The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-12-24

| WASHINGTON, Dec, 23-figures In
the recent bulletin OF the United States
Census on the printing and publishing
products for 1906 Of nearly half bill
lion dollars, seem TO Indicate that Amer.
leans must be remarkably well read
people. 30 they are. Of course; every
news stand and Christmas book stall
shows that. However, the enormous
total for the art preseryatiyc In this
country isn't altogether due TO consump.
tion Of literary books. magazines and
newspapers. Not by good deal w. 8.
fsossiter. chief clerk Of the Census, in
an article Just published in the technical
periodical Printing Art calls attention,
In bis explanation Of the bulletin. to the
great swelling Of the whole amount Of
printing and publishing by the plain.
economical kind that 10 used In COM
inerce and industry.
The handy telephone directory, in
particular, has become one OF the most
widely distributed Of all compilations.
Few persons realize" Mr.. Rossiter says
"thc Importance OF the telephone in.
dustry to the printer. The use OF the
telephone has been rapidly extending to
all classes Of persons and In rural as
well us In urban communities. A book,
generally bulky, Is indispensable in con-
nection with this invention, and in con-
sequence the number OF books which are
published by the 4l5l or more telephone
companies has been governed by the In
crease in subscribers. For the three
cities have more than one million inhabi-
tants--New York. Chicago and Philadel-
phia 1.-THE total number Of books requir-
! ed in 1905 was 100000. and II their
paper requirements were reduced to the
standard size Of "a SO inches they con-
tanned nearly so,pdOoo sheets. The
contribution Of these cities, however. TO
the printing industry was, Of course. but
portion OF the entire requirement. In
terms of "a x SO sheets. all the telephone
books issued in the United States In 1905
contained approximately l32,oOo,00o
sheets of paper"
L Mr.. Rossiter might have added that
these sheets placed end to end would
reach twice from the earth to the moon
and still leave enough TO bind into a
good sized library.
Getting out all these reference books
certainly Is big undertaking as COM
pared with the one which attended the
issuance of the first telephone directory
In the world. This was brought out In
February 81, 1878. by the Southern New
England Telephone Company Of New
Haven ,Ot., leaflet that Is preserved
under glass at the company's headquart-
ers In that city. It shows as the total
list OF telephone stations Of that date
eleven residence, three physicians, two
meat and fish markets two hack and
boarding stables
In less than thirty years the task of
getting out the telephone directories
especially for the bigger companies of
the Bell system, has become tremend-
Gus. II is also a matter Of very large ex-
pense. A company that covers a broad
and thickly populated territory must
for the convenience of the public in
different sections of It's field, issue sever
al different Catalogues" as telephone
men call the official lists of subscribers
and there are from two to four editions /
of each catalogue during year. And
several companies keep good sized
printing plant busy the year around 10.
ing nothing else but getting out the tele-
phone book the work on one issue be-
ginning as soon as the previous edition is
off the presses
As matter OF mechanical difficulty,
it is generally admitted, no other book
In the world presents such ardous pro.
blems as the telephone directory, In
case Of such book as that of the New
York Telephone Company, provision
has to be made for upwards of 10000
new names into each new edition, and
very many Of these must be inserted at
the last possible moment 1t is an UNI
written law among the Bell companies
that the directory must be out on time.
That generally means working the pres
ses day and night just before publica-
ton
No other single form of commercial
printing has reached the magnitude of
the telephone work. The trolley car,
however, has given a GREAT impetus of /