The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-03-13
The Federal Waste of Paper
Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Seattle Post-Intelligencer) The special committee of the House of Represen tatives which charged with the duty of Investigating wastefu of paper by the agencies of the Fedora the end objective of curtailing suct waste-had an unusually interesting and enlightenine session the other day
 The committee had before it as an exhibit new page book recently published by the census bureau the subject of which was thus described by Rep Clarence J. Brown member of the committed:
 Tt tells us that fertility among women moving from cities to rural areas increases while that of women moving from the rural to cities declines. It is not disclosed how much paper went into the publishing of this book, but it must have been con- siderable quantty-because the cost of publishing the book was two million dollars.
 If the committee is looking for an example of wasteful use of paper-which is such scarce com- modity in the United States that the publishers of books and magazines and newspapers are operating under drastic policy of curtailment and are having difficulty operating at all-it seems to have found one.
 "It is outrageous" said Representative Brown, that the government of the United States should be wasting paper and the peoples money during wartime on thing like that"
 This incident takes the public memory back nearly three yearsto October in 1922 in fact when Director Elmer Davis of the Office of War Information under took to divest the Federal Government of it's mon essential international activities"
 There had been at that time most startling instance of government expenditure TOT WaSteIul purpose-an instance quite as ludicruous and out rageous the current publication of The Fertility of Women
 The Government Printing Office in Washington had turned out in considerable volume and at sub stantial cost 123-page illustrated book on The Origin Myth of Acoma dndans) and Other Records |"
 This obviously great and inexcusable waste of paper and money by the government.
 So Director Davis made very determined effort to eliminate such glarng abuse of Federal power, and he was most sincere about it.
 He actually did abolish reduce some 532 gov ernment publications because they were nonessential international activities"
 Now after nearly three years, the government is still using great quantities of paper and spend ing millions of dollars of public money on book of the general character of international activities
 Obviously Director Davis did not get any place with his earnest and sincere but futile effort.
 Apparently the special house committee charged with investigation of the continuing and increasing waste of paper is not getting any place
 The Federal Government is going right on vast ing the nations vital sockpiles- principally to please and promote the vanites of the agencies involved and to provide employment for and meet the payrolls of their top-heavy staffs.
 The Federal Government plainly does not care how far this evil practice leads the free press of Amerca-essential and indispensable to all the free dom of the people-along the road of curtailment and suspension.
 The Federal Government in fact, at least in some of it's most influential parts, seemingly wants to force curtament and suspension of the free Am- ercan press-which it is steadily attempting to ac- complish by such the committee of Congress has brought to light.