Evening star., 1936-01-12
Capital SideIiglnts
By viii p. Kennedy.

The War Department feels that at
last it has 'an angel" in charge Of its
appropriation bill in the person of Rep
resentative Tilman B. Parks of Arkansas.
The bill this year, on which hearings
will be completed next Friday. far ex-
ceeds any regular annual appropriation
since the budget system was enacted
IS years ago. Representative Parks
father, Capt William P. Parks, was the
youngest commissioned officer in the
Confederate Army. Throughout his
entire life he has had a military back
ground. He and his father fought out
on paper and on the home farm all the
important engagements of the Civil War.
and by tireleSs research he has become
an outstanding authority on the War
Between the States. In political life for
35 years he has always given close atten-
ton to Army and national defense ques-
tions He has been member of the
subcommittee that drafted the last six
annual War Department appropriation
bills, and is now serving as chairman
for the second year.
To fit himself to discharge intelligently
and efficiently his responsibility for such
a diversified and large expenditure, he
has devoted many months to personal
contacts which gave him splendid
knowledge of the national defense needs
of the Nation. Last Summer he visited
the principal strategic areas-Panama,
Honolulu, the West Coast and the prin-
cipal border establishments. This per-
sonal inspection occupied him from July
% to September %.
With the air situation emphasized
right now, due TO the lag in supplying
airShipS; with motoriZation and mechanl-
zation programs scarcely launched and
much larger appropriations in the ofhng,
not only by specialized study, but by
actual flying experience, Mr.. Parks has
given himself to securing a practical
knowledge of the problems. One OF his
most trying flights was by Regular Army
and National Guard planes from Wash
ington to Santa Fe, under extremely un-
favorable flying conditions-to address
the National Guard convention.
Thus, Mr.. Parks has not only the
knowledge through which he can best
direct the expenditure of Federal millions
for building up and maintaining ade-
quate national defense, but he has
sympathetic appreciation of the services
panded to force Of 10000.
In the Government Printing Office.
with its 5,341 employees, there is school
for training apprentices in the various
branches of the printing trade, from
which 1894 have been graduated out OF
488 appointments-one of them young
woman. The trades in which they are
trained include-composition, platemak-
ing, presswork, bookbinding and machin-
ist. They are required to serve five
year apprenticeship period They re-
ceive also an academic course which in
cludes English grammar, history OF
printing, American literature, orthog-
raphy. mechanical drawing and esti-
mating.
A cooperative program to develop
more permanent bookbinding feathers for
public documents has been undertaken
by the Government Printing Office with
the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils OF
the Department of Agriculture and
group of expert American tanners. Ex-
perience has shown that real economy
dictates using for binding only feathers
of the highest quality-the cost OF the
leather is really a minor item. Research
has Showns that major cause OF the
rot of leather bindings is due to their
absorption of Sulphuric acid from the air.
Tests still in progress show that rottlng
of the leather can be greatly prevented
by a substitution of chrome-tanned and
combination vegetable chrome tanned
feathers in place of vegetable tanned
feathers; and by the development of
feathers containing protective agents
such as the natural non-tannings and
acid buffering and neutralizing chem
icals. These feathers are of different
type and character from those now
almost universally used for bookbinding.
Public Printer Giegengack points out
that lit is unfortunate that up to the
present time efforts to secure specially
made cowhide grain leather for trial in
place of the straight vegetable tanned
so-called 'American-Russia feathers
have not been successful. BY far, most
of the leather used for binding in the
G. P. o. is cowhide, or Russia, as it is
known in the trade. Renewed attempts
are, therefore, being made to interest
American tanners in developing suitable
full grain chrome or combination tanned
cowhide feathers for trial and test of their
suitability"