El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-10-22
PUBLISHING DIRECTORIES
IN ALL AMERICAN CITIES
MOST REMARKABLE WORK.

" HERE is nothing more remark
able in the business life of
America than the wonderful ex-
pansiOn of the directory making trade
during the past two decades. When
the census made its investigation into
the printing business few years ago,
it found that one of the largest fea-
lures of the job printing offices was
the printing of directories In New
York, Chicago and Philadelphia alone
there were 100000 copies of the city
directories issued. Their aggregate
weight was more than a thousand tons
and it required 100000 Impressions
to print them. If this entire job had
been turned off by a single cylinder
press it would have required 10000 i'm
pressfons a day for IA years.
Form Organization.
TIE directory publishers of the
United States have banded themselves
together in an Organiza ton known as
the Directory Publishers Association
of America, which association is now
in session in Louisville, KY. The pur-
pose of this association is to protect
it's members from competition and the
public from the imposition of bogus
directory canvaSSerS and dishonest
directory-makers. 1t has a standing
offer of 500 for the arrest and con-
viction of any impOster in connection
with the directory trade. Nearly
thousand American cities and towns
have complete directories. In some Of
these the printing of an annual direc-
tory is not profitable but the directory
publishers have an eye to the future.
and are ready to preempt any field
which looks promising. 1t has been
the experience of the publishers that
the first man has an advantage over
any competitor, and that it seldom is
profitable to issue a second directory
Of a given city.
1t is impossible for the directory
publisher to secure a copyright which
will protect him from the issuance Of
a rival directory, so long as he pub
fishes only the names Of the inhabi-
tants and their addresses. 1t would
be impossible for any court to tell
whether the rival directory had Sc
cured it's names from the original di-
rectory or from other sources. In this
way the rival publisher could simply
wait until the other directory was out.
copy il, and sell his book at a much
lower figure. In order to protect
himself against such competition, the
directory maker incorporates a number
of bogus names. Any competitor who
has merely copied his work will have
no means of knowing which were bo-
gus names and which were real ones.
The presence of these bogus names in
the rival directory has been taken by
the court sufficient proof that the
copyright law has been violated.
Many Telephone Directories.
There are many telephone directories
in the United States, and the aggregate
number Of copies issued is larger than
that Of all other kinds of directories
together. 1t is estimated that it re-
quires more than 100000 "a by SO
sheets TO print the telephone directo-
ries annually distributed in this coun-
try, and that more than 300 freight cars
would be required to transport them.
While advertising never has been as
much resorted to in telephone directO-
ries as in city directories, there are ,
thousands of advertisers who realize
the advantage of staying close to the
telephone. In many cases the telephone
directories are not printed by the tele-
phone companies, but by individuals
who sell them at a price sufficient to
cover the cost of their production. The
profit is made in the advertising space
sold
Although the telephone directory is
printed in larger numbers than the city
directory, the latter is, of course, al
ways the larger volume An average
has been made of the size of the direc-
tories issued in the I61 cities of $4,000
population and upward and it has been
found that the average directory con-
tains 1904 pages. There are 1872, city
and town directories now published |
to say nothing of the many state and
county directories and gazetteers The
principal publishers of these books
fVl or of oil
ries in the United States. These are
accessible to the general public for
consultation, and are extensively used
by those who have need of large lists
of names. In many of the principal |
libraries of the country hundreds of
directories are found and many firms |
maintain a large force for copying /
rames from them.
Business Directories.
Practically every business, trade and
profession in the United States has its |
own directory. The most important of
all these are the big financial ones of /
the two great commercial agencies of |
the country-Dun and Bradstreet. |
These directories contain a list Of ant
American business men concerning
whom the commercial world may wish |
to know something. Whenever a new /
firm or individual appears upon the
trade horizon of the country, Dun and /
Bradstreet Immediately address some !
business man or firm in that commune ,
ty end make definite inquiries as to
the financial status OF the new conner.
This information is published in the |
next issue CT the big directory.
There are also directories of the
of the country. If a man
wishes to know what firms manufac-
ture any article, frem a steel pen to a
locomotive he need only con-
suit one Of these big volumes. They
list articles by the tens of thousands,
and show that there are many thou
sand manufacturers in the United
States.
There are directories of the lawyers
Of the country, of the college profess
sors of doctors, of teachers-directo-
ries Of everybody. In addition to the
ordinary business directory there are
many social directories. Familiarity