The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1916-09-07
The Congressional Record
By FREDERIC J. HASKlN

WASHINGTON, D. c., Aug. 29-
Among many other activities, Uncle
Sam is the most prolific publisher in the
world-an achievement which has been
thrust upon him by necessity rather
than built up by ambitious zeal. Every
day continuous flood of copy pOurs in
to his printing Office from all the govern
ment departments, covering every
imaginable subject from the gross con-
sistency of oleomargarlne to the relative
heat of the stars. From the capitol
comes an incessant stream of bills
small bills for the relief of John Smith
and Harry Jones; large bills for army
appropriations and shipping boards;
and intersperssd with these are huge
stacks of committee hearings requiring
immediate printing. AS if this were
not enough to keep four thousand people
busy, at midnight is rushed IN the copy
for the daily organ of Congress-the
Congressional Record.
1t is the Record more than ANYTHING
else, which best illustrates the marvel
lous efficiency of Uncle Sans printing
business. Although the copy is never
received until twelve o'clock and then
is often held up for correction, the Re-
cord must be off the presses and at the
Union Station to catch the mail at A.
M. Fortunately, the Union Station is
only block away and is connected with
the printing office by an underground
passage. Through this electric con-
veyors shoot the still warm copies of
the Record in mail bags from one build
ing to another, thus saving the usual
delay of local transportation. In addi-
ton to this, every possible time saving
factory device is employed to insure a
speed maximum. The fastest presses
are used and electric trucks carry the
Record in its various processes of manu-
facture from one part OF the building
to another. BY this system, combined
with the expert skill of its operatives,
the printing office turns out the thirty
two thousand copies of the Congress
sional Record every morning, ranging
from 80 to 128 page, on time every
morning.
Of these thirty-two thousand copies
each senator receives elghty-seven and
each representative tiftY-nine There
is list of 32l paid subscribers to which
it must be mailed daily, who pay for it
by the session eight dollars for long
session and four dollars for a short
session. This slim subscription list is
largely made up of business men
throughoutthec country who are interest
ed in certain Legislation. Besides these
two sources Of distribution, there is the
Congressional Record Office in Statuary
Hall at the Capitol where it is sold to
individuals at so much per page, but
these sales are usually slight unless
some particularly interesting speech or
debate is recorded, and DO not yield any
profit. 1t costs the government about
six hundred thousand dollars a year to
publish this newspaper, which makes
no provision for the reporters fees,
charged up to the expenses of Congress.
The congressional reporters are hired
by contract by Uncle Sam, seven being
detailed to each house. Any dav the
visitor to the Capitol may behold these
men, their bodies tense, their pens fly
ing as they take down in shorthand the
national proceedings. Each man works
until he gets tired, and then he is re-
lieved by the next in line, and so on
AS soon as he is finished, he hurries to
his office, which is in the Capitol. and
proceeds to make dictaphone records of
his notes, from which they are written
out by corps of typists. The reporter
then reads the proof Of the final copy
and if necessary, sends it to the office
of some member of Congress who de-
sires to make few corrections in his
remarks. At half-past eleven the last
page of the days proceedings is turned
over to the messengers of the printing
office and is delivered into the hands of
the copy editor in that building.
While no part of the check is changed
or cut out after it leaves the capitol,
unless specially requested, the govern
ment has its own style of punctuation
and spelling 10 which each document
and bulletin and report must conform.
From the hands of this copy editor,
then, the Record goes directly to the
linotype machines, of which there are
slxty-tour. where it is set into type by
Gee essssSsSss.,ss. s,gess,ss,sss zoe ssSsss