Evening star., 1935-01-20
Congress Starts Presses Rolling Anew
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

It appeared early in the first session
Of the Seventy-fourth Congress, which
convened on January 3, that the de-
liberations would produce a record
printing job. Congress Is rather ia
nous for talking, but the instant
sitting bids fair to Guido any previous
ones. There seems to be more to say,
what with every sort of reconstruction
problem before the body. More than
that, there have been few Congresses
which began with so many entirely
new members, first-term members,
eager to air their views. With sea-
soned veterans and with strong party
discipline, talk is held to a minimum
and the legislative machinery grinds
swiftly and silently. This year there
are fewer seasoned veterans and less
party discipline, so the public printer
| of the United States is expecting an
unusual volume of work.
The talk of Congressman becomes
the printing task of the Government
Printing Office. Primarily, this means
the debates on the floors Of the houses
Of Congress which constitute the Con-
gressional Record. Secondarily. it
means much more. Members desire
reprints Of their speeches. They in
troduce innumerable bills which must
be printed. They call for many re-
ports which are printed. The voice Of
| a Congressman evokes a vast sea of
printers ink.
The last sitting of Congress was a
short session. 1t ended by limitation
on March with the death of the
Seventy-third Congress. This year
there is no such limitation. 1t is
wholly possible for the session to- last
right on through the Spring and
| Summer. To be sure, the session was
a month late in starting, the Norris
lame duck amendment postponing the
date for convening from the first
Monday in December to January 3.
But the session can go on and on.
During the last session there was
a deal Of talk. Knowing that the
March 4 expiration date had TO be
| met, the members talked fast. There
were 139 issues of the Congressional
Record printed and the daily aver
age was 94ls pages. With one ex-
| ception, this was the highest daily
average ever attained and the issue
Of June 16, with one previous ex-
ception, was the largest single issue
ever published. This one issue con-
tanned 302 pages and required 23l2
tons Of paper for the initial printing
Deluge Of Bills Expected.
In the last session the Senate, al
though less than one-fourth as nu-
merous a body as the House. did the
more talking. Senators filled 5,504
| pages with their remarks, while Rep
resentatives filled but 4,874. One
reason for this is that the House
maintains a far more strict cloture
on debate than the Senate. In
| addition, there were 2,732 pages of
appendix which included extensions
| of remarks of members made on the
floor, but amplified later with amen
/ dations and exhibits. All this con-
sumed approximately 1000 tons OF
paper.
Some idea of what this means in the
way Of manufacturing may be gained
from the public printers statement
that more than $4,000 curved stereo-
type plates for the rotary presses were
required for the Record, with an ad-
ditional 1,124 for the bi-weekly index.
Duplicate plates for necessary press
combination changes were required to
the number of 5000, the whole max
| ing a daily average of just a fraction
over lis plates for the session.