Machine Composition
Book Work
A Commercial Test Made
on a 16-Page Book Form
Set in 10 Point, 21 Picas and
Running to Over 16,000 Ems
On Original Setting, Correc-
tions, and Author's Changes
The Linotype Way
Beat
The Monotype Way
Hours Min.
In Time 14 4
In Money $16.35
250
Nº.


Details of Test
MADE BY
THE SOHLUETER PRINTING CO.
THE FEDERAL PRINTING CO.
N THIS booklet we present the results of
- | a test made during January, 1914, on the
setting, correcting, author's changes, and
making up of a 16-page book form ready for
the foundry.
The text used was taken from the first two chapters
of Paul Nathan's book, “How to Make Money in the
5
Printing Business,” and was set in 10 point Old Style,
21 picas wide.
The matter was produced on the Linotype in the
office of the Schlueter Printing Co., New York City, and
on the Monotype in the office of the Federal Printing
Co., New York City.
Neither office knew that the other was producing
the same work, but each office was asked to keep exact
time on every item of labor and to push the work
through as rapidly as possible in the regular course of
business.
The job was handled throughout by people regu-
larly employed in each office, but it may be stated that
the keyboard operator in the Federal Printing Com-
MARCH, 1914

pany is known as one of the fastest in New York, and
the caster man is equally efficient.
Typewritten copies of the text in exact duplicate
were given the operators in each office for the original
setting.
After the office corrections had been made in each
plant, duplicate proofs of the five galleys were marked
with identically the same author's changes.
In the Schlueter Printing Company these author's
changes were, of course, made on the Linotype.
In the Federal Printing Company the corrections
were made by hand at the case. This was done to prove
that the suggestion insistently made in monotype ad-
vertising matter and by monotype representatives, that
corrections should be made at the case, thus permitting
the machine “to keep itself busy” on new matter, is an
exceedingly costly one on the user, as compared to the
Linotype Way.
After the author's changes had been made by the
“hand” method, it was again tried out by the more
economical method of using the keyboard and caster
in connection with the run-overs, and then inserting
the new matter by hand. The results by this method
are shown on page 8.
Every figure reported by each concern in the de-
tailed summary of this work is vouched for by them
as correct.

The Actual Time Consumed in Producing the
Work by the Different Methods is Shown Here:
THE LINOTYPE WAY
SCHLUETER PRINTING CO., NEW YORK
Corrections made, as usual, on the Linotype
Hours Min. Hours Min.
Machine work, original setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 32
- :....., \ Machine work . . . . . . . . . 10
Making office corrections | Inserting slugs in galleys . . . . 05 — 15
- y \ Machine work . . . . . . . . . 1 35
Making author's changes | Inserting slugs in galleys . . . . 30 – 2 05
- :..., \ Machine work . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04
Correcting revise Inserting slugs in galleys . . . . . . . . 01 – 05
Total time consumed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 57
THE MONOTYPE WAY
FEDERAL PRINTING CO., NEW YORK
Corrections all made at case by hand as recommended by Monotype salesmen
Hours Min. Hours Min.
Machine work, original setting) Sºard . . . . . . 3 § – 6 40
Making office corrections, handwork . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Making author's changes, handwork . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 44
Correcting revise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Total time consumed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 01
The Linotype Way beat the Monotype Way for corrected matter on
the galleys 14 hours and 4 minutes
On page 8 is shown the time for making the author's changes by
the more economical method of “back tracking.”

Time Is Money
Therefore the Printer Who is a Cost
Student Should Fix These General
Results of the Test in His Mind
iſ
THE LINOTYPE WAY BEAT THE MONOTYPE WAY
Hours Min.
1st —On original setting. . . . . . . . . . . 4 08
2nd–On office corrections. . . . . . . . . . () 35
3rd–On author's changes (without revise) . . 8 39
(Monotype corrections being made at the case by hand)
4th –On correcting author's revise . . . . . . () 42
5th –On make-up ready for foundry . . . . . 1 02
6th —On locking up for the foundry . . . . . () 23
iſ
NOTE–This test being made to enlighten the in-
quiring Master Printer, we also had these author's
changes sent back to the Monotype and made by the
machine with the result that on the author's changes
alone the Linotype Way still beat the keyboard and
caster way 3 HOURS and 39 MINUTES.
(See pages 6 and 7 for Money Costs)

