Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-13
CAS- told to william p. Helm, jr.I

The co-ordinating activities of the
Government. undertaken through the
Budget Bureau, soon extended into
MANY fields. One of the first studies
concerned the Governments printing,
a shining target.
An amazing situation was uncovered
at the Government Printing once.
This condition, resulting in the annual
loss Of hundreds of thousands of dol
lars, was due to nobody's negligence
or laxneSs. On the contrary, the head
OF the office. George H: Carter, one OF
the brainieSt most efficient men in
Federal service, deplored conditions, but
was powerleSs TO remedy them.
Every branch of the Government
having any printing, and that meant
all of them. was absolute boss of this
printing. The trained men at the
Printing Office had no say about size
of publication, style Of type, quality Of
paper or number OF copies. Through
years of precedent 1t had become firmly
established that the Printing Office had
only one function, to do printing as
ordered.
Waste almost incalculable resulted.
Printing jobs ranged in the size of sta
tionery from folders as large as double
newspaper sheet down to a few square
inches. Sizes of pamphlets were fixed
by their authors and others in the de-
partmentS wholly without regard to
waste incurred in cutting from raw
paper. Tens of thousands Of bulletins
and pamphlets were ordered printed
where much smaller editions would
have been ample. The excess lay for
| years. on the shelves, unused.
Authors of bulletins and other publi-
cations, finding it much easier to cor
rect manuscripts from galley proofs
than in original typewriter copies, in
dulged this lazy habit until authors
corrections alone sometimes cost hun
dreds Of thousands a year. And there
were almost as many kinds of letter.
heads and forms as there were bureaus.
A Leak at the BunghOle.
Here was leak at the bunghole call
| ing for immediate attention. Immediate
attention it got. A permanent confer
ence on printing was organized with
Mr.. Carter its head. It was composed
! of representatives of every department.
! Standard sizes of Government publ
cations were prescribed to At paper
! stock with least possible waste authors
corrections were abolished except when
made in the original manuscript or
under extreme necessity; wasteful is
| Suance of publications was cut and
! omieS gradually made have run into
| millions.
There still is much to do. Authors
corrections continue to cost great
deal, even under the new order. My
memorandum book shows the cost of
this item from 1921 to 1927, inclusive,
exceeded $l,500,000 other items, too,
cost more than they should. But not
what they used to. A great deal of
! oil NJ
| Carriers Craftsmanship. Tangible, meas
urable savings amounting to more than
| $487000 were reported by the Govern
ment Printing Office during the fiscal
year 1928
/ The permanent conference on print
! ing did away with gold leaf for emboss-
/ ing names on bound publications. using
durable. cheaper substitute. It per-
suaded cabinet officials they should
have certain publications of wide dis
tribution set in smaller type. One such
! change. as I recall it. saved more than
| 100000 on one year book The work
became standardized and the Govern
ment Printing Office one of the most
| efficient and most economically admin
! istered plants, public or private, in the
world.
Post Office Department Savings.
The example thus set has been worth
many dollars to the Treasury in spur
ring other governmental agencies to dc
! likewise. In the Post Office Department
there has been established commit
tee of employees who work out econo-
mics in the huge number of printed
forms used The Post Office Depart
ment is the greatest user Of printed
forms in Government service. They are
many and varied. So were the styles
and sizes. But not now.
That committee is on the job. AL
printing has to clear through it. II
constantly revises forms in the interest
of economy. A slight revision of the
form used in making application fol
Post Office money orders was made, and
the saving was more than $4,000 fol
| the year. The committee has saved the
Post Office Department many thou
! sands of dollars.
/ ~ r. nut It anothar NOV tho noro