The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1922-06-22
THE ORIGIN OF THE
CLEANUP DAY"
Bv R. T. Porte

By R.>T. Porte
1T was nearly ten years ago, per-
haps few years more than that,
when Cleanup Day" first came into
being, or perhaps when it first became
known outside of the Office where it
originated.
1t was a small town in Ohio-not
so very small either, but just good
sized town 1t also happened that
I was in that town on the first Satur-
day of beautiful day in July and
having nothing else to do, / drifted
into one of the printing offices in
that town.
1t is hard to keep away from a
printing Office if you are printer
and have nothing to do. There seems
to be magnet that draws you thith-
er, and there is no resisting.
So, my feet wandered to the print
ing Office, and at the door | stood
amazed! A sight came in view that
almost paralyze me, as | had been a
visitor at the plant before and could
see no good reason why the perform
ance now being staged should be.
If there was printing office in the
world that met with my idea of clean
illness that one print shop had, as re-
membered from my former visit. The
floor was clean, the windows washed,
and all other things in like condition,
and yet at the door met sight that
aStonished me.
1t was about 10 o'clock in the morn
ing, and not wheel in the place was
turning; but, instead, every one
about the place seemed busy.
The stenographer was emptying
drawer of her desk, and on the desk
was a miscellaneous lot of junk which
no man could ever figure out as of
Value-lt takes a girl to do that. She
was evidently cleaning house.
Others had seemingly become pos
sessed of like desire, for every
where about the place evidences of a
cleanlng-up process came to view.
The proprietor stood in the middle
of the Darkroom" experimenting
the work, and to him l made my
way
Whats the big idea?" l asked.
Getting rid of some of the dirt"
was the reply. =
Anyone can see that, but that an
swer doesn't tell the story" l said.
Why not tell me all?"
Nothing much to tell" the pro-
prletor answered, Except Just what
l told you. | hate a dirty place to
work In and, despite everything we
can do in keeping the place clean
during the year, dirt and waste mat
ter Will accumulate, so once a year
we just go through the darn plant
and get the 1eavin's' and then set
tie down to housekeeping for another
year.
Discovered a whole lot of dirt TO-
day, and especially when we moved
the stands around and dug into the
corners. Try to keep things clean dur
IN the year, but simply have to take
a DAY OF once year to do a good lob
Usually July is a dull month, and so
before allowing anyone to take a va
cation, the whole bunch has to oct
busy on house-cleaning, and that's
what we are doing"
The idea struck me then as a good
stunt, and, being on the staff of a
PRINTERS Ifade paper In New York.
we started campaign the next wear
Tor cleanup day. 1t took" then.
but things made change, l went in
to other work, the paper consolidat-
ed with another, and not until last
year did | again see the opportunity
TO start a general cleanup dav for
the printing industry. The editor of
The Auxiliary, with the editors of
Twelve other trade papers, thought
the idea worthwhile, and so last
year a Cleanup Day was started.
and this year the start is renewed
Saturday, July 8th, has been desig.
mated as the Annual Cleanup Dav
OF the printing industry, and every
editor of a trade publication has con.
Sented to give aid and space to this
Campaign.
This is the origin of the movement
that means so much the the printing
industry, and will help toward put
tlng 1T on a better basis, as clean
places in which to do business mean
better business.