Annual Report of the Public Printer
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER 1926 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON D. C. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE Public Printer.—GEORGE H. CARTER, Iowa Deputy Public Printer.—John Greene, Massachusetts. Production Manager.—Ellwood S. Moorhead, Pennsylvania. Assistant to Public Printer.—Miss Mary A. Tate, Tennessee. Chief Clerk.—Henry H. Wright, New York. Assistant Chief Clerk.—J. Thomas Ford, New York. Superintendent of Accounts and Budget Officer.—James K. Wallace, Ohio. Assistant Superintendent of Accounts.—Frank E. Buckland, Indiana. Purchasing Agent.—Ernest E. Emerson, Maryland. Assistant Purchasing Agent.—William J. Cassiday, District of Columbia. Superintendent of Documents.—Alton P. Tisdel, Ohio. Assistant Superintendent of Documents.—Miss Josephine G. Adams, District of Columbix. Superintendent of Planning.—William A. Mitchell, North Carolina. Assistant Superintendent of Planning.—Robert W. Summers, New York. Storekeeper and Traffic Manager.—William H. Kervin, New York. Assistant Storekeeper.—GEORGE Lamb, Pennsylvania. Medical and Sanitary Officer.—Dr. Daniel P. Bush, Nebraska. Assistant Medical and Sanitary Officer.—Dr. John F. Atkinson,. Indiana. Chief of Tests.—Edward O. Reed, District of Columbia. Disbursing Clerk.—Edward J. Wilver, Pennsylvania. Instructor of Apprentices.—BuRR G. Williams, Iowa. Congressional Record Clerk.—William A. Smith, District of Columbia. Superintendent of Printing.—Henry W. Weber, Indiana. Assistant Superintendent of Printing.—Maurice H. Phillips, Ohio. Foreman Linotype Section,—William D. Skeen, Pennsylvania. Foreman Monotype Section.—William H. Chase, Maryland. Foreman Proof Section.—Marion E. Bullock, Maryland. Foreman Hand Section.—Hugh Reid, Wisconsin. Foreman Job Section.—Allan C. Clough, New Hampshire. Foreman Patents Section.—Charles Garrels, Illinois. Foreman Library Printing Branch.—James H. Heslet, Kansas. Chief Type Machinist.—Daniel L. Liddle, Michigan. Superintendent of Presswork.—Bert E. Bair, Michigan. Assistant Superintendent of Presswork.—Daniel Beckwith, New Hampshire. Foreman Main Pressroom.—Daniel I. Leane, New York. Foreman Job Pressroom.—James E. Veatch, New York. Foreman Postal Card Section.—Joseph A. Fenton, Michigan. Foreman Money Order Section.—John A. Massey, Jr., Georgia. Superintendent of Binding.—Martin R. Speelman, Missouri. Assistant Superintendent of Binding.—John A. Patterson, New York. Foreman Pamphlet Binding Section.—Charles J. Orem, Maryland. Foreman Ruling and Sewing Section.—Walter H. Oliver, Maine. Foreman Library Binding Branch.—Charles F. Weston, Massachusetts. Superintendent of Platemaking.—Edward G. Whall, Massachusetts. Assistant Superintendent of Platemaking.—Edward A. Kerr, Massachusetts. Foreman Molding Section.—James H. Babcock, Jr., Rhode Island. Foreman Photo-engraving Section.—William H. Meyer, Maryland. Night Assistant Production Manager.—Edward A. HusE, Massachusetts. Assistant Superintendent Presswork, night.—John D. Meyers, Ohio. Foreman Monotype Section, night.—William A. Morris, Missouri. Foreman Linotype Section, night.—Harry L. Murray, Pennsylvania. Foreman Proof Section, night.—Hermann B. Barnhart, Indiana. Foreman Hand Section, night.—George O. Atkinson, Massachiisetts. Superintendent of Construction and Maintenance.—Alfred E. Hanson, Massachusetts. Chief Draftsman.—Henry A. Ludwig, Maryland. Chief Carpenter.—Abraam B. Batton, Maryland. Chief Machinist.—Michael J. McInerney, New York. Chief Electrician.—Edward H. Brian, District of Columbia. Chief Engineer.—Walter A. Browne, New Hampshire. Chief Pipefitter.—Ovilup H. George, New York. Construction Foreman.—Daniel W. Bruce, District of Columbia. Foreman Sanitary Section.—Joseph L. May, Virginia. Chief of Delivery.—Walter G. Copp, District of Columbia. Captain of Guards.—Charles H. Warner, District of Columbia. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER Go\TIRXMENT PkINTING OfFICE, Office of the Public Printer. Washington, D. G Decemler 31, 1926: To the Congress of the United States: In compliance with law I have the honor to submit the following report of the work of the Government Printing Office for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1926, and also for the last half of the calendar year 1926. On March 4, 1926, the Government Printing Office completed 65 years of continuous service as an independent establishment of the Government. Therefore it seems fitting to begin this report with a brief comparison of the present establishment with the plant pur- chased by Congress on March 4, 1861. The Government Printing Office was operated during the Civii War under the direction of John D. Defrees, whom President Lin- coln appointed as its first superintendent. The building acquired at that time had 59,292 square feet of floor space, as compared with 750,175 square feet in the present buildings. The original building^ equipment, and materials cost the Government $135,000. The pres- ent buildings, equipment, and materials are valued at fully $8,000,000. COMPARISOX WITH CIVIL WAR-TIME OFFICE During the Civil War the Government Printing Office had 350 