What It Means In Money
The United Typothetae in convention at New Orleans
in October, 1913, promulgated the following hour-costs
as averaged from the mass of figures collated from
all parts of the United States:
Hand composition . . . . . . $1.41 per hour
Linotype composition . . . . . 1.83 per hour
Monotype keyboard, $0
1
91 )
Monotype caster, .34 \ - - - 2.25 per hour
Using these figures as a basis we find that, for the
corrected matter on galleys,
The entire job produced on the Linotype cost $8.81
The entire job produced on the Monotype cost 25.16
(Author's changes made by hand)
A saving in favor of the Linotype of . . $16.35
Using the Monotype keyboard and caster on
which to make the author's changes, the
entire job was produced on the Monotype
at a cost of . . . . . . . . . . $16.23
And still there is a saving in favor of the Lino-
type Way on this 16-page form of . . . . $7.42
On a book of say 320 pages the saving by the Lino-
type Way over the most economical methods
possible with the Monotype would be
$148.40

Detailed Summary of Test
The figures below show the actual time and cost
of producing the work shown on the preceding pages,
by the Linotype way:
LINOTYPE COSTS
Hours Min.
Original setting. . . . . . . . 2 32
Office corrections . . . . . . . 10
Total machine work . . . 2 42 @ $1.83 $4.94
Handwork, inserting slugs. 05 (a) 1.41 .12
Total cost on galleys . $5.06
Author's changes
Machine work . . . . . . . . 1 35
Revise corrections . . . . . . 04
Total machine work . . . 1 39 @ 1.83 3.02
Handwork, inserting slugs. 31 (a) 1.41 .73
Total cost author's changes T 3.75
Total cost . . . . . . - $881
QUALITY OF PRODUCT
Here, too, the slug-set way stood the test, for on
the galley proofs pulled from each the Linotype prod-
uct showed up cleaner and sharper than the Mono-
type product.

These figures show what happens to a printer if he installs a Mono-
type and follows the salesman's pre-sale assurance that all corrections
should be made at the case.
MONOTYPE COSTS-(Corrections Made at Case)
Original setting Hours Min.
Keyboard . . . . . . . . 2 46 @ $0.91 $2.52
*Caster (speed 170 per min.) 3 54 @ 1.34 5.23
Total machine work . . . 7.75
Office corrections (hand) . . . 50 (a) 1.41 1.17
Total cost on galleys . $8.92
Author's changes
First corrections (hand). . 10 44
Revise corrections (hand). 47
11 31 (a) 1.41
Total cost author's changes 16.24
Total cost . . . . . . $25.16
The Linotype Way beat the Monotype Way . $16.35
The following figures show what happens if a
printer makes the corrections on the keyboard and
caster, disregarding the advice of Monotype salesmen:
MONOTYPE COSTS-(Corrections Made by
Keyboard and Caster)
Original setting Hours Min.
Keyboard . . . . . . . . 2 46 @ $0.91 $2.52
*Caster . . . . . . . . . 3 54 (a 1.34 5.23
Total machine work . . 7.75
Office corrections (hand) . . . 50 (a 1.41 1.17
Total cost on galleys . - $8.92
Author's changes
Keyboard . . . . . . . . 1 33 (a) $0.91 1.41
*Caster . . . . . . . . . 1 36 @ 1.34 2.14
Total machine work . . . 3.55
Handwork, inserting . . . 2 25 (a) 1.41 3.41
Handwork, revise . . . . 15 (a 1.41 .35
Total cost author's changes 7.31
Total cost . . . . . . $16.23
The Linotype Way beat the Monotype Way . $7,42
* Normal speed on Monotype caster on 10-point is not over
150 per minute. On this work it was operated at 170.
If You Back Track"
Many printers will say that these author's changes
should not be made at the case as advised in Monotype
literature, but that the proofs should go back to the
keyboard and the correction lines made on the caster.
This has been done and the time consumed on the
author's changes is this:
Hours Min.
Keyboard. . . . . . . . . . 1 33
Caster . . . . . . . . . . . 1 36
Hand case work . . . . . . 2 25
Correcting revise . . . . . . 15
Total . . . . . . . . . 5 49
This shows that the Monotype cannot always be
grinding out new matter as is claimed, if you aim to
produce in the most economical way.
The Linotype way beat the Monotype way, on
author's changes, back tracking to the machine, by
3 Hours and 39 Minutes
* “Back Track,” according to Monotype literature, means
making changes and corrections on the machine.


