Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-03-23

risk or TO print ahead at his own risk
to make profit. That has been the
custom with our Establishment for over
two hundred years, and as far as I
know II is a universal custom every
where.
q. You find that as a matter OF
| record, l presume. l take it that is
little older than you are? A. Yes, sir,
| considerably.
q. You have made inquiries Of your
predecessors, of men in the office long
| before you were there?
| A. Yes, sir, men who have been
there sixty years. The business has
been established since 1863. l think it
has always been the same custom.
Q. You have had, of course. wide
| and diversified experience there. What
represents your best judgment of the
actual cost Of composition per thou
sand ems? -:
| A. 1t varies very much, but in gen.
eral. ordinary book work. hand COM
| position, it would cost somewhere be-
tween sixty-three and sixty-four per
| thousand ems. In our estimates on
| linotype composition Ii is somewhere in
the neighborhood of ffty-two and a
half or fifty-three. OF course, the
| amount Of work we do changes the
| price per thousand because it bears a
proportion to the fixed expenses.
| O, SO the larger the establishment,
| the lower is the cost?
| A. The larger the establishment is
the lower the cost is. because you
spread your fixed expenses over
larger area and a larger business.
@. Your establishment. of course, is
well known and has Il large aggregate
Of business?
| A. Yes, sir, think we do more
printing than anyone in New England.
| @. About how many linotypes do
you run?
! a. We use very few. we have only
nut in four or five and have only used
| them the last two or three years. The
| bulk of our work is book work which
is hand composition.
O. You do a superior quality of
| work in many instances?
| A. We try to do the very best work
and most of our printing is done from
electrotype plates.
O. What is your charge for plain
composition:
A, Our charge is ninety cents per
| thousand ems; for composition and
electroplating and probably ninety
seven per cent would be electroplating.
| 1t a customer wants merely the type
set up, we reduce the charge, taking
| off the charge for electroplating, which
| is approximately one and a quarter
cents per square inch which brings 1t
down practically to seventy cents and
| a little lower for composition per thou-
sand ems. For hand work we charge
sixty cents straight on electrotype.
@. You say that the practice, in the
regular rule of the business is to use
the same type. etc, and that the risk IN
either event is the printers? Have
you any instances in mind?
A, Yes, sir, we have instances conf
ing up repeatedly. The city OF Cam
bridge voting lists: l look back as lar
as 1879 and l find that type has been
kept standing from 1879 to 1899. in
elusive, when, believe it became worn
out. The composition was charged
every year during that period.
O. You printed those voting lists
every year?
A. Yes. sir. and sometimes two or
three times a year. and of course. |
there would be corrections to that list
as people changed their residences or
died, and new residents appeared. The
CITY of Cambridge was charged for |
making those changes, and the part |
that we could save was charged IN as |
fresh composition every year for Pc |
Rod of over twenty years. In regard 10 |
printing up matter ahead, on the 9Th |
,lay of February we had an order for a |
book entitled My Lady of the North |
by Clark & Co. of Chicago, who ordered |
twenty five hundred copies. with half |
tone illustrations, and it required a |
good deal of time to make ready. 1t |
was expensive, it cost three or TOUR
dollars a token to print and we felt |
satisfied that there would be another |
edition of that book. and satisfied that |
the call for that edition would come at
Il time when we would be very busy, |
and when it would be difficult to get it
out Instead of printing twenty-five |
hundred, we printed five thousand cop
les of that and it now remains to be
seen whether we shall make or lose. |
We have an extra twenty five hundred
copies if we get Il second order.
Q. That is in suspense.
A. Yes. we do not know whether we
are going to win or lose.
Q. OF course. it is understood by the
Printer that he has no possible claim
On the customer in case he doesn't want
them?
A. None whatever; and the only ex-
Ception to the printers right to use
the standing type is when the publish
er does one of two things. when he
buys the type outright or asks us to
store it for him. and to charge him so
much & month or year for keeping it,
That is by special contract. Some
times when we have n certain concern
for which you are doing great deal of
business they get so that they want to
own certain bodies of type for their
own.
Interrogatories by Judge Foster.
Q. How far are you from the print
err. Mr.. Wyman. of Boston?
A. | should think about three miles.