaper man, it was
a treat to me to be assigned as a
member of the Joint Committee on
Printing. 1t has brought me in init
mate touch with this gigantic es-
tablishment of ink and types.
One never tires Of exploring the
vast building to find new marvels |
doubt if the machinery Of any other
industry has been brought to tho
stage of perfection that characterizes
modern printing machinery. Ger
tainly none is more intricate and
none has had the benefit Of such
q wealth Of inventive thought ap-
piled to it, Printing machinery does
everything but think, and some of
it seems to do that.
No visitor should ever leave Wash
ington without having explored the
Government Printing Office. Here
are to be found the highest improve
ments and the latest devices in the
instruments of the art preservative
Some of the machines in daily use
there have no counterpart in any
other printing office in the world
The gigantic gathering machine
was built especially for the G. P. 0.
This marvellous monster occupies the
entire end of floor. 1t collects in
proper order 48 "signatures' Tor
folder of 16 pages stitches them to-
gether, CLUES the back of the book
and pastes cover on it. The volumes
need only trimming under the huge
power knives of an adjacent machine
to be ready for delivery.
Fer wo,k done it can match any
establishment in the United States
for economy of operation. This is
due to the soldier-like morals
which Public Printer Ford insists
upon in the office 1t is true that
there are large wastes in connection
with the governments press work.
But this is due to the publication Of
many useless documents or useless
copies Of valuable documents. The
actual work Of printing is done on a
high plane of efficiency.
Think Of the vastness of the con-
Germ! A $16,O00,OO0 investment in
the printing office. Four thousand
employees continually at work. The
payroll averages about $1,000 an
hour. Working three shifts of eight
hours each. a day of "a hours costs
the government $4,000 in wages
alone
Every day an average of 35 tons
of paper is fed into the maws of the
plcSocS. LIE ~ pc WhlCu IldhcS III
impression in a day weighs 10000
pounds. In a year total of 63,OO0,-
600 copies Of everything published
from congressman speeches to CEN
sus reports-are turned out The
machinery covers 16 acres of floor
space. The battery of 1877 monotype
machines is by far the largest in the
world, and there is nothing in this
country to equal the regiment of "a
linotype machines, whose gathering
turns an entire floor into a bedlam.
And yet this vast establishment
under government operation moves
as TRANQUILITY as a country printing
shop, and far more efficiently. Union
men are employed. hours are humane
wages high, working conditions as
near perfect as they can be made
The Government Printing Office is
a great object lesson Of what Uncle
San can do when he turns his hand
to it.