Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1886-12-04

to estimate the cost of ink to low.
Presswork is taken on cheap jobs at
from thirty to forty five cents token
and on better grades at from fifty to
seveuty-fve cents a token. After
taking out the pressmen's wages and
tho the allowance of feeders, the
interest and depreciation on the press
and the rent, fire and light, what is
received scarcely more than pays
for what is expened. Yet ink is
never even thought Of. A press can
hardly be started, the form made ready
and perfect copy printed, forms
and rollers then being washed up,
without showing the loss Of more
than a pound Of ink, costing from
thirty to sixty cents. The regular
action of the press will absorb in an
hour half pound, and no rollers can
be kept clean and in good condition
without repeated washings. Some
work such as that on blotting paper
fills the air with filaments and, foun-
tain, rollers, revolving plates and
ducts become SO clogged with these
minute threads that they require to
be cleansed every hour or two. The
ink hardcns in the keg if left exposed;
ID hardens and becomes filed with
dust in the fountain on the press If
left there, and cold wether frequent
ly necessitates waste of both sheets
and ink while endeavoriDg to begin
printing in the morning.
This is rarely taken into considera-
ton by novices. The writer has
known cases where dollar ink was
used on an impression Of seven or
eight thousand Of cheap illustrated
paper the size Of Harper's Weekly,
or 33 by 46. There are sixty fonr
tokens at fifty cents q token or thirty
two dollars in all TO do both sides
took SO close on to three days that
there was nothing else attempted.
@The first form required half o day
to get ready the second, two hours
the whole time the feeder was
needed and more than threee-quarters
Of that of the pressman. The latter
received for the hours actually put
on the job about nine dollars and the
feeder four and half dollars. The
quantity Of ink used was worth over
seven dollars, the press, which cost
in the neighborhood of five thousand
dollars, did no more work that week.
1t will be seen therefore that for
work for which only thirty-two dol
lars could be obtained, the proprie-
tor paid out nine dollars in wages to
one man, four and half dollars to
boy, seven dollars for ink, and his
gang of rollers was worth at least
dollar less than when the job was
started. Here is twenty-one and
half dollars paid out for actual ex-
pences, with out counting the fore
man 3 time, the rent or the capital.
Any calculation which ignores the
cost of ink is fatally defective. 1t is
generally a safe rule that adds
dollar to the charge on any job in
which colored inks are used, no mat
ter how small it may be. To double
the rate on colored presswork on
cylinder, making no charge less than
five dollars, is only asking for decent
compensation. A form of black for the
very smallest numbers not less than
three dollars, and common reds and
blues much more. Many inks are
metellic and have little speeding
quality, so that square inch con
tains as much weight as an inch and
half or two inches of some others
High grades Of colored inks are
worth on long jobs nearly twice as
much as in black and long grades are
worth a third more. With these
ideas in view he cannot go far wrong
who remembers that the ink on
doubIe-medium forms in black is
worth from three to five cents and
no higher grades from five to seven
cents a token, and who makes his
/ charges cover this and the other