LITTLE SAVINGS
The Linotype Way saves at every stage of the work.
In the Linotype Way you save floor space because one
machine in a single unit produces the completed product.
With the Linotype Way you do not require a lot of stands
full of single types for corrections, which have cost heavily to
produce even as a “by product” and which depreciate rapidly.
In pulling proofs no side stick lock-up is required on Linotype
slugs. In five galleys pulled three times, 15 minutes were saved.
In revising the proofs less time is consumed with Linotype
slugs. In the following galleys the difference was 27 minutes.
In making up into pages the work proceeds much more
rapidly with Linotype slugs. One hour and two minutes saved
in making up sixteen pages.
In locking up for the foundry, you do not have to look
over the edges for letters off their feet or that have fallen down.
23 minutes less time used in locking up 16 pages of Linotype slugs.
The Linotype Way is the most economical and efficient
way, not alone in the larger items of cost, but in the minor details.
Changes
On the following pages
we have reproduced the
galley proofs with the
Author's Changes marked
thereon for your study

10
3 lo
*/
71.
CHAPTER I. (44. eaſº.
- ..—
THE PRINTER AS A BUSINESS MAN.
he printer who embarks in business is supposed to
have learned his trade thoroughly, and he is
a superior workman, who by industry and economy has
been able to save enough to become an employer. He is
seldom a business man, because his training has been in
an entirely different direction. The young printer who
thinks that he can run a printing office of his own suc-
cessfullyvbecause he knows how to do good º */
a great deal to learn, and quite as much to unlearn.
education of the composing room and of the pressroom
is not the sort of education that -ſtºra man for dealing jºuſ…
with customers, making prices, buying stock and machin-
ery, contesting with shrewd people and schemers, and
looking after the scores of things that are as important
as the actual printing that is done. On the contrary, such
education as the printer receives in the +44 Often
largely unfits him for taking charge of the business end,
and this is a prominent reason why so many master
printers fail to make money and simply worry along,
living from hand to mouth, scrambling to meet notes,
never attaining a competency, and perhaps eventually waſ.”
going back to the ease-er-te-the-press— -
A false notion as to prices and profits usually rests in QA) a. -
the mind of the printer who is thinking of starting in
business. He has time and again seen the prices given
on work that he has done, and noted that the proprietor
charged, say $12, for work that he, the workman, per-
formed for $4 or $5, and he has assumed that almost all
the difference went into the proprietor's pocket, and that
if he started a printery he could take such work at a dol-
Tº lar jºš. more than as an em-
ployee. With printing enough to keep five or six men
busy he has calculated that he can pocket the wages of
two men or more. This would-be proprietor seldom
figures on dull times, but always sees the rosy side, and
thinks that his presses will never be idle, or his customer
fail to pay their bills. This is not an overdrawn
case. It is the most usual condition of mind and knowl-
edge of the young men who start in the printing busi-
ness for themselves. It is a dangerous state of mind be-
cause it is an ignorant one that wots not of its ignorance.
2rinters are above the average in intelligence and edu-
cation, but they are poor business men. If
beginners in business had any proper conception of their
ignorance of business methods, of what utter children
they are in the business world; the danger would not be
so great, for they would pitch in and learn the con-
ditions before they embarked in business. If a printer
were going to open a dry goods store or a grocery, a
shoe store or a clothing house, he would understand that r
he must know, something of business management or
expect to fail; but, when he see Tito the printing busi-
ness, because he knows the trade, he naturally thinks
that he knows it all, when he is often but awb ig-
--~ - T- - -
TOTāmūSTIn business Tmatters and Commercial negotia-
tions. It is a hard thing to make others realize that they
know little or nothing of a particular thing, yet the suc-
cessful men in the printing trade know that only men
who are first made conscious of their ignorance as to
business methods can be taught. It is a hard road to
success, and there is aadeal to be learned, and even the
leaders in successful business are always finding that
some fellow has got ahead of them and developed new
means of progress that they had failed to recognize.
How necessary it is, then, for the novice in the printing
business to equip himself with knowledge gleaned from
the experience of those who have gone before





