Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1907-12-20
STARTLING
TELEPHONE
STATEMENT
THIS AMOUNT REQUIRED TO
PRINT THE TELEPHONE III.
RECTORIEs OF THE UNITED
STATES EVERY YEAR AND IN.
CREAsING YEARLY.

Washington, Dec. 2O.-Flgures in
the recent bulletin of the United
States Genus on the printing indus
tries of the country, showing a total
value Of printing ard publishing pro-
ducts for 1906 OF nearly half a bill.
lion dollars, seem to indicate that
Americans must be remarkably
well read people. SO they are, OF
course; every news stand and Christ
mas book stall shows that. How
ever, the enormous total for the art
preservative in this country isn't al
together due to consumption of liter
ary books, magazines and newspa-
pers. Not by a good deal. w. s.
Rossiter. chief clerk OF the census,
in an article Just published in the
TECHNICAL periodical Printing Are
calls attention, I'm his explanation OF
the bulletin, to the great swelling Of
the whole amount OF printing and
publishing by the plain, economical
kind that Is used in commerce and
industry.
The handy telephone directory, in
particular, has become one OF the
most widely distributed of all COM
pilations. Few persons realize" ,"
Mr.. Rosslter says. "the importance
OF the telephone industry to the
printer. The use OF the telephone
has been rapidly extending TO all
classes OF persons and in rural as well
as I'm urban communities A book
generally bulky. is indispensable In
connection with this invention. ana
in consequence the number OF books
which are published by the 415l or
more telephone companies has been
governed by the Increase in sub
scribers. For the three cities having
more than one million inhabitants-
New York, Chicago and philadelphia
the total number OF books required
In 1905 was ] 100000, and II thei
paper requirements were reduced q
the standard size OF 24y3S inche
they contained nearly S0,000,00o
sheets. The contribution OF thes'
cities. however, TO the printing In
dustry was, Of course. but a portion
OF the entire requirement. In term
OF 24xSS sheets. all the telephone
books issued in the United States II
1905 contained approximately 1872
1000 900 sheets OF paper"
Mr. Rossiter might have added tina
these sheets placed end TO end wonl'
reach twice from the earth TO tn
moon and still leave enough 70 bin
into a good sized library.
Getting out all these referenc
books certainly is a big undertaken
as compared with the one which az
tended the issuance OF the first tele
phone directory in the world. Thl
was brought out on February p
1875. by the Southern New Englan
lTelephone company Of New Haven
coma ieafiet that Is preserved
under glass at the eompany's head
quarters In that city. II shows a
the total list OF telephone station
Iof that date II residence. three phy
lsielhns. two dentists. eight miscel
laneous. twenty stores and factories
-four meat and fish markets I'VE
Hack and boarding stables.
In less than 80 years the task o
getting out the telephone director
les especially for the bigger com
lpanies of the Beyy system has De
come tremendous. II is also matte
lof very large expense. A eompan'
ltbat covers a broad and thickly
lpopulated territory must for. lh'
lconvenience Of the public in diner
Ient sections Of its feld, issue severa
ldl6erent Catalogues, as te'ephoh