The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-03-06
BIC CIVIC ASSET
Printing Industry Helps Keep
Topeka on Map.
Industry Represents Five Mill
lion Investment.
ANNUAL PAYROLL S75O,O0O
Nearly 1880 Men and Women
Are Employed.
Trade Territory Includes Every
Western State.

If all of the printing establishments
in Topeka were gathered under one
roof the number of employees who
would go in and out each day-the
number of employees who would draw
their weekly salaries-would be Sec
ond only to the number of people en-
ployed here by the Santa F'e railway.
The total payroll of the printing
Establishments in Topeka is in the
neighborhood of $750,OO0 and practi-
ca1ly all of that is spent in Topeka.
Topeka merchants and business men
get the benefit of the major portion of
it. Nearly three-quarters of million
dollars is spent among Topeka BUSH
ness men by working printers every
year.
That means that the Topeka BUSH
ness men have the opportunity to
make approximately $4,000 legiti-
mate profits off the earnings of the
working printers each year-on the
assumption, of course, that the print
ers spend the bulk of their earnings to
live.
There are thirty-five printing es-
Establishments in town with an invest
ment of $5,000,000 and they employ
around 1850 people from the begin
ming of the year to its end.
The printing industry in Topeka is
equipped with the best there is in the
printing line. The workmen are
skilled to the degree required in any
other city No better printing. such
as is used and needed in Topeka, can
be secured than can be turned out by
Topeka printing eSta blishments
In the face of all these facts $4,000
worth of printing is sent out of town
each year. 1t goes to Kansas City,
to Chicago and other points where
some firm in a special line is able to
make a slightly better price.
The only answer to the expendi-
ture of $4,000 a year in other cities
for printing that should be done in
Topeka is that of price. The business
out of town and follows it with the
cash must do so because the cost to
him is a few cents lower than that
made by a. local printer.
His work can be done here just as
well as elsewhere. He has the adj
vantage of reading proof and being
able to make any last minute
changes. He can see the job as it
progresses. He knows the men with
whom he is dealing. He knows what
he can expect in the way of work.
And he knows the money he is spend
ing for the job is to be retained IN
Topeka.
The user of printixg-and he will
know it if he gives the subject a min
ute's thought from the right angle
could afford to pay twenty per cent
more for a printed job and have it
printed in Topeka, and still break
twenty per cent more. Frequently he
could get the same job done at home
for the same price, and seldom does
he save more than a few cents on the
job.
Suppose a merchant has a printing
job worth twelve dollars. He gives
the work to a Topeka printer. Two
dollars of the twelve goes to pay for
the stock used in the job. Eight dol
lars of it goes for labor and approx
al 1n1t fo he 10 lfCi7-
ment. The eight dollars spent among
the workmen for wages and the two
dollars that went to the establishment
remain in Topeka. The printers and
their employer spend their total of ten
dollars with Topeka merchants and
business men. Suppose, to make it
clearer, they spend the whole ten dol
lars with the business man who is
paying fod the job Under the ordi-
nary rules of the game he makes g. 20
per cent profit at least, or 81.
If he had sent the job away he
might have had it done for $40, not
likely, but he might have. He would
have saved 81. By having the job in
got it back. He paid more for the
job but he broke even.
The printing industry is growing
rapidly in Topeka. There are few new
but the established firms are grow
ing and adding to their equipment
constantly. They are installing the
latest machinery to take care of To-
peka business. There is more print
ing done in Topeka annually than III
any other city in the state. 1t comes
from far and near. Business comes
from as far west as the coast because
it can be done cheaply and economic
ally here, yet forty thousand dollars
worth of local business, which belongs
to Topeka printers, is sent away each
year.