11
Let none be offended at the general assumption that
beginners in the printing business, and many who are
not beginners, are ignorant.
educated or uninformed
ficient in the mechanical part of printing, but simply
that they are unfamiliar with what are popularly termed
business methods.
It is not that they are un-
or that they are TE-
y
The dry goods man, the grocer, the hatter, etc., each
and all sell articles that they do not make, and they charge
the public from twenty-five to fifty per cent. advance
upon the goods they handle, and more often fifty than
twenty-five. That percentage, whatever it is, must pay
all the expenses, losses, salary and profit. It is a simple
proposition, concerning which the storekeeper cannot
readily be misled. If
one of these merchants buys, say:-/* …
- $IO,OOO worth of stock in a year, incurs $3,000 of ex-
ov.0% penses, sells $15,000 worth, and has $1,000 in goods on
ThandſåSY!ead stock, he has simply earned a salary of
$2,000, and his profit.will be what he can realize on the
He has
no difficulty in knowing the cost
price of his goods, and little in calculating the percentage
he must add. To achieve the result figured out above he
has to collect a dollar for every sixty cents worth of
goods sold, and, as some customers do not pay, and as
some goods have to be sold close to catch custom, he has
been obliged to sell most of his goods at just double the
—#####". true, in a great many lines of
business, that the selling price must be double the manu-
facturing cost to yield an adequate return to the mer-
chant.
The printer in business knows these facts in a general
way, but he is too often led astray by supposing that
when he pays a workman $5 for the time on a job and
collects $10 from the customer, that he is doing as well
as the storekeeper. This is a complete fallacy, and the
lack of appreciation of this difference has sent many
a printer into bankruptcy. When the work-
man's time on a job foots up $5, it will be found that
the contingent expenses, which are not paid for directly,
usually average more
than another $5, so that the cost
to the printer-proprietor is apt to be about $1 I, and the
{a, selling price, on the same basis as the storekeeper does
—#. to be somewhere between $15 and $20.
This is gone into fully and demonstrated in the chapter
on “The Cost of Producing Printing,” and the reader
24444– iº, proof of
there to satisfy him.
** assertion will find plenty of it ZZ
To learn how to be a good business man requires of
the printer that he first learn exactly what it costs him
to turn out his work.
He must then see to it that he
secures interest on his capital, a salary, a margin for con-
tingencies, and a final profit above all; otherwise he
might better be out of business, and in employment. He
must also learn aſſthèałee methods of handling men and
getting them to pay a
his own goods at
fair price, as well as how to buy
figures. Salesmen who deal
ſovº with printers have been known to say that they are the
easiest class of men to overcharge; that they are prone -
to believe everything that they are told, and to fail to
see the tricks of the men who are unloading/upon them -
with no thought other
than to get a price foſ the goods;
that they seldom discount their bills, even when there is
one per cent. a month (or 12 per cent. a year) in so
doing, which is perhaps a higher percentage than they
make on the printing that they do.
The printer going into business must learn that there
are many sharpers in
the world, and he must learn to







12
c/
distinguish them or he will fall by the way. He must
learn that his principal business is no longer to print a
good job and admire it, but to buy close and ++a+age-
without waste, and sell for all that he can get. And
right here these is room for a sermon. How many print-
ers we see spending half their time figuring how cheaply
*~%zów,
they can print this or that job, whereas their true object -
in business is not to see how cheaply they can do work,
but how much they can get for the work they do. The ...C&
way to charge is to make the price as high as a eustetre+/
—wiłł-Pay- without being driven away, and not to make it

as low as can be afforded. That is business; that is
what we are all in business for—to make/(money-to
gather in a profit from the labor of others, greater than
we can earn by our own labor. The best business man
a 24-6-
2CV-72
Č& AA-
is the one who gets all that he honestly can, and the poor %. Ž4
business man is the one who always werks—tee—eheaply-
There is no sentiment about doing business for a profit.
If one is charitably inclined he can give away the money
he makes in business, but it is not good business to give
the profits to customers.
Ø When the printer becomes, a proprietor he +equires-
forget, in a measure, that he is a printer, and to bear
ever before him the idea that he is a business man,
whose duty as such is to sell printing at a profitable

figure. By being a good printer he will be able the more
&–º a top price; but if a man in the printing
business to choose between being a good printer
and a good business man he had better choose the latteº - G)
4-ºº-ºº: As a busi-
ness man his place is no longer at the case or over the
..!...ºf
ſº to pick up their business training by dear experience.
%a. There jº no school of instruction in managing the business W
end of a printing office. It is a matter of com- -
º
-
-
32-º-º:
cylinder. He should hire others and make a profit on
eir wor - - ; that is a legitimate way of
making money, and he who has not learned it is not yet
qualified as a business man.
A few printers have the advantage of growing up in

business under the guidance of some successful master-
printer who has kept rthr the times, and who has
been willing to impart his - nowledge to those
under him. This is often the case with sons, who are
educated to perpetuate a large business, and who come
naturally by the training passed on to them by an ex-
perienced parent, but the rank and file of printers have

plaint in the trade that so little chance is afforded to ap-
prentices to learn the trade properly, but the opportuni-
ties for learning how to manage the business office and
to reap a profit from printing are less than those
of the apprentice who strives to master the mechanical
details of the art.
The beginner in the printing business, and the man
who has been in it for some years and failed to make a
profit, both suffer from the lack of an adviser. There
is no fount of general information to which either can