employees. The number has now increased to 4,100, and during the World War there were 5,307 employees on the rolls. Wages and salaries paid to employees in 1861 amounted to approximately $170,000, while the pay roll for 1926 was about $7,660,000. The average wage for Government printers in 1861 was $14 a week, while to-day their weekly earnings are four times as much, with consider- ably shorter hours of work and vastly better conditions of emplo;^- ment. In 1861 the office had 26 printing presses, including only 3 cylinder presses. To-day, 180 presses are in operation, and of this number 30 are web and 104 cylinder presses. Two new presses recently installed to print the Congressional Eecord cost almost as much as was paid for the entire Government Printing Office in 1861. All of the type was set by hand compositors during the Civil War. while to-day 377 composing machines, including keyboards and casters, produce nearly 7,000,000 ems of type daily to supply the Government with printing. The bindery in 1861 was equipped with 1 : 2 Annual Report of the Public Printer four minor machines, while to-day 326 machines are used in the work of the bindery alone. Some of these machines cost more each than the entire amount paid for all the machinery in the Government Printing Office 65 years ago. Only one 60-horsepower boiler was required to operate and heat the Government Printing Office in 1861, as compared with 1,500 horsepower now necessary to furnish steam heat and electric power and light. A two-horse wagon delivered all the product of the office in those days, and now 30 big motor trucks are kept busy transporting the daily output. The total expenditures of the Government Printing Office in 1861 amounted to less than half a million dollars as compared with an expenditure of nearly $12,000,000 in 1926. Such has been the tremendous growth of the Government Print- ing Office in 65 years, until to-day it has become the greatest printing establishment in the world. Even now its capacity and equipment are not sufficient to meet the rapidly increasing. requirements of the United States Government. With the approval of Congress, plans are being prepared for an addition which will increase the floor space of the main building by about 160,000 square feet and cost" approximately $1,250,000. It is hoped to complete this much-needed structure within the next two years. CELEBRATION OF SIXTY-FIFTH ANXi\-EIlSARY The sixty-fifth anniversary of the Government Printing Office was fittingly celebrated in Harding Hall on March 4, 1926, at which time congratulatory addresses were delivered by Senator George H. Moses, chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing; Senator George Wharton Pepper, chairman of the Senate Committee on Printing; and Representative Edward M. Beers, chairman of the House Committee on Printing, of Congress. There were also pres- ent at the exercises, as guests of honor, Mrs. James A. Sample and Maj. Thomas Defrees, of Washington, the daughter and the son of Hon. John D. Defrees, who was the first superintendent of the Gov- ernment Printing Office. Sharing with them the honors of the occasion were the following employees, each of whom has had more than fifty years of service in the Government Printing Office : John S. Burnside, William A. Smith, Miss Amelia Moreno, and Miss Mary E. Speisser. President Coolidge, in a letter congratulating the Government Printing Office on its sixty-fifth anniversary, wrote the Public Printer as follows The White House, Washington. Fe'bruary 2S, 1926. * * * My Dear Mr. Carter : Starting in a small way in the adminis- tration of President Lincoln, your office has come to be one of the important factors in the quick dispatch of Government business. It is said to be not only one of the largest plants of its kind in the world but also one of the most efficient. Its personnel may well be proud to maintain that record. Please extend to them my greetings and best wishes. Most sincerely yours, Calvin Coolidge. Annual Report of the Public Printer EFFICIEXCT IXCREASED IX LAST SIX TEARS In view of the tremendous growth of the Government Printing- Office during the 65 years, it is gratifying to report that in the last six years the efficiency of employees has increased and the improve- ment of equipment has been greater than during any similar period of its historv. The value of the product for the six-vear period^ 1921-1926. was computed at S66.181.938.80, as compared with $58,161,481.47 for the six years 1915-1920, the greatest production record up to that time, including, as it did, the vast amount of extra work required during the World War. This increase of more than $8,000,000 iu/ the product was made with an average of 340 fewer employees than were on the rolls during the six years 1915-1920. Further evidence of the greater efficiency of the employees during the last six years is furnished by the notable record of the typesetting machine operators, whose hourly production averages increased from 3,782 ems for linotype operators and 4,835 ems for monotype key- board operators in 1921 to 4,559 and 6,265 ems, respectively, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1926.