The Irish standard., 1910-05-28
WEST PUBLISHING Co.
The Largest Law Book House
in the World Located
|. in St. Paul.
Sketch of a Plant That May
Well Be Called a Com
munity in Itself.

The average citizen of st. Paul is
not apt to think of his city as the
intellectual center Of the United
States" and yet this is literally true
for one purpose at least, as was point
ed out by the New York Nation twen-
ty years ago. The thing which makes
this true is the location in this city
largest law book house in the world.
Just as thousands of people through
out the country think of Minneapolis
at the mention of -four Milwaukee at
the mention of beer, or Boston at the
mention of beans, so st. Paul has TAX
en- it's place in the minds of tens of
thousands of our foremost profess
sional men throughout the country as
the place where law books are made.
The plant of the West Publishing
Company is located on Third street
between Market and st. Peter. 1t oc-
cupies nine-story building-that is,
if seen from the river-or what ap-
pears to be three story building if
viewed from Third street. This is due
to the fact that the building, like the
large plant of the District Steam Heat
ing Company on the west Of it and of
the Booth company on the east of it,
to {1l IN ct1 IA ne hn h ,Iff
six of it's stories being below the level
of Third street.
Owing to the many separate indus
tries which have been brought togeth-
err in perfecting this plant, the estab-
lishment may we'll be called COM
nunity in itself, for it must be remem-
bered that it does not consist of merely
sales rooms where law books are sold.
Under this one roof are printing offices,
manufacture of books, and also a large
editorial department where the man.
uscripts of all of the books are pre-
pared.
The different departments Of the
business are, as a matter Of fact, sepa-
rate industries which have been
brought together into one large estab-
lishment under one business corpora
| ton.
Four Of the seven stages in the life
of most of the law books used in the
United States are enacted right here
in st. Paul.
The first stage is the writing of the
book. The editorial staff of the West
Publishing Company consists of near
ly fifty lawyers, who have been spe-
cially trained in legal literary work,
and they give all Of their time to the
preparation of the various reports, d.
| the company. In addition to the edi-
torial staff, there are connected with
this department about $50 clerical as
sistants, about Is of whom are stem
ographers or typewriters.
The next stage in the life of law
book is it's manufacture. First, the
manuscripts must be put into type
and this is largely done by machinery
The composing room is equipped with
80 linotype machines on which the
type is set very much in the same
manner as manuscript is written by
the ordinary typewriter. The book
must then be printed. The press room
running 80 presses, is located on the
first floor of the building, down near
the railroad tracks, where the many
carloads of paper which are required
can be made easily available. After
this the books must be bound. This
means that the different sections OF
the book must be stitched together
| that the sheepskin covers must be put
on and the books all properly labeled
When this is done the book may be
said to be finished, and it then enters
upon what may be regarded as the
most interesting stage Of its career
for it is now necessary that 1t should
be sold.
The sales department consists Of the
| ONCE force and of the field force, for
to each state and territory is assigned
sales representative, who must do
the largest part of the work Of bring
| ing the best law books and the law
yer who wants the best together.
The fourth stage in the history OF
the law book consists Of its trip tc