Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-08-19
The Printing and Publishing Business

/
We have received from Washington
a copy of census bulletin 70 which is
devoted to the interesting subject OF
printing and publishing. In this bull
letin Uncle Sam presents the statistics
of the printing and publishing business
as collected by his agents for the year
1865 Although the figures presented
are two years old-which is by no
means ancient literature when govern
lment statistics are considered-they are
of exceptional interest, for, as the bull
letin itself states in it's opening para
graphs, general interest in the progress
and prosperity of printing is not conf
the industry, as is frequently the case
with other callings, but is shared by
the entire community. 1t is also true
of this industry, as it is not true of all
lothers, that it possesses an Importance
(which cannot be measured by the capt.
tai invested or by the volumne and
value of its pr0uct. Thus an analy-
sis OF the printers calling has become
to noteworthy degree an analysis
of the general prosperity of the ma
| ton.
The total number of printing estab-
lishments in the country in 1905 was
&c, 422, and it is worth noting that this
was number larger than was report
ed for any other industry. In most
lines Of industry consolidation has been
| the prevailing tendency in recent years,
bnt the printing business is an cXccp-
| ton to this rule and the increase of
the number of individual printing
plants was proportionatcly larger be-
| tween 1900 and 1905 than from 1880 to
1900. The capital required in 1905 to
| conduct the printing and publishing
business of the country was $3.50
| 00n L sum double that required only Is
years ago. The total value of
products reported in 1905 was s496,O0O,
| 600. making the printing and publish
| ing business rank seventh among the
| great industries of the country. OF
| the 26, 1922 printing establishments of
the country, One-third are exclusively
book and job establishments, one
sixth exclusively newspaper and
periodical establishments, while over
one-half produce both book and job
work as well as newspapers and
periodicals. Two thirds of the total
value Of the products Of the industry
are contributed by six states, New
chusctts, Ohio and Missouri in the or
der named. New York alone produces
almost one fourth of the entire product
of the industry.
One way of illustrating the enor-
nous extent Of the printing industry is
by dealing with the amount of paper
used. More than 100000 tons of paper
were used in 1908. solely for news
Papers and periodicals, representing al
most onn-third of the entire output of
the paper mills of the United States.
To make this paper required the SER
vices of nearly $1,000 men, and repre-
scented approximately S9,000,000 in
wages. These mills used as raw ma
terial 100000 cords of spruce, poplar,
and hcmlock logs, representing the
timber products Of approximately 1OO,-
900 acres, exclusive of the logs i'm
ported from Canada. Thus every
working day in the year the forests OF
New England and the Middle states.
with scattered areas elsewhere in the
North and Northwest, yielded approx
mately 1,765 600 feet of timber to be
transformed into the newspapers and
magazines required to supply the peo-
rle Of the United States. And this
takes no account of the paper used in
book work and job printing.
| During the past 25 years the number
of newspapers and periodicals of all
kinds published in this country has
practically doubled, making the total
about 1000 at this time. The aggre-
gate number of copies of newspapers
and periodicals. published during the
census year of 1905 as given is TO-
325, 14G,1SS. an increase of one-thrd
over 1900. Maine ranks seventh
among the states in the aggregate cir
cuIation Of its publications, being sur
| passed by New York, Pennsylvania,
| Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts and Mis-
souri, in the order named. The figures
for the circulation of the weekly papers
| SHOWS that this class is hardly holding
its own. being crowded more and more
by the city dailies which are securing
larger circulation in the country Sec
tons where the wceklies used to be
supreme. In the publication of month
ly periodicals Maine ranks second
lamong all the states of the Union, be-
ing surpassed by New York alone. 1t
is needless to say that the publishing
houses of our own city are the chief