DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Hon. REED SMOOT, Chairman Joint Committee on Printing, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR: Section 11 of the Public Act No. 314, Sixty fifth Congress, approved March 1, 1919, rrovides that printing, binding, etc., shall be done at the Government Printing Office except such classes of work as shall be deemed by the Joint Committee on Printing to be urgent or necessary to have done elsewhere than in the District of Columbia for the exclusive use of any field service outside of said District.' in connection with the movement by this department to detect and prosecute persons violating the so-called food control act, approved August 10, 1917, and the amendment thereof now being considered by Congress, it has become necessary for the department to furnish to the Food Administrators in the several States and their assistants, who are aiding the department in this movement, a considerable quantity of stationery, such as letterheads, franked envelopes, and other similar printed matter, which under ordinary circumstances it is required to have printed at the Government Printing Office in this city. Numerous requests for printed stationery have been received from the agencies at work for the department in this matter. In the present emergency the Food Administrators in the several States and their assistants, are rendering an essentially important service to the Government in this movement, and the inability of the department to meet this sudden and unexpected call upon its present normal supply of printed stationery and the protracted delay involved in having this printing done at the Government Printing Office in this city (a month or more), and then forwarded to the persons needing it, presents a serious obstacle which is already impeding its activities in the enforcement of the food control act. In this exigency, 1 respectfully request that authority be granted to the department by your committee to have the necessary printing done elsewhere than in the District of Columbia, under competitive bids when the emergency and other conditions will permit. Respectfully, A. MITCHELL PALMER, PENITENTIARIES. Hon. REED SMOOT, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D. C., September 16, 1919. Chairman Joint Committee on Printing, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR: Your circular of July 24, 1919 (Regulations No. 4) calls for the discontinuance, after October 1, of all journals, magazines, periodicals, and other similar publications, which have not been excepted by your committee. There has been printed in the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, Ga., printing office, for some years, a monthly paper for the prisoners, known as Good Words," and in the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kans., a weekly paper for the prisoners, known as the "Leavenworth New Era." These papers have not been excepted by your committee from the operation of the act. Both are printed in the penitentiary printing offices, and while the circulation outside the prison is small it extends to all parts of the United States. Your committee has also failed to exempt from the operation of the act the printing and binding for the United States penitentiaries which has always been done in the printing and binding offices attached to those penitentiaries, and in which a number of convicts learn the printing and binding trade. The annual appropriation acts for the maintenance of these prisons appropriates funds for the maintenance of the printing offices, and at the Leavenworth prison, the salary of a civilian foreman printer is provided. The work has been done in these offices for the penitentiaries at cost of materials alone, To require it to be done at the Government Printing Office will increase the cost many times over, deprive the prisoners of this work, and result in considerable delay in obtaining the work. In some instances, time is the very essence of a printing order, as, for example: A prisoner escapes, a reward must be offered, gotten out, and given wide circulation, and unless this is done the same day the escape takes place, it would be practically useless to get out the circular. The situation with regard to the penitentiary printing offices and the prison papers are set forth in a communication of May 17, 1919, addressed by the chief clerk of the Department of Justice to the Public Printer, and it is assumed that the Public Printer, in turn, gave the information to your committee. Unless your committe will make an exception in these cases, the civilian printer will have to be discharged, and the printing and binding offices closed up for the reason that there will be no work for them to do. It will be necessary also to increase the appropriations for these institutions because of the added cost of having all this work done at the Government Print ing Office. The department asks that your committee take up this matter as soon as possible, and advise whether exceptions will be made in these cases. Respectfully, WM. L. FRIERSON, Assistant Attorney General. (For the Attorney General.) CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, The honorable the ATTORNEY GENERAL, Washington. DEAR MR. Attorney GeneraL: I am in receipt of your letter of September 16 requesting authority from the Joint Committee of Printing for the continuance of periodicals published at the United States penitentiaries and for authority to continue certain printing at the prisons. The committee on September 19 adopted a resolution authorizing the continuance of all periodicals that were existing on July 1, 1919, under certain regulations, a copy of which will be forwarded to your office within a day or two. By its Regulations No. 4 the committee also authorized the continuance of all field service printing and binding as are necessarily part of any authorized vocational training. See paragraph 3 of Regulations No. 4, inclosed therewith. It was thought that this would meet the situation in the penitentiaries. If not, I would be glad if you so advised me. Your attention is invited to the fact that the penitentiaries have not submitted reports in regard to their periodicals and printing plants as called for by previous regulations of the committee. The letter which your chief clerk addressed to the Public Printer under date of May 17, 1919, has not been forwarded to this committee. Respectfully, yours, REED SMOOT, Chairman. OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Hon. REED SMOOT, Chairman Joint Committee on Printing, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR: Referring to the last paragraph of your letter of the 22d instant, I take pleasure in sending you herewith a copy of a letter of May 17, addressed to the Public Printer by the chief clerk in reply to his letter of March 14, with reference to the provisions of the act of March 1, 1919, Public No. 314. The information requested in the other paragraphs of your letter will be given in a separate communication. Very truly, yours, The PUBLIC PRINTER, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. SIR: I have your letter of March 14, 1919, and in reply beg to advise you as follows: Information covering the first provision of section 11 of Public Act No. 314, Sixtyfifth Congress, approved March 1, 1919, accompanies this letter and is arranged on separate pages numbered 2 to 15. Information as to the second provision of section 11 of Public Act No. 314, Sixtyfifth Congress, approved March 1, 1919. The following would indicate the extent of the printing in the various judicial districts throughout the country, based upon the expenses in previous years, as stated in the list. Estimated cost of printing briefs, transcripts on appeal, record books, informations and indictments, journals and court calendars. (Based on expenditures for fiscal year 1918, $6,610.31.) Supreme Court, United States. Salaries and expenses of clerks of United States district courts. Protection of interests of United States in customs matters... (Based on expenditures for fiscal year 1918, $1,893.38.) Enforcement of antitrust........... (Based on expenditures for fiscal year 1918, $1,016.68.) Protecting interests of United States in suits affecting Pacific railways..... $3,300 4,000 1,500 1,500 It is the unanimous opinion of the Assistant Attorneys General that it would be impracticable to cause the printing of briefs and other matters listed above at the Government Printing Office in Washington, the time for the preparation of briefs in most cases being too limited to permit such a course, and they unitedly recommend that the requirement that all work be done at the Government Printing Office be modified so as to permit the printing of briefs and records and matters of a kindred nature in the locality of the respective courts wherein the cases are being heard. The act approved February 26, 1919, Public No. 282, Sixty-fifth Congress, removes the clerks of the United States district courts from a fee basis to a salary basis and requires that all fees earned by their offices be deposited in the Treasury of the United States. This will necessitate an additional appropriation from Congress of a sum sufficient to cover the amounts heretofore paid from the appropriations "Miscellaneous expenses of United States courts" or from the emoluments of the clerks' offices. As near as we can determine, this will amount to a total of $32,292.40, of which it is anticipated that perhaps $10,000 or $12,000 will be needed for supplies from the Government Printing Office in the nature of forms, dockets, letterheads, etc., which will, to that extent, increase the work of your office. The three United States penitentiaries-Leavenworth, Atlanta, and McNeil Islandin addition to the publications referred to in the separate pages numbered 12 and 13, have more or less printing to be done. The work for McNeil Island is done at the Leavenworth Penitentiary, as is also the work of printing certain blanks for the Atlanta Penitentiary, the latter approximating a cost of $50 per annum. The printing at Atlanta consists of blank books, letterheads, forms for prison use, etc., and is done at the cost of materials only. The work is done by the prisoners of the institution, keeps them employed, and costs much less than it could be done at the Government Printing Office, and it is recommended that they be permitted to continue this work. The cost at the Leavenworth Penitentiary for work of this kind was $4,607.31 for materials and the upkeep of machinery, and $1,050 as salary of a foreman printer. The cost at Atlanta Penitentiary for materials averages $726.28. The cost at Atlanta Penitentiary for blank books averages $235.80. Respectfully, C. E. STEWART, Chief Clerk. BUREAU OF ENGRAVING. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: In an emergency, in connection with the food hoarding investigation, in the western district of New York, United States Attorney Stephan T. Lockwood caused to be printed 1,000 copies of price list report form, size 8 by 13, without first securing authority from the honorable committee. Bids were obtained on the open market as follows: F. G. Millar, Buffalo, N. Y., $10.55. Churchill Letter Co., Buffalo, N. Y., $10.35. The lowest bid was accepted and the work done by the Churchill Letter Co. In view of this emergency, it is respectfully requested that authority be granted to pay this expenditure from the appropriation "Detection and prosecution of crimes, 1920." Yours, very truly, FRANK BURKE, Assistant Director and Chief. CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND CHIEF, Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, October 20, 1919. Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: In accordance with the statement contained in your letter of October 18, 1919, you are hereby authorized to have printed elsewhere than at the Government Printing Office, 1,000 copies of price list report form in connection with the food-hoarding investigation in the western district of New York, the same to be charged to the appropriation for "Detection and prosecution of crimes, 1920." Respectfully, REED SMOOT, Chairman. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, The JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: Authority is respectfully requested to have printed elsewhere than at the Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., for use of the Federal Food Administrator in the city of New York the following items: 1,000 letterheads, bond paper; 1,000 No. 10 envelopes; 1,000 No. 634 envelopes. This in an emergency. FRANK BURKE, Assistant Director and Chief. CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND CHIEF, BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: In compliance with your request of October 29, 1919, authority is hereby given to have the following printing done elsewhere than at the Government Printing Office for the emergency use of the Federal Food Administrator of New York City: 1,000 letter heads, bond paper; 1,000 No. 10 envelopes; 1,000 No. 634 envelopes. It is suggested, however, that such printing should in the future be done at the Government Printing Office. Respectfully, REED SMOOT, Chairman. |