(Witness: Ashion.)

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir. A 700-page book would cost about 16 cents in good cloth, and 75 cents in sheep for the binding.

The CHAIRMAN. And what would the cloth binding cost in the same manner and with the same lettering?

Mr. ASHION. Do you want the cost of the printing and paper? The CHAIRMAN. Just give us the cost of the binding, if it costs more or less.

Mr. ASHION. With that amount of lettering it would cost 22 cents. The CHAIRMAN. The actual cost to the Government. Does it cost the Government more or less to bind a volume like this [exhibiting] in the same number and the same quality of work in sheep or cloth? Mr. ASHION. It costs more in sheep than in cloth.

The CHAIRMAN. How much more?

Mr. ASHION. A 700-page book in cloth 22 cents, and in sheep 75 cents, making a difference of 53 cents.

The CHAIRMAN (interrupting). What would you charge to bind that in cloth?

Mr. ASHION. Twenty-two cents.

The CHAIRMAN. You say you "charge." charge." Is it the policy of the Public Printer to keep an account with the various Departments and you keep the books for the purpose of ascertaining the cost of printing in the various Departments?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir. If you desire, I will give you some facts and figures. I will send them to you and quote the prices on binding. The CHAIRMAN. I would be glad to have you do so.

66

When you say charge." is your charge based upon the actual cost to the Public Printer for doing the work?

Mr. ASHION. We add a certain percentage to the flat cost. We add 20 per cent in the bindery.

The CHAIRMAN. Is the flat cost intended to be the actual cost to the Government in the Printing Office?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir; with the 20 per cent added in the bindery. The CHAIRMAN. What is the 20 per cent added for?

Mr. ASHION. For the clerk hire, laborers, and wear and tear of machinery.

The CHAIRMAN. And that is estimated to cover the real cost?
Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

Mr. SAMUEL. Do you estimate the cost of storage in that?
Mr. ASHION. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What we would like to have you do is to prepare a statement, taking a typical volume of reports or documents ranging anywhere from 500 to 700 pages, so that we may be able to see the difference in cost between the three bindings, assuming them all to be good, and perhaps the best of their character-that is, sheep, cloth, and buckram.

Mr. ASHION. And morocco?

The CHAIRMAN. We do not care anything about morocco. Documents are not ordinarily bound in morocco. Unless specially ordered, you do not bind them in morocco as a rule?

Mr. ASHION. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. When you bind them for public distribution, you bind them either in sheep or cloth?

(Witness: Ashion.)

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir. The Members' reserve are bound in half

morocco.

The CHAIRMAN. But those are not for general public distribution? Mr. ASHION. No, sir; only for Senators and Members.

The CHAIRMAN. For instance, there are over 500 copies of the Report on the Expenditures of the Department of Agriculture bound by the Public Printer for Congress. Those would be bound, unless otherwise ordered, in either sheep or cloth?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. We would like to have you give us a detailed statement of the cost of those several kinds of bindings, assuming that the same kind of work is done in each instance so far as lettering and putting the volume together is concerned. What we want to get at is to see just what it costs to send out a certain book in sheep and what it would cost to bind the same book in the same way in cloth or buckram.

Mr. ASHION. In the manufacturing of the several kinds of binding different methods are pursued.

Sheep binding is sewed by hand, forwarded by hand, and finished by hand, which makes it the most durable, most artistic, and most costly, and would cost for a 700-page book 75 cents per volume.

Buckram comes next, and is manufactured exclusively by machine. The difference between buckram and cloth is only in the cost of the outside cover, and would cost 24 cents per volume.

Cloth comes next, and is bound exclusively by machine, and would cost 22 cents per volume.

In each instance the prices quoted are for large lots and for an equal amount of lettering on each style of binding, and for binding only.

The CHAIRMAN. What has been your business before in the Government Printing Office?

Mr. ASHION. I was in the bindery. I formerly had charge of a department in it.

The CHAIRMAN. How long have you been there?

Mr. ASHION. Fourteen years.

The CHAIRMAN. Then you have had practical experience so as to be able to state the relative durability of the several kinds of binding. Which will last the longest, assuming that the work done in each case is the same?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir; sheep lasts the best, and buckram is better than cloth.

The CHAIRMAN. How does cloth last?

Mr. ASHION. Cloth does not last nearly as long as sheep. Sheep binding is the strongest.

The CHAIRMAN. Does the cloth deteriorate as fast or faster than the sheep?

Mr. ASHION. Faster.

The CHAIRMAN. Sheep gradually rots on the shelves?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir; in time, but the method used in manufacturing the book insures longer life than buckram or cloth.

The CHAIRMAN. About how long will cloth last?
Mr. ASHION. It all depends upon how you handle it.

23848-07—5

(Witness: Ashion.)

The CHAIRMAN. Take books that are not subject to much use and are handled only very occasionally?

Mr. ASHION. They last indefinitely. The Public Printer submitted some samples to Secretary Wilson of the Agricultural Department for a book formerly lettered in gold, of which they print 500,000 copies, lettered in aluminum, and with his authority we changed the lettering from gold to aluminum and made a saving of $6,000 on that one item. You have probably noticed that the Congressional Directory is lettered in aluminum. The new edition will be out to-day. That change to aluminum saved over $275 on the edition.

The CHAIRMAN. That made a saving of $6,000 on the publications of the Agricultural Department?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And if applied to all the Departments of the Government there would be a very handsome saving?

Mr. ASHION. There would.

