CHAPTER LIII.
PUBLIC PRINTING.
1. Among the Institutions of the government is that heading this chapter. The amount of printing required to be done for Congress, the various branches of the government, and for the benefit of the people, is very great indeed. All the proceedings of both Houses of Congress as recorded by the secretaries are required to be printed under authority; since many copies are required by the members and for general purposes. All the laws are printed in great numbers for circulation among the many millions interested; and when a bill is proposed it requires to be printed for the use of the several hundred members who need it for examination and study, although it often never becomes a law.
2. The President’s Messages, and all the reports of heads of departments and bureaus; the reports and commissions of army and navy officers, of investigating committees, of various superintendents, agents, and government employees, and many other things are printed, sometimes only for use of Congress; sometimes for extensive circulation. Thus it is easily seen that the government printing is a heavy expense, and a very large part is indispensable; though many believe that a judicious selection of documents and a careful study as to the number of some of them printed might largely reduce the expense, without injury to the public welfare. We do not wish to pay for the printing of documents that are never read. It is a waste of the people’s money; yet, we must not forget that it is of the utmost importance that the people should become intimately acquainted with all the affairs of the government. Perhaps Congress is sometimes wiser than the people, and that many documents are wisely printed, and unwisely left unread by those most interested. Economy and intelligence are to be equally regarded.
3. Until 1860, the government hired men to do this work, and a printer was employed by each house of Congress. But great complaints were made of the enormous expense to which the country was subjected in this item of its expenditures; and at the date named, Congress passed an act establishing a government printing office, to be under the direction of a superintendent of public printing. The sum of $150,000 was appropriated for the purchase of necessary buildings, machinery, and materials for the purpose. By the provisions of the act it was made the superintendent’s duty to overlook all the public printing and binding, not only of Congress, but of all the departments, and of the United States courts; to purchase all necessary materials and to employ all the workmen required. And that Congress may know how the establishment is conducted and at what expense, the superintendent is required to report to Congress at the commencement of every session, the work done, the number of hands employed, and the exact state and condition of the establishment. He is prohibited from paying more for work done in this office than is given for the same services in private printing offices in Washington.
4. The superintendent is also charged with the duty of procuring all blank books, maps, drawings, diagrams, views, and charts, which may be ordered by Congress, or by the heads of departments and bureaus. But the superintendent himself is not left to act always as he may think proper, for in many cases he must have the approval of the joint committee on printing of both Houses of Congress.
5. This is a very proper effort to curtail expenses. It remains to be seen how successful it may be. The constant watchful oversight of the Sovereign People can alone succeed in keeping all things in due order. When the representatives of the people become careless and wasteful the admonition of the people is never without its effect.
CHAPTER LIV.
THE SIGNAL SERVICE.
1. The present organization of this institution dates from the beginning of the civil war, and was originally purely military in its aims and purposes. It is still conducted by the War Department, and partly for its own purposes; but its value to agricultural and commercial interests is constantly becoming more apparent and more extensive, and will probably, in the end, so overshadow its military relations as to reduce them to a very subordinate place in importance. The civil uses of this service are based on the science of meteorology, which is largely occupied with weather changes, the origin, progress, and laws of Storms. Its value to the people consists in its accurate prediction of changes in the weather, and the warning it is able to give, sometimes many hours or even days in advance, of dangerous storms. Its estimate of weather probabilities, based on observations reported daily from prominent points covering the whole country, are published in all the daily papers, usually found accurate, and are of great value to certain classes of the people. When a storm threatens to endanger the safety of shipping a signal is displayed in the port to give warning, and much property and many lives are often saved. It makes an accurate and scientific study of the weather and all the laws controlling its changes, by a large corps of enlightened and trained observers, all whose facts, constantly reported, systematized, and studied by competent persons, are likely to produce, in time, a most important and useful body of knowledge on that subject.