9 and gather the knowledge of how to make money out
Tof the TTTTTg veſſee. The people who have learned it
do not go about advising young competitors how to suc-
ceed, and if such do occasionally drop a word of good,
seasonable advice to a beginner, ten to one the young man
in business suspects that it is a pointer given to mislead
him, and goes contrary to the advice. This is usually
the case when an established printer remonstrates with
a newcomer in the field ke—ter cutting prices. The new-
comer is sure to think that the establish& printer is
simply worked up because he is losing trade to him, and
so the youngster in business laughs in his sleeve, and
goes on cutting rates to his own ruin and the damage
*>
Of the trade in hº It is natural that a beginner
a .226.4%
, ſº

13
;
&
f
§
in business should think that the way to get work is to
lower the prices; but the men who have been there know
that the way to get customers worth having is to keep
up both the quality and the price.
The first thing, then, that a printer contemplating
going into business should study is the business methods

of successful concerns. If he does not know +herº-TheT
is sure to lose money; if he appreciates his lack of such
knowledge he will find a way to acquire it, and it is
cheaper to learn before an +vestºrest—ts—ºade-it-type-
T-a+4++esses than it is to learn afterwards by the I road
of experience. Happy is the man who can thrive on
the experience, and pass the mistakes, of others. The
rules and principles that guide experienced men of busi-
ness are too often dearly bought. I recently heard a
good printer, and good business man say, “I did thou-
sands of dollars worth of printing before I really knew
what it cost to produce it, and I ought to have received
ten to twenty per cent. more for the work that I did in
those years, and I migh have had it, had I known what
I now know.”
This book is an endeavor to gather together and for-
mulate the underlying principles which should govern the
printer as a business man. In its compilation the views
of various successful printers have been more or less
embodied, and the means that they have employed to
zº ,
**

