Evening star., 1923-10-21

lar advances have been made in the
allied lines of the industry. I'M
provement has come In paper making
photo-engraving. type-founding. and
! in the manufacture of printing inks
Manufactures of printing presses have
made machinery capable of a produc-
tion which. If they could be seen by
! printers OF a century ago, would
amaze them.
! While progress has been remarkable
| in mechanical production. the prog
ress made throughout the industry
! along educational lines is no less re-
! markable. There was a time when
the average printer was a poor bust
! ness man. when competition meant
/ price-cutting. and the failures OF
printing offices were everyday occur
| rences. Today the wise printer has
his cost system, his code of ethics and
| his typothetae. the organization OF
| master printers which has rebuilt the
printing industry and which has saved
countless printers from utter failure
| The United Typothetae of America
was organized October Is. 1887, in
Chicago. III. The meeting was at
| tended by sixty-nine representative
| printers from twenty-five cities OF
the United States. At that time
authorization was voted to open q
central office in New York city. r
/ Harmer Smith of New York was elect.
ed first president of the organization
(! The prime movers back of the forma-
| ton Of this organization were the
| printers from New York, Philadel-
! phia. Boston and Chicago. The three
| eastern cities each maintained at
/ that time a local master printer or
ganization, which was beginning to
| delve into the problems of the in
| dustry.
| Figures showed that there were
about $4,000 printing and publishing
/ firms in the United States. most OF
them exceedingly small But the men
behind this great organization move
ment were undaunted by their task,
and after persistent and hard work
over a period of fifteen years we find
this great graphic arts organization
looked upon by tho business world
as leading and most progressive
trade association. 1t now has a mem.
pership Of over 5000 Of the most pro.
sressive printing firms, who produce
! about 80 per cent OF the total vo,ume
IN the printing and publishing busi.
ness Which is classed as fifth In the
/ list OF the big industries, with an in
vested capital for printing alone OF
almost s1.25o,0oo,0 900 and annual wage
payments Of nearly s4o0, ,0oo, 600. ac-
cording to the census figures Of man.
factures for 1919.
In 1916 what was known az the
three-year plan" was inaueurated
under the leadership OF Joseph A
Borden, then secretary of the national
association. The plan was to organ.
ize all the forces of the graphic arts
industries into one unit as a grand
! erort to bring quickly to a climax
the vision of new printing industry
, which had been in the minds OF the
leaders for fifteen years. The moral
and financial cooperation of the al.
lied trades interests was solicited
This support was cheerfully given by
large percentage of the firms con-
nected in any way with the printing
business, and means were provided
whereby it was possible to divide the
United States up into sixteen districts
and put a field man over each district
whose duty it was to bring all of the
units in that district into one associa-
ton.
These field men made surveys OF
the condition of the business in each
district, all of which illustrated that
the printing industry was at a very
low ebb. Following the field men
came cost experts, financed by the
u. T. A, who installed cost systems in
the plants of the firms that had come
into the organization. These cost men,
in cooperation with the local secre-
tary, formed educational classes in
the various courses that had been
provided by the educational commit
tee.
Probably history does not show an
other single instance where an entire
industry in a literal and national ap-
plication went to school, from Office
boy to employer. under centrally
guided educational plan for benefiting
all parts of the industry. But this Is
exactly what did happen with the
printing industry, and is what is GO
ing on today wherever Typothetae
branch is represented through q local
organization.
This week several thousand of these
printers Will come to Washington for
the purpose of attending the annual
convention of the United Typothetae
of America. From the far distant
E~E. he. = trn.. Il
printers will gather to pay tribute TO
this organization. Some will repre-
sent the largest commercial plants in
America, others the smaller job shops.
But In every heart will be resolve
to support the work OF the Ty-