The CHAIRMAN. Does your Department, unless otherwise instructed, make the lettering in aluminum wherever it is appropriate? Mr. ASHION. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Is this aluminum lettering durable?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir; it lasts as long as the book.
The CHAIRMAN. And it is just as good as the gold?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any reason why it should not be used? Mr. ASHION. No, sir. The Secretary of Agriculture agreed to use aluminum. Have you an agricultural report here?

The CHAIRMAN. No. This is a good illustration. Are we to understand that unless otherwise ordered the Printing Office proposes hereafter to use aluminum lettering instead of gold?

Mr. ASHION. Wherever we possibly can, if the heads of the Departments will agree to it.

The CHAIRMAN. Are you having any difficulty in introducing the aluminum lettering?

Mr. ASHION. We have only gone to a few Departments.

The CHAIRMAN. So far as you have gone the Departments have very cheerfully concurred in the proposition, as I understand it? Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. We will let you know when the committee meets again, but you get the facts and material for us so that we can put it right in as a part of your statement.

Mr. ASHION. When do you want it?

The CHAIRMAN. As soon as you can conveniently supply it. We are very much obliged to you.

(Witness: Ashion.)

COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN THE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

The committee this day met.

Tuesday, January 15, 1907.

Present: Messrs. Littlefield (chairman), Samuel, and Flood. ADDITIONAL STATEMENT OF MR. H. F. ASHION, ASSISTANT INSPECTOR AND FOREMAN OF BINDING, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Ashion, have you the information that you were to get?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Please state what the facts are?

Mr. ASHION. I have two books as a basis to go by, books used in the Department of Agriculture. This [exhibiting book] is the Secretary's report for 1905, where we substituted aluminum leaf for gold, on an edition of 360,000, and made a saving of over $6,000.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the difference in cost between the respective bindings to which you call attention?

Mr. ASHION. In cloth we charge 60 cents for that volume [indicating]; that includes the book as it is-printing, lithographing, paper, and everything-a fraction over 60 cents.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you charge for the same volume bound in the same way, with the same quality of workmanship, in law sheep?

Mr. ASHION. $1.21.

The CHAIRMAN. That is 61 cents extra for the law sheep binding? Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir; the sheep binding is mostly hand work. The CHAIRMAN. How many volumes are bound annually in the Government Printing Office—that is, approximately?

Mr. ASHION. Of the different kinds?

The CHAIRMAN. Of all public documents bound by the Printing Office.

Mr. ASHION. In the sheep binding we average about 595 copies of every Congressional document.

The CHAIRMAN. What would be the aggregate amount, approximately, of volumes that are bound in law sheep, as a matter of course, in accordance with your general practice?

Mr. ASHION. We bind 595 copies of every Congressional document. The CHAIRMAN. I mean the aggregate amount of work done by the Printing Office for all departments-all public documents and everything.

Mr. ASHION. That is a pretty big proposition. I would have to get the last report of the Public Printer and refer to that.

The CHAIRMAN. Could you give us an approximation of the number of volumes that are annually bound in law sheep?

Mr. ASHION. About 250,000.

The CHAIRMAN. And if those volumes thus bound in law sheep were bound in cloth it would be a saving to the Government of something like $150,000?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Are they bound in law sheep by virtue of any provision of law or is that a matter of discretion with the Printing Office?

(Witness: Ashion.)

Mr. ASHION. They are only bound in accordance with law. The reports of the Department of Agriculture, like the one you have there, are all bound in cloth, and, by law, they are entitled to so many sheepbound copies, which are the reserve.

The CHAIRMAN. They are entitled to so many sheep-bound copies, but does the law make it imperative upon the Public Printer to bind them in law sheep?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, the law requires books to be bound in law sheep, whether or no?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir; the reserve.

The CHAIRMAN. So that the Public Printer, who has charge in the last analysis of the work, has no discretion, as you understand it? Mr. ASHION. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. He could not change the binding from law sheep to cloth and save this $150,000 a year?

Mr. ASHION. No. sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Because the law requires the work to be done in law sheep?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Will you be kind enough to furnish the committee. with a copy of the law that makes that requirement, so it can be added as a part of your examination?

Mr. ASHION. Yes, sir. It is as follows:

SEC. 24. There shall be reserved by the Public Printer from the quota of each Member of Congress and Delegate one copy of the Congressional Record in unstitched form, to be delivered to each Member or Delegate; and there shall be furnished to each standing committee of Congress one copy, which copies for Members and committees shall be bound promptly in paper when each semimonthly index shall be issued, and shall be delivered without delay.

SEC. 54. Whenever any document or report shall be ordered printed by Congress, such order to print shall signify the "usual number" of copies for binding and distribution among those entitled to receive them. No greater number shall be printed unless ordered by either House, or as hereinafter provided. When a special number of a document or report is ordered printed, the usual number shall also be printed, unless already ordered. The usual number of documents and reports shall be one thousand six hundred and eighty-two copies, which shall be distributed as follows:

Of the House documents and reports, unbound.--To the Senate document room, one hundred and fifty copies; to the office of the Secretary of the Senate, ten copies; to the House document room, four hundred and twenty copies; to the Clerk's office of the House, ten copies.

Of the Senate documents and reports, unbound.-To the Senate document room, two hundred and twenty copies; office of the Secretary of the Senate, ten copies; to the House document room, three hundred and sixty copies; to the Clerk's office of the House, ten copies.

That of the number printed, the Public Printer shall bind one thousand and eighty-two copies, which shall be distributed as follows:

Of the House documents and reports, bound.-To the Senate library, fifteen copies; to the Library of Congress, two copies, and fifty additional copies for foreign exchanges; to the House library, fifteen copies; to the superintendent of documents, five hundred copies, for distribution to the State and Territorial libraries and designated depositories.