erect and maintain their business structures have been
studied and reduced to manuscript. From the compli- …
cated nature of the case it is impossible to form, set
rules for the guidance of the printer in all exigencies
of business. Every matter that comes before him for
consideration has some points of difference from every
other instance, and must be decided according to the best
light and knowledge that he has at the time. In such a
work we can deal with principles only, and he who ap-
plies the principles most accurately is likely to become the
most successful - printer
A printer may be a good business man in some respects
and yet seriously lacking in others, and that too without
realizing where he is weak. I have seen men who knew
how to buy paper and presses to the very best advantage,
securing the last item of discount and most favorable
terms, but who were always at the mercy of a customer
WTO gave the bluff that -
- Then again I have seen a
printer who was a past master in the art of talking to
customers, and who knew how to satisfy all and get the
highest prices for his work, but who did not know enough
to protect himself against the drummer, but invariably
paid the top price going, frequently for an inferior ar-
ticle. Men of this sort do well in partnership, where the
talents of each can be utilized, but the man who finds
himself weak in some business essential should cultivate
improvement in that particular; and the man who thinks
whether he has not weaknesses of which other shrewd
2.
himself strong in all points should rºad.
business men will take advantage.
The art of business is more than a knowledge of trade
—it involves a knowledge of men, and the ability to
lead them to do what you desire. It is the business of
a printer to see that his customers should have jets-of-º
good orders for printing, and to accomplish this he must
be able to show them how and where it will pay to in-
crease an order. The printer should ever be urging on
the customer that if a thing is worth doing at all it is
worth doing well, and that - WOt!
improve the job in hand. To impress customers, and
get them to take advice, involves a wide knowledge of
*A*
14
will hire a man or take in a partner who has,
and devote his own time to pushing other branches of
- human nature, the peculiar gifts of a salesman. The
% zá business printer who finds that he these
the business.
It is hoped that the printer who is already a good busi-
ness man will read this book and compare
- ſ with his own ripe experience, while the printer who is
y not yet a business man will receive hints which will cause
him to study business methods, and the art of so manag-
ing a printery that the receipts shall always exceed the
outgo.
Tyros in the printing business are often deceived as
to their success
during the first few years of a career.
Because the presses are busy and the cash comes and
goes, they think that they are doing a good rushing busi-
ness; but as the years roll on and the presses become
ancient and the type worn, and no balance has been ac-
successful business men. One of the most prosperous
4… rinters whom IAever met has several times expressed
# to this effect: “I never could see the use of doing
printing for anybody unless I was quite sure that I would
get more for it than I paid out, and I never trusted a man
or firm beyond a certain sum, no matter how high they
were rated, as I do not furnish capital for others to carry
on business. Th
a large part of t
not think that I
upon them.”
e enforcement of these rules turns away
he work that is offered to me, but I do
have ever lost any money by insisting
cumulated in the bank to renew the material, they realize
that they have been ºt-
It is well to get down to basic principles once in a
an argument of all its confusing detail.
- while, and strip
In the present case all the discussion as to what makes
- - a printer a good business man or a poor one may be
{% - - - - : The printer who is
- ~~~ a good business man is he who has mastered the art of
getting considerably more for his work than he pays for
T
36 *—ſhe first point
Never forget this—from a purely busi-
all else is trivial—charge a profitable
STARTING AN OFFICE-
to be considered in starting a job print-
its production.
ness standpoint
price and see that you get the money. t
\ Jacº CHAPTER II. St.0% sº
ing office is whether there is a prospect of securing a
desirable
who are giving
If there is no trade in sight
there is no call for the starting of a printery; if the work
in the field is already in the hands of competent printers
satisfaction, it is a doubtful matter
whether it can be secured at a profitable rate. AWhen an
apparently good opening is found, it should bé canvassed
with the greatest care. Suppose, for instance, that a
printer is disposed to open a printing office in a city of
25,000 inhabitant
s, where there are already two job offices
and five newspaper offices doing job work. He should
investigate, first
how much printing there is to give out
in the city, and then whether it is done mostly by the local
offices or whether a considerable percentage goes out of
town. The amount being approximately known, he must
º consider how mu
ch of that work he would have to secure
to make a satisfactory business; then his chances for
getting that
require to be thoroughly investigated.
What are the facilities and the character of the offices
already in the field Are they up to date, and are the
proprietors hustlers? If so, they may be able to hold
their work against all comers.
In choosing a city for starting an office, the wise printer
will not decide because his liking is toward a place socially
or for non-business reasons, when other places offer bet-
26, 24.
#




15
&
ter openings. He should choose a city that has estab-
lished manufactories, and that is growing; one in which
the merchants are good advertisers, and in which there
are societies and organizations requiring printing./Jf
he does not take these things into account he may' findſ N
later that it is impossible to develop trade beyond a very
limited amount. The printer who would succeed in busi-
ness must make sure that he starts rightly, else his sub-
sequent efforts may be largely fruitless.
A proper field may often be selected for a printery by
reason of some Meſ opportunity for controlling large
Work. If a printer knows that he can get work of a
__–’īrge concern as a nucleus, this may be a sufficient in-
6) ing of an office that must be a success,
money-earneſſ and—he 9-Gº-e-Q-J-e-E
il carry him/ Te gets the work, and is economica
d
ducement to start in. It is very doubtful whether it is
ever wise to start a printing office without advance as-
surance of considerable work at remunerative prices;
for if one cannot get the promise of work before start-
