The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1910-08-04
Estate PRINTERS
MAY MEET WITH
STATE EDITORS
This Action Taken at
Meeting of the Ben
Franklin Clubs.
COST OF PRINTING
Shown by a Number of In
structive Papers Read at
the Huron Meeting.
OF PRINTING

Huron, S. D.-1Nith the election
of officers last Friday, the first an
nual meeting of the South Dakota
Association Of Ben Franklin clubs,
held here Thursday evening and Fri
day, came to a close. Although the
attendance was not as large as was
hoped, because of its being the va
cation season, all present agreed that
the meeting was a signal success. A
series of exceedingly valuable papers
was read and a number of these will
appear in various printers trade
journals.
Important action taken by the
club was to instruct the executive
committee, if found advisable, to
arrange to hold the next annual
meeting Jointly with the South Da-
kota Press association. The Ben
Franklin clubs are made up of mas
ter printers, while the press a~ssocia-
ton is composed only of publishers
in the state. The two organizations
are entirely distinct in their purpos-
es and there was no thought of at
tempting to merge the two of them.
However, many of the publishers are
also master printers and it was
thought a larger attendance could be
secured for the meetings of both or
CARNATIONS if they were to meet on
succeeding days.
Not n Price Agreement.
Ben Franklin clubs, which have
been formed all over the United
States, are expressly and distinctly
not price agreements. Printers have
undertaken heretofore to fix prices
arbitrarily and each attempt of this
kind has failed signally. The Ben
Franklin club is an educational Or
ganizational purely. 1t has been ex-
ceedingly difficult for the master
printer, who is selling a portion Of
the time of his men as we'll as mer-
chandise, to estimate his actual cost.
This is believed to account for the
fact that so large a number of print
ers the country over have failed in
business. The program at the Huron
meeting was strictly in line with the
purpose of the Ben Franklin clubs.
An inspiring address was given by F.
/. Ellick Of Omaha, former secretary
of the Chicago Ben Franklin club
and member of the national printers
cost commission, in Which he explain
ed the system of standard cost-fnd-
ing blanks adopted by the national
commission. Through the use of
these blanks, printers may learn the
productive and non-productive hours
of their employees and the amount of
overhead expense, such as deprecia-
ton in machinery and type, office ex-
pense, Interchangeable salaries, in
surance, taxes, rent, light, power.
heat, interest on money, in fact all
the expenses of the business, are d.
vided between the chargeable hours,
in other words, the hours that can be
sold to customers. Directly in line
with this, papers were read by
Charles Parshall of Sioux Falls on
the cost of handling and keeping
stock; by j. 3. Nipple Of Pierre on
the cost Of platen press work; by
Eugene Saenger of Sioux Falls on
the cost Of cylinder press work; by
Will A. Beach of Sioux Falls on the
cost of linotype compositions; by j.
N. Fulford Of Oacoma on the cost of
hand composition. According to these
papers and a general discussion Of
them, the average cost of hand COM
position in South nakota is about
$1.25 per hour; OF platen press work,
$1.00 per hour; Of cylinder press
work $3.50 per hour; of keeping and
handling job stock, from 10 to 1S
per cent, exclusive of freight and
carriage; and of linotype composition,
$3.50 per hour.
Minnesota Organizing.
The executive committee was in
structed to cooperate with the Sioux
Falls printers. wno are keep
ing thorough cost systems,
arriving at at table showing