Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-01-11
GOVERNMENTS Y
BOOK
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

WASHINGTON Jan. 11-If a Con-
gresham extends his remarks in the
| Congressional Record, and n the
Public Printer a speech containing
several poetic illusions to Shakes
peare, and if the same Congressman
absent-mindedly spells Shakespeare
three different way in the course of
his effusion, the Government Print
ing Office does not waste any time
wondering what to do.
And if a bureau official, writing a
report, capitalizes every word that
could possibly be capitalized by
stretching grammatical rules, the
Public Printer still maintains his
dignified poise.
Once, it is true, incidents of this
sort sor times led to situations,
| even to complications. Officials who
| considered their education assailed II
their style of writing was questioned
would solemnIy argue with the Print
ing Office for weeks over the plac-
inc of a comma or the compromising
Of a word.
But controversies about spelling,
punctuation, and capitals in govern
mental publications are over. For
nearly a year the Government Print
ing Office has been adhering strictly
to a hin red style book of its own
making and to a we'll known dc
tionary.
Before that the Printing Office
had a style book but it was not ac-
cepted universally by Government
officials as final authority. All OF
the Patent Office printing, for in
stance, until recently was done in a
peculiar, so-called l-.tent Office
style.
More than 20 years ago an official
of that bureau had a particular
fondness for a certain dictionary and
he insisted that alt-copy sent from
his office conform to the rules OF
hat dictionary. Twenty years pass
ed, and the official was dead, but
the Patent Office still chung to its
handed-down spelling. This made
trouble for the compositors n
proof readers at the Printing Office
because they had to remember all
of the exact Why's il which the Pat
eat Office style was d'fferent. Final
ly the Secretary of the Interior was
consulted, and he promptly decided
that the Patent Office should spell
and capitalize like other Government
bureaus.
Until the new style book appeared
the trouble was that each official
and Congressman was apt to regard
his COPY as exceptional and to want
it printed according to his taste. Re-
quests of this sort might seem slight,
but in reality they led to expense
and trouble.
A Rhetorical Representative
This can be seen from the case of
one Repru sentative who had been a
school teacher. When his speeches
we're set up to be printed and the
proofs were returned to him for cor
rection, he would through the
Pages inserting numerous p~unctua-
ton marks totally unnecessary to
clearness.
A grammatical expert at the
Printing Office explai- d this mys-
terious system to the puzzled opera
tors. A comma indicated g. slight
rhetorical pause. A semi-colon show
ed that here the speaker paused
longer for dramatic effect. A period
or dash indicated breathless sts-
pense. This rhetorical punctuation
was once widely used in printing
speeches. 1t is now a defunct prac'
tice, and not n person in a thous-
and would understand h reason fol
! so many commas ana uaSneS Ane
Government printers, however, hao
to reset entirely nearly half Of this
mans speeches because of the extra
punctuation.
Such incidents as this long age
showed the need for a single, fixed
style in a shop which is said to bt
the largest printing plant in th'
world. But bureau officials coult
never seem to compromise on theil
pet controversies.
Soon after the present Public
Printer, George H. Carter, took Of
flee, however, he theoretically tackl
ed the proposition Of making thu
Government style book a real Off
cial standard. A board OF revision
J vas formed of Printing Office off
Gals and some authorities from
other Government agencies. Fo.
/ more than a year this board met ant
discussed policies. It consulted will
scientific experts and dictionary edi
tors. It conducted research to b.
certain Of usages by best authori
) ties.
In one historic instance the boar
= set down a rule which would hav
made "mea1ybug" and fruitwogm'
each two words. The Department a