ing, how can one expect to do much better after putting
in a plant?
It is almost always a safe thing to start a job printing
plant in connection with a good daily or weekly news-
paper in a live town or city, for the paper brings custom
to the job department. For this reason it is always a
doubtful matter whether a job office unconnected with a
newspaper can be made to pay in a small city or town. ()
If such an office has to depend on merchants,
ChūFCſſes. Nseeieties-pelºtte, etc., it will be found that
these all drift toward the newspaper office, because they
want notices in the paper. But where there are manu-
factories, - - - - the news-
paper does not carry an influence; in fact, the job printer
who is divorced from a newspaper probably has the best
chance of commanding the work. In cities above 25,OOO
it is almost always possible for some one firm to build
up a large job printing business aside from a newspaper;
below Io,000 it is almost always best to be ti a 116 WS-
paper, and between the two populations circumstances
must determine the choice.
When a printer has fully made up his mind that he is
in the right town, and when he has definite assurances
of a reasonable amount of work at starting, and a fair
prospect of developing more, he must next consider
whether he has the requisite capital to make a proper
start. It is a mistake to begin with too little money, for
interest payments, combined with inadequate facilities,
will eat up all the profits and afford very limited chances
of success. Remember that we are considering the start-
whether it is ever desirable for a printer to start business
with less than half enough capital to pay for his plant.
A young man with $1,000 may start a $1,500 plant, pay
half cash, and bank $250 to run on until the receipts will
, Ile
can pay off his mortgage and later add to his plant. But
the young man with only $500, who tries to do the same
thing, can pay only one-fourth down on his plant, and º
the dealers will charge him a large advance before they
will gamble on him, and take the chances of
;
ſ
º
...”
- sehºg-the- - -
Then he will have only enough zkº
money left to pay his freight, a month's rent, and a few
minor expenses, and by the time his first job goes on
press he is out of cash, and before the first ninety days
roll around, when he has to pay his first note, he realizes
that he is in a hole. Such a man puts his neck deliber-
ately into the noose of trouble, and the chances are ten
to one that he will never get it out without being choked.
How much better, then, for him to wait another two












16
years, when the savings from his wages would enable him
to start on a $1,000 basis.
I do not wish to be understood
I,OOO 1S sum with whic
office, but simply that this is my idea
as advocating that
h to start a $1,500
of the limit of debt
! —#. I think that probably two
times out of three the printer with $1
until he gets more money before starting. In large cities
it is folly for a printer to begin busi
even $2,OOO. These amounts may be
places, but in a great city the small
capped by the superior facilities of
,000 had better wait
ness with $1,000 or
sufficient in smaller
printer is so handi-
the big offices that
4. he usually fails to earn as much as the men in his employ.
He is only able to exist by hiring cheap help, having
feeders do the work of pressmen, and two-thirders do
the composition, and these things entail a chain of ills
-
partner, who is -
(.…”
&
which no man would voluntarily and
ter,
knowingly encoun- 4.4% ſº
- (U/
. A printer with $2,000 or $3,000, and ah-aeking-te-ge-
into business in a great city, had better take stock in a
large concern, where his investment will secure him a
foremanship with a good salary, and
then hustle for the
establishment, and try to work his way up to a larger
holding and greater salary. Or he may make a success
in an office of his own if he can induce outside investors
to back his small capital with $5,000 to $10,000, thus
machinery,
giving him a chance to buy the best
even if the quantity is limited. This involves a knowledge
of finance and business that does not come to a printer
fresh from the case, and should not be undertaken ex-
cept by a man who is confident that his business training
is sufficient to enable him to cope w
that will arise. In accepting outside capital he must take Azatº
care that he is not rtlºan untrained and useless % ~ ſ
a salary that he does not earn.
ith the emergencies
he safe rule is not to accept outside capital if offered
with hampering restrictions. Money
can be obtained by
many competitors at six per cent., and if you pay more
wall.
for it you are at a disadvantage, and liable to go to the Aſ.1%
With enough work in sight, and sufficient money t
make a good start, the pºſ. ---, --> onsider
a location. The beginner is alſ too apt to look for a cheap
rental. Here it should be remembered that cheap things
are seldom good. While a job printer does not require
to be as conspicuously located as a
dry goods man, he
does require to be in as good or a better place than any
other printer in his town. Location always influences
trade, and has much to do with securing first orders,
which are everything to the man start
ing a printing office.
*rek-te the business centre, and avoid too many stairs.
If possible secure a place where you can have a good
sign privilege, and use it for all it is
worth. Do not try
to save too much on rental, for it is poor economy. You
must be where people can see you without going out of
their way, if you are to have the trade. Remember, too,
that you cannot afford to be where there is a poor light,
as it wastes the time of workmen.
afford to go into a shaky building,
do, the jar and vibration of your
Neither can you
for as sure as you
presses will make
trouble that may be expensive for you. The printer who -
neglects this warning will almost always-H e sorry
for it. If you can get your presses on a solid floor, away
from those whom they may annoy, with good light and
a central locality, you can afford to pay a rental that
otherwise might seem high.
volumes have been printed on the choice of
material for an office, and volumes more might be pub-








17
#0 chapter would be- ; without-e-repetitierrerº these
well-known truths. The printer should buy sparingly at
1. the outset, reserving a part of his money or his credit for
lºt
lished without throwing +*eka more light on the subject,
for the choice must be different in every case, and must
suit the circumstances. Everything offered the printer
by the manufacturers and dealers has some utility, and
may be used to advantage somewhere, but the type and
presses suited to some classes of work are 11 meS
wholly useless in a printery of a different character. We
have all seen tables of what to buy in starting a $1,000
office or a $2,000 office, and lists of type that some one
thought best suited to general job work. I regard such
lists as - useless, for the choice must be depen-
dent on the work that is to be handled and the pocketbook
that pays the bill.
A word of warning is in place here against the pur-
chase of second-hand material. It is almost always the
dearest in the long run. A printer starting with in-
adequate capital often thinks hi.ºr-
fonts of second-hand type than to spend the same money
for fifty fonts of new letter. He forgets that the shortage
of sorts in the second-hand stuff usually renders it in-
capable of setting up much more than half of the amount
which can be composed from new, properly assorted type,
while the difference in appearanºſ's apt to be i to
the production of fine work. Thé"purchase of second-
hand presses may not affect the quality of the work pro-
duced, as the good workman will turn out nice work on
almost any press, but it will involve the loss of time, that
largest item of expense in the printing business, and
place the printer at a disadvantage in figuring against
*
º
offices supplied with up-to-date machinery.
There are exceptions to all rules, and just so there are
times when it is advisable to buy at’Second hand. Real
bargains are sometimes offered, and when you can get
just what your office *.*.*.*.*Hºlº-
market price because the article is blighted as second,
hand, it may be well to buy it. But the safe rule is—when
in doubt, always buy the newest and latest material or
machinery.
The selection of the first lot of machinery and type
will depend upon the character of the work that is con-
º
tracted for or that it is reasonably certain will be de- *
manded. The little job presses are Or
small work, but money-losers if used on - ----
`-º-eng runs. The pony cylinder is valuable for a great
deal of miscellaneous commercial work, but when it
comes to publications and long runs of large sheets there
is nothing like the modern two-revolution
for economy. Just so with paper cutters: for small stock \.
in a small office a light machine may answer every pur-
pose, but where the cutter is kept busy all day long, the
bigger and stronger it is the better.
0. It is hardly necessary in this age to tell the printer to
buy jöDTTETTSCTCs, and tha)fewſonts /*
will go further than the same váſue in small fonts. Every
good printer ought to know these facts, and this book is
written on the assumption that the readers are already
capable printers who know the trade. Yet perhaps this
the purchase of additions that may be demanded by
special work coming in. When type is bought especially
for work of which the order is in the printer's hands, he
knows that it will see-sease-serviee, whereas that bought
wholly in advance must be purchased on conjecture.
Do not try to get along without power. No printer
can afford to kick a press nowadays when a horse-power
an be bought for from $50 to $100 a year. Electric
C
Tºº-seasºn. for the printer, as it costs
!, wººd,




18
nothing when idle. The motors are sold very cheaply,
and are not hard to keep in order. In the country, steam
power is preferred because of its adaptability to
heating. In the large office, where the horse-power runs
up into - it is often best to have a
Complete steam-power plant, which may be used either
directly, or to drive a dynamo for delivering electricity
to motors. The gas engine is every useful where power
is required only at certain hours, as it consumes nothing
when not in use.
For further details and comments on material, see the
chapters on “The Composing Room” and “The Press-
room.”
It is well to fit up the business office attractively from -
the very start. If you have good office furniture, a Heat- º
carpet, and comfortable surroundings, these serve to im:
press customers with the idea that #.”-
reliable and substantial, whereas a mean or cheap-look- eſpoº
ing office, or an old desk set in a corner for use as an
office, impresses buyers of printing with the notion that
it is a cheap placey whence high-class printing can not be
expected. Tjust as a job of printing must have all the re-
finements essential to good work to produce the proper
effect, just so the business office requires to be fitted up
attractively to draw custom and assist in the securing
of good prices.
The careful printer will never take any unnecessary
& chances in starting an office. Of course any new busi-
11 111WOTVeS risk, but the chances
of loss will be very large for those who neglect the sim-
ple rules laid down as the result of experience and the
exercise of common sense. It is unwise to force a start-
when circumstances will not lendº themselves to make.the
conditions good. If there is a little uncertainty it is a 2%
getting all the needed money, or if the work expected is
only half promised, or if a period of panic and hard times
has just set in, or if proper rooms cannot be rented, it is
best to wait, for any of these things can be bettered in
time; but if a start is made with any such handicaps, a
continual menace overhangs the whole structure. When
the printer is satisfied that the conditions for starting are
as good as can be fairly expected, and the whole enter-
prise commends itself to his judgment, he should then
have the courage of his convictions and go ahead ener- - *
getically, remembering that it is well not to do things by
halves, and that in order to print at a profit he must have
good tools and labor-saving devices. A The printer who - &
starts thus, barring accidents and unſºrseeable and unt
surmountable obstacles, has a good chance to succeed.
By doing business in a fair manner, always demanding -
a fair profit, and never delivering a poor job or permitting
delays; by holding out no false promises, but meeting all
obligations promptly, the printer who can do good work
has a very goodſ Chance of attaining a competency in -
business There are many printers who argue that job
work is a poor business, that it is crowded to death, and
that there is no money in it, and never will be. But these
are men who did not start right, and who never managed
to get right, so as to acquire the habits that lead to suc-
cess. There is money in the top ranks of printerdom,
just as much as in the top ranks of any trade, and pleaty—
of profitable business for those who have the push, pluck,
perseverance and probity essential to reaching the upper
levels.


The Multiple Linotype Way Is the Modern Way

To Obtain Quality
With Economy
You Must Use
THE LINOTYPE
Mergenthaler Linotype Co.
TRIBUNE BUILDING, NEW YORK
CHICAGO: SAN FRANCISCO: NEW ORLEANS:
1100 S. Wabash Ave. 638-646 Sacramen to St. 549 Baronne St.
TORONTO: CANADIAN LINOTYPE Ltd., 35 Lombard St.

ITY OF MICHIGAN
|iliiliilill
3 9